Category: Disk Storage
Finally, there is a daisy-chainable smartport MicroSD hard drive that lets Apple II users have their cake (and Floppies) too. In the Apple retro computing realm, few frustrations run deeper than the eternal trade-off on an Apple IIc: massive storage or your trusty floppy drives? You always had to pick one, that is until now. Entering into the fray is the new BurgerDisk, the brainchild of Apple II legend Colin Leroy-Mira, a sleek, a fully open-source SmartPort based hard drive…
BurgerDisk is a Smartport hard drive for the Apple II. Its main unique feature is that it is daisy-chainable.
The SPIISD with an OLED display, V2, has debuted. This new version features an SPI OLED screen and UP, DOWN, and ENTER buttons, allowing users to select and save multiple ProDOS images stored on a FAT32-formatted MicroSD card. A configuration file, Config.txt, is generated in the root of the SD card, enabling up to four boot images to be selected and saved. In terms of speed and stability, it inherits the specifications of the previous version, V1.17. SPIISD V2.0 is…
A revamp of the Apple II Disk II Analog board and the Motor Control board have been in the works for the past several years. Now that work has come to fruition and the new ReAnalog and Motor Control boards are available through Chris Torrence’s CT6502.ORG website. About the boards The ReAnalog Card is a recreation of the original Apple Disk ][ Analog card from 1978, using modern components and a printed circuit board. This allows the sensitive magnetic signal…
Kay Koba has announced the official release of the SPIISD Smartport storage device for the Apple II series computers. SPIISD MINI has been released on my store. The first batch is completely handmade. After this, we will begin full-scale production. Stay tuned! SPIISD MINI store page: https://en.infinityproducts.co.jp/product-page/spiisd-mini-for-iic-iicplus-iigs The DIY version is open source. The functionality is the same, but it has been improved to make it easier for enthusiasts to create. DIY ver. Project page: https://github.com/kerokero5150/SP2SD_DIY_KIT Store page for DIY…
SP][SD DIY kit has been released This is an open source project hardware and anyone can build it for free (cc by-nc-sa 4.0). It was hoped that this would be made into a kit for people who have difficulty making PCBs.The Bare PCB was already on sale, but now started selling a kit that includes all the parts. *Ribbon cables are sold separately and can be purchased on Amazon or eBay. SP][SD DIY Kithttps://en.infinityproducts.co.jp/product-page/sp2sd-diykit-bare-pcb-board-a-bPrice: 30USDShipping to USA: 23USD What is…
Steve Chamberlain has announced the addition of a number of new features to the latest version of the Big Mess O’ Wires BMOW Floppy Emu Disk Emulator. Included in the latest update is: Writeable WOZ and NIB disk image support Forgettable disk images Dual 5.25 inch floppy disk emulation These new additions to the firmware of the BMOW Floppy Emu mean that users will not only be able to use the BMOW Floppy Emu as a storage unit for programs…
David Mutimer has made his Booti Card for the Apple II available once again. According to his posting in the Apple II Enthusiasts group on Facebook, : The pcb’s arrived today. Booti cards are now in stock again and ready to ship. The type A cards are functionally identical to the blue cards from the last batch, however the USB modules have different connections so the cards and modules are not interchangeable. So for those of you that already have…
When it comes to Apple II, I’m easy to please. Every time I see a new product or something that gives new use, combines new technology and makes my retro computing more fun, I’m very happy with it. Now add some lights to the equation and let me control it within the computer – I’m in heaven! That’s just what Plamen Vasilov from a2heaven did: the newDisk II LED, is a perfect addition to the retro gadgetry. It allows me…
For those of you with the FloppyEmu Floppy Disk Emulator, you can now run .WOZ files from the Applesauce FDC on your FloppyEmu. Steve Chamberlain, creator of FloppyEmu and John K. Morris, the creator of the Applesauce FDC have been working together to provide the support and insure users will continue to be able to use their hardware. While the support is still in beta, users who own either the Model A or the Model B FloppyEmu, can download the…
John Keoni Morris, the creator of the Applesauce Floppy Disk Controller has announced the release of the WOZ disk image specification. The update, version 2.0 of the specification, includes a host of updates and fixes including: Better 3.5 inch floppy disk support Emulator hints Fixes an issue with extremely long tracks Also announced was the impending release of the next version of the Applesauce FDC software. Version 1.1 will allow users to begin creating WOZ 2.0 floppy disk images. Two…
In his latest video, Chris Torrence does a video review of the wDrive, a new floppy disk emulator from KbooHK. The wDrive supports copy protected formats such as WOZ, EDD/EDF, and NIB, as well as DSK, DO, and PO disk images. Check it out!
The latest version of the Applesauce Floppy Drive Controller client software has been released. John Morris, creator of Applesauce, pushed the update out through the automatic update feature now included in Applesauce. Included in this release are the following updates and fixes: * Flux Imaging now happens 25% faster! * Created Bulk Processing system under the Tools menu. * Added bulk processor for updating A2R files to the new version 2.0 format. * Added bulk processor for changing the Contributor…
R&D Automation LLC has put the CFFA 3000 card on sale once again. Run # 5, totaling 1000 units is expected to go fairly quickly judging from the demand for it. The CFFA 3000 Card which allows users to use compact flash and USB drives to emulate hard drives and floppy drives with real Apple II series hardware, is being sold on the R&D automation website for $174.95 for just the bare card and $374.95 for a completely ready to…
Rich Dreher, owner of R&D Automation LLC which produced the CFFA 3000 card has released a new update on the next run of the cards. According to his website, Rich says: The first 500 boards have arrived back from the assembler! I have just tested 3 boards and they all work. My tentative plan is to open for pre-orders next Saturday (Feb 24) in the afternoon. This date is subject to change. I will email everyone on the waiting list…
Rich Dreher, owner of R&D Automation, LLC. and the producer of the CFFA card for the Apple II has posted an update on the status of Run # 5 of the CFFA 3000. According to his website, I see an update is long overdue… I am still waiting for one more part from supplier Arrow. It should be here soon. Most of the other parts and PCBs are already at the assembler in California. I sent a out CFFA3000 Run#5…
When last year’s hard drive shortage threatened Backblaze’s all-you-can-store cloud backup service, the company had to get creative to keep up its 50TB-a-day hard drive habit. The solution: external hard drives from retail stores and an army of volunteers making sure they kept coming. “We buy lots and lots of hard drives . . . . [They] are the single biggest cost in the entire company.” Those are the words of Backblaze Founder and CEO Gleb Budman, whose company offers unlimited cloud…
R&D Automation announced in a blog posting last week that they will be producing a new run of the CFFA3000 cards for the Apple ][. The CFFA3000 is a card which allows the Apple ][ to use Compact Flash Cards and USB Thumb Drives for hard drive storage of disk images. According to the R&D Automation website, “We are now in the process of getting final quotes on parts for run #2 of the CFFA3000. We hope to be placing…
This is a generic sort of article… I have only tried it on one type of machine but this advice may prove useful in other situations. As regular readers know, I volunteer at an educational non-profit organisation every Friday as a systems administrator.One of the privileges is I get to borrow a computer every so often for one of my projects. In this case I had a computer I was using as a file server (using FreeNAS v7.x). Since I…
The first sample of the Smartport Virtual Hard Drive for the Apple //c has been released. The sample shown on the SmartportVHD Website by Cedric Peltier is largely ready for production. Cedric says in a posting on CSA2 that “Some minors details have to be reviewed before the public availability, but the device start to see the light”
