How to prepare SD cards for the AppleIISd

Here is how to prepare SD cards for use with my AppleIISd. Please be aware, that the AppleIISd does not use the FAT format like other SD or CF storage solutions does, it uses the ProDOS format directly. This means that you can not simply take a ProDOS image and drop it to the card in the Windows Explorer, it has to be written using CiderPress.

1. Open CiderPress in Admin mode (Right-click on Icon, "Open as Administrator").
2. Select "Volume copier" from the icon bar or select "Tools -> Volume copier (open volume)" from the menu.
3. Make sure that "Open as read-only" is deselected. Select the SD card's logical volume from the list. Triple check that you have selected the correct volume and don't come crying when your PC has only a ProDOS volume left to boot 😉


4. When you open an SD card for the first time like this it might show an MS-DOS volume with SD card's size. This gives you an opportunity to check again! Select the volume and click "Load from file" to copy a ProDOS image file to the card.


5. The list will now display a partition map of multiple (empty) ProDOS volumes. Copy other images, if you like. The card is now ready for use in the AppleIISd. Make sure to eject it properly using the task bar icon. 


If you want the card to be bootable, the first partition has to have a "PRODOS" file and a "*.SYSTEM" file. Here is the link to a bootable image: ProFile.zip

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 16, 2018 at 3:19 PM

    Hi,

    Will this work on an Apple II Europlus with 64K?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. bluemeanieMarch 18, 2018 at 8:48 AM

      Hi, at the moment only the IIe enhanced and the IIgs are supported.
      I don't have too much time right now, but it should not be too much work to support all other Apple II systems.

      Delete
  2. bluemeanieJune 8, 2018 at 2:38 PM

    The smallest card size that Ciderpress supports for this approach is 256 MB. The reason is simple: a 128 MB card is not large enough to hold four 32 MB ProDOS volumes, because in reality the card has less than 128 MB. That is why Ciderpress does not give the 4-6 partition CFFA option.

    ReplyDelete

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