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For a superior Apple 2 experience I recommend this.

Oooh. I have one of those.

Oh wait. It's a CFFA, not a CFAA.

There's a well-established project called CFFA that lets Apple II+, IIe, IIe enhanced, and IIgs computers use a CF card as if it were a floppy, though the current run is sold out... From what I've heard, it's definitely worth buying for someone that can afford the $150 and uses the system even periodically, since CFFA lets them back up all of their floppy disks before they fail.

Why go to all the trouble of hardware hacks and improvements on technology that is that old?

Because it's fun?

Compact Flash card for Apple IIs: http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php
(I have no connection, though a friend has written some of the drivers)

AFAIK, CF cards are basically IDE.. that's why the Apple II Card does both CF & IDE.. http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

So if you already have an IDE controller, I am under the impression that the 'adapter' is fairly simple.

For convenience, instead of using the CFFA's onboard CompactFlash slot, I'd get an IDE-to-CF adapter and connect it to the CFFA with an IDE cable.

..and you can get compact flash cards for actual Apple IIs too http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

Well, there are people who have built Compact Flash adapters for use with Apple IIs (and presumably other personal computers). One such one is
http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

It's not exactly what you ask for, but you can already buy CompactFlash cards for Apple IIs.
http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

My first thought was "What does .Net have to do with 'programming' little memory cards for Digital cams/PDAs/Apple // computers?"

I've read quite a few comments from people speculating that a particular filesystem (fat32) will cause issues because all the wear is concentrated in the FAT sectors, etc. This just isn't the case because the card will do wear-leveling in hardware, including replacing bad blocks with good blocks from a spare pool. Other interfaces (Mem Stick/MMC/SD/SM) do not have this advantage, as CF has a built-in intelligent controller to manage this behavior. The others allow direct access to sectors, and thus it is possible to "burn" a particular sector by writing to it repeatedly.

Here's a link to a FAQ about a CF interface for the Apple II, which discusses the issue (or lack thereof): http://dreher.net/CFforAppleII/FAQ.html

Here's a link to a maker of CF controllers and a description of their features: http://www.mittoni.com/compactflash/article5.html

Yikes!!!! $155 for a network card for a IIgs? The machine itself is probably worth around $25!

Indeed...the price they're asking for that card is nothing short of ridiculous, considering that good PC network cards (I'm thinking 10/100 here; I'm not experienced with gigabit cards) rarely go for more than $50 these days, and can be found for $10-20 or so if you're willing to deal with Realtek chips and the like.

Considering the fact that the IIgs really isn't fast enough to appreciate Ethernet, and has a serial-based networking system built in (LocalTalk) that's actually decently fast for a computer of its power and age, and can be bridged to Ethernet for cheap (someone's already mentioned the GatorBoxes on eBay), I'd skip it...and spend that $150 on a CF memory card and adapter. :D

-lee

From MacSlash, today's issue:

Compact Flash in Your Apple II

CrazyJoel writes "I found this on woz.org. And it seemed pretty neat. Basically, the guy figured out a way to put mass storage devices like compact flash on an Apple II."

Why would one do such a thing? The geek in question explains:
My reasoning for this project is described in detail in the Background section, but suffice it to say, I wanted to be able to pull out my old Apple II and use it from time to time to reminisce about the early days of personal computers. I wanted a reliable way to store my Apple II programs and data files for many years to come. Due to the long term reliability prospects of floppy drives, and my general laziness, I decided a mass storage device is what I needed.

Its a 64mb flash card