Re: How can I convert 2mg to real IIgs 3.5" disk on my Mac?

["Warren Ernst" <wernst@gmail.com>]

I'm sure someone else can tell you for sure if you can do this with
just "one-click," but...

My Gut Reaction is that the hardware you have will be a problem. Here's
why:

1. I don't think the USB floppy drives can do an 800k prodos disk.Of
this I'm almost certain.

2. I don't think the second-generation of built-in floppy drives (the
ones with the manual eject button) do a very good job with ProDOS 800k
disks either. Now I know I've read that some people have had good luck,
and that others could never get a working disk - this suggests that
some drives are just luckier than others, I guess.

Now then. You say you have a GS with a SCSI card. You also say you have
a modern Macintosh with USB. Here's what I would do:

1. Buy a USB ZIP drive an a SCSI ZIP drive.  The USB drive runs about
$50 new, or less than $20 on ebay. The SCSI zip drive is less than $10
on ebay. Buy some blank ZIP disks - they still sell these new at office
supply stores and CompUSA.

2. Attach the USB drive to the G4 and the SCSI zip drive to the GS.

3. I'm assuming you have GS/OS 6.01 running on a SCSI hard drive. If
true, then install the FST to allow GS/OS to read either HFS (macintosh
formatted) or MS-DOS Fat (PC formatted) floppy and zip disks directly
from the GS/OS finder.

4. Download the 2mg file on your G4 and copy it to the Zip disk via OS
X's Finder, as normal. Eject the zip disk.

5. Insert the Zip disk into the GS's SCSI zip drive. It appears in the
GS/OS finder.

6. Insert a formatted 800k 3.5" floppy in the GS's disk drive.

7. Use DiskMaker8 or some other utility to convert the 2MG (or any
other disk file you have) directly from the Zip disk.

I think this is also probably the most reliable way to make Apple II
disks as well, PLUS you can make 5.25" disks as well.

Also, I am *pretty sure* you could use the Mac LC and a second SCSI ZIP
drive instead. Install the FST to allow the Mac to read and write
ProDOS formatted zip disks. Then format the ZIP drive via ProDOS and
use the LC to write 2mg files directly to the ProDOS Zip disk, and then
stick that into the GS's Zip drive.

I'm sure someone will say if I'm totally off track. These days I just
use high-density floppys, CiderPress, and my SuperDrive Controller card
to do this stuff...

-Warr

iseign wrote:
> First I have G4 and LC475 Mac. Not Windows PC. So Ciderpress is not my
> option.
>
> Okay, then, I want to convert 2mg files to real IIgs 3.5" 800k
> diskettes on my Mac.
> I can use my LC475 or G4 MacOSX with USD FDD. I think my hardwares are
> enough for this job. The problem is software. (I have IIgs with all
> types of FDDs and SCSI HDD.)
>
> What do you think is better hardware and what program exactly should I
> use to do this job?
> If I can convert 2mg directly to 800k 3.5" (via USB FDD) just with one
> click on my MacOSX, It'd be the best choice. But, if this is
> impossible, I can use my old LC475.
>
> I tried an Apple II image converting utility for 68K called 'imageutil
> (68k)' on my LC475 and it just works very well. imageutil converts 2mg
> to DiskCopy 4.2 format and I can put the DiskCopy image to 3.5" 800k
> diskette using DiskCopy 4.2 on LC475.
>
> But some images can not be converted by imageutil. And what I exactly
> need is just 'one-click' solution, without intermediate converting
> works. Directly from 2mg to 800k 3.5" on both of old macs and MacOSX.