Re: Appleworks 2.0 Conversion

Listen JSH, I know how you feel. I have HUNDREDS of data disks here
FILLED with AppleWorks word processor and spread*** files. Most of
these I want to get to a PC with modern file types.

In addition to all the good advice listed above, there are some other
options, but all of them involve work or spending a little money.

You don't say if you want the resulting files to be compatible with a
Mac or PC, so I'm going to callously assume that PC files are OK. Here
are the options I have been or did consider:

1. Get an old Mac Classic II or SE or SE30 with a so-called
"Superdrive" floppy drive, also known as FDHD. With System 7.5 and the
right setup, these macs can pull the files off of the ProDOS formatted
3.5" floppy you have there. Then get an old version of ClarisWorks or
MacWrite II to open these files one at a time and then save them to
RTF.

2. Don't wanna old mac? Fine. Set up a serial link between your PC and
your Apple with telecom software, a serial cable with the right jacks,
and a "null-modem." Start transferring files one at a time via XModem
or YModem. Then convert the files from AW to RTF with CiderPress ($10),
downloadable from: http://www.faddensoft.com/ciderpress/index.htm

3. Don't want to buy PC Software? Run Appleworks from your Apple and
save each file as ASCII Text. Then transfer them to the newer computer
via the first two methods, or the next one.

4. Acquire (heh heh heh) the so-called SuperDrive controller and at
least one High Density floppy drive. This will let you format a 1.44MB
ProDOS disk. Copy the files from the 800k disk to the 1.44MB disk (as
this latter size is the only format a PC drive can read -- sort of)
with your apple. Then use CiderPress to convert the AW files to RTF
files all at once. This is the method *I* use right now, and it works
brilliantly.

5. Well, PRINT all those files out on paper. Then OCR them with a
modern PC and scanner. Hey, it works fine too.

6. Buy a Compact Flash card reader for the PC, and buy a compact flash
drive card for the Apple.
http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php
Copy files to compact flash card, move card to PC, read files with PC,
convert with CiderPress.

7. Is all this too much work? Just looking for someone to do this for
you? Don't have an Apple any more? Then hire me! Email me at warren at
warrenernst dot com, and we can talk about how big a job this is. I'm a
professional computer consultant with all the hardware and software
needed to do this, and of course, I've already done it myself. Using
the software mentioned above, I can (probably) convert all those AW
files into RTF and CSV files, burn them to a CD ROM and mail them, or
just email you the files.

Hope this helps,
Warr

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