klg@njsmu.UUCP (Kenneth Goodwin) (07/30/88)
We have the need to transfer textual information off of 8 inch diskettes written by an IBM Displaywriter word processor. This WP has no modem or tape drive which we can use and the format of the diskettes is unknown to us. Does anyone have any suggestions on where we can go to get these diskettes converted to a more portable format? We can read Macintosh 3.5 inch and IBM PC 5.25 inch diskettes and standard 9 track tape. We have sufficent modem capacity to suck it on down a phone line. We also have a xerox 860 word processor that has 8 inch diskette drives but we don't think they are compatible with IBM's..... Knowing the actual format of the diskette - TPI/density single sided/dual sided might help as well. The company that owns this beast knows nothing about it other than how to push the buttons to get it to Word Process"" for them, so they are no help at all. Does anyone out there have one of these things who could help us out with a little info? Thanks in Advance...... Ken Goodwin Till Darkness Falls and Victory is Lost! NJ State Medical Underwriters, Inc. Lawrenceville, New Jersey
madd@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Jim Frost) (08/01/88)
In article <459@njsmu.UUCP> klg@njsmu.UUCP (Kenneth Goodwin) writes: |We have the need to transfer textual information off of 8 inch |diskettes written by an IBM Displaywriter word processor. |This WP has no modem or tape drive which we can use and the format |of the diskettes is unknown to us. Does anyone have any suggestions |on where we can go to get these diskettes converted to a more portable format? There are a variety of conversion services but if you're going to be doing it a lot you should look into getting your own 8" drive. Most of the conversion services are quite costly in the long run. An outfit called Flagstaff Engineering (out of Flagstaff, Arizona) makes a controller for 8" drives for the PC. I've used it and some of their conversion programs and it works as advertised. Unfortunately the card is very expensive; ours was $750 and the conversion software was the same. We paid it because we really needed it. Instead of buying their 8" drive we bought a real cheap one from some distributor or another; this saved a lot of money (although it looks pretty klunky). The whole deal has been in operation for about three years without a problem. Actually, there was a problem initially. Our very cheap 8" drive couldn't seek as fast as the driver was sending seek commands. A call to Flagstaff's tech support got me the information to alter their timing table to slow down the driver and it worked like a charm after that. Once you get the files onto your PC, you have some more choices. IBM has DisplayWrite III for the PC which will use the displaywrite files. Unfortunately DisplayWrite III is about the worst wordprocessing program I've ever seen when it comes to getting a real printout (although it has a fantastic spell checker); it only recognizes IBM printers and doesn't even do much with them. Pretty silly given the cost of laserprinters now and the variety of non-IBM printers out there. The problem you'll come into if you decide to throw out DisplayWrite is that the file format is in EBCDIC and is not described anywhere. That means that the only real way to get ASCII out of it is to use DisplayWrite's "generate ASCII file" option, which of course requires you to have DisplayWrite. DisplayWrite is not cheap; if you're trying to convert to a different wordprocessor, try to borrow DisplayWrite from someone or if you can't do that get a demo from some software house, do the conversions, and tell them that it wasn't what you were looking for. The software really isn't worth $400 or whatever it goes for now. |We also have a xerox 860 word processor that has 8 inch diskette drives |but we don't think they are compatible with IBM's..... They probably are at a low level (8" drives are really pretty generic) but the odds of it using the same file format are not good. Even if you could read it, it's not very likely that you could do much with it. |Knowing the actual format of the diskette - TPI/density single sided/dual sided |might help as well. Sorry I can't help you with that; my info on DisplayWrite disks is a long way away from here. I hope my other information is useful. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me. jim frost madd@bu-it.bu.edu
wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (08/01/88)
From article <459@njsmu.UUCP>, by klg@njsmu.UUCP (Kenneth Goodwin): > > We have the need to transfer textual information off of 8 inch > diskettes written by an IBM Displaywriter word processor. > In order to transfer data from a Displawriter to another system (i.e. a PC) you need special hardware. IBM used to sell a connectivity kit that links a PC and a Displaywriter together. I don't remember the price. Another way is to have a Conversion company do tthe transfer. They can be costly. I have a setup at home to transfer most 8" formats to IBM format. I can also cut Mac disks on my PC. If the files are put in Revisable Format on the Displaywriter, I would be willing to transfer the files to IBM format for $15 a disk or to Mac for $20 a disk. If a document conversion is needed from Revisable Form to ASCII on the Mac or any other supported format add $10 per disk. My home phone number is 602-774-1755. -- Bill Wilson (Bitnet: ucc2wew@nauvm) Northern AZ Univ Flagstaff, AZ 86011 {These views are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer}
wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (08/01/88)
From article <459@njsmu.UUCP>, by klg@njsmu.UUCP (Kenneth Goodwin): > > We have the need to transfer textual information off of 8 inch > diskettes written by an IBM Displaywriter word processor. > In order to transfer data from a Displawriter to another system (i.e. a PC) you need special hardware. IBM used to sell a connectivity kit that links a PC and a Displaywriter together. I don't remember the price. Another way is to have a Conversion company do tthe transfer. They can be costly. I have a setup at home to transfer most 8" formats to IBM format. I can also cut Mac disks on my PC. If the files are put in Revisable Format on the Displaywriter, I would be willing to transfer the files to IBM format for $15 a disk or to Mac for $20 a disk. If a document conversion is needed from Revisable Form to ASCII on the Mac or any other supported format add $10 per disk. My home phone number is 602-774-1755. -- Bill Wilson (Bitnet: ucc2wew@nauvm) Northern AZ Univ Flagstaff, AZ 86011 {These views are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer}
walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays) (08/02/88)
In article <459@njsmu.UUCP> klg@njsmu.UUCP (Kenneth Goodwin) writes: > >We have the need to transfer textual information off of 8 inch >diskettes written by an IBM Displaywriter word processor. >This WP has no modem or tape drive which we can use and the format >of the diskettes is unknown to us. IBM has provided a very nice way of making the transfer. (though it does involve buying an IBM mainframe and network...) With an SNA connection, you can upload your documents using HDDI. Then you can download them to a PC using something like PROFS-PC Connection. They'll still be in DCA RFT format, so you can load them into Displaywrite III on the PC. From there you can convert to whatever PC or Mac word processor you want to use - with most of the formatting information intact. Assuming you have no IBM mainframe, perhaps a service bureau could upload and download your diskettes for you. It would probably be cheaper than doing all the conversions manually and using the Displaywriter's VT-100 emulation. (Before I tried that for more than a couple dozen documents, I'd print them and scan them into the new system.) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My opinions are my own. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. E-Mail route: ...!pyramid!garth!walter (415) 852-2384 USPS: Intergraph APD, 2400 Geng Road, Palo Alto, California 94303 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays) (08/02/88)
In article <459@njsmu.UUCP> klg@njsmu.UUCP (Kenneth Goodwin) writes: > >We have the need to transfer textual information off of 8 inch >diskettes written by an IBM Displaywriter word processor. >This WP has no modem or tape drive which we can use and the format >of the diskettes is unknown to us. IBM has provided a very nice way of making the transfer. (though it does involve buying an IBM mainframe and network...) With an SNA connection, you can upload your documents using HDDI. Then you can download them to a PC using something like PROFS-PC Connection. They'll still be in DCA RFT format, so you can load them into Displaywrite III on the PC. From there you can convert to whatever PC or Mac word processor you want to use - with most of the formatting information intact. Assuming you have no IBM mainframe, perhaps a service bureau could upload and download your diskettes for you. It would probably be cheaper than doing all the conversions manually and using the Displaywriter's VT-100 emulation. (Before I tried that for more than a couple dozen documents, I'd print them and scan them into the new system.) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My opinions are my own. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. E-Mail route: ...!pyramid!garth!walter (415) 852-2384 USPS: Intergraph APD, 2400 Geng Road, Palo Alto, California 94303 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------