[comp.sys.amiga.applications] Reading IBM disks in an Amiga Drive?

axpmw@acad2.alaska.edu (04/16/91)

Stupid question - but I thought I read somewhere that there was
a program that would read an ibm disk (ascii datafiles) from a
normal amiga disk drive.

Is there one? Will it work an an a3000 under 2.0?  Where can I find
it, if such a program exists?  

I don't have a bridgeboard but I would like to read data in without
having to upload it to the Univ. VAX and download it back to my amiga.

Thanks in advance!  Pam  

Bitnet: AXPMW@ALASKA              | Stupid User Question of the week:  
Internet: AXPMW@acad2.ALASKA.EDU  |  What color disks work in my C64 computer?

grmg6820@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Geoffrey R. Mason) (04/16/91)

In article <1991Apr15.205242.1@acad2.alaska.edu> axpmw@acad2.alaska.edu writes:
>Stupid question - but I thought I read somewhere that there was
>a program that would read an ibm disk (ascii datafiles) from a
>normal amiga disk drive.
>
You bet there is!  There are a couple of them, some commercial and some 
public doman/shareware.  The one I use, and I like it quite a bit is
Cross Dos 4.0.  It allows you to read and write 360k and 720k MS-DOS/PC-DOS/
Atari ST formatted disks (Version 2.0 or higher) directly from AmigaDOS.
What is neat about Cross DOS is that it allows you to use your Amiga drives,
without having to give up the ability to use Amiga disks!  Your Cross DOS
mounted drives will read both!  You can also set up hard drive partitions
that allow MS-DOS stuff!  It will NOT read 1.2M or 1.44M disks, nor RUN
stuff off of MS-DOS disks..

>Is there one? Will it work an an a3000 under 2.0?  Where can I find
>it, if such a program exists?  
>
Well, they CLAIM it has been well tested in versions 1.2, 1.3 and 2.0, and 
they say you can run it on a standard Amiga (500, 1000, 2000, 2000HD, 2500,
or 3000)

The company that makes CrossDOS is Consultron located at 11280 Parkview,
Plymouth, MI 48170.  Ph#: (313) 459-7271.  It costs about $30 and you can
order it from ANY mail order company in AmigaWorld or .Info for about that
price.
--
Geoffrey R. Mason		|	grmg6820@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Department of Psychology	|	gmason@s.psych.uiuc.edu
University of Illinois		|	x9999bng@maple.circa.ufl.edu

zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) (04/16/91)

In article <1991Apr15.205242.1@acad2.alaska.edu> axpmw@acad2.alaska.edu writes:
>Stupid question - but I thought I read somewhere that there was
>a program that would read an ibm disk (ascii datafiles) from a
>normal amiga disk drive.

"Stupid" questions like this belong in comp.sys.amiga.introduction.
In fact, is this in the FAQ file?  If not, it should be there.

>Is there one? Will it work an an a3000 under 2.0?  Where can I find
>it, if such a program exists?  

There are two.  One, called MessyDos is free.  You'll find it on a
Fred Fish disk.  It malfunctions under 2.0, however.  The other,
called Cross Dos, is not free.  You can buy it at your nearest Amiga
Dealer or via mail order.  It does work under 2.0.  Both of these
systems turn your Amiga drive into an MS-DOS drive.  You can use the
drive to do anything to an MS-DOS disk that you can do to an AmigaDos
disk.

           Dan Zerkle  zerkle@iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu  (916) 754-0240
           Amiga...  Because life is too short for boring computers.

scherb@cbmvax.commodore.com (Jeff Scherb - CATS) (04/16/91)

In article <1991Apr16.054817.25940@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> grmg6820@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Geoffrey R. Mason) writes:
>In article <1991Apr15.205242.1@acad2.alaska.edu> axpmw@acad2.alaska.edu writes:
>>Stupid question - but I thought I read somewhere that there was
>>a program that would read an ibm disk (ascii datafiles) from a
>>normal amiga disk drive.
>>
>You bet there is!  There are a couple of them, some commercial and some 
>public doman/shareware.  The one I use, and I like it quite a bit is
>Cross Dos 4.0.  It allows you to read and write 360k and 720k MS-DOS/PC-DOS/
>Atari ST formatted disks (Version 2.0 or higher) directly from AmigaDOS.
>What is neat about Cross DOS is that it allows you to use your Amiga drives,
>without having to give up the ability to use Amiga disks!  Your Cross DOS
>mounted drives will read both!  You can also set up hard drive partitions
>that allow MS-DOS stuff!  It will NOT read 1.2M or 1.44M disks, nor RUN
>stuff off of MS-DOS disks..
>
>>Is there one? Will it work an an a3000 under 2.0?  Where can I find
>>it, if such a program exists?  
>>
>Well, they CLAIM it has been well tested in versions 1.2, 1.3 and 2.0, and 
>they say you can run it on a standard Amiga (500, 1000, 2000, 2000HD, 2500,
>or 3000)

We have tested it (in CATS) on the latest stuff.  It supports the A3000
and AmigaDOS 2.0 just fine (I've been using it on my 3000 for over 1 year).
Consultron also has a version in the works that supports 1.44mb floppies,
but I don't know if they've released it yet.  I highly recommend it.

>The company that makes CrossDOS is Consultron located at 11280 Parkview,
>Plymouth, MI 48170.  Ph#: (313) 459-7271.  It costs about $30 and you can
>order it from ANY mail order company in AmigaWorld or .Info for about that
>price.
>--
>Geoffrey R. Mason		|	grmg6820@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
>Department of Psychology	|	gmason@s.psych.uiuc.edu
>University of Illinois		|	x9999bng@maple.circa.ufl.edu


-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Scherb
Vice President, Applications & Technical Support (CATS)
(215) 431-9184 - Commodore Business Machines
FAX (215) 431-9156
uucp: ...{uunet,rutgers}!cbmvax!scherb
--------------------------------------------------------------------

rcj2@cbnewsd.att.com (ray.c.jender) (04/16/91)

In article <1991Apr15.205242.1@acad2.alaska.edu> axpmw@acad2.alaska.edu writes:
>Stupid question - but I thought I read somewhere that there was
>a program that would read an ibm disk (ascii datafiles) from a
>normal amiga disk drive.
>
>Is there one? Will it work an an a3000 under 2.0?  Where can I find
>it, if such a program exists?  
>
>I don't have a bridgeboard but I would like to read data in without
>having to upload it to the Univ. VAX and download it back to my amiga.
>
>Thanks in advance!  Pam  
>
>Bitnet: AXPMW@ALASKA              | Stupid User Question of the week:  
>Internet: AXPMW@acad2.ALASKA.EDU  |  What color disks work in my C64 computer?


	You can use CrossDos. There's a read-only version posted
	on most BBS's. It will read IBM formated 3.5" floppies.
	I'm not sure about 5 1/4" though. You can purchace the
	Commercial version very cheap. It will allow both
	read and write of IBM floppies, along with Atari ST also.

drysdale@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Drysdale) (04/17/91)

In article <1991Apr15.205242.1@acad2.alaska.edu> axpmw@acad2.alaska.edu writes:
>Stupid question - but I thought I read somewhere that there was
>a program that would read an ibm disk (ascii datafiles) from a
>normal amiga disk drive.
>
>Is there one? Will it work an an a3000 under 2.0?  Where can I find
>it, if such a program exists?  

the commercially available programs are:

CrossDOS from ConsulTron.  works perfectly under 1.3 and 2.0.  i use it
every day.  it supplies an ms-dos filesystem and mfm trackdisk device,
allowing you to transparently use ms-dos disks just like they were normal
amiga disks (except uppercase filenames, and FILENAME.EXT limitations).  you
stick an ms-dos disk in, crossdos grabs and interprets it correctly.  you
stick an amigados disk in, amigados grabs and interprets it.

DOS2DOS (forget who makes it).  provides basic file transfer utilities.
does not integrate into the operating system like crossdos.

pcutils (comes on the 1.3 extras disk).  i don't know if this works under
2.0 (never tried!).  but if it works, it's free.  again, this is just
a seperate file copy utility, not an operating system integration thing.

public domain programs:

messydos (msh) from olaf siebert.  works like crossdos, but has various
quirks.  can't write ms-dos disks when run under 2.0.

NOTE:  all of the above can read/write only 720K 3.5" disks or 360K
5.25" disks.  no high density (1.2 meg, 1.4 meg) stuff.

>I don't have a bridgeboard but I would like to read data in without
>having to upload it to the Univ. VAX and download it back to my amiga.
>
>Thanks in advance!  Pam  
>
>Bitnet: AXPMW@ALASKA              | Stupid User Question of the week:  
>Internet: AXPMW@acad2.ALASKA.EDU  |  What color disks work in my C64 computer?

  --Scotty

-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Scott Drysdale           Software Engineer
Commodore Amiga Inc.     UUCP {allegra|burdvax|rutgers|ihnp4}!cbmvax!drysdale
		         PHONE - yes.
"Have you hugged your hog today?"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=