tuceryan@mohawk.cps.msu.EDU (Mihran Tuceryan) (09/17/90)
I need some help with using Apple File Exchange application. My first problem is the following: I tried to use Apple File Exchange (AFE) program on my Mac/SE to initialize 3.5 inch floppies as MS-DOS disks and convert and copy some Mac text files to the MS-DOS disk (more about why I want to do this later). The problem is that on my Mac, the AFE does not let me initialize MS-DOS disks and does not recognize MS-DOS initialized disks. I copied the same program (thinking that the version may be wrong) on a more recently purchased Mac/SE and it works fine. I had bought my Mac/SE in 1988. When I start the AFE and insert an uninitialized floppy, I get the 400K and 800K buttons in the dialog box, but not the 720K which apparently lets one to initialize the MS-DOS disks. I get the 720K button on the newer Mac/SE. My first question is this: What can be the difference in the two Macs that will cause this different behaviour? Could there be a different disk drive in the two and if so could this hardware difference cause the problem? Otherwise, do I have something set up incorrectly? I tried to see if there were any set up files for AFE, but I did not see any. Now for the reason why I want to do this: I have a Sparcstation 1 in my office, and I have the Mac at home. I would like to be able to put some text files on a floppy, bring it home and work on it on the Mac at night. So far, the only way I could see making use of the floppy drive on the Sparcstation 1 is to use the mtools that allow you to read MS-DOS disks. This way, MS-DOS would be an intermediate format which I could use to carry text files back and forth between the SParc and the Mac without dependent on modem transfers. Now, my second question is: Is there software comparable to mtools that will let me read Mac formatted disks from the Sparcstation floppy drive? If such a software exists, I would not have to mess with MS-DOS disks. Any help with any of these two questions be appreciated. Mihran Tuceryan Michigan State University email: tuceryan@cps.msu.edu
tuceryan@bombay.cps.msu.EDU (Mihran Tuceryan) (09/21/90)
Last week I asked for help about reading MS-DOS files using Apple File Exchange software. Thanks for all the replies I received which were very helpful. Some people asked me to post a summary of the reponses I got. First, as I had suspected, the problem was indeed with the older version of the Mac SE hardware that I had. There were a number of solutions suggested: 1. Upgrade the internal floppy drive to FDHD. This requires a ROM upgrade as well as the disk controller chip. I asked a few places about the cost of this and it was > $600.00. 2. Get an external floppy drive with the ability to read high-density disks and MS-DOS formats. If you want one that will work without the ROM upgrade, it needs to have a SCSI interface. There were a number of names that came up often: Rapport Drive 2.4 Peripheral Land, Inc. Turbo Floppy 1.4 I called some of these places up to find out more about them and it turns out that some of them can only read high density or MS-DOS format. Apparently, they cannot handle the regular low density disks. Peripheral Land, Inc. is supposed to be coming out with a new drive called Superfloppy which can read the low density floppies as well. (This is the one I decided to buy for me. This way if I upgrade to a Mac II machine in the future, my money spent on the SE upgrade will not go to waste. This costs around $450.) 3. In terms of dealing MS-DOS files, someone suggested Dayna's DOS mounter software that lets you mount MS-DOS files directly on the desktop. One still needs to format the disks using the AFE. 4. I did not get any info regarding software that can read Mac format disks from the Sparcstation 1's internal floppy drive. This may not even be possible. Someone told me that one can format floppies in MS-DOS format using the Mac drives, but the reverse cannot be done. So, I think using the MS-DOS format as the intermediate medium seems to be a reasonable way to go. mtools software on the Sparcstations lets you manage the MS-DOS files without too much pain. Some people suggested that I use modem and transfer the files over the phone. This is what I had been doing so far. However, this is such a slow process that any file more than two or three pages long takes forever to transfer with a 2400 baud modem. Other people suggested putting the Mac and the Sparc on a network and transfer the files over the network. This was not a solution for me because my Mac was not in the office.
roskar@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Veljko Roskar) (09/21/90)
Use the DOS mounter-demo package available at sumex. This is Dayna's init that enable you to mount DOS disks on the Mac without using AFE. Great init, but don't ask for conversions or formatting. The other minor catch is all of your DOS disks have to have a volume name of DEMO. -- Veljko Roskar | roskar@jhuvms.bitnet Department of Chemical Engineering | roskar@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore | uunet!mimsy!aplcen!jhunix!roskar
jordan@Morgan.COM (Jordan Hayes) (09/25/90)
Mihran Tuceryan <tuceryan@bombay.cps.msu.EDU> writes:
Last week I asked for help about reading MS-DOS files using
Apple File Exchange software. Thanks for all the replies I
received which were very helpful.
[ ... ]
2. Get an external floppy drive with the ability to read
high-density disks and MS-DOS formats. If you want one that
will work without the ROM upgrade, it needs to have a SCSI
interface. There were a number of names that came up often:
Rapport Drive 2.4
[ ... ]
I called some of these places up to find out more about them
and it turns out that some of them can only read high density
or MS-DOS format. Apparently, they cannot handle the regular
low density disks.
Maybe I didn't see your posting, and maybe I don't understand what you
mean, but when you say "regular low density" do you mean 720k 3.5"
MS-DOS disks? If you do, then I hafta tell you that I use them all the
time on my Rapport Drive 2.4 ... it reads/writes MS-DOS 720k, 1.2Mb, &
1.44Mb formats as well as Mac 800k (no 400k), 1.4M, and ProDOS disks,
as well as a proprietary 2.4Mb format. Is there another (smaller than
720k) MS-DOS format?
/jordan