5.25" Drives for PC Transporter + KB Adapter Details?

[GameGeezer]

As i recall, the PC Transporter required weird, proprietary AE drives, but it has an MFM connector on it. Is it possible to use normal MFM drives on the thing? Also, is there a schematic for the 5.25" AE drives so that i can build them?

 

I could also use a schematic for the //e KB adapter. I had a PC Transporter in a standard //gs, but I am considering putting one in my //e->//gs system, as an aux way to use soe old DOS stuff. (Essentially, to save some space on my racks.)

 

I have the ColourSwitcher and all of the rest of the kit, but I do not have the //e KB adapter, nor the 5.25" drives. I am of course open to buying or trading for original kit if needed, but this stuff shouldn't be too complex to build on a breadboard. 

[DeathAdderSF]

PC Transporter can use standard 800kb Apple II floppy drives. Just connect one to the included drive cable. You then format your floppies to 720kb on the PC, write an MS-DOS install disk image to one, and you can then boot to MS-DOS, format and configure your hard drive volumes, etc. That's what I do, and what I'd recommend you do, instead of seeking out AE's now elusive and expensive TransDrives.

 

As for the pinouts, a Google search for "pc transporter keyboard pinout apple" yielded them as the top result. Try it!

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by DeathAdderSF

[GameGeezer]

I expect that he means 5.25 diskettes.

 

Aye, there exists a schematic to use them, but as I cannot attest to its reliability, I also won't post it.

 

AE expected you to buy their kit. I can try to document an actual AE drive, but it won't be any time soon.