umsmigie@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jason Smigiel) (02/13/90)
I need to transfer data between a Mac and an Amiga. I have an
external Mac drive that I could hook up to the amiga. What I need to know
is: Is this a simple case of connecting the Mac Drive to the amiga and writing
the Device driver? Or would I require some extra logic between the Amiga
and the Mac drive?
I thought there was a commercial product out (Mac2Dos or some such thing)
that does what I ask. Does anyone know if their approach is the same as
the simple case I described? And would this be compatible with Amax?
(and No, a serial connection is not an appropriate solution)
Thanks in advance,
Jasonportuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) (02/13/90)
>>>>> On 13 Feb 90 06:29:49 GMT, umsmigie@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jason Smigiel) said:
j> I need to transfer data between a Mac and an Amiga. I have an
j> external Mac drive that I could hook up to the amiga. What I need to know
j> is: Is this a simple case of connecting the Mac Drive to the amiga and writing
j> the Device driver? Or would I require some extra logic between the Amiga
j> and the Mac drive?
j> I thought there was a commercial product out (Mac2Dos or some such thing)
j> that does what I ask. Does anyone know if their approach is the same as
j> the simple case I described? And would this be compatible with Amax?
I own Mac-2-Dos. It's made by Central Coast Software, and it's a
solid product.
Mac-2-Dos will do what you want. It is a small hardware plug that
goes between the Mac drive connector and the Amiga floppy drive port.
(i.e. some extra logic is needed for an Amiga to run a Mac drive).
It comes with software that understands the Mac filesystem and
reads/writes/formats Mac floppies. It can also convert text files
that go between systems and move MacPaint format files to IFF.
Central Coast wrote an application program that does the transfers,
instead of going the device driver route (like CrossDos). For us
techies in the crowd, I would have preferred the device driver
solution, but for the masses an application program to do the
transfers is probably the preferred solution, so I understand their
decision. In any event, their software has a good user interface and
it works just fine. I use it to transfer stuff from Usenet onto my
Amiga, using Macs at work to download from my workstation.
I am using it with an old Mac 400K drive, though it also supports 800K
drives. I think the drive may be a tad out of alignment; it reads
anything written by a Mac just fine, but sometimes data written by the
400K drive cannot be read by a Mac. I certainly don't think this is
the fault of the package.
Compatibility with AMAX? Please define what you mean by "compatible"
and I'll try to answer. Mac-2-Dos is a good accessory for AMAX, but
not a replacement for it. Because both products use different plugs,
so in order to use one drive with both products you will have to
switch plugs when you switch programs. Other than that, I don't know
how to answer this question.
--M
--
__ Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics Computer Systems
\/ portuesi@sgi.com Entry Systems Division -- Engineering
"Why you? Because you're Electro-Cop, the best there is."umsmigie@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jason Smigiel) (02/15/90)
portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) writes: j> On 13 Feb 90 06:29:49 GMT, umsmigie@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jason Smigiel) said: j> Is Mac-2-DOS compatible with Amax? (or something similar :-) [ A big affirmative for Central Coast's Mac-2-DOS product editted out ] >Compatibility with AMAX? Please define what you mean by "compatible" >and I'll try to answer. Mac-2-Dos is a good accessory for AMAX, but >not a replacement for it. Because both products use different plugs, >so in order to use one drive with both products you will have to >switch plugs when you switch programs. Other than that, I don't know >how to answer this question. What I meant was exactly what you answered. That is; Could I use Amax with the Mac drive that is attached to the Mac-2-DOS interface? I now know I cannot, not unless I attach the Mac drive to the Amax interface. >__ Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics Computer Systems >\/ portuesi@sgi.com Entry Systems Division -- Engineering Thanks for all your help! Jason umsmigie@ccu.umanitoba.ca
JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu (JKT) (02/18/90)
In article <PORTUESI.90Feb13093149@tweezers.esd.sgi.com>, portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) says: > >Compatibility with AMAX? Please define what you mean by "compatible" >and I'll try to answer. Mac-2-Dos is a good accessory for AMAX, but >not a replacement for it. Because both products use different plugs, >so in order to use one drive with both products you will have to >switch plugs when you switch programs. Other than that, I don't know >how to answer this question. Hopefully, to create a standard, Mac-2-Dos will rewrite their software so it can be used with the A-Max cartridge. I see little reason why they wouldn't or couldn't do this. Why should they, you ask? Because there are so many A-Max cartridges out there, they'd be missing a bet (and a lot of sales) not to. Kurt -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- || Kurt Tappe (814) 862-8630 || "This town needs an enema." || || 600 E. Pollock Rd., #5705 || - Joker, "Batman" || || State College, PA 16801 --------------------------------------|| || jkt100@psuvm.bitnet or jkt100@psuvm.psu.edu || || or jkt100%psuvm.bitnet@psuvax1 QLink: KurtTappe || ----------------------------------------------------------------------