SUMMARY: Sun-Mac floppy interface

From: Steve Harris (etnibsd!vsh@uunet.uu.net)
Date: Sat Nov 05 1994 - 07:45:24 CST


        [ Apologies if this is a duplicate post -- not sure
          if my original email got out. -- vsh ]

Sun Managers:

I asked for ways to read/write Mac floppies on a Sun, and/or ways to
read/write DOS floppies on a Mac (we use MTOOLS to read/write DOS
floppies on the Sun).

For the Sun, there are several commercial packages available, from
complete Mac emulators to disk interoperability tools.

For the Mac, Apple bundles a DOS floppy utility with the OS. The
preferred tool is "Macintosh PC Exchange", which comes with System
7.5. Pre-7.5, "Apple File Exchange" was bundled, but was difficult to
use -- you can buy PC Exchange for these systems.

We will recommend our customer use "PC Exchange" to read DOS floppies
written on the Sun.

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I also asked about hardware incompatibility between Mac floppy drives
and Sun/PC floppy drives. This _was_ true of older, lower-density Mac
drives, which used a "Constant Linear Velocity" technique (like CDs).

Virtually all "modern" Macs have a "superdrive", which supports both
standard PC format (1.44 MB, Constant Angular Velocity), and the older
Mac formats.

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Details:

Packages to read/write Mac floppies on Sun.

    package: liken
    vendor: andatco
    email: inquiries@andataco.com
    notes: Mac emulator for Sun.

    package: Macintosh Application Environment (MAE)
    vendor: Apple
    email: info@apple.com (?)
    notes: Mac emulator for Sun.
                Requires Solaris 2.3 (?)

    package: TransferPro
    vendor: Digital Instrumantation Technology
    email: tpro-request@dit.com
    notes: Also reads/writes/formats Syquest and Bernoulli hard
                drives (removable), DOS/Mac floppies, DOS/Mac SCSI hard
                drives.

    package: common-link
    vendor: Qualix
    email: qfacts@qualix.com
    cost: $99
    notes: read/write Mac and DOS floppies.

Packages to read/write DOS floppies on Apple.

    package: Macintosh PC Exchange
    vendor: Apple
    email: info@apple.com (?)
    cost: $65
    notes: Bundled with System 7.5.

    package: Apple File Exchange
    vendor: Apple
    email: info@apple.com (?)
    notes: Bundled in OS. Difficult to use.
                Superceded by PC Exchange in Sys 7.5.

One other package for the Mac, "DOS Mounter", and two vendors,
"Insignia" and "Dayna", were mentioned, but without details.

Thanks to everybody who replied (too many to list).

-- 
 Steve Harris - Eaton Corp. - Beverly, MA - vsh%etnibsd@uunet.uu.net



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