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  • FlashPath floppy flash memory adapter (IIGS?)

    From supertimer@supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, July 14, 2003 08:03:06
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    I noticed there is a flash memory adapter for
    floppy disk drives called FlashPath. There
    are versions for Compact Flash, Memory
    Stick, and SmartMedia cards.

    You plug the flash memory into the floppy
    adapter and the adapter into a PC or Mac's
    floppy drive and from the desktop you can
    access the flash memory as a disk drive.

    Would it be possible for a GS/OS driver to
    be written to support this adapter?

    In the PC world, this adapter is great for
    computers running Windows 95 which did
    not fully support USB. If a GS/OS driver
    could be written, just think of the storage
    possibilities. A 256MB flash card could
    replace a hard disk drive for IIGS storage.
    An entire System 6.0.1 plus practically
    all the useful IIGS software in existance
    can almost fit onto one of these memory
    cards.
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  • From mjmahon@mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon) to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, July 14, 2003 08:13:01
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    Supertimer wrote:

    I noticed there is a flash memory adapter for
    floppy disk drives called FlashPath. There
    are versions for Compact Flash, Memory
    Stick, and SmartMedia cards.

    You plug the flash memory into the floppy
    adapter and the adapter into a PC or Mac's
    floppy drive and from the desktop you can
    access the flash memory as a disk drive.

    Would it be possible for a GS/OS driver to
    be written to support this adapter?

    Maybe for a Superdisk 3.5" Controller-equipped IIgs,
    with a Superdisk. I expect that it communicates
    to the PC using HD MFM signalling.

    And it apparently takes quite a driver even on a PC.
    (The one I have certainly didn't "look" like a floppy
    without a good-sized driver being installed.)

    In the PC world, this adapter is great for
    computers running Windows 95 which did
    not fully support USB. If a GS/OS driver
    could be written, just think of the storage
    possibilities. A 256MB flash card could
    replace a hard disk drive for IIGS storage.
    An entire System 6.0.1 plus practically
    all the useful IIGS software in existance
    can almost fit onto one of these memory
    cards.

    This would, of course, require that the driver support
    partitions. The SmartMedia all seem to use the FAT-12
    disk format, and I presume that the FlashPath adapter
    passes this along to the host.

    FWIW, I was thoroughly unimpressed with its speed,
    as well. It's about floppy speed, which is a real come-down
    after using even a USB 1.0 card reader.

    -michael

    Check out amazing quality 8-bit Apple sound on my
    Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From willi@willi@wilserv.com (Willi Kusche) to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, July 14, 2003 11:39:09
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    Hi!

    Supertimer wrote:
    I noticed there is a flash memory adapter for
    floppy disk drives called FlashPath. There
    are versions for Compact Flash, Memory
    Stick, and SmartMedia cards.

    I have a friend with one of those adaptors. I'll have to borrow
    it and see what happens when I try to read a 64MB SmartMedia card that
    has two 32MB ProDOS partitions on it that I created with an Apple DMA
    SCSI card and a SCSI card reader/writer.

    Willi
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113