6 ms·

> That’s right, this is actually a look at a product being sold at the time of this writing, the Yellowstone controller card: I'm not surprised. I shelled out

by sbf501 4y ago

> That’s right, this is actually a look at a product being sold at the time of this writing, the Yellowstone controller card: I'm not surprised. I shelled out $80 bucks for a null modem RS232 cable and two packs of Verbatim 5.25" floppies, sealed, from the 1980's, so that I could get my Apple //e running again. Ironically I never knew the SuperSerial card could turn the Apple into a dumb terminal: now I can copy Apple //e disk images from my Mac, via serial, to the target 5.25" drives. I mean, it's obvious now, but it never occurred to me in the 80's. The design of this card is better too because it has plug polarity. I had to replace a buffer chip on one of the drives because the original Apple ribbon cable socket didn't have a polarity (or collar) and I accidentally installed the cable shifted right one pair of pins. Powered up, heard a loud crack, and when I opened the drive, there was a 14-pin DIP cracked in half and blackened. Also, that "Total Replay" screen is hilarious. What a mashup.

user3939382 4y ago
I have an Apple IIc but I have a hard time finding 5 1/4s for it. The ones I do find seem like they almost never work, maybe because of age. I'm not sure. If anyone that's into this type of retro computing has any tips for getting reliable IO/disks with these old machines I would appreciate it.
- krallja 4y ago
  https://www.floppydisk.com/5point25 https://www.floppydisk.com/5point25 is, as far as I can tell, the only reliable seller of floppy disks left on the planet.
- sbf501 4y ago
  Here is what I purchased: https://retrofloppy.com/products/#BlankDisks https://retrofloppy.com/products/#BlankDisks They seem to be working fine. I used 5 out of 20 so far.
- toast0 4y ago
  One thing to be aware of is high density floppies are unlikely to work. You've got to make sure you get double density (aka low density, but I guess there was some abandoned standard that was lower than double). I've got a bunch pulled from that one time my dad broke our Tandy 1000 TL/2's floppy port and the 3.5" ds/dd drive stopped working, but we still had the 5.25" ds/dd drive running, and a lucky find at WeirdStuff. But I've got the problem that even though the disks are double sided, I can't use the backsides because I don't have a notcher and I'm not using scissors. :( Also, something happened to my monitor recently, and now it only blows fuses and doesn't display things anymore :(( If you're in the Seattle area, email me (on profile) and I can give you some disks, but I'm not gonna mail them.
- StillBored 4y ago
  There are various modern disk interfaces that can be plugged in as alternatives. BMOW, also has a floppy emulator you plug into the floppy controller which emulates the drive+disk using SD cards. https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/ https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/ I have a fairly old CFFA https://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php https://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFfor... as well, its a pretty solid HD emulator as well. There shouldn't be a problem using older floppy disks if you can get ones that actually are for apple ][s and C64's rather than the later higher density ones used by PCs/etc.
CamperBob2 4y ago
I mean, it's obvious now, but it never occurred to me in the 80's. What's really going to bake your noodle is when someone tells you your Apple had a 1200-baud modem built in at the factory.
- EvanAnderson 4y ago
  And a makeshift audio digitizer!
- sbf501 4y ago
  Huh? Where?
  - skissane 4y ago
    The cassette interface.
  - EvanAnderson 4y ago
    The cassette interface is a type of modem. It's not a telephone modem, but it is modulating and demodulating digital data to/from analog.
    - CamperBob2 4y ago
      Interestingly, all it takes to turn it into a telephone modem is a hybrid network from an old phone and a couple of LM386-grade audio amps. Not exactly Bellcore-202 spec, but it was good enough to send Strip Poker pics to a friend across town.
    - sbf501 4y ago
      You have absolutely baked my noodle. /golf clap/

by sbf501 4y ago

user3939382 4y ago

I have an Apple IIc but I have a hard time finding 5 1/4s for it. The ones I do find seem like they almost never work, maybe because of age. I'm not sure. If anyone that's into this type of retro computing has any tips for getting reliable IO/disks with these old machines I would appreciate it.

krallja 4y ago
https://www.floppydisk.com/5point25 https://www.floppydisk.com/5point25 is, as far as I can tell, the only reliable seller of floppy disks left on the planet.
sbf501 4y ago
Here is what I purchased: https://retrofloppy.com/products/#BlankDisks https://retrofloppy.com/products/#BlankDisks They seem to be working fine. I used 5 out of 20 so far.
toast0 4y ago
One thing to be aware of is high density floppies are unlikely to work. You've got to make sure you get double density (aka low density, but I guess there was some abandoned standard that was lower than double). I've got a bunch pulled from that one time my dad broke our Tandy 1000 TL/2's floppy port and the 3.5" ds/dd drive stopped working, but we still had the 5.25" ds/dd drive running, and a lucky find at WeirdStuff. But I've got the problem that even though the disks are double sided, I can't use the backsides because I don't have a notcher and I'm not using scissors. :( Also, something happened to my monitor recently, and now it only blows fuses and doesn't display things anymore :(( If you're in the Seattle area, email me (on profile) and I can give you some disks, but I'm not gonna mail them.
StillBored 4y ago
There are various modern disk interfaces that can be plugged in as alternatives. BMOW, also has a floppy emulator you plug into the floppy controller which emulates the drive+disk using SD cards. https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/ https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/ I have a fairly old CFFA https://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php https://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFfor... as well, its a pretty solid HD emulator as well. There shouldn't be a problem using older floppy disks if you can get ones that actually are for apple ][s and C64's rather than the later higher density ones used by PCs/etc.

CamperBob2 4y ago

I mean, it's obvious now, but it never occurred to me in the 80's. What's really going to bake your noodle is when someone tells you your Apple had a 1200-baud modem built in at the factory.

EvanAnderson 4y ago
And a makeshift audio digitizer!
sbf501 4y ago
Huh? Where?
- skissane 4y ago
  The cassette interface.
- EvanAnderson 4y ago
  The cassette interface is a type of modem. It's not a telephone modem, but it is modulating and demodulating digital data to/from analog.
  - CamperBob2 4y ago
    Interestingly, all it takes to turn it into a telephone modem is a hybrid network from an old phone and a couple of LM386-grade audio amps. Not exactly Bellcore-202 spec, but it was good enough to send Strip Poker pics to a friend across town.
  - sbf501 4y ago
    You have absolutely baked my noodle. /golf clap/