9 Jan
2002
9 Jan
'02
3:42 a.m.
On Tue, 8 Jan 2002, Don Maslin wrote:
> The Microsolutions MatchPoint card in conjunction with a specific
> version of UniForm will permit read/write of the Apple II format
> disks. That is about the only combination that immediately occurs
> that permits this.
Turnover (previously Apple Turnover) from Vertex was
another earlier
version of the same thing.
On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Sellam Ismail wrote:
Are these still available somewhere?
The Matchpoint is rare. I see them occasionally, but not very
often. Actually, I saw one at VCF a few years ago, but when I went back
to get it, somebody else had already bought it.
I just found another Copy II Option
board today but I guess, according to Fred, I can't actually copy files
FROM an Apple disk to the PC. Does it at least allow sector access on the
Apple ][ floppy?
Nope. It does RAW track read. You would then have to parse the track
data to recreate bytes and sector boundaries. Not completely trivial, but
quite feasible.
What about the (Applied Engineering) PC Transporter?
It's an Apple ][
card that allows you to connect up a PC drive to your Apple and transfer
files. I think I have one somewhere. I also have a Rana PC<->Apple
gateway box but I don't know if it works like the PC Transporter. I guess
I should play with it someday and see what it does.
There were several after-market devices for the Apple to do it. One of
them advertised itself as being a "PC drive for the Apple". Inside the
"drive" box was an Ampro Littleboard! It was just using the Apple as a
terminal.
There were two Apple on a board units for the PC. There was the Diamond
Trackstar (which was even available through RS for a while!), and there
was the Quadram Quadlink. The Quadlink had some quality control issues -
of 20 that we bought at the college, 16 were DOA. When Quadram replaced
those, 12 of the REPLACEMENTS were DOA! C'mon guys, you do have to test
some of them, and all of replacement units. One of them had a connector
installed backwards, such that it could NOT be connected using their
cables
WHEN we locate the Apple Turnover software, and IF we can find one of the
boards that WORKS, it can do Apple-DOS, Apple CP/M, P-System, and Pro-Dos.
The hardware is flaky and the software is buggy, and it is picky about
which drives it will work with. But it did work.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com