Re: Conversions from apple to IBM/MAC

[nathan@cco.caltech.edu (Nathan Mates)]

In article <346geh$685@dockmaster.phantom.com>, Lyre <lyre@phantom.com> wrote:
>I need to convert an Apple ][ appleworks WP file on 5.25" floppy to
>IBM or Mac, eventually to Microsoft Word.

   (Hint: 70 columns. Not 85). Neither Macs nor IBMs can read
Apple II 5.25" floppies without some special hardware. The best
thing to get is a system that can handle both, like a //e with
5.25" and 3.5" disks, a IIGS with dual media, or a Mac with a
//e card and a 5.25" disk. (Bug your friends, etc...) Failing
that, if you have a null-modem cable, connect it between an
Apple II and a Mac/IBM.

   Once you get the file off the 5.25" disk, you need to change
the format. If you can write the file out as ascii text from
Appleworks, you'll lose all formatting, but that'll simplify
things greatly. If you can get the AppleWorks file to the Mac
end, the newer Claris programs (ClarisWorks, MacWrite Pro, etc.)
have translators to go from AW format (probably AW 3.0 and
earlier) to Claris format, and then export it in MicroSloth
Word format.

   If you can get it only to the IBM side, things get harder.
I know of only one program that can read AW files on the IBM,
an AW clone, 'CrossWorks', but I think it supports AW 2.0 files
or earlier. MicroSloth hates the Apple II, so I don't think any
of their programs support any Apple II format other than raw
ascii.

   The hard part in all of this is actually getting the file
transferred; tweaking a file once it's over is much simpler.


Nathan Mates



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