Re: After 20 Years, I'm This Close To Finally Escaping Data Rot - Thoughts?

[magnusfalkirk <dean.phares@gmail.com>]

On Feb 21, 12:25 pm, Dave Rawson
<TheGuy@_Remove_This_Part_DRawson.Com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I'm sort of a babe-in-the-woods here and need some kind help.
>
> I have around 650 Apple-disk sides of correspondence from 1989 to 1993,
> but have been unable until now to attempt to get them over into a more
> preservable form.
>
> I booted up my aging, failing Franklin Ace which had long ago replaced
> my Apple ][+.
>
> The Franklin's power supply makes woozy pulsing sounds and a number of
> keys don't work and their number has grown over the last two days or so
> of trying to get Apple Disk Transfer (ADT) onto the Franklin's disk drives.
>
> I have been able to boot into Acewriter and load and read the most
> ancient of my disks.  The Acewriter format appends an ".mw" to each file
> and I believe that stands for Magic Writer and I believe these are just
> glorified ASCII text files.
>
> So I've demonstrated the potential viability of the old media and was
> finally able to get the two machines - Franklin and PC - to talk to each
> other.
>
> This used an Apricorn serial interface in slot 3 with the connector
> mounted in the terminal position and connected through a standard DB-25
> to DB-9 cable to the PC.  The card is triggered with an "IN#3" and I
> used a trial version of HyperTerminal (which I thought was HyperTerm
> when I installed it) to set the mode parameters to match the Apricorn's
> required 8N2 (not 8N1) data format.  Additionally, I set character
> delays and line delays.  Eventually, it worked and I got both ADT and
> it's configuration program over to the Franklin.  After 20 years, a big YAY!
>
> But in that interval, the only working of the three shift keys began to
> work intermittently, the "O" key gave out (no more "Catalog" or "Load").
>   The "R" key ("PR#n" "Run" "BRun") didn't work at all.
>
> Alas, the ship is sinking slightly faster than I can bail.
>
> But I am so close and have come so far toward finally dealing with this
> mass of old data, that I am in need of advice.
>
> I need a reliable used machine that can help me read and port these 650
> sides over to the PC world.  What should I look for?  Should I stick
> with a ][+ or is there a better, more useful later version that would
> work?
>
> What considerations or approach should I take that maybe is less than
> self-evident?
>
> Sorry for my ignorance, but I haven't touched this stuff in almost 20 years.
>
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I'd suggest going to eBay and trying to find an Apple //c at a
reasonable price. With a built in disk drive and built in Super Serial
card it would probably be the most cost effective way for you to go.
Failing that, depending on where you are, I could probably transfer
the stuff for you using my Apple IIGS and Mac.

Dean