Apple Floppy Drive Cardboard Insert for 128k Computer?

[Mac128]

Did the 128K actually ship with a cardboard insert for the 400K floppy drive? If so, this is the first I've heard of it (which is not saying much).

I know the 800K drives had a head parking problem and required the yellow plastic insert for transportation, but I didn't think this was a problem for the 400Ks as it was not for the 1.44MB drives.

 

[JDW]

That is an interesting artifact (although I myself would never pay the price offered). I owned a Mac 128k when it was brand new in 1984. But I was only 13 then and the unpacking process went rather swiftly. I recall a few things about that day, such as learning how to use the mouse. But I cannot for the life of me remember if the internal drive had that insert or not. Sadly, I don't have the original packaging for that machine to verify. But if was used on the Macintosh to protect the drive head, I don't see why it also would not have been used on the Macintosh XL. Even so, I was not able to Google up anything enlightening. I guess we just need to find a photo of a brand new Mac 128k or XL being unpackaged. (Sadly, most people didn't do that in those days!)

 

[LCGuy]

IIRC a lot of Apple products with floppy drives used a yellow piece of plastic in the shape of a floppy disk. Never heard of that one before though.

 

[macgreg]

The Mac Plus came with a cardboard floppy as well.

I have one - photographed here.

 

[JDW]

Now that Mac Plus fake cardboard disk is nifty!

So Apple began using those just before the yellow plastic inserts then? Curious what the 512ke used in its 800k drive.

 

[Mac128]

Now that Mac Plus fake cardboard disk is nifty! So Apple began using those just before the yellow plastic inserts then? Curious what the 512ke used in its 800k drive.

Hmmmm. Was that floppy "pamphlet" actually shipped in the drive? So the drive ejects it when powered on? If it's a pamphlet I assume once opened it would cause problems if reinserted into the drive? I can certainly understand Apple shipping a pamphlet about the drive since it was revolutionary in the Mac world, both introducing HFS and double-sided disks, not to mention incompatibilities with existing Macintosh 400K disks. Love to get a look at the contents.

Here's my problem: the 800K UniDisk drive came out in September '85. Since the 800K drives had this head parking problem, the drives had to be shipped with a dummy disk. Whether they discovered this before or after they began shipping the UniDisk drive is unknown, but it would have required an insert eventually. EDIT: The UniDisk manual says to remove the packing disk and discard, suggesting it may have been cardboard.[/E] I always assumed it was the yellow plastic one, for the main reason that I have an original beige 800K External Drive for the Mac in the original packaging and it came with the yellow disk. Since this drive was sold only between January 86 and September 86, when the Apple 3.5" Drive was released, did it always ship with the yellow disk or did it begin with the cardboard disk? So, at what point did APple switch to the yellow disk with all products?

Again, I was not aware the 400K drives ever shipped with a disk insert, since the heads of a 400K disk did not have this problem.

 

[JDW]

And while we are on the subject, I would like to pose one further question...

Who sold 1-sided cleaning floppies in the era of 400k floppy drives? Most of you know that 2-sided cleaning disks cannot be used as they would shred that poor felt pressure pad inside the 400k drive. I've read about these single-sided cleaning disks in old documentation, but I don't recall who sold them. I've never seen one pop up on EBAY either. Sure would be nice to have one of those as I loath cracking open the case to manually clean the head (which is the only realistic way of doing the cleaning job without a cleaning floppy).

 

[slomacuser]

I think that is not the same cardboard they are talking about. The one that came with plus on your pictures was not in the floppy drive but used as advertisment ...

The Mac Plus came with a cardboard floppy as well.I have one - photographed here.

 

[shred]

The Australian Mac Pluses - at least the later ones came with the yellow transport sheets (affectionately known at the time as "the piece of cheese"). I only recall them shipping with 800k drives.

I can't find it now, but I'm almost certain there was a technical advisory after the 1.4MB drives started becoming popular advising against putting the yellow disks in them. Apparently it could, under some circumstances damage the 1.4MB mechanism and some users were sticking the 800k transport sheets into their 1.4MB drives - even though the machine hadn't shipped with anything like that originally.

 

[Rasmus]

I'm pretty sure the cardboard insert shown in that sale was never part of the 128K or any early Macintosh packaging. I certainly don't remember anything like it.

I guess there's a long-shot chance that the Sony drives that shipped to Apple for use inside the Macintosh came with these (i.e., Apple removed them during the manufacturing process), but I'd rate that highly unlikely. I've always thought the yellow plastic inserts were produced by Sony and came from Japan (IIRC, they don't have Apple part numbers).

So the cardboard insert probably belongs to something else. The good-quality Japanese typography would seem to indicate a Japanese origin. My guess is that this has nothing to do with Apple and the seller has made a faulty assumption based on it being part of a cache of early Apple stuff he or she bought. It may have come with a third-party external drive.

 

[macgreg]

I have no idea if the cardboard floppy came in the drive - I would have thought not as the cardboard could foul the mechanism too easily. I know the yellow plastic fake disk did - I think I have one in the shed...

 

[JDW]

shred & macgreg speak of damage to the floppy drive in cases where the yellow "cheese" is used. I would like to know the "technical" reason for such damage. For indeed, if the heads could be damaged, why then did Apple ship so many of those plastic inserts?!

As to whether or not a cardboard floppy came with the Mac 128k, perhaps one of the brave among us could ask the seller what evidence he has to prove it did come with the 128k? I am very curious, but I doubt this particular seller would appreciate a query from me. :I

(I'm also still very curious about single-sided cleaning disks!)

 

[equill]

An interesting codicil to the Item linked above is that, as of this moment (13:55 Tue 13 Jan 2009 GMT) the relevant selling page discloses the curt

'This item has ended.'

without any comment as to a sale or a withdrawal.

de

Correction. Further down the page is the statement: 'The seller ended this listing early because the item is no longer available for sale.'

 

[JDW]

Quite interesting indeed, Equil. Someone on EBAY is clearning reading this thread, it would seem. 8-o

Well, I don't feel it came with the 128k Mac. I say this because the photo shows Japanese text on the insert. Apple didn't seriously begin addressing the Japanese market until KanjiTalk came on the scene, long after the 128k. I am more inclined to believe this was the manufacturer's insert for a floppy drive, with the manufacturer being a Japanese company.

 

[Rasmus]

Also, I'm not even sure that cardboard insert, with that strip that sticks out the back of it, would even fit into a Sony OA-D34V-series single-sided drive (i.e., the drive used in the 128K and 512K).

Been a while since I opened one of these up, and I'm too lazy to do it now, but I don't remember a place for that strip to go...

 

[equill]

My yeller-feller, piece o' cheese or whatever claims, on the reverse or hub side, MADE IN JAPAN and 5 in separate incuse mouldings. '5' may be a mould identification or a revision number.

On the obverse or label side is moulded relief text in Japanese, English and French. Apart from the quaint English syntax ('Insert this sheet under transportation.'), there is no statement of purpose, maker or (Apple or other) model or part number.

My memory, dimly through the mists of time, is that the 'sheet' came to me in a superdrive FDD with one-or-other Compact AIO, so long after production of all Compact AIOs had ceased as to be entirely unindicative of anything but its presence.

de

 

[slomacuser]

Apple Plus manual where you can find out that Plus cardboard is just a flyer

http://www.shrani.si/f/41/aE/4t5wfHnA/p1010132.jpg

800K Drive manual saying about protective yellow disk (©1985)

http://www.shrani.si/f/2S/6B/1uyiXIB/p1010134.jpg

http://www.shrani.si/f/S/LV/3RTkWVdN/p1010135.jpg

 

[Mac128]

Most of you know that 2-sided cleaning disks cannot be used as they would shred that poor felt pressure pad inside the 400k drive. I've read about these single-sided cleaning disks in old documentation, but I don't recall who sold them. I've never seen one pop up on EBAY either. Sure would be nice to have one of those as I loath cracking open the case to manually clean the head (which is the only realistic way of doing the cleaning job without a cleaning floppy).

Hmmm. I assume you use the double-sided variety without penalty in your 800K & SuperDrives? Obviously you are correct concerning the 400K drive issues, but I have always been trained to only manually clean my tape heads with an alcohol solution and lint free applicator. The rationale being that the commercial cleaners can easily damage the heads. I have applied this logic to VHS, cassette and floppy drive heads (though the latter is more because I never cleaned a drive head until I began repairing my vintage Macs, I certainly did not do this in practical application when the Macs were new). Many friends warned me NOT to use the floppy disk cleaner kits popularly sold in the late 80s and 90s by such vendors as Memorex in particular. I suspect much of the problems which arose was from using them without properly lubricating the cleaning surfaces or in cheap or defective drives in which the heads were already poorly mounted or aligned, but still, this was the prevailing wisdom I grew up with. Urban legend, or substance?

As to the 400K drive cleaner, I wonder if you could open up a double-sided cleaner and mount the cleaning surface onto a standard disk and reassemble. That way, a smooth surface would glide over the pad, while a cleaning surface would scrub the head. The disk would only be slightly thicker and likely negligible in terms of operation.

As for robert2d3d's retraction of the item which inspired this thread, I will not speculate further to prevent any hint of libel. ;-)

 

[Charlieman]

As to the 400K drive cleaner, I wonder if you could open up a double-sided cleaner and mount the cleaning surface onto a standard disk and reassemble. That way, a smooth surface would glide over the pad, while a cleaning surface would scrub the head. The disk would only be slightly thicker and likely negligible in terms of operation.

That would work: 5.25" disk cleaning kits employed a disk with a pop-out on the lower side, so that they would work with single or double head drives. You can make your own, as long as it doesn't foul the drive mechanism.

Is there any mention of a disk drive preserver on the 128K packing list -- from memory, I think not. Single head drives don't need a lot of protection, because the head can only bounce off a felt pad.

The description of 3.5" drive packing materials for shipping is in the service manual copy that I sent you a few months ago, Mac128 ;-)