most affordable floppy alternative for Apple //

[Tony359]

Hi all,

I am helping a local museum of computing to display some Apple machines. Those would be turned on and available for the visitors to use. Floppies are probably unreliable/impractical to use. A Floppy EMU would work but it would be expensive.

Is there any other option for a fixed installation that would allow us to boot the system onto something? The EMU is great and very flexible of course and it's being considered. Just wondering if by any chance there is a simpler option.

For now I am thinking of an Apple //e and Apple ///.

The museum is a no-profit entity BTW!
Cheers
Tony

 

[CygnusTM]

The wDrive is a similar device that is slightly cheaper. The FloppyEmu has the advantage that it also works with Macs, although it requires a firmware change. That’s why I have both. I leave the FloppyEmu in Mac mode and use the wDrive on my Apple IIs.

I haven’t tried one yet, but there are also cards that will let to boot into ProDOS from a EPROM. They are even cheaper and very fast, but you have to burn a new EPROM to change the software.

 

[eric]

If the machines in question can boot off SmartPort drives this would be the cheapest (just a few bux) - https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/smartportsd-lets-build-it.454/ - though not all machines can (or may need a newer rom flashed)

Floppy Disks do give an authentic vibe when using them though - Just in my random collecting of Apple II's I have hundreds of disks that just came with computers I picked up. Might be worth it to just create 10 copies of each program you want to have available and let users use them?

 

[Tony359]

Thank you both!
I totally agree with the authentic feeling of a floppy - I guess it's just a matter of practicality as there is limited staff around. Exploring options though and it would be great to also have a floppy installed for the familiar "slicing" sound

I believe this //e comes with one of these. But we might have others somewhere else.

Can someone share a pic of a smartport card please?

 

[eric]

If you see the thread I link to it shows what machines and ROM's are compatible. It's a feature of your floppy controller card - I don't believe there is a SmartPort "card" per say (or i just dont know about it!)

 

[Tony359]

Thanks Eric,

I'm afraid I'm not following then. I am aware of the ROM requirements for the //c but the //c has a 19pin port at the back. The //e does not. So I guess I would need a floppy controller card which is compatible. I checked the link you mentioned (Thanks) but I did not find mentions about the //e besides that it works with it.

My //e has the original controller card with the flat cables directly connected to it. The one at the museum has the newer version with maybe a 19pin port connected at the back - does that make it "smartport" compatible?

Sorry for not being too familiar with that area of the //e!

And thanks for keeping up the project! It looks amazing!

 

[CygnusTM]

The ROM on the IIe doesn't matter. It's the drive controller card that has to support SmartPort. The one you show will give you the DB-19 connector, but I don't think it supports SmartPort. There were cards back in the day with SmartPort support, like the Apple Liron card and the VTech UDC Universal Disk Controller, both those are a little hard to find and pricey. Here is a good summary of the modern alternatives.