Floppy Emu on my IIe - making disk backup

[smalltownguy2]

Picked up a Floppy Emu from Steve this week to use with a recently acquired Apple IIe I got from a friend. 

My system has the monochrome display, and a single 5.25 Unidisk, which works. 

I have a few blank floppies in a box I received with the computer - presumably used to save homework files and such. 

I'd like to erase those floppies and use them to save backups of some of the game disks that are no longer working.

I have the Floppy Emu working, and it loads .dsk images just fine on the IIe.

I'd like to connect both the Unidisk and the Floppy Emu to the IIe and using a program (Copy II Plus?) to make a disk copy of a program, like Oregon Trail, for example.

I'm thinking the only logical way to pull this off would be to hook up the Floppy Emu as slot 6, disk 1 (primary) and the Unidisk as Slot 6, disk 2 (secondary). Run Copy II Plus from the Floppy Emu, and then what? Will the copy program use the slave drive to read and write? Through disk swapping? Or once the program is loaded, can I read from a disk image on the Floppy Emu (slot 1) and write to the Unidisk (slot 2?)

Ideally, I'd like my end result to be a working copy of Oregon Trail on replacement floppy disk. 

I apologize if this is confusing.

 

[Gorgonops]

It is a bit confusing, yes.

Which disk controller does your system have? You say your drive is a Unidisk 5.25, but that used the 19 pin daisy chain connector so I'm not really clear on how you'd be able to set the Floppy Emu as Disk 1 and the Unidisk as Disk 2, since by necessity the floppy emu would be the second drive in the chain. Or is your Unidisk connected via an adapter to the old dual-20-pin Disk II controller, in which case I suppose it would be possible to hook the Floppy Emu to the Disk 1 port.

If the goal is to just make new physical floppy copies of stuff you have disk images of it might be more straightforward to use ADTPro or Apple ][ Disk Server to run off some copies without bothering with the Floppy Emu. The A2 disk server has Oregon Trail available...

 

[smalltownguy2]

Right now, the Unidisk is plugged into the 19 pin connector on the back of the Apple IIe. I've been unplugging it and plugging the Floppy Emu into that. But I'm fairly certain my IIe has the disk controller card inside. If that is the case, then I should be able to plug the Floppy Emu into the 20 pin header on the controller card for "disk 1", and the adapter cable for the back port would be moved to the 20 pin header for "disk 2." Then I could have the Floppy Emu set up as the first disk, and the 5.25 floppy as the 2nd drive.

I tried plugging in the Floppy Emu cable to the daisy chain port on the back of the Unidisk, but there were 2 problems:

1. The connector won't physically fit, because the daisy chain connector is recessed into the plastic housing of the Unidisk. I can't physically fit the connector board in due to clearance issues.

2. Putting the Floppy Emu behind the Unidisk means that the Unidisk will remain the primary disk, and the Floppy Emu will remain secondary. No way I can boot the system from the Floppy Emu that way.

 

[smalltownguy2]

I've been reading about the Apple ][ Disk Server project. Are you kidding me? It's as simple as plugging an audio cord from my laptop into the cassette input on the back of my IIe? That's it? Just type LOAD and it copies the disk for me??

 

[waynestewart]

It's very very rare to have a floppy controller with 20 pin connectors and adapters to 19 pin. In virtually all IIe with a 19 pin connector the cable is permanently attached to the card. Best choice is to either find another floppy controller or a physical disk of a copy program.

 

[smalltownguy2]

It's very very rare to have a floppy controller with 20 pin connectors and adapters to 19 pin. In virtually all IIe with a 19 pin connector the cable is permanently attached to the card. Best choice is to either find another floppy controller or a physical disk of a copy program.

I see. We'll find out shortly. This all might be a moot point if I can get the Disk Server to work correctly.

 

[Gorgonops]

Are you kidding me? It's as simple as plugging an audio cord from my laptop into the cassette input on the back of my IIe?

You don't even have to bother with your laptop, on my II plus I've always used either my Android tablet or a smartphone. Just be sure to crank up the volume control.

The Floppy Emu is a great piece of kit, especially on the Macintosh side, but it does have its limitations on the Apple II end and a big one is its inability to be anywhere but the end of a daisy chain. (As waynestewart noted, the standard 19 pin Apple disk controller has the cable that goes to the back panel soldered to it, there's no 20 pin connector. There *were* adapter cables to use the 19 pin drives with the original 20 pin Disk ][ controller, but they didn't support the daisy chain function so they were mostly useful if you had to, say, replace a single failed member of a pair of Disk ]['s with a newer drive. Cheaper than the alternative, which would be to replace the Disk ][ controller with a 19 pin one and put a cable adapter on the Disk ][, which would of course have to go on the very end of the chain.) This gets particularly irksome with the Apple IIgs, alas.

 

[mac512]

Hi smalltownguy2,

I think your best chance would be to get a second floppy drive controller to which you can connect your FloppyEmu:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Apple-II-Disk-II-drive-controller-card-/322421670093?hash=item4b11d440cd:g:se8AAOSwB-1YogHg

You can use that card to replace your current one and get this connector from reactive_computers to connect your Unidisk:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Apple-II-Disk-II-Controller-to-5-25-Drive-A9M0107-Cable-/291592331387?hash=item43e441e07b:g:i6gAAOSwwbdWIn7i

Hope this help.

Enjoy your IIe!

 

[mac512]

Actually, this adapter is far better:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/APPLE-IIe-IIgs-II-DRIVE-ADAPTER-IDE-20-FEMALE-DISK-to-DB-19-FEMALE-13-/222380003620?hash=item33c6e19124:g:XZsAAOSw-0xYfQzX

 

[smalltownguy2]

Well now. Burned a copy of DOS 3.3 using the disk server, and now I'm formatting disks galore. Good grief! Other than not having to worry about media decay, my floppy Emu may not get touched much now

Time to find an apple color monitor and an imagewriter now!