Re: Apple -> Mac conversion (A)

[EWING@CTRVAX.VANDERBILT.EDU (Rick Ewing)]

Hi,

Conversion between Appleworks on the Apple II and Microsoft Works on the
Mac is usually pretty painless.  Your biggest problem may be
getting the data from 5.25 inch floppy disks to the 3.5 inch disks that
modern Macs and later Apple Iis use.  If you can do that, then the
Mac ships with a utility called Apple File Exchange.  With Microsoft
Works is a module that will allow Apple FIle Exchange to read and
completely translate Appleworks files to Microsoft Works files
with all formatting intact.  Its pretty easy to do.

As far as for running other programs, your options may be limited.
First, I would see if there is any Mac of the shelf solutions
that would fit your needs.  If not, you can always contract someone
to rewrite the programs on the Mac. Or if you *really* want to
run the same programs, there are two alternatives.  If your friend
owns a Mac LC, LC II, LC III or Color Classic, Apple makes an Apple II
coprocessor card that allows these machines to run the Apple II environment
on these Macs.  This card will also allow you to use any existing
Apple II floppy disk drives you might have (3.5 or 5.25) except for
the old style Disk ][ drives.  If you don't have these Macs, there is
a software only solution called "II in a Mac" from Computer:applications
that emulates the Apple II environment on a Mac completely in software,
much like SoftPC emulates an IBM PC on a Mac in software.  "II in a Mac"
suffers from some speed and compatibility problems and isn't on the
top of my list as a recommended solution.

If you have any more questions, drop me a line at the address below.

--Rick Ewing
  ewing@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu