romero@mind.UUCP (Antonio Romero) (11/13/87)
Anyone out there remember a product on the market quite some time ago which supposedly allowed one to read and write Apple II 5 1/4'' disks on an IBM PC? I'm doing some cross development from an IBM PC to an Apple and am getting tired of sending my executables over a 9600 baud serial line every time I make a minor bug fix... I spend about half of my work day waiting for these things to go through. If anyone knows anything about such a product please send e-mail to romero@mind.Princeton.EDU or romero@psycho.Princeton.EDU. Please mail rather than post, since I'm almost never on these days... Thanks very much. -Antonio Romero
acm@bu-cs.BU.EDU (ACM) (11/18/87)
In article <1364@mind.UUCP> romero@mind.UUCP (Antonio Romero) writes: >Anyone out there remember a product on the market quite some time ago >which supposedly allowed one to read and write Apple II 5 1/4'' disks >on an IBM PC? I'm doing some cross development from an IBM PC to an >Apple and am getting tired of sending my executables over a 9600 baud >serial line every time I make a minor bug fix... >I spend about half of my work day waiting for these things to go through. >If anyone knows anything about such a product please send e-mail to >romero@mind.Princeton.EDU or romero@psycho.Princeton.EDU. Please >mail rather than post, since I'm almost never on these days... I think that this actually might be a good thing to post about. I do, indeed, remember a product that allowed you to transfer files between an IBM PC and an Apple. It was basically a controller card for a Disk II and software to run it. I cannot remember who put it out or how much it cost, or even if the company that made them is still in business. Perhaps another netter has better information. Someone is undoubtably going to say "well why not just use the drive in the PC, with special software?". Before they do, here's why you can't. The PC drives use MFM format, a way of putting the signal on the disk (related to the FM signal used by radios). Apple drives use a format called GCD. They are not compatible. Now there's some interesting stuff about that. GCD format (at least in my experience) is somewhat more reliable than either MFM or FM. It's somewhat more complicated to work with, however. Anyone looking through the Apple DOS 3.3 or ProDos code will agree with me there :-). I can't remember a whole lot about either method but if you check out the Byte magazine issue that was devoted to disks, there was considerable information in there. This issue was a couple of years ago but should be easy to find by either inspection of the issues or through the microfiche cross-reference that every library seems to have nowadays. Anyway, because of this difference in basic format, there is no way either type of drive can read the other. You need both a different drive and a different controller, which is somewhat expensive. Also, there is limited demand -- how many people actually need to do this sort of thing? My guess is it's not that many so either the price will be high or the company will be gone. Good luck, though. Hope this is informative and maybe it'll even help someone. jim frost madd@bucsf.bu.edu
wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (11/19/87)
In article <16100@bu-cs.BU.EDU>, acm@bu-cs.BU.EDU (ACM) writes: > In article <1364@mind.UUCP> romero@mind.UUCP (Antonio Romero) writes: > >Anyone out there remember a product on the market quite some time ago > >which supposedly allowed one to read and write Apple II 5 1/4'' disks > >on an IBM PC? > > Anyway, because of this difference in basic format, there is no way > either type of drive can read the other. You need both a different > drive and a different controller, which is somewhat expensive. Also, > there is limited demand -- how many people actually need to do this > sort of thing? My guess is it's not that many so either the price > will be high or the company will be gone. Good luck, though. > > > jim frost There is a company named Microsolutions that produces an add-on card for the PC/XT and compatibles that allows you to make your IBM B drive into an Apple II type drive. The package is called Matchpoint and it comes with Uniform. You can still use the drive as an IBM drive as well without any problems. Uniform will allow you to copy almost all CP/M formats including Apple CP/M. I have one in an XT and an AT and it is worth the $195 price Tag. You can call them at 815- 756-3411. Bill Wilson
tang@gumby.wisc.edu (Theodore Tang) (11/21/87)
In article <505@naucse.UUCP>, wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) writes: > There is a company named Microsolutions that produces an > add-on card for the PC/XT and compatibles that allows you to > make your IBM B drive into an Apple II type drive. The > package is called Matchpoint and it comes with Uniform. > Uniform will allow you to copy almost all CP/M formats > including Apple CP/M. I have one in an XT and an AT and > it is worth the $195 price Tag. You can call them at 815- > 756-3411. I have an expansion card from QuadRAM called the Quadlink. It is an Apple co-processor board that can run Apple programs using your existing IBM hardware. It costs $300. The format exchange is just a minor feature of this product. tang@gumby.wisc.edu
walt_waldo_novinger@cup.portal.com (11/24/87)
Several articles have been posted requesting info on reading Apple diskettes on PCs. I have heard from California Electronics that they have bought out the entire stock of a company which made just such a device. I can't remember much about it (don't own an Apple), but if you call ED at (714) 992-6011, he will be able to help you. Last I heard he had about 100 of the gizzmos. Good luck! ====================================================================== Walt Novinger sun!cup.portal.com!waldo /\ /\ InterFile Corp. waldo@cup.portal.com () () 755 N. Mary Ave. (408) 738-3900 W ~~ Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (415) 964-9377 H (( ))
ccoprrd@pyr.gatech.EDU (Richard Dervan) (11/26/87)
Radio Shack now has an Apple Emulator for their 1000SX (I think). I'm
not sure if it will work on PC's ot Compatibles, but it wouldn't hurt
to give them a call and ask. I forgot the name of the board, but a
computer rep should know what you're talking about.
Richard
--
Richard Dervan - Office of Computing Services
Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
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