sichermn@beach.csulb.edu (Jeff Sicherman) (12/01/90)
I would like to be able to read (and write if possible) Apple II disks on my 386sx. I am aware of at least one product that claims to add this capability - Matchpoint-PC from MicroSolutions. This is a card (only?) that hooks into the existing hardware and enables you to use one of their s/w products, Uniform, to acess the diskette. ARe there any other alternatives (besides the obvious serial connection, please *don't* bother mentioning it). I would have thought that the Copy-II PC Option Board from Central Point could do something with this, with the proper software but their sales support doesn't know or acknowledge any such capability. Can anybody correct/clarify this ? If it's not possible could anyone give me a simple explanation why or, better yet, direct me to a published discussion of the problem. Jeff Sicherman up the net without a .sig
wilker@descartes.math.purdue.edu (Clarence Wilkerson) (12/01/90)
The first version of the Copy II PC card would copy apple II diskettes and do bit level editing. The editing was limited because on the disks it takes as I recall, 6 bits to represent 4 logical bits. The program had no knowledge of formats beyond this. Nor did there seem to be a way to copy the bits from the disk into a MSDOS file for processing by another program. So I think that while the hardware capacity is there, the software is not, and with no documentation, hard to generate on one's own. The newer versions support Mac disks at a logical level, but don't seem to read the apple II disks. Clarence Wilkerson
wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher,,255RTFM,255rtfm) (12/01/90)
Apples do not use a hardware style FD controller. Instead, they used a mostly software scheme Woz developed. There is no way to read their disks with a PeeSea FD controller. You can add hardware that does both, but I have no idea if such a board is still available. At one point, there was. -- A host is a host from coast to coast.....wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu & no one will talk to a host that's close............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335
naschell@sunee.waterloo.edu (NA Schellenberge) (12/01/90)
In article <1990Nov30.225316.19409@mthvax.cs.miami.edu> wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) writes: >Apples do not use a hardware style FD controller. Instead, they >used a mostly software scheme Woz developed. There is no way to >read their disks with a PeeSea FD controller. Does anyone know if it would be possible just to read in the raw (i.e. Woz encoded) data using the PC FD controller and then massage the sectors in memory so that they can be used? After all, this is pretty much what both DOS and ProDOS used to do with their translation tables. The only question is: can the FDC read the Apple II disk at all (is it physically possible to read the data from the disk maybe even with address/data headers still embedded)? -- +------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ ! Neil A. Schellenberger ! "Wakey Wakey, Polly!" - JC. / I ! ! RAMpage, Comp Eng '92 ! "Sleep's for wimps." - Me. / SPEAK ! ! University of Waterloo ! "It was due when?!?!" / FOR MYSELF !
fordke@infonode.ingr.com (Keith Ford x8614) (12/04/90)
In article <1990Nov30.181810.9340@beach.csulb.edu> sichermn@beach.csulb.edu (Jeff Sicherman) writes: > > I would like to be able to read (and write if possible) Apple II >disks on my 386sx. I am aware of at least one product that claims to add this >capability - Matchpoint-PC from MicroSolutions. This is a card (only?) that >hooks into the existing hardware and enables you to use one of their s/w >products, Uniform, to acess the diskette. I have a Trackstar board. It is an Apple //e co-processor that plugs into your pc. It will use the hard disk, an external Apple disk drive or some brands of 360K pc drives. It is a true co-processor. It will continue to run while you do something in pc mode. I have one available that is brand new. The retail is $445, but I'm selling it for $250. Add $50 for an external Apple disk drive. If you're interested, I can also send you a package of information from the manufacturer. Just send me you address. I use one of these boards to maintain a bbs that supports both pc and Apple2 machines. It works great!!! Phone calls welcome, 205-730-8614. -- | ...!uunet!ingr!fordke OR fordke@ingr.com | Micro Magic BBS (Fidonet: 1:373/12, MaBell: +1 205 830 2362) | "and the Trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe, and saw." -Rush