Re: PCT newbie questions

[cranem@edsi.plexus.COM (Mike Crane)]

Previously johnt@meaddata.com (John Townsend) wrote:
>I've just bought a used PCT and am in the process of configuring it for
>my IIgs system.  My IIgs has Apple 3.5" FDHD drives on a SuperDrive
>controller and hopefully soon an AppleCD SC drive on a RamFAST
>controller.  Can I use the FDHD drives with the PCT to read and write
>1.4MB MS-DOS disks?

I've found that this works just fine as long as the disk is formatted on
an IBM system.  The SuperDrive will then read and write them just fine.
Unfortunately, the PCT software isn't particularly intelligent about
formatting the things - I've had it work once and fail many times.

Previously Herbert Fung wrote:
>Well I never really got too much use out of my PCT. The most useful thing
>about it was that I could use it as a ramdisk. Since you have a
>SuperDrive card I'm assuming you have it in slot 5, so the GS's native
>ramdisk is rendered inoperative, so RAMAEPC could be quite useful.

Actually, with the advent of the RAM5 driver in System 6.0.1 you *can*
access the ramdisk while in GS/OS, even if the slot is set to "Your
Card."

>As I understand it, you will be able to read MS-DOS disks straight from
>your TransDrives with the MS-DOS FST in System 6.0.1. Since the MS-DOS
>FST is read only, you can use the PCT to write to MS-DOS disks.

We could only hope that this would be true, but unfortunately, it's not.
FST's only work while GS/OS is active; they don't work under P8 which is
what the PC Transporter works with.  Now if some enterprising soul
wants to disassemble and rewrite the PCT driver code to run under GS/OS
instead of P8....
-- 
Mike Crane     GEnie: M.CRANE   America Online: MIKE566
Internet: cranem@edsi.plexus.com, cranem@csystems.appleton.mil.wi.us,
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"Who needs drugs...we've got UNIX!" - Me