Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!ucbvax!UTCVM.BITNET!MQUINN From: MQUINN@UTCVM.BITNET Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Apple CD-ROM,GS,Mac Message-ID: <9008101615.AA22546@apple.com> Date: 10 Aug 90 15:47:40 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 59 >Ok, the bottom line is this. There are "PC-CD-ROM disks". Can they be >used on an Apple CD-ROM player attached to either a PC(with a SCSI adaptor), >a MacII(with an Orange Micro PC card) and attached to the Mac SCSI prot, >or a GS with an AE PC Transporter and attached to the SCSI port of the GS? I don't know about the Mac stuff, but a PC-CD-ROM disk CANNOT be used with an Apple CD-ROM player connected to the GS with a SCSI card and using a PC Transporter. >Brother, I thought SCSI was SCSI! SCSI IS SCSI, but there's no such thing as a SCSI CD-ROM -DISK-! The disk is either formatted with Hi Sierra, Mac HFS, or ProDOS (there very well may be other formats for CD's, but these are the only ones I'm familiar with). The GS wil support ONLY ProDOS formatted CD's, unless you happen to have an HFS FST, or a Hi Sierra FST (FST=File System Translator). As far as I know there are no Hi Sierra FST's for the GS. (although I may be wrong), but if there ARE those FST's in existance, I don't know how they'd be used, whether you'd need a special GS utility program to access the files on those disks (In that case, you definately couldn't use that CD with the PCT) or if it makes those files on the CD available to ProDOS cammands, such as typing CAT, BLOAD, etc.. (in wich case, you probably WOULD be able to use it), but I'm ALMOST positive there are no FST's like that (that would let you use PC CD's anyway). The way the PCT uses a Hard drive is like this: You must have a large amount of space on one of your HD partitions (enough for a PCT HD partition. What the PC patition REALLY is, is a -PRODOS- file a VERY LARGE ProDOS file... several megs... however many you specify. Then the PCT creates a file on the ProDOS partition named 'MSDOSVOL'. You may change the name later if you want... Then THAT -PRODOS- file containes the ms-dos block and directory information, as well as the ms-dos files. That PRODOS FILE is an 'emulated' ms-dos partition. So it doesn't matter what kind of Drive you HD is... whether it's SCSI or some comstome made job, as long as it has been formatted by ProDOS, then the PCT can make an 'emulated' partition on it. When the PCT accesses it's 'ms-dos partition', it has to tell the GS (or Any Apple II with a PCT) to tell PRODOS to load a certain block... because the drive is a PRODOS formatted drive. Then the PCT waits until PRODOS has loaded the information and given it to the PCT. Then the PCT puts it into its own memory and it appears to the user that ms-dos handled everything. >Brother, I thought SCSI was SCSI! SCSI is a HARDWARE type, not a DOS. You can't formatt something as SCSI. SCSI is the hardware that the fomatting/read/write commands have to travel through. If you were to format a SCSI HD on a PC, then bring it over to a GS. The GS wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of what's on the HD. The same is true if you formatted a HD with the GS, then took it over to an ms-dos machine. All SCSI does, is allow you to use that same SCSI drive on both machines.. but you'll have to format for the machine you'll be using it on. I have an Ehman SCSI HD on my GS. The drive, itself, is intended for a MAC, it even came with two MAC 3.5" disks to format the drive. Since I have a GS, those disks have done nothing but gathered dust. I used the software that came with my SCSI card to format the drive for ProDOS. Even though this drive is intended for a MAC, and it is now formatted, I could take this drive to a Mac, plug it in, and the Mac would think it's not formatted and if I intended to use it with the Mac, I'd have to reformat it for the Mac. So a CD works the same way (except you can't reformat it)... so a CD formatted for ms-dos or a mac, would be virtually useless on a GS and TOTALLY useless to the PCT.