Re: Apple //e - URGENT!!!

[Erick Wagner <wagnere@netcom.com>]

joelh@coltrane.ls.huji.ac.il (Joel Hakoune) wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I've got about a hundred Apple //e diskettes, containing files created
>with AppleWriter, presumably on DOS 3.3.
>
>Today, I'm using a Mac, and I need to transfer all those files. I've got
>access to several kind of Macs, and one has a MS-Dos 5.25" floppy drive
>(NB card), if it might help.

That drive won't help.  You need hardware that can read 5.25 Apple II
disks.  If you had a Mac LC and a IIe card, you might be able to do it
but you'd still need an Apple 5.25 drive (an Apple II drive).

I once helped someone convert 50+ AppleWriter disks to Mac text files.
It was not fun -- took two evenings to do it.

The quickest means of getting these disks to the Mac would be to use
Copy II+ and an Apple II equipped with 5.25" and 3.5" drives.  I found
Copy II+ to be the fastest way to perform mass conversions between DOS
3.3 and ProDOS (don't even think about using the DOS 3.3 FST of GS/OS,
it is too slow for this task).  ProDOS 3.5" disks can be accessed from
the Mac without much trouble.

The only problem with using ProDOS as a stepping stone, is that you'll
have to provide new file names for those verbose and "weird" DOS 3.3
file names since ProDOS only can deal with a maximum of 15 characters,
plus certain restrictions on naming.

Also, don't forget to make use of subdirectories on those ProDOS disks.
Even though ProDOS uses a hierarchical file system, it only permits 51
files in the "root" directory.  Subdirectories do not have this limit.
Besides, subdirectories are good way to organize your data.

Good luck

Erick