Re: A2 FAQ addition/update req.

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Paul Schlyter <pausch@saaf.se> wrote:

> Wayne Stewart <waynes@intergate.bc.ca> wrote:
> >However for a II, II+ or IIe there isn't much useable stuff on commercial
> >CDs with the exception of some of the ones Joe Kohn sells. Best option is
> >to burn your own CDs, preferably in ProDOS format.
> 
> In "ProDOS format"?  Doesn't a CD equipped Apple II read a CD in normal
> ISO format?

(Assuming we are talking about an 8-bit Apple II.)  Not unless you run
an application which does block-level access to the CD-ROM and
interprets the ISO 9660 file system itself.

The ProDOS-8 operating system supports the ProDOS file system, and has
no support for plug-in file system translation.  Any support for other
file systems under ProDOS-8 must be provided by an application, and is
limited to being available within that application.

GS/OS is much more flexible, as it has a "file system translator"
mechanism which allows many file systems to be supported from all GS/OS
applications, with varying levels of capability.

Unfortnately, the FST mechanism kept changing with each release of GS/OS
and Apple never published specifications for it, which means that the
only FSTs available are those written by Apple: ProDOS, HFS, AppleShare,
Pascal, DOS 3.3, High Sierra/ISO 9660 and MS-DOS.  Of these, only
ProDOS, HFS and AppleShare support read/write access to the file system.

There have been third-party applications and desk accessories which
provide support for other file systems but limited to the scope of that
application (Peter Watson's MS-DOS tools is the best example of this).