acoolidg@wpi.WPI.EDU (Aaron P Coolidge) (04/10/91)
Hi. As far as I can see, there are four ways to get a Macintosh file
to a PC. Some are easier than others, and some are expensive. In order of
expense (I think):
1) Upload the file to a neutral computer (say, the UNIX box at work/school),
and download it to the other computer. Very cheap if both the Mac and the PC
have a modem, but can be time consuming, espicaly for large files @2400 baud@!
2) Get a null modem cable. Could be kinda difficult for the Mac's serial port,
but I've seen 'em around. Works quite well, espicaly at higher baud rates.
This is what my roommate and I do (me, 386- him, MacPlus- no superDrive) to
use my LJIII. I made a null modem cable with about $15 worth of parts from
Radio Shack, you can probably buy one for a little more. If you want to make
one, drop me Email, and I'll send you the wiring diagram.
3) Get something called a Transcopy Option Board from Central Point Software.
Don't know if they make it anymore, but it allows PCs to write and read
Macintosh format, GCR encoded disks. It's kinda slow, but it works well. It
can also copy "copy protected" disks (such as the key disks MicroProse is so
fond of supplying, always in the wrong format), which is why I'm not sure it's
still available. There was an older, XT version, which only copied between
360K disks, and a newer AT version, which copies between 360/720/1200/1440K
disks and the Mac GCR disks.
4) Get a MacII or better. It's "SuperDrive" can read and write IBM (MFM) format
1440K disks.
Good luck!
*** Now if someone could come up with something to let my PC read Amiga disks..
--
Aaron Coolidge
acoolidg@wpi.wpi.edu bitnet:sorry, use a gateway.
"I'm always in control of my car. Well, at least 70% of the time." akm@getafix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) (04/11/91)
In article <1991Apr10.153325.26819@wpi.WPI.EDU> acoolidg@wpi.WPI.EDU (Aaron P Coolidge) writes: >4) Get a MacII or better. It's "SuperDrive" can read and write IBM (MFM) format >1440K disks. The availablity of a superdrive is regrettably not a function of Mac II-ness or non Mac II ness. Cis, Classics, LCs, SIs and IIfxs *all* have superdrives. Some, but not all of the other macs also had superdrives. I personally think that the superdrive is the cheapest option because so many Macs have them, and *all* the macs currently sold have them. kartik -- Anant Kartik Mithal akm@cs.uoregon.edu Research Assistant, (503)346-4408 (msgs) Department of Computer Science, (503)346-3989 (direct) University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1202
knotts@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com (Tom Knotts) (04/11/91)
>3) Get something called a Transcopy Option Board from Central Point Software. >Don't know if they make it anymore, but it allows PCs to write and read >Macintosh format, GCR encoded disks. It's kinda slow, but it works well. It It's called the Deluxe Option Board. I have it, and it works great (and doesn't seem all that slow to me). It converts a 1.44-Meg PC floppy into an 800K MAC floppy. I just recently bought it, so it is quite available. It costs ~ $120. tom
dlc@arco.com (Dane Cantwell) (04/26/91)
In article <69220020@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com> knotts@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com (Tom Knotts) writes: > >>3) Get something called a Transcopy Option Board from Central Point Software. >>Don't know if they make it anymore, but it allows PCs to write and read >>Macintosh format, GCR encoded disks. It's kinda slow, but it works well. It > >It's called the Deluxe Option Board. I have it, and it works great (and >doesn't seem all that slow to me). It converts a 1.44-Meg PC floppy into >an 800K MAC floppy. I just recently bought it, so it is quite available. >It costs ~ $120. > >tom > Why not just write a PC disk with Apple File Exchange on the Mac.....it's free. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Dane Cantwell O/A Engineer ARCO Oil and Gas Company dlc@arco.com ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
leoh@hardy.hdw.csd.harris.com (Leo Hinds) (04/26/91)
In article <1991Apr25.204831.12302@Arco.COM> dlc@arco.com (Dane Cantwell) writes: >Why not just write a PC disk with Apple File Exchange on the Mac.....it's free. ... true, but it REQUIRES a superdrive equipped Mac ... we have 18 Macs here that were purchased before that drive was available ... so what are we to do? Upgrade the Macs? ... I was told that to do that required not only the drive, but new ROMs as well ... something that (in a business environment) needs to be justified. ... CIIPC option board ... except that mine will not perform as advertised with a SONY 3.5" 1.44MB floppy). P.S. Somewhat earlier on this thread there was a mention of some program available via FTP that would work better than the provided AFE on the Mac ... can anyone refresh my memory on it? leoh@hdw.csd.harris.com Leo Hinds (305)973-5229 Gfx ... gfx ... :-) whfg orpnhfr V "ebg"grq zl fvtangher svyr lbh guvax V nz n creireg ?!!!!!!? ... znlor arkg gvzr
acook@athena.mit.edu (Andrew R Cook) (04/26/91)
HI- I missed the beginning of this thread, so bear with me If I mention some things that were already raised :-) 1) In article <3173@travis.csd.harris.com>, leoh@hardy.hdw.csd.harris.com (Leo Hinds) writes: |> ... CIIPC option board ... except that mine will not perform as advertised |> with a SONY 3.5" 1.44MB floppy). |> If it doesn't perform as advertised, then call Central Point tech support until they get it to work. If they advertised it, then you should expect it to work. If they won't give you satisfaction, demand your money back. 2) Has anyone mentioned the DAYNA drives ? I have one of these, and it works great. Just plug it into the SCSI port of the MAC, and drop an init into the system folder, and then you can transparently use whatever PC drives you have installed in the DAYNA box (1.44MB, 720KB, 1.2MB, 360KB). I must admit, I have had a couple of annoying problems with the DAYNA, but all-in-all it works well enough. Comes with some file format converting software too(word pc- word mac; etc.). This is not the cheapest route though. The DAYNA with a 1.44MB and a 1.2MB ran me about $500 two years ago. This may be cheaper than upgrading your MAC drives and ROMS to the superdrive though. 3) The cheapest route to go is to just connect a serial cable between the MAC and the PC, and use Kermit (communications program) on both ends. This is simple to hook up, and the only cost is for the serial cable ($5-$10); Kermit is free. The limitation of this method is the data transfer rate, the upper limit of which is set by the UART in both machines. I use this technique at 19200 baud all the time for transferring data to the MAC for plotting&printing. Of course, be warned, a megabyte of data transferred this way will take considerably more than 5 minutes. So if you are going to be doing this often with large amounts of data, seek another method. Hope this helps. Andy Cook acook@athena.mit.edu
elmanad@leland.Stanford.EDU (Adam Elman) (04/27/91)
One poster has suggested hooking up a mac to a pc using a serial cable and using Kermit at both ends. There is actually a commercial piece of software that does this quite well -- not only does it transfer files from Mac to PC over serial cables, it does quite a few translations in the process. The software is called MacLink and is apparently made by DataWiz Co. (I just ran it on another machine and that's what it said...:-) It translates between most PC spreadsheets or WP software and most Mac stuff. I'm not sure about graphics or DTP, but I'm sure you can at least transfer the binaries directly. It should probably be available at your friendly neighborhood software shoppe... Disclaimer: I haven't actually used the program myself. My dad has used it quite frequently at his office, and the main computing center here on campus uses it for Mac-PC transfers. They all like it. Adam Elman elmanad@leland.stanford.edu