Re: Getting files from a pc => mac => IIGS and/or a IIe

[Mark Manning <markem@airmail.net>]

I realize that this has already been talked to death but I thought I'd 
just put in my $0.02 worth (which is all it is really probably worth). 
I work at NASA and we have had everything from IIe's to SGI mainframes 
here and I've had to lay cables, transfer programs, and the like back 
and forth between the various computers for a long time.  I also do not 
get on-line a lot because I just do not have the time to do so.  :-(

Anyway, as many others here have said, there are a number of ways to get 
the files transferred from your PC to your //gs or IIe.  Here are some 
things to watch out for:

1. When transferring files from a PC to a Mac or other Apple computer 
remember to always transfer the files as binary files - even if they are 
text.  The reason is is that the PC uses <CR><LF> at the end of each 
text string and the Apples use just <CR>.  So, if you transfer a file 
from the PC->Apple and transfer it as a text file the conversion program 
inside of the transfer program will automatically remove the next 
character after any <CR>s it sees which will make the files unreadable 
or unusable.  The same thing happens going from Apple->PC.  The program 
will automatically add a <LF> after any <CR>s it sees.  By transferring 
the files as binary files - they are left alone and transferred exactly 
as they are.
1a. You may go "But there aren't any carriage returns (<CR>s) in a 
binary file!"  A <CR> doesn't always mean a carriage return.  it could 
just be the number 13 in a char, int, short, long, float, or just as a 
return at the end of an output string in a program.  All of these are 
valid carriage returns when you are converting text from one machine to 
another.

2. It is always a good idea to ZIP your files before you try to transfer 
them.  Unlike ShrinkIt and other file compression utilities, the ZIP 
utility is pretty much standard across all computers.  Also, ZIP files 
are almost always (but there are always exceptions to the rule!) 
recognized as binary files and thus are transferred exactly how they are 
without adding or subtracting characters.

3. The Mac can add extra things on to a file such as a resource fork - 
but if you just get an old hard drive by going to a swap meet, put it 
into your Mac, and format it to be a ProDOS drive - then you will have 
some place to put the files and they should not be given a resource 
fork.  Further, if you zipped everything, then the Mac shouldn't do 
anything to the zip file in the first place.

4. As others have said - localtalk.  You can hook up your Mac to your 
//gs via Appletalk (or localtalk) you can then transfer files directly 
from the Mac to the //gs.  So you then go PC->Mac->//gs almost directly. 
 You should be able to find PhoneNet connectors still for connecting 
Macs together.  If you are lucky - you might even find the PC Appletalk 
card and can hook up the PC to the Mac directly.

5. There are also other ways to transfer files between Macs and PCs. 
Since you have a Mac Classic you probably can not use USB.  Your second 
choice would then be either a null modem cable or just use two modems 
(one on the Mac and one on the PC) to transfer files.  When using two 
modems you just make the two modems pick up the phone.  Sometimes you 
have to make one answer the phone.  (This is a lot easier if you have 
two phone lines so the first modem can just call the second one.)

6. If both the Mac and PC can get onto the internet, then you have yet 
another way to transfer the files.  You will need a router in order to 
do this.  Since the router knows where both computers are you can just 
set up FTP on the IBM and then use FTP on the Mac to make a connection 
to the IBM PC and transfer files in that manner.  So if the IBM PC were 
on 192.168.1.1 and the Mac was on 192.168.1.2 then you would start up 
FTP on the IBM PC and tell it to accept incoming requests.  Then you'd 
start up FTP on the Mac and FTP to 192.168.1.1.  The IBM's FTP screen 
should respond with a notification that there has been a connection and 
you can then proceed from there to transfer the files.  (FTP will also 
work over the modem-to-modem connection and is a lot faster than kermit 
but not faster than zmodem.)
6a. Note that you do NOT have to be connected to the internet in order 
to do this.  You just need a cheap router that has at least two ports on 
the back.  Even classic Macs had ethernet connectors that could be 
bought and installed.  But if you don't have access to that then fall 
back to either the null modem or modem-to-modem connection.  Basically, 
transferring things via floppy is the slowest method you can use.

I know this is a lot of information and I'm just passing through but I 
thought I'd drop a line.  If you need more help e-mail me at 
markem@airmail.net and I will see what I can do to help.  :-)

Mark