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CFFA3000 PREORDERS OPEN AS OF 3PM TODAY!


eightbit

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I wonder why no one has made a firmware for the //e that can specify which slot boots first.

 

The CFFA3000 boots into a menu that lets you specify the boot slot. That's how you can boot a hard drive image versus a floppy image (7 versus 6, for instance).

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Yes of course. I was thinking back to the days when I had a Sider 10MB HDD in slot 7 and Disk II in slot 6. I always had to interrupt the system on power up and do PR#6 to boot a game. Or write a simple program that ran from slot 7, and booted slot 6.

 

10 PR#6

 

..and save it has the hello program on 7.

 

Ehh, it's all amusing what was important back then.

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Well I moved my disk II card to slot 4 tonight as I was in there and had to do some other stuff. Works fine in slot 4. I already have the VGA card in slot 7, so the plan is to have the CFFA3000 in slot 6.

 

According to the manual, the CFFA3000 needs two slots for full functionality. The slot it resides in (in my case 6) for hard drive emulation, and one more slot (in my case slot 5) empty for disk II emulation. And the real disk II card in slot 4 for real disks. I am fairly certain that this will work.

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I think after the CFFA3000 is installed I won't be running any games from floppy anyway ;) The benefit really of having the card in there at all is so that disks can be copied to the CFFA3000's flash media.

 

Since you have both, how about a VS. thread between this and the bigmessowires floppy emu? :idea: :grin:

 

I'm on the fence for both (but really to buy one or the other). Especially for the limited time availability of the CFFA3000.

 

Like, the floppy EMU, I can use with any apple with a floppy port (int. or ext.).

But, The the CFFA interfaces directly with a card slot. So, does mean faster read write speeds?

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There's a good video on youtube from JCM comparing the devices here:

 

 

 

Each has its ups and downs. But out of all of them the CFFA3000 hands down. The FloppyEmu is an excellent device, but the only drawback (for me) is having to use the tiny screen to navigate disks. With the CFFA3000 you get a nice on screen interface where you can easily browse hundreds of images and easily mount and unmount them. It saves the last mounted image so when you turn it back on you are using what you used last, you can create blank disks, image real disks to the USB or CF, use both the CF and USB at the same time, set up a hard disk...just a lot of great stuff. It is especially useful in a IIGS as you can jump into the CFFA3000 menu at any time. There's just no other device like it. I would buy this right now over anything else as it is the last run and these things tend to go for stupid amounts of money when they are no longer available.

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There's just no other device like it. I would buy this right now over anything else as it is the last run and these things tend to go for stupid amounts of money when they are no longer available.

Thats what I was mostly wondering. Most Of these apple II add-ons are around for a couple years, then seem to disappear.

Bit the bullet and per-ordered.

Now I just have to get my IIgs up and running.

Good thing I just did my taxes - now I have to hurry up and wait for my return.

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I thought that I posted this already, but it doesn't appear in the replies, so I guess not. Using the Disk II controller in a different slot works fine. No conflicts and I can use the Smartport, Virtual Disk, and Disk II any time I want. Here's how I have everything hooked up for now in my Apple IIe Platinum:

 

SLOTS
1 - Super Serial
2 - Echo II
3 - Extended 80 column (reported, empty)
4 - Mockingboard v2.1 with two speech chips
5 - Disk II card
6 - (CFFA3000 v1.3 Virtual Disk II Card, empty)
7 - CFFA3000 v1.3
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Well, according to Rich's website he had 341 boards as of 3/3. Yeah, there should be more than enough to go around. If anyone interested in this device misses this run I would be surprised. Can't wait to add one to my IIe :) I ordered a remote as well. I have one but it is from a much earlier batch that has no casing...so I figured what the hey.

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Paid but waiting on shipping. I am getting one for my IIGS to replace the Microdrive. Pondering getting another one for the IIe. Worth it or just stick with the Floppy EMU? The IIe has the VGA card in slot 7.

Edited by Arnuphis
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Paid but waiting on shipping. I am getting one for my IIGS to replace the Microdrive. Pondering getting another one for the IIe. Worth it or just stick with the Floppy EMU? The IIe has the VGA card in slot 7.

I have the same setup. I have one in my IIGS now and ordered another for my IIe. I also have a VGA card in slot 7, so the CFFA will sit in slot 6 and I am keeping slot 5 open for the virtual drive. Slot 4 has a real floppy controller.

 

I have a FloppyEmu as well and it is a great product, but the CFFA3000 just does a lot more and is better navigating around images. I prefer it WAY over the FloppyEMU. My FloppyEMU is now re-flashed for use with a Mac instead.

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Finally bit the bullet and ordered one. :)

 

I don't really need it for my II+ or //e since I have boatloads of floppies for them already, but I decided it would be great to have one for my IIGS. It's tough finding software for it, and for some reason I've had bad luck with drives for it, so even ADTPro doesn't help me much there. Up to this point (or rather, up to the point I finally receive it and configure it and get it up and running :P), my IIGS has essentially just been a fancy //e.

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Just received confirmation my CFFA3000 and remote has shipped. Should be here in a couple of days. The wait time is not all that bad. He is shipping 50-100 every Monday.

 

Yep...me too! Looking forward to getting mine this week. Oh, and Eightbit, I managed to snag a copy of BoP 1990 for the Apple IIgs for 99 cents on eBay, so no worries about making me that original BoP disc! BUT, thank you so much for offering and helping with the Setup Disk!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think after the CFFA3000 is installed I won't be running any games from floppy anyway ;) The benefit really of having the card in there at all is so that disks can be copied to the CFFA3000's flash media.

 

 

Could not find a Sherwood Forest image that would work with it. I still keep that one on floppy.

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I have a FloppyEmu as well and it is a great product, but the CFFA3000 just does a lot more and is better navigating around images.

The one thing where I think the Floppy Emu has an advantage is in games that require a lot of disk flipping. I was trying to play Competition Karate the other night (one of my favorites from my youth) and it was *torture* on the CFFA3000. Maybe there's some shortcut that I don't know about, but it seems like the only way to "flip" a disk in the CFFA3000 is to cmd-shift-esc, select the CFFA3000, select "assign disk II volumes", select side 2 of the disk, select drive 1, then esc, select quit without rebooting, and select quit from the control panel menu to get back to the game. That's a pain in the ass to do even once, and Competition Karate and some other games like it require you to do it over and over.

 

This was annoying but not such a hassle with an actual physical disk. It was a lot quicker.

 

Some games also don't let you get into the control panel menu to select the CFFA3000 to eject the disk. I'm not sure what to do in those situations.

 

With the Floppy Emu, I think this same thing is accomplished with 2 or maybe 3 button presses. It's been a while since I used mine, but I'm pretty sure you just press a button to eject the first side image, then select the second side image from the list (which should be just below it, unless you have some crazy naming scheme). In this case, it's an advantage to have an external device with its own screen and controls.

 

Again, please do tell me if there's some shortcut way of doing this on the CFFA3000, because I've decided I just can't play games like Competition Karate with this card otherwise. It's too painful.

 

In other situations, though, you're right that the CFFA3000 is a better experience than the Floppy Emu. I still think the Floppy Emu is a great device, though.

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