Re: Can i download programs for use on a Apple2 system on My Pentium PC

["Mike Westerfield" <MikeW50@aol.com>]

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In article <781sk0$iho$1@oak.prod.itd.earthlink.net>, "Headley Sappleton"
<hsappleton@sprintmail.com> wrote:


>I need some programs for use on a couple of Apple (IIc, IIe etc.) systems I
>am testing.  I do not have the resourses to connect them to a modem etc. to
>download files. Is there some way to get this done.(and please point me to
>some good download sites) I am very new to Apple2, so please excuse my
>ignorance. Any suggestion and assistance is greatly regarded.

Downloading the files is not really a problem; you can do that from any Mac
or Windows machine that has a modem and the normal complement of online
software. The problem is getting the file from the computer you used to
download it to the Apple ][. The issue is that the 5.25" floppy disk format
used by the Apple ][ is not the same as the format used on Windows machines,
and Macintosh computers don't use a 5.25" floppy at all.

There are some rare hybrid drives for all of the machines that will read the
disks created on the others, but they are rare and expensive.

Short of using one of these hard-to-find drives, here are your options:

1. Get a modem and the software necessary to download using the Apple ][.

2. Get a Mac and a 3.5' floppy disk drive for the Apple ][. The Mac and the
Apple ][ share a common format for 800K 3.5" floppy disks. The Mac can write
files to a ProDOS format floppy disk, and an Apple IIGS can read and write
Mac HFS floppy disks.

3. Connect the Apple ][ directly to your download computer using a serial
cable. Us communications packages on both computers to establish a link, and
move the files directly over the serial cable. (Of course, if you have the
serial card and communications software you need to do this, all you need is
a cheap modem and you can download the files directly to the Apple ][.)

4. Get the programs on and Apple ][ floppy disk.

Mike Westerfield