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  • How to connect two floppy drives?

    From Kalevi Kolttonen@21:1/5 to All on Sat May 17 13:52:35 2025
    Hi there!

    I am happy to say that I bought Apple II Europlus
    yesterday and it was pretty cheap too. Another
    embrassing newbie question coming soon...

    I just asked chatGPT whether Apple II floppy disk
    controller card support two drives and it answered
    yes. However, chatGPT claims that I am supposed to
    connect both floppy drives to the controller card
    using a *single* ribbon cable. Can this be true?

    I got two floppy drives and both of them have
    a ribbon cable with only one connector, not two.

    Could someone tell me what the truth is? Thanks!

    br,
    KK

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  • From Kalevi Kolttonen@21:1/5 to Scott Alfter on Sat May 17 16:54:30 2025
    Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> wrote:
    Nope. If you're using period-correct Disk II floppy drives (or workalikes) with the matching controller, there are two 20-pin headers on the controller that will handle one drive each.

    Yes, I have original hardware, both floppy drives and
    the floppy disk controller card are all authentic Apple
    products.

    It is painful to interact with chatGPT. I mean, I cannot
    believe in the amount of bullshit this AI generates. So
    many times you cannot trust it at all. Very annoying because
    it can sound convincing even when lying.

    Thanks for your help, Scott!

    br,
    KK

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  • From Scott Alfter@21:1/5 to Kalevi Kolttonen on Sat May 17 16:41:47 2025
    In article <100a4b3$dohh$1@dont-email.me>,
    Kalevi Kolttonen <kalevi@kolttonen.fi> wrote:
    I just asked chatGPT

    :-P

    whether Apple II floppy disk
    controller card support two drives and it answered
    yes. However, chatGPT claims that I am supposed to
    connect both floppy drives to the controller card
    using a *single* ribbon cable. Can this be true?

    Nope. If you're using period-correct Disk II floppy drives (or workalikes) with the matching controller, there are two 20-pin headers on the controller that will handle one drive each.

    Later 5.25" drives didn't use a ribbon cable, but a round cable ending in a DB-19 plug that plugged into a slightly different controller with a matching jack (or into the floppy connector on a IIGS, IIc, or IIc Plus). A second drive would be daisy-chained off the first (except for the DuoDisk, which
    was daisy-chained internally).

    --
    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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