Apple III Disk?

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Apple III Disk?

I just found a floppy drive on eBay that I have never seen in my life:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390674924183?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
Any information on it? Looks like a weird prototype, or made up enclosure...
Regards

Javster

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Re: Apple III Disk?

bog standard Disk ///

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Re: Apple III Disk?

Hello javstar,
not at all wierd... just the regular external Apple III disk drive......
seems you have not seen very many Apple III ?
speedyG

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Re: Apple III Disk?

So that this does not happen again... Smile

http://www.vintagemacworld.com/drives.html

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Re: Apple III Disk?

Thanks folks, I've been schooled. It is quite ugly, compared to the other drives.
Speaking of disks, once I saw a photo of a dual Unidisk, is there any info on those? Was that a prototype?

Regards

Javster

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Re: Apple III Disk?


Speaking of disks, once I saw a photo of a dual Unidisk, is there any info on those? Was that a prototype?

Huh? You mean the "Duodisk"?

They are as common as cornflakes.

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Re: Apple III Disk?


Speaking of disks, once I saw a photo of a dual Unidisk, is there any info on those? Was that a prototype?

Huh? You mean the "Duodisk"?

They are as common as cornflakes.


Wait. do you mean the double Decker ones? Now those are next to non existent. If you mean the ones that sit side by side and are one piece then those are not rare at all.

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Re: Apple III Disk?

Yes, I mean the double decker 3.5 drives. Anyway I never seen side by side 3.5 drives either, just 5.25...
Any history on those double deckers?
Thanks
Javster

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Re: Apple III Disk?

I believe the dual 3.5 unidisk was a prototype that was never produced for sale. Given the cost of the 3.5 unidisk, not that many people bought even one.

However a dual 3.5 unidisk was planned for in the design. If you look at the daisey-chain board in a single 3.5 unidisk you’ll find places to solder on the components to connect a second internal drive.

This might be an interesting project for someone with a 3d printer, producing the plastic box.

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Re: Apple III Disk?

the real unicorn among the diskdrives are the twiggy drives used in early macs and lisa.....i haven´t seen any pictures of the inside mechanic of that drives - only pictures from the frontplate....
speedyG

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Re: Apple III Disk?

Yes, I mean the double decker 3.5 drives. Anyway I never seen side by side 3.5 drives either, just 5.25...
Any history on those double deckers?

I own one of the prototype Duo 3.5 drives. Did you want to see pics? I also have the 'proto' for the DuoDisk, but it's not what most people would expect it would be -- it's actually 2 1/2 height 5.25 drives in a Disk II enclosure. So it was more of a proof of concept than anything. The DuoDisk was designed with side-by-side drives to be aesthetically pleasing and to save space (being most often located under the monitor).

I got them both from the same retired Apple engineer.

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Re: Apple III Disk?

Wow Sfahey, I'm green of envy :).
Yes, could you be so kind to post some pics? I am seriously thinking about what they mentioned and make a 3D of it, it would be a cool project right? and just got a couple of unidisks on eBay last week...
Thanks again
Javster

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Re: Apple III Disk?

I be interested in photos of the "interposer" (the board in the drive that has more brain than the II) to determine what parts are absent on the shipping UniDisk 3.5, but are populated on the proto DuoDisk 3.5.

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Re: Apple III Disk?

I own one of the prototype Duo 3.5 drives. Did you want to see pics?

Here's Tony Diaz's setup, with Geoff Weiss' SPVHD:
http://pcedric3.free.fr/SmartportVHD/main/prototype-kf-320.jpg

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Re: Apple III Disk?

(Drupal failure encountered when saving prior comment - please ignore)

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Re: Apple III Disk?

Here's Geoff Weiss

Most of that gear belongs to Tony Diaz. Geoff brought the SPVHD to KFest.

I'll take pics of my gear this weekend.

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Re: Apple III Disk?

DuoDisk 3.5

http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/image.jpeg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/image1.jpeg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/image2.jpeg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/image3.jpeg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/image4.jpeg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/image5.jpeg

DuoDisk 5.25 concept drive

http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/photo-1.jpg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/photo-2.jpg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/photo-3.jpg
http://a2central.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/photo-4.jpg

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Re: Apple III Disk?

duodisk 3.5 obviously got far enough to have injection molding made for the case (which is not a cheap proposition.)

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Re: Apple III Disk?

I like the idea of the dual Disk ///, but you really only need two floppies total on a /// - and you get one for "free" in the case. So besides the unpopularity of the machine, I can see why this wouldn't have flown in the marketplace anyway. Now, hooking this sort of arrangement up to the II alongside the old Sony monitor, that makes a lot of sense... Smile

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Re: Apple III Disk?

Not many people would need more than one external but the odd person that did could always daisey-chain a couple. I have a set of Apple III drives marked Drive 2, 3, & 4. Have no idea why they needed that many

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