Re: Many File Formats: do they bother you?

[mressl@macgui.com (Marc S Ressl)]

D Finnigan wrote:
> Another survey thread. There are a number of file formats for Apple II
> users: NuFile (ShrinkIt), Binscii, Blu, Executioner, .dsk, .po, .sdk,
> etc....
> 
> Do they cause you bother when you download files? That is, does it take
you
> some time to convert the file into a different format for use with an
> emulator or for transferring to real hardware?
> 
> If so, how do you manage? Do you have a program that is convenient for
you?
>

Hello there,

nice discussion! I think it's easy to understand who is in favor of sheikhs
(.shk)... it's those who use it :-). I don't use it, and I did have bad
experiences with SHK. I remember once finding an obscure disk image in SDK
format on archive.org. It wouldn't decode in NuFX, it wouldn't decode in
16-bit ShrinkIt. I had to find an obscure and old version of 8-bit ShrinkIt
that did the job. Phew, that did take time.

So, plain disk image formats are my preference. In regard to NIB, this
format is unfortunately not physically accurate as it looses SYNC
information. We should consider preserving things in some free and open
format. I'd suggest FDI.

I also have a proposal for somebody with electronics knowledge. A USB
adapter that connects to a Disk II drive and reads/writes from a PC. If I am
not mistaken this already exists, but now the catch. It lets you produce
accurate disk images in FDI format. Anybody interested?

With the best wishes,

Marc.-