jackzero
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: will a External 5.25" Floppy Disc Drive - A9M0104 or A9M0107 work with my Macintosh IIcx ?

will a External 5.25" Floppy Disc Drive - A9M0104 or A9M0107 work with my Macintosh IIcx ? please help.

a million thanks in advance!

jack

Macintosh IIcx, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier

Posted on Aug 1, 2013 4:26 PM

by JustSomeGuy,Solvedanswer
JustSomeGuy JustSomeGuy
Level 3 (586 points)
A:

Hi, Jack -

 

No, the external 5.25" disk drives will not work with your IIcx.  There was an adapter card that was essentially an Apple IIe-on-a-card that would use those drives, but that adapter only worked in the Mac LC line.

 

Some reading for you about the various types of Apple disk drives and their compatability:

http://www.vintagemacworld.com/drives.html

 

Was there something specific you wanted to do with 5.25" disks?

Posted on Aug 2, 2013 9:46 AM

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jackzero

Q: will a External 5.25" Floppy Disc Drive - A9M0104 or A9M0107 work with my Macintosh IIcx ?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by JustSomeGuy,Solvedanswer

    JustSomeGuy JustSomeGuy Aug 2, 2013 9:46 AM in response to jackzero
    Level 3 (586 points)
    Aug 2, 2013 9:46 AM in response to jackzero

    Hi, Jack -

     

    No, the external 5.25" disk drives will not work with your IIcx.  There was an adapter card that was essentially an Apple IIe-on-a-card that would use those drives, but that adapter only worked in the Mac LC line.

     

    Some reading for you about the various types of Apple disk drives and their compatability:

    http://www.vintagemacworld.com/drives.html

     

    Was there something specific you wanted to do with 5.25" disks?

  • by jackzero,

    jackzero jackzero Aug 2, 2013 3:15 PM in response to JustSomeGuy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2013 3:15 PM in response to JustSomeGuy

    Hi and thanks for the reply. I grew up on PC's starting with a 286 with dos 3.0. In the last year I bought a Macbook Pro. Mac's are truly far superior to Windows machines and I love mine.

    I mention this because I still get very confused about early Mac's, makes, models, OS's etc.

    I wish I knew as much about Mac's as I do PC's but I don't. I came by a very very nice Macintosh IIcx, mint condition and it has HD video card and an internal 3.5 floppy and an external Iomega Floptical 20 meg floppy.

    I am an avid gamer and wanted to play some old games like Ultimas on my MacIIcx. But all the games on

    Ebay come on 5.25" disks so I normally assumed there must be a 5.25 floppy I could buy.

     

    When I searh for games on ebay all I come up with is Apple II, apparently I don't know squat about the difference

    bertween Macintosh IIcx and Apple II's.

     

    Thank you for that link, I see the (2) drives I originally had a question about except I cannot discern from the descriptions why they don't work with MacIIcx.

    I obviously don't know the differences between and Apple and a Macintosh, i suppose i'll learn over time.

    I am glsd you replied as I almost paid $50 for the 5.25 on eBay, I would have been sad that it didn't work .

     

    If I want play games on this Macintosh IIcx on 3.5 floppy, how should I google that for eBay?

     

    Also... I suppose if i even had a 5.25 floppy that was compatible with IIcx it would not necessarily read those 5.25 floppies anyway?

     

    thanks again for your guidance.

    jack

  • by JustSomeGuy,Helpful

    JustSomeGuy JustSomeGuy Aug 2, 2013 8:57 PM in response to jackzero
    Level 3 (586 points)
    Aug 2, 2013 8:57 PM in response to jackzero

    While there are some things in common between the two machine families ("Apple" made both, both have "II" in the name) but they could not be more different.  Don't look for software based on media type... look for the machine.  Macintosh games, specifically ones that run on MacOS 6 or 7, will be happiest on your IIcx.  And they will all come on 3.5" disks.  (Well, maybe some will come on CD... but that will probably be for MacOS 8 or higher, and likely won't work with your IIfx... MacOS 7.6.1 was the last version it supported.)

     

    Any software coming on 5.25" disks will be for the Apple II, the much older ancestor to the Macintosh line... and a story for another day.

  • by jackzero,

    jackzero jackzero Aug 4, 2013 5:28 AM in response to JustSomeGuy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2013 5:28 AM in response to JustSomeGuy

    Thanks again Guy for the reply.

    Well I understand the Apple and Macintosh differences now, the point being there are differences and I was

    trying to them of them as the same.

     

    My MacIIcx has 7.01 installed on it. I do have 7.5.3 w/ 7.5.5 update diskettes I bought off eBay I may try to install someday.

     

    I would have asked about attaching an external CD but you've answered that already.

    I think I am set now on my understanding, thank you.

     

    cheers

    jack

  • by Jan Hedlund,

    Jan Hedlund Jan Hedlund Aug 5, 2013 8:51 AM in response to jackzero
    Level 6 (9,901 points)
    Aug 5, 2013 8:51 AM in response to jackzero

    Hello jack,

     

    If you so wish, it is possible to use another Mac, or even a Windows PC, to download freeware/shareware programs from the Internet. You could carry out transfers to the Macintosh IIcx on 1.44 MB HD diskettes. Pre-1998 Macs had internal floppy drives. Until about 5-10 years ago, so had many Windows PCs.

     

    If you are using Mac-formatted 1.44 MB floppy disks (which can be read directly by System 7.0.1 on the IIcx), you would need a utility for the handling of Mac disks (such as TransMac) on a Windows PC.

     

    If you have access to the 7.0.1 system disks, you could also look for a program called Apple File Exchange on the Tidbits floppy. This program allows PC-formatted floppies to be read on the IIcx.

     

    Keep all downloaded files as they are (.bin, .hqx or .sit) until on the IIcx. Do not try to decode or decompress anything earlier. Once on the IIcx, use Stuffit Expander to decode/decompress (drag the files onto the StuffIt Expander program icon or open from within the utility).

     

    Without access to an older StuffIt Expander version, you may want to try the method described below:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/21898244#21898244

     

    Freeware/shareware can be found, for example, here:

     

    http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/mac/info-mac/

     

    http://www.umich.edu/~archive/mac/

     

    Jan