Re: Apple 3.5" drive questions

["Peter Watson" <paw77@N_O_hotmail_S_P_A_M.com>]

Hey Bill, thanks for the vote of confidence, but even my software still need
some sort of HARDWARE to allow it to work with MS-DOS disks.  :-(

My software is a little like the other person who talked about handling
MS-DOS on the Atari. That's OK because the hardware can handle it - the
software just has to adapt what is read a little.

An analogy I have used in the past (for English speakers) goes something
like this:

If I pick up a book in French I can read the words. I may need a dictionary
to help me understand them, but I can see where words and sentences end, and
I can recognise numbers, punctuation, etc. If I pick up a book in (say)
Arabic, I can't even recognise where words start and end.

Now let's apply this to the IIgs. If I put an MS-DOS disk into a normal
Apple 3.5 drive with a normal controller card, all I get back is "Arabic". I
can't even begin to understand it. If I put an MS-DOS disk into an
MFM-capable drive with a suitable controller card, then what I get back is
"French". I can understand the "words" - all I have to do is translate them
into "English".
--
Peter Watson
-- Write to MSDOS disks on the Apple IIgs?
-- Impossible!  ;-)

"GarberStreet Enterprises" <willy46pa@comcast.net> wrote in message
Yuqcnfh4L4eyPPijXTWcrg@comcast.com">news:Yuqcnfh4L4eyPPijXTWcrg@comcast.com...
>
>
> > > Let's look at it from the other way around...could an MS-DOS drive
> > > (either 3.5" or 5.25") in a PC read and write to GS or 8 bit disks in
a
> > > format that a IIe/IIc/GS would recognize?
> >
> > No, because the PC disk controller only supports MFM (and FM on some
> > but not all PCs).
>
> Ok, first of all, we're not really clear on the difference between MFM and
> GCR.
> Let's go back to that period when hard drives were written in MFM, then
RLL.
> Both MFM and RLL drives used the same controller, but different drivers.
> What everyone here is trying to say or not say as the case stands is, if
the
> very
> same controller can write MFM, RLL, CHS, etc...., why not GCR. It's IMHO,
> easy to just say, NO IT CAN'T BE DONE, just because. Peter Watson didn't
> "just say no" when we were told we could only READ ms-dos disks, he dug in
> there and solved that problem, now we can also WRITE to them. First we
could
> only make Apple II disks on older Macs, due to their ability to conform to
> the
> same standards, using DiskCopy, then came the newer Macs with their non-
> compatible drives and controllers, but here we have DiskDup+, it writes
them
> with ease, and by changing speed I might add. Listen when you write one
with
> it.
> With a little ingenuity and persistence, anything can and will be
> accomplished.
> Have we lost the spirit that made the Apple II to begin with. Looks that
way
> to
> me. Let's stop pushing this around and get together and do something about
> it.
> I'm doing what I can, I have cards and computers all over my place, apart
> with
> wires hanging out, trying to improve some of it. When I get stuck and need
> help,
> guess what I here. Here's a site to go to that won't tell you anything
> except that
> it can't work, can't be done, no one really cares. IS APPLE II DEAD? It
will
> be if we don't keep it alive. Now let's see if we can write Apple II on PC
> and
> quit this can't stuff. Woz heard can't be done, did he quit? NO. We have
> Apple II through IIgs. That's all I have to say. Thank you for listening.
>
> Bill @ GarberStreet Enterprises
> http://garberstreet.netfirms.com
>
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