Re: Many File Formats: do they bother you?

[Egan Ford <datajerk@gmail.com>]

On 7/11/12 2:23 PM, D Finnigan wrote:
> Another survey thread. There are a number of file formats for Apple II
> users: NuFile (ShrinkIt), Binscii, Blu, Executioner, .dsk, .po, .sdk,
> etc....

And .dsk may not be DOS3.3, it could be CP/M, etc...

> Do they cause you bother when you download files?

Yes, it can be bothersome.  Unlike many here there is a 22 year gap 
(1986-2008) in my Apple II experience.  I do not recall how or what was 
used to compress/zip/archive/etc... a disk in the early '80s--we usually 
just swamped floppies face-to-face.  In that 22 year period there was 
the rise and fall of the BBS and it's successor, The Internet, that 
spawn many formats for the packing and extracting of Apple II code that 
I never heard of.

> That is, does it take you
> some time to convert the file into a different format for use with an
> emulator or for transferring to real hardware?

Yes, some time being seconds or minutes depending on the format and the 
target.

> If so, how do you manage? Do you have a program that is convenient for you?

1. 140K .dsk, .po, .do:

   [A] Write to real floppy:  c2t or ADTPro.  c2t can create an audio 
file of a .dsk that can be streamed directly to a floppy drive via the 
cassette port without the need for any existing client--It takes about 
2-3 minutes.  ADTPro is faster, but requires I have my Mac next to my 
IIe and boot up a client first making c2t faster (for me) for a single 
diskette.  I usually use c2t for the occasional diskette, and ADTPro 
when I have to write a bunch of diskettes.  NOTE: c2t does not support 
.po directly, I had to create a small utility to convert from .po to .dsk.

   [B] DOS/ProDOS Content manipulation (e.g. add/remove files):  As a 
Mac user I prefer to use AppleCommander from the command line.  I have 
this in my ~/.bash_common file: alias applecmd='java -jar 
/Applications/AppleCommander.app/Contents/Resources/Java/AppleCommander.jar', 
then I just use applecmd with options.  At times I have had to use 
Ciderpress (I do not recall why).  Ciderpress works fine on OS/X with 
wine, e.g. wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ 
Files/faddenSoft/CiderPress/CiderPress.exe.

   [C] CP/M Content manipulation (e.g. add/remove files): cpmtools 
(cpmchattr, cpmchmod, cpmcp, cpmls, cpmrm) from 
http://www.moria.de/~michael/cpmtools/.  Make sure you always use the -f 
apple-do or -f apple-po options when working with Apple CP/M diskettes.


2.  800K .dsk, .po, .do:

   [A] Write to a real floppy:  ADTPro.

   [B] ProDOS Content manipulation (e.g. add/remove files): see 1.B. above.


3.  .sdk/.shk/.bnx/NuFile:  nulib2


4. .nib:  Virtual ][.  Ciderpress.


5.  In rare instances combinations of the above to get results.