Re: PCT newbie questions

[herbertf@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Herbert Fung)]

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?
 
My best guess is that FDHD drives connected to the PCT will only act as
720k drives. If you have them connected to the SuperDrive card, I suspect
it can be configured as a hard drive volume.
 
>Will I be able to run MS-DOS applications from CD-ROM?
 
I doubt it. The PCT creates a ProDOS file on your hard drive where it
stores the MS-DOS stuff. As far as I can tell, the only MS-DOS disks the
PCT can read are the 720k disks and 360k disks directly connected to the
PCT.
 
>I was pleased to discover that I could connect the RGB video output of
>my VOC to the input of the PCT so that I could use both without having
>to swap cables around.
 
It took me awhile to figure this out, but when I did, it really
simplified somethings.
 
>And by the way, what's your "top 10 list" of things to do with a PCT
>(besides getting the lights on your extended keyboard to work!)?
 
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.
 
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.
 
Another use a friend finds very amusing is that he can configure his
Apple 5.25 143k disk drive as a hard drive volume.
 
Another interesting use is that you can call color ANSI BBS's and see all
the neat displays.
 
Of course there is the obvious use, which is to run MS-DOS programs.
 
A friend wanted to see if he could run that Apple II emulator on the PCT.
I don't know how successful this was. In anycase a very warped idea,
having an Apple II emulating an MS-DOS computer emulating an Apple II...
 
A couple of years ago some members of the Apples BC Computer Society and
myself used my setup to convert archived databases in ProDOS format to
MS-DOS for a legal firm.
 
Of course the aforementioned extended keyboard lights...
 
Sorry, can't come up with 10 ideas.

--
Herbert Fung              herbertf@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca