Re: Apple II gs -> Win95 conversion

[gtolar@router.patch.net (Glynne Tolar)]

In article <treiter-2902960015180001@10.0.2.15>, Toby Reiter wrote:
>In article <4gfknr$10q@news.voicenet.com>, slyder@voicenet.com (John
>Houwen) wrote:
>
>>Apparently, the Apple II was a great machine, but my partner has decided to 
>>throw in the towel and go to Win95.  The problem is, he's been creating data 
>>files & docs for the past 8 or so years so there's a wealth of information in 
>>that format.
>>
>>We are now faced with the challenge of converting these files (mostly letters 
>>and co-ordinate lists) into a useful MS-DOS/Win95 format.  The data of course 
>>is backed up, but cannot be replaced.
>>
>>If anyone has ideas they are willing to share, it would be a big help.  
>Supposedly if you have the Blue Disk controller card available from (?)
>and an IDE HD floppy drive you can read and write Win95 disks (on a GS). 
>That might be a way to do it (though extremely costly).
>I donnu tho'......

Here are the options:

1) As mentioned above get a blue disk controller, super drive controller, 
or (there is a third one out there whos name I can't remember) card that 
can read and write PC disks on an Apple II.  The price of these options 
varies between an estimated $150 to $300.  You'd still need to save the 
files as text files first.  GS/OS would allow you to save directly to 
these drives as if they were Apple II drives.  If you only have an Apple 
//e, then you'ld have to use some other utilities (I can't think of any 
names here) to copy them from the Apple II drives first.

Note: There are MS-DOS copy utilities for the GS also that provide 
additional support.  I think ever to support large PC volumes so you 
could, in theory, write all these files to a hard drive and connect that 
drive to a PC.  I've not tried this trick.

Oh, I should have added the PC Transporter as another controller to 
support PC disks.

2) This is probibly the best overall solution.  Get Crossworks.  Comes 
with a serial cable that has all sorts of plugs to fit every Apple II and 
PC combination.  Last I checked, it worked up to AppleWorks 3.0 format files.
It will also work on text files.  It also converts the files to Word 
Perfect, Lotus 123, and a databsae program that I can't remember.  
Anyway, it would keep most of your formatting with little cleanup.  Even 
if you are not using any of these programs, most will convert from one to 
the other.  If you buy, tell them they owe me a free upgrade for a 
referral.  :)

It's made by:
Soft Spoken
P.O. Box 18343
Raleigh, NC  27619
(919) 870-5694
Source: the Cross-Works manual
--
Glynne Tolar
gtolar@router.patch.net
http://www.patch.net/~gtolar