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From: gaynor@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Jim Gaynor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Floppy drives and differing formats
Message-ID: <1990Dec10.165441.26572@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 10 Dec 90 16:54:41 GMT
References: <5350@rex.cs.tulane.edu>
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In article <5350@rex.cs.tulane.edu> keating@rex.cs.tulane.edu (John W. Keating) writes:
>Why hasn't anyone come up with a floppy disk that can read and write in both
>IBM and Macintosh (and Amiga, and ...) formats?  Is the hardware so different
>that no one even wants to attempt it, or is it a matter of proprietory
>hardware?

	The Apple FDHD can read/write Macintosh, MS-DOS, OS/2, and
Apple ProDOS 3.5" floppy diskettes.  The Atari ST format is, I'm told,
identical to the MS-DOS format.  The Amiga could most likely be done
in software - Amiga drives are 3-speed variable, Mac drives are
5-speed variable.  (That's why you -have- to have a Mac drive to read
Mac disks directly with AMax on the Amiga - not enough speeds on the
Amiga drive).

>On the same note, why hasn't a 5.25 inch drive been created for the IBM that
>can read and write in both 360K and 1.2M formats correctly?

	That's a question that belongs on comp.sys.ibm-pc.*.  And it
seems you posted there too, so that's taken care of.

-- 
 Jim Gaynor - Systems Analyst 1        + "This is Serious.  He is Lost.
 The Ohio State University ACS-FM-OCES |  We must begin the Search at once."
 gaynor@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.ed      |          -Rabbit, from
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