Quick Disk II 13/16 Sector Question

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Quick Disk II 13/16 Sector Question

I recently came across the 13 sector ROMs for a Disk II Controller Card and thought I'd give them a try.  But before I do, I wanted to know if a 13 and 16 sector card can peacefully coexist on the same computer?  Or would I need to designate a separate machine? (not my preferred solution since there's not as much out there in the way of 13 sector software)

 

 Obviously, the 13 sector ROMs would be on different a card than the 16 sectors and in different slots.  So I think it should work?  But I want to be sure before I risk frying something.

 

Also, would there be any compatibility issues with later Apple IIs?  I figure it should be fine on an Apple ][, or ][ Plus, but what about the //e or //e Enhanced?  or even a IIgs?  

 

In any case, any help or advice would be appreciated.

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There is no problem

with having a 13 sector and 16 sector controller card in the machine at the same time.

 

You could for example have 16 sector controller card in slot 6 and the 13 sector controller card in slot 5.

When booting the machine will then boot from slot 6.

 

To boot from slot 5 you type PR#5.

Of course this requires that you actually have a 13 sector bootable dos disk (such as DOS3.2). These are not easy to find these days.

 

Now there is something that will not work, which you should know:

If you boot normally from slot 6 with a 16 sector bootable disk (a disk with DOS3.3) you cannot read or write 13 sector disks, because DOS3.3 only knows how to handle 16 sector disks.

Similar if you boot DOS3.2 from slot 5 you cannot read or write 16 sector disk, because DOS3.2 only knows how to handle 13 sector disks.

 

That's the simple overview of it.

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Thanks!  And good to know.

Thanks!  And good to know.  But my next question is, can I use ADTPro to write 13 sector disks, even if I boot from a 16 Sector floppy?

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No

ADTPro can only write 16 sector disks, as far as I know.

But many years ago someone made a ADT13 program (I think that's what it was called) which could do it. Try search for that.

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It's also possible to wire

It's also possible to wire both sets of PROMs to the same controller card and select between them with a switch.

 

Or you might also want to look into DOUBLEDOS (aka DUBBLEDOS). Just boot with this disk and you can freely switch between 13 and 16 sector disks.

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jeffmazur wrote:It's also
jeffmazur wrote:

It's also possible to wire both sets of PROMs to the same controller card and select between them with a switch.

 

Or you might also want to look into DOUBLEDOS (aka DUBBLEDOS). Just boot with this disk and you can freely switch between 13 and 16 sector disks.

I've actually discovered these recently on eBay and was considering it before I found these ROMs sitting in my spares.  I have several extra Disk II Controler Cards and figured it would be a fun up/down-grade (not sure which it is) to have.  But now that I have the original ROMs, I figured I'd just go the dual card route.  I was hoping that this would let me boot from either and have access to both without power-cycling or rebooting, but sadly that doesn't seem possible.

 

Oh well...  I might still get a Double DOS for one of my other machines. I was thinking of my enhanced //e since it already has a Liron card.

 

 

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tolderlund wrote:ADTPro can
tolderlund wrote:

ADTPro can only write 16 sector disks, as far as I know.

But many years ago someone made a ADT13 program (I think that's what it was called) which could do it. Try search for that.

Found it on Apple Asimov.  From the ReadMe part, it looks like it only interfaces with MS-DOS or Linux?  

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I think so too, it's quite old

and I was not able to make it run on a modern Windows pc.

 

Some time ago I used the "adt-1.22-13-sector.zip" to create 13 sector boot disk.

http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/utility/adt/

 

It was some time ago, so I may remember something wrong, but I think it was something like this.

I did the first steps from the README:

 

--

Apple 13-Sector Disk Transfer (ADT13) preliminary version

=========================================================

I'll assume that you know how to run ADT. Thus there will be only short instructions here. (Well, not *so* short after all...)

1.) What you'll do here is to produce a first bootable 13-Sector disk. You'll need one formatted 16-sector disk.

Wire your system up for ADT. Transfer the image 13STRAP.DSK to the Apple, using standard 16-sector ADT.

Now boot your Apple from the new 13STRAP disk. When "PLEASE WAIT" appears, you'll have to wait for about 2 minutes.

The Apple will then tell you that DOS 3.2 is now running. Now type the following commands on the Apple:

INIT HELLO (be patient - it takes a long time)

--

 

After this I had a 13 sector boot disk, as far as I remember.

 

I have included the important file here, the 13STRAP.DSK file which can be transferred using the regular ADTPro.

Package icon13STRAP-DSK.zip

 

 

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Might have better luck

Might have better luck running it on Linux...  Or maybe FreeDOS?  Does it require Windows or is it a command line app?  I've never actually used ADTPro because I've got multiple easier (and faster) ways to get disk images onto vintage Apples...  CFFA3000, FloppyEmu, etc.

 

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