Am I right in thinking that the only differences between the Disk II drive (A2M0003) and the platinum 5.25 disk drive (A9M0107) is the connector (20Pin IDC on Disk II instead of 19 Pin 'D' on the 5.25 disk drive) and that the Disk II uses a -12V supply which is not supplied by the IIe card?.
If so I would guess that Disk II would work if I changed the connector to a 19 Pin 'D' and used a DC-DC converter to provide a -12V supply?
Any thoughts?
They are two completely different animals. The
pinout is different and the controllers are set
up differently. You can't just change the 19/20
pin connectors. Hopefully some of our resident
hackers can come up with a workable solution.
My advice is to locate a matching controller card
for your Platinum Drive. These cards will work in
all the Apple II family of computers.
Try e-bay. They have one of the cards for the platinum, with the rainbow cable that attaches to the back of the IIe.
Personally I prefer the Disk II drives because they are built like tanks, and I've not had major problems with them in 25 years of usage.
Substituting a cable with a 19 pin connector will let the Disk II work with a IIc or IIgs so I'd suspect that other than the -12 volt power supply problem, it should be compatible with the IIe card.
Wayne