Converting Apple II images back to disk?

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Converting Apple II images back to disk?

Hi everyone!

I wanted to ask some questions on how hard/easy it is to convert apple IIe disk images back to real floppies. I've seen some posts that describe a few methods, but I wanted to ask about these other concepts that might exist. I've seen similar methods for other classic systems, and I'm hoping to determine which is the easiest, fastest and most affordable way to do it on an Apple IIe.

1. A special cable that hooks up to the Apple IIe disk drive and connects to a PC serial port so images could be tranfered back to disk via a program on your PC. This exists for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit systems, so I am wondering if something similar is available on the Apple IIe. If so, what equipment (cable, software, etc...) do I need to get?

2. Convert the images back to floppy on an old 486 MS-DOS PC? There is a program for the PC that allows you to convert Commodore 1581 images back to 720k floppy disks for use on a real 1581 drive. Is there means to do something similar where you'd put a blank 5.25 disk into the PC floppy drive and then run a program on the PC where it would take the contents of an Apple IIe image and successfully convert it back to the 5.25 disk for use on an Apple IIe system? If so, what software do I need to do that, and is there any other info I might need to be aware of?

3. Converting images to disk via a CF card adapter on a real Apple IIe. I know there is that adapter card that lets you use a CF card as a hard drive inside a real Apple IIe. There is a similar item for the Commodore 64. On the Commodore system you could copy your images to the MMC memory stick, when the memory stick is connected to your modern PC and then plug it into the MMC adapter that connects to the C64. You could then transfer the images directly on the C64 from the memory stick to the blank 5.25 disk in the Commodore 1541 disk drive. Is this type of transfer possible on an Apple IIe with the CF card adapter that has recently been released? If so, is there a program that is also needed to convert the Apple images off the CF card and back onto the 5.25 disk?

4. Using a MAC. I have a Mac Color Classic II with Mystic Upgrade and the Apple IIe emulator board that was made way back when. It allows me to hook up Apple IIe floppy drives to my MAC and use Apple IIe software on the MAC. Is there someway to transfer images back to floppy using this method?

Well, I think that covers all the possible methods I've seen for image transfer on other systems. I'm hoping the above might be possible on an Apple system. Numbers 2 and 3 would seem to be the easiest and fastest if those methods are possible. Let me know please.

Thanks
John

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Re: Converting Apple II images back to disk?

1. A special cable that hooks up to the Apple IIe disk drive and connects to a PC serial port so images could be tranfered back to disk via a program on your PC. This exists for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit systems, so I am wondering if something similar is available on the Apple IIe.

No, there isn't an equivalent for the Apple ][ family.
2. Convert the images back to floppy on an old 486 MS-DOS PC?

Again, not really. http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/Csa2DSKETTE.html#007 has some hints, but it may or may not work reliably.
3. Converting images to disk via a CF card adapter on a real Apple IIe.

Definitely the hi-tech way to go. See: http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

If so, is there a program that is also needed to convert the Apple images off the CF card and back onto the 5.25 disk?

Yes. It's called Asimov.

4. Using a MAC. I have a Mac Color Classic II with Mystic Upgrade and the Apple IIe emulator board that was made way back when. It allows me to hook up Apple IIe floppy drives to my MAC and use Apple IIe software on the MAC. Is there someway to transfer images back to floppy using this method?

Sure. That would work too. Most folks these days hook up a Super Serial card and run ADT to send .dsk images down to the Apple ][ for writing. Not the fastest (i.e. over the serial line), but probably the most straightforward for those with the hardware.

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What about those with a

What about those with an Apple ][C Plus? Would ADT work if the proper cable and serial port settings were used?

It would be nice if there was a way for 8-bit Apple ][s to read PC 720K disks, but I'm pretty sure nobody's come up with a solution for that.

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Diskette transfer/serial comms on the //c

What about those with an Apple ][C Plus? Would ADT work if the proper cable and serial port settings were used?

You bet. The built-in serial port for the //c+ is hardware compatible with the SSC card. All you need is a cable.

Apple ][ FAQ to the rescue: http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/Csa2T1TCOM.html#024

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Options

Google or view the following sites:

Trackstar 128
Catweasel

http://www.syndicomm.com/~mark/DM8/
http://www.faddensoft.com/ciderpress/
http://www.thesvd.com

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Ok gang. Let me see if I unde

Ok gang. Let me see if I understand this correctly.

If I get the CF card adapter, I can copy images on my PC to the CF card, then on the IIe, I can convert those images back to floppy. I'll just need that Asimov software, correct?

Also, If I get the ethernet card for the IIe, will I be able to connect my IIe to my PC FTP server and then transfer the images to the IIe and then convert them on the fly to floppy? I know this can be done on an Atari 800, so I hope this might be possible on the Apple IIe as well.

Sorry for so many questions.

Thanks
John

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First question: No, you ne

First question:

No, you need CiderPress and something like Asimov - but I would recommend DiskMaker 8.

Second question:

With an ethernet card and Contiki, you'll use the http protocol to connect to the disk image on the server, and it will convert the 5.25 image to a floppy on the fly.

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One more option...

If you don't feel like doing it yourself, and if you'll pardon the shameless self-promotion - I do disk transfers as a service:

http://retrofloppy.com

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no thanks!

no thanks!

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Of course, it's much more fun

Of course, it's much more fun do to it yourself. Smile

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