5
Introduction to the CFFA3000
The Compact Flash for Apple (CFFA) 3000 is an Apple II expansion card that takes modern, solid-
state USB and CompactFlash storage and makes it accessible to the Apple. This keeps you from
needing a physical hard drive with spinning platters, or even floppy disks with delicate Mylar film.
The CFFA3000 can take the place of both kinds of devices.
The CFFA3000 occupies one slot of your Apple II, Apple II+, Apple //e, or Apple II
GS
. When
configured to offer both SmartPort devices and Disk II devices, the CFFA3000 appears to the Apple
II to be inserted in two separate slots: the physical slot it actually occupies, and the virtual Disk II slot
you choose (typically slot 6). The slot you choose as a virtual Disk II card should not contain a real
card. If using an Apple II
GS
the virtual slot should be configured as ―Your Card‖ under Slots menu of
the Control Panel.
There are many ways the CFFA3000 can be useful. Some interesting scenarios:
Acting as a hard drive
: ProDOS has the ability to use one or more hard drives up to 32
megabytes in size. Configuring the CFFA3000 with a hard drive image in the SmartPort will allow
you to format it and copy files to it just like a real hard drive. Copying the files named PRODOS
and BASIC.SYSTEM from any ProDOS system disk will make the CFFA3000 bootable in that
slot.
Acting as a disk II drive
: Floppy disk images that you create yourself or find on the Internet can
be used on the CFFA3000, just the same way you might use them on an emulator
—except you‘ll
be running them on a real Apple II. Configure the CFFA3000 to host a virtual Disk II adapter in
whatever slot is convenient (slot 6 is of course typical for a Disk II). The virtual Disk II adapter
slot you choose can either be the same slot as the CFFA3000 is inserted into, which would
disable the SmartPort capability - or it can be any other unoccupied slot in your Apple so you
retain the SmartPort capability.
Making backup copies of disks
: You can use your normal Disk II card in slot 6, and configure
the CFFA3000 to act as a second Disk II controller in slot 7. You can then use any Disk II
copying software to copy from slot 6 to slot 7. The resulting disk image files on the CFFA3000
will be backups of the physical disks. Many Apple II-based tools (i.e. COPYA, Copy II+, etc.) that
can successfully copy a disk in the real world will be able to copy to a disk image hosted on the
CFFA3000.
The CFFA also has the ability to ―capture‖ an image of any ProDOS or SmartPort
drive (including physical Disk II drives) existing in the system.
Speeding up disk access
: Disk operations can be sped up in two ways: by default, an RWTS
―patch‖ is active (signified by a quick double-beep during startup) that speeds up Disk II
operations significantly under the DOS operating system. Another speedup can be realized by
assigning what would normally be used as a Disk II image as a SmartPort device, also realizing
a significant speedup
– this is especially useful for ProDOS disk images.
