norman@sdics.ucsd.EDU (Donald A. Norman) (12/26/87)
The program "Apple File exchange," which Apple now provides on the
system disks, looks like it should do convert diskettes or files from
Mac format to MS-DOS format. (It also claims to convert between
PRODOS (for the Apple II) and Mac.)
But the MS-DOS menu items are always dimmed. If I insert an
unformatted diskette, I can format it for the Mac or for PRODOS, but
the MS-DOS option is dimmed. Similarly, if I format a diskette for
MS-DOS (using an IBM clone, of course) , Apple File exchange says it
is an unreadable diskette and refuses to handle it. (With a PRODS
formatted diskette, it works just as advertised.)
Am I doing something worng, or is the program not really working as
advertised. There is a tiny amount of on-screen documentation. But I
can't find any printed documntation (it is suposed to be in the
Utilities manual, but it ain't).
Hypothesis 1: Apple hasn't yet gotten around to impoementing the
MS-DOS translation rountines, so the program is realy vaporware.
Hypothesis 2: I am doing something wrong, like not holding down the
hyper-shift-command key while triple clicking.
Anybody know the answer? (I have version 1.0.1)
(The Prodos conversion routines seem to work. They even come with
tear-off menus, as in Hypercard, except there is absolutely no
functionality to them except to show the cleverness of the programmer.
Apple: your user interface guidelines are slipping again. To say
nothing of your creditbility if it turns out that you haven't
implemented the MS-DOS conversion reoutines yet.)
don norman
Donald A. Norman
Institute for Cognitive Science C-015
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California 92093
INTERNET: norman%ics@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu INTERNET: danorman@ucsd.edu
BITNET: danorman@ucsd.bitnet
ARPA: norman@nprdc.arpa UNIX:{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!ics!normandrc@dbase.UUCP (Dennis Cohen) (12/29/87)
One of the things you'll find when and if you come across documentation for Apple File Exchange is that the MS-DOS translation requires one of the 5.25 inch drive options. The fact that it doesn't work with the 3.5" drives has something to do with different recording techniques between the Apple and DOS worlds (I was told this, don't know it firsthand). I hope this helps. Dennis Cohen Ashton-Tate Glendale Development Center dBASE Mac Development Team -------------------------- Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed above are my own unless otherwise attributed
hshiffma@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Hank Shiffman) (12/30/87)
In article <283@dbase.UUCP> drc@dbase.UUCP (Dennis Cohen) writes: >One of the things you'll find when and if you come across documentation for >Apple File Exchange is that the MS-DOS translation requires one of the >5.25 inch drive options. The fact that it doesn't work with the 3.5" drives >has something to do with different recording techniques between the Apple and >DOS worlds (I was told this, don't know it firsthand). I hope this helps. Recalling something which was published a few months ago, Apple was planning a ROM upgrade which would permit the Mac to understand the disk format used on PCs. This would allow a 3.5" MS-DOS diskette to be read using a standard Mac drive. I believe the intention was to have the upgrade available some time in the early part of 1988. Anyone else remember this?
shap@sfsup.UUCP (J.S.Shapiro) (01/06/88)
In article <283@dbase.UUCP>, drc@dbase.UUCP writes: > > ...The fact that it doesn't work with the 3.5" drives > has something to do with different recording techniques between the Apple and > DOS worlds (I was told this, don't know it firsthand). I hope this helps. > > Dennis Cohen Yes, it's true. Way back when they put together the Apple I, Steve Wozniack came up with this frob called an IWM (for Integrated Woz Machine). This is a run length encoding scheme to get better disk usage. On the macs, this was put into a a PLA, and consequently you can't get around it.
fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (01/07/88)
In article <2563@sfsup.UUCP>, shap@sfsup.UUCP (J.S.Shapiro) writes: > > Yes, it's true. Way back when they put together the Apple I, No. It was the Apple][...it had slots for connecting new devices in. > Steve Wozniack came up with this frob called an IWM (for > Integrated Woz Machine). The IWM is the working innards of the Disk][ controller. > On the macs, this was put into a > a PLA, and consequently you can't get around it. The IWM was reimplemented as a single chip for the Apple//c, and is currently used there, in the //gs, and the Mac. seh