New Product Release: Dual 5.25 Adapter for Disk II, and Apple IIc Drive Switcher 2.0
Today Big Mess o’ Wires is releasing two new products for use with the BMOW Floppy Emu disk emulator for Apple computers. Remember the dual 5.25 inch floppy emulation mode that was announced back in February? It gave the Floppy Emu Model C hardware the ability to emulate two 5.25 inch drives at once, which is great for two-disk games and for reducing disk swapping. But sadly the Apple IIc and the Disk II Interface Controller card both lack the I/O signals required to control two drives over one cable. I hinted that adapter solutions might be coming soon; now here they are!
The Internal/External Drive Switcher is a two-piece adapter for the Apple IIc, providing an easy way to select which floppy drive will act as Drive 1. This new version 2.0 of the Switcher also adds optional support for dual 5.25 inch floppy emulation. Like the original 1.0 version, it’s a great convenience option for the IIc, which normally can only boot from its internal 5.25 inch floppy drive. Now IIc owners have three options:
| BEHAVIOR | SWITCH ONE | SWITCH TWO |
|---|---|---|
| Swapped Mode Drive 1 is external, Drive 2 is internal |
 |
 |
| Normal Mode Drive 1 is internal, Drive 2 is external, default Apple IIc behavior |
 |
|
| Dual External 5.25 Mode Drive 1 and Drive 2 are external, requires Floppy Emu Model C configured for Dual 5.25 emulation mode |
|
 |
| Invalid setting, do not use | |
|
The Dual 5.25 Adapter for Disk II Interface Card works with the venerable Apple disk controller card found in most Apple II Plus and IIe computers. This disk controller card has two separate 10 x 2 pin rectangular connectors for two separate drives, instead of supporting two daisy-chained drives on a single cable like the later Apple II models. The Dual 5.25 Adapter takes all the I/O signals from the card’s Drive 1 connector, plus a single enable signal from the card’s Drive 2 connector, and merges them together for use by the Floppy Emu. Hello dual 5.25!
Both products are available now at the BMOW Store.
Read 4 comments and join the conversation4 Comments so far
Leave a reply. For customer support issues, please use the Customer Support link instead of writing comments.
If I already have a drive switcher installed in my //c and I order this new one, do I need to replace the tap inside? Or will the new external piece work with the old tap?
The internal tap is functionally the same as before, so you don’t need to replace it. But physically it’s slightly smaller than the old version, and should fit better in some Laser 128 computers.
I just purchased an original Apple //c which came with an external 5.25″ drive and color monitor and would love to use all the old software I had from back in the 80’s. Also located a Rom0 upgrade ROM and plan to do that modification as well so I’ll have 3.5″ Unidisk support.
I do plan to purchase a FloppyEMU (full kit) and would love to know what else I need to get from BMOW to take full advantage of the //c and FloppyEMU. //c Drive switcher? Daisychainer? Both?
Looking forward to your response!
Thanks!
The IIc Drive Switcher is a nice complement for the Floppy Emu if you have an Apple IIc. You probably don’t need the Daisy Chainer, which is mostly useful for longer chains of disk drives like you might find on an Apple IIgs.