Zip Technology Hard Card, Apple II

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littlejohn's picture
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Zip Technology Hard Card, Apple II

Hello Everyone,

I am looking for any information on the Zip Technology Hard Card. It is an Apple II internal hard drive like the Focus Drive. Zip made them in the last part of '89 before they closed their doors forever.
I have been led to believe that BurgerBill (aka Bill Heineman) did the original design. After Zip quit, I believe Steve Parsons - Parsons Engineering sold the cards.
In a post from 1995, in CSA2, Todd P. Whitesel states that he had the software disk for the Zip Hard card. But I have been unable to contact any of the above people.

I have 2 of these cards, 2 working cards, 1 working drive. I would like to be able to format a drive to have both working.

Picture of my card are here:
http://www.downloads.reactivemicro.com/Public/Apple%20II%20Items/Hardware/ZIP_DRIVE/Pics/Zip2.jpg

littlejohn's picture
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ZipDriveGS

To answer my own post.
I am continuing to search for information on this card. I now have the manual that shipped with this card.

IMAGE(http://8bitsystem.com/AppleII/ZIP%20Drive%20-%20Front.jpg)

Still looking for software...

gsmcten's picture
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Zip Drive

James,

I cannot promise you that I have anything other than a card. I'll check my stash and see if I come up with anything. I'm pretty sure there was a manual and software, but I'm not sure.

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Does ProDOS see it, at least

Does ProDOS see it, at least the first partition? It looks like it has a ROM on it, so it would make sense that it should show up as at least a SmartPort device. You could format it using the ProDOS utilities. Also, since this is a Conner drive from the late 80's, it would be difficult to find another working drive (or one that would work for much longer). You might try an IDE->CF adapter and plug in a CF card of similar size and see if it doesn't work. It would be a nice setup if it did,

Dave...

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Zip Drive

James,

I'm sorry...The ones that I have in the dark, dank, recesses of the stash are Focus Drives, not Zip's. I would have liked to have been able to help on this. If I hear or see anything in my internet travels, you will be the first to know. Smile

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Re: Does ProDOS see it, at least

Does ProDOS see it, at least the first partition? It looks like it has a ROM on it, so it would make sense that it should show up as at least a SmartPort device. You could format it using the ProDOS utilities. Also, since this is a Conner drive from the late 80's, it would be difficult to find another working drive (or one that would work for much longer). You might try an IDE->CF adapter and plug in a CF card of similar size and see if it doesn't work. It would be a nice setup if it did,

Dave...

Yes, ProDos does see it, and I have system 6.0.1 installed and running. The problem is, without the software that is on missing disks, you can not format another drive/CF to work on the card.
So, the search goes on....

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James, I have come to the

James,

I have come to the conclusion that your best bet would be to contact Rich Dreher:

http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

He may be able to point you in the right direction.

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Joined: May 26 2009 - 14:53
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Still Looking?

To answer my own post.
I am continuing to search for information on this card. I now have the manual that shipped with this card.

IMAGE(http://8bitsystem.com/AppleII/ZIP%20Drive%20-%20Front.jpg)

I tried the link to get a copy of the manual and it seems to be pointing to a different location. Do you still have the manual available? I just acquired a ZipDrive GS with no documentation nor software, so any help would be most appreciated!

Still looking for software...

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