Re: Appleworks 2.0 Conversion

jshafer817 <jshafer817@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Ok... I have done about 5 hours of reading. I have a unidisk 3.5
> diskette that was used on an apple IIe. Some word processing files are
> on this disk and they were made by appleworks.
>
> If I can find an apple IIgs and copy the files from the unidisk, to a
> normal apple 3.5 800k diskette? Using the drive that comes with the
> machine? Can this one drive read the unidisk, and write to a normal 3.5
> 800k floppy?

Yes, but there is no need to copy them to yet another 3.5" disk.

The UniDisk 3.5 and Apple 3.5 Drive use the same physical disk format,
and disks formatted/written with one can be read and written by the
other drive, as long as you are using compatible file systems. The IIgs
and IIe both use the ProDOS file system and both will be able to read
(and write) that disk.

The only difference between the UniDisk 3.5 and Apple 3.5 Drive relevant
to the disk format is speed. The UniDisk is considerably slower, due to
the extra delays involved in reading the data off the disk into the
drive's internal RAM, then copying it to the computer. For best
performance, disks used in a UniDisk 3.5 should be formatted using a 4:1
interleave factor. By comparison, the optimal interleave factor for an
Apple 3.5 Drive on GS/OS (also in 8-bit software on a ROM 3 IIgs) is
2:1. If you use the "wrong" interleave factor, the transfer rate will
be reduced (quite badly if you use a 2:1 disk in a UniDisk 3.5).

> Then I take the files with this 800k floppy and then copy them to 1.44
> MB?

Depends on what hardware you have available.

A standard Apple IIgs only has an 800K 3.5" drive. If you want to copy
to a 1.44 MB (high density) 3.5" disk you would need a IIgs with a
SuperDrive and Apple II 3.5 Disk Controller Card (or the same card in an
enhanced IIe).

Given a IIgs with GS/OS (System 6) but only a standard (800K) 3.5"
drive, you could copy the files to an HFS-formatted 800K 3.5" disk,
which is able to be read by a Mac with a built-in floppy drive and no
special software. With a SuperDrive, you could copy to a high density
(1.44MB) HFS disk, which can be read in a PC with some additional
software, or with the right additional software on the IIgs you could
write to a 1.44MB MS-DOS floppy which could be read directly by a PC.

In principle, you don't need a IIgs at all. A properly equipped Mac of
sufficiently antique vintage (early PowerPC models or any 68K model)
should be able to read your original 3.5" disk just fine, and copy the
data to something more recent. The main requirement on the Mac is
support for reading the ProDOS file system, which was a standard feature
back in the days of System 7.5 and thereabouts. (Seems to have gone by
Mac OS 9, but I'm not sure where the cutoff point was.)

The Mac also supports writing MS-DOS floppies, given a new enough
computer (Mac IIx, IIcx, SE/30 or later, or an FDHD-upgraded Mac II or
SE) and appropriate system software.

> The files I need may already be on a zip disk... if you can imagine
> that.
> What type of file system should I expect from a zip disk that was used
> in an old apple?

Mac or Apple II?

If it was used on a Mac, it is probably in HFS format, and should be
readable on any Mac with a Zip drive.

If it was used on an Apple IIgs, it may be in HFS or ProDOS format. (If
ProDOS, it would need to have been divided into multiple partitions in
order to use all the space). If it was used on a IIe it was almost
certainly ProDOS.

A Mac capable of reading a ProDOS floppy should also be able to handle a
ProDOS-formatted Zip disk.

> Did people even use Zipdisks on apple's?

Some did. I have an external SCSI Zip drive on my PowerMac 7600 but
never bothered using it on my IIgs, as I had many other drives and ways
of exchanging data between the two.

> I am sure an old mac could do it but I dont know about a zip drive. I
> suppose via scsi?

As long as you have a SCSI Zip drive - they probably aren't available
any more. The external parallel model looks almost exactly the same but
isn't Mac compatible. The more recent USB Zip drive models aren't
supported on old Macs which are likely to have ProDOS file system
support, though there might be a crossover around the oldest iMac
models, which support Mac OS 8.1.

> Basically I am doing a project for my dad. I am going to texas soon to
> try it out.
> He told me he copied the data off of a unidisk and onto a zip disk, but
> he inst sure.
>
> All he has had was an old Apple IIe, and I dont see how an apple IIe,
> could use a zip drive.

No problem with a SCSI card, as long as you are careful. (The original
Apple SCSI card doesn't handle removable hard drives very well, but the
High-Speed SCSI card and some third party cards do better.)

> He also had an older performa, performer???? Maybe that was the
> computer they used to do this job on.

Quite likely. The Performa series covers a wide range of models, and
the older ones would have the necessary tools to read Apple II floppies
as well as connect a Zip drive.

The Performa was a "consumer" series, generally almost identical to
corresponding "professional" series computers (including various Mac LC
and PowerMac models) but with different software bundles and sometimes
different hardware options.

> Anyways... hopefully the files will be on zip, if not.... I guess buy
> an apple IIgs, and try to get them onto more modern floppies...

If he still has the Performa, it should be sufficient. Steer clear of
the IIgs - it will just add complications and may not help.

> Last problem is... converting the old appleworks files into a newer
> format...

Indeed.

> Any suggestions??? Maybe try to find an older version of clarisworks
> 4.0???

That version of ClarisWorks can open documents saved by Apple II
AppleWorks 3.0 (also sold by Claris), and hopefully documents saved by
older versions. (They made some minor file format changes in AppleWorks
3.0.)

If ClarisWorks can't handle it, you might need to go through a later
version of AppleWorks (on the Apple II), or resave the documents in a
more portable format such as plain text.

> Then use maclink to convert them from clarisworks 4.0 to appleworks
> 6.0???

No need for MacLink. AppleWorks 6 can read ClarisWorks 4 documents.

> I am hoping my dad didnt throw away all his software, like he did with
> his old mac hardware.

Oh darn. You may need to reacquire some old Mac hardware.

What is the ultimate goal? What platform (and computer model) do these
files need to be accessed from?

--
David Empson
dempson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

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