Not long ago I purchased a IIgs...then a keyboard...then a mouse...and finally, just yesterday, both a 5.25" and 3.5" drive...
Now I need to get extracted SHK files (e.g. "system6Dk1.SHK" extracted to "Install" via NuLib) onto a 3.5" diskette that I can boot to on the IIgs.
I've looked all over Asimov's ftp directories, but can't seem to find anything that does exactly this.
Man, oh man, if anyone can help me with this I would be most appreciative (to say the very least).
Thanks all,
Mark
Your immediate technical hurdle is that your PC's drive is MFM, and Apple floppies use a different encoding format called GCR - the situation can be overcome, but not without a lot of fuss, or buying expensive hardware. Since you are just starting out, I am recommending the path of least expense - greatest ease.
You'd be much better off buying a copy of the system disks from Syndicomm or having someone dupe the disks for you. FYI, Syndicomm only charges $12.
You may need more RAM depending on which GS revision you're working on.
http://store.syndicomm.com/index.php?cPath=2_31
You might also check out usenet group comp.sys.apple2 and ask if anyone will make a dupe for you. Often, all you may be asked to do is cover postage.
So I get the OS diskettes...
What do I do about the multitude of software out there?
I mean, how does everyone else deal with all the software? Surely they get to a point where they've got tons of diskettes they can use (or do folks gravitate towards a hard drive)?
[So what is this "expensive hardware" you speak of?]
Thanks,
Mark
i would suggest getting an old mac, something like an lc or a mac classic. then you will be able to easily make the disks.
I own an old Powerbook 145b (was purchased as NOS only months ago).
So, then what do I do? I guess my main concern is how I am going to make the Apple see an 800k disk when I only have access to 1.44MB ones. Do those external 3.5" drives read 1.44MB disks as well?
Thank you all for your time on this thing - I so very much appreciate it.
- Mark
OK, having an older Mac helps, but some Mac drives don't read/write ProDOS volumes reliably - and the PB 145 drive, being a manual mechanism, may be one of those - we can only try. It's a crap shoot as Tony Diaz would say.
You'll want to format the HD disk as an 800K HFS disk first in the PB, then format it again in the GS as ProDOS. BTW, you can still buy 800K diskettes from some office supply stores - many older word processors use them.
Some people may think the 2 step format above is redundant, but since you're using HD disks, take it from me - this will greatly increase your chances of success.
This would be alot easier if you had a Performa, or an LC class machine.
For .dc images, ie "diskcopy", you'll use DiskCopy 4.2 on the Mac to reconstitute the image to a real disk.
For 2mg, well - you'll need something like DiskMaker from Eric Shepherd on the GS side or Asimov2, and unless you plan on doing a lot of disk swapping, get a second 3.5 drive (or better yet, a hard drive, or CFFA card). The problem is, 2mg disk images that are very full, may actually be bigger than 800K, 819K actually.
Here, read up on this...
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/apple2/faq/part10/
Although it is possible to use HD floppies in a DD drive, it isn't without risk. The magnetic media are a little different, so that if the HD disk has *ever* been written on (including formatting), then it will be difficult for a DD drive to write data on it reliably. This maneuver is best regarded as a temporary hack, to be used in an emergency. Even if formatting appears to complete successfully, you can't count on all the bits staying put.
Best results are obtained from *completely demagnetized* (virgin) disks.
Ordinary 720K PC floppies are the *same* as those used in 800K mac drives (the data are written in a different way, but the media are identical). Since it is (still) so easy to find 720K disks, that should be your first option.
Yeah I got the problem two years ago, but finally it gone. I got an IIGS with SCSI card and SC20 HD in mid of 2004, but I just can not transfer the disk image from PC to IIGS... then I noticed that both of them have SCSI card, maybe MO driver and disk can do some work. So I got two elder 3.5' MO driver from ebay with cheap price, and install one internal driver on PC, one external driver on IIGS.
ON PC side, install MACDRIVE (www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6) then you can format MO disk with Mac HFS, copy AppleII's disk image such as bxy / shk / dsk / 2mg etc. to it.
Insert this HFS MO disk to driver on IIGS, mount the HFS partition of MO driver in SCSI card manager, then boot GS/OS with HFS.FST, the new HFS HDD partition will be there!
By this way , you can transfer up to 32MB disk image one time, it's really a huge ability for IIGS...
P.S. for Apple disk image managing on PC , CiderPress written by Andy McFadden (www.fadden.com) is BEST.
Look over "Transfering FIles with ADT on a GS with a SSC" on this same Apple II area.. see if that is somthing you want to do.. It worked for me... Ask David .. he can Help...
>>>>>>>>>Mike