ciderpress/hardware.htm
2014-11-19 16:37:18 -08:00

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<h1>CiderPress Hardware Compatibility</h1>
<p>CiderPress can access floppy disks, CD-ROMs, CF cards, hard drives, and other
devices.&nbsp; Whether or not it can do so on your system depends on the
specific set of devices you have and what version of Windows you're running.&nbsp;
<a href="index.htm">Return to main page</a>.</p>
<h3>General Rules</h3>
<ul>
<li>3.5&quot; floppy disks
<ul>
<li>Requires a 3.5&quot; floppy drive in your PC.&nbsp; Works under both
Win98/ME and Win2K/XP.</li>
<li>Only 720KB and 1.4MB PC-format floppy disks are supported.&nbsp;
Apple-format 800KB and 1.6MB disks are not, due to hardware
differences.&nbsp; Apple-format 140K 5.25&quot; disks are not supported
either.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>CompactFlash (CF) cards
<ul>
<li>Requires a CF card reader.</li>
<li>Your ability to read CF cards in CiderPress depends upon your exact
model of reader and which operating system you're running.&nbsp; Check
the compatibility list, below.</li>
<li>Cards can use CFFA fixed-partition format or the custom partitioning
from SHH Systeme's MicroDrive system.</li>
<li>CiderPress does not
currently provide formatting or partitioning facilities.&nbsp; You must
prepare the card on the Apple II.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>CD-ROMs
<ul>
<li>Requires a CD-ROM drive.&nbsp; Internal SCSI and IDE drives have been
tested successfully under Win98/ME and Win2K/XP.&nbsp; External USB
CD-ROM drives may not work.</li>
<li>Works for Macintosh-partitioned CD-ROMs.</li>
<li>CiderPress does not record discs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Hard drives
<ul>
<li>Requires an appropriate interface to connect the hard drive, e.g. you
need a SCSI adapter in your PC to read a SCSI hard drive.</li>
<li>Under Win2K/XP, the device must be recognized by the BIOS (SCSI or
IDE; FireWire might work but has not been tested).</li>
<li>Under Win98/ME, it must be recognized by ASPI (usually SCSI
only).&nbsp; See Win98/ME notes below.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>ZIP drives
<ul>
<li>ZIP disks have been used successfully.&nbsp; Make sure you partition
the disk, e.g. with ADU or RamFAST utilities on the Apple II.&nbsp; If
you insert a blank disk in a IIgs, and let the Finder format it as a
simple ProDOS volume, the disk won't work if you eject and re-insert it.</li>
<li>You may need drivers to use a ZIP drive on a PC.&nbsp; SCSI drives
will probably work without them.</li>
<li>Parallel-port ZIP drives do not work well with CiderPress under
Win9x/ME.&nbsp; You can read from them, but writing fails.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Other devices
<ul>
<li>Insite SCSI &quot;floptical&quot; drives, made popular on the Apple II by
Tulin, have been successfully tested under Win98 and Win2K.&nbsp; No
additional drivers needed on the PC.</li>
<li>Tape drives are not supported.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Win2K/XP
<ul>
<li>You need &quot;administrator&quot; privileges to access devices other
than floppy disk drives.&nbsp; This is a general OS limitation on
low-level access to devices.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Win98/ME
<ul>
<li>Access to CD-ROM drives and hard drives is limited to what your ASPI
layer is capable of handling.&nbsp; &quot;ASPI&quot; is an acronym for
Advanced SCSI Programming Interface, and provides a layer between
applications and SCSI devices.&nbsp; It also provides an interface for
IDE CD-ROM drives, and may work for other devices depending on which
ASPI implementation you have.</li>
<li>Microsoft provides a generic ASPI layer that is commonly replaced when
CD recording software is installed.&nbsp; Adaptec/Roxio provides one
implementation, Ahead's Nero provides another.&nbsp; All of these will
work just fine with CD-ROM drives, but access to other devices may be
affected by the currently installed version.</li>
<li>Your SCSI card must be ASPI-compliant.&nbsp; Nearly all cards
are.&nbsp; Adaptec 2940-series cards have been tested, as have some
older Symbios/LSI Logic cards (e.g. Diamond FirePort).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>As the saying goes, &quot;your mileage may vary&quot;.&nbsp; The only way to
know for certain if something will work is to try it and see.</p>
<h3>CompactFlash Card Reader Compatibility List</h3>
<table border="1" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="33%"><b>Device</b></td>
<td width="33%"><b>Win2K/XP</b></td>
<td width="34%"><b>Win98/ME</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%">Lexar Universal Card Reader (USB, model #GS-UFD-20SA-TP)</td>
<td width="33%"><font color="#008000">Works</font>.&nbsp; Card size in Open
Volume dialog is way off.</td>
<td width="34%"><font color="#FF0000">Does not work</font>.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%">SanDisk ImageMate SDDR-31</td>
<td width="33%"><font color="#008000">Works</font>.</td>
<td width="34%"><font color="#000080">Partially working</font>.&nbsp; Data
can be read, but writes only pretend to succeed.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%">ETI card reader (USB, model # unknown)</td>
<td width="33%">(not tested)</td>
<td width="34%"><font color="#000080">Partially working</font>.&nbsp; Data
can be read, but writes fail.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%">SanDisk 6-in-1 reader</td>
<td width="33%"><font color="#008000">Works</font>.</td>
<td width="34%">(not tested)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%">IBM PCMCIA card adapter</td>
<td width="33%"><font color="#008000">Works</font><font color="#000080">.</font></td>
<td width="34%">(not tested)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%">SanDisk CompactFlash PC Card Adapter (model #SDAD-38-A10)</td>
<td width="33%"><font color="#008000">Works</font><font color="#000080">.</font></td>
<td width="34%">(not tested)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>One common problem in Win98 is refusal by the CF reader driver to allow
access to unrecognized logical volumes (&quot;logical volumes&quot; are lettered
drives, like &quot;C:&quot;).&nbsp; In such cases, the card will not even show
up in the logical volume list.&nbsp; Win2K and WinXP are usually better about
this.</p>
<p>Depending on your hardware and software configuration, you may be able to
open your card reader by name (e.g. &quot;SanDisk Imagemate II Direct-access
device&quot;), rather than drive letter.&nbsp; In this case
you're actually using the ASPI layer to access the device, which is a little
strange since CF card readers aren't SCSI and don't work like CD-ROM
drives.&nbsp; This does appear to work for reading, but fails for writing.&nbsp;
Depending on which ASPI implementation you have installed, writes may be
rejected or may appear to succeed but not actually go through.</p>
<p>Thus far, no fully-functioning CF configuration for Win98/ME has been found.</p>
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