Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!gatech!ukma!dftsrv!heawk1!hoepfner From: hoepfner@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov (Patrick Hoepfner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm Subject: Re: comm btw Mac and Pc Keywords: Mac<-->PC Message-ID: Date: 26 Apr 91 02:02:38 GMT References: <3194@bimacs.BITNET> Sender: news@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov Lines: 37 eidlheit@bimacs.BITNET (The infamous Gadi Eidelheit) writes: >i got my Mac a week ago and i have an old PC too, i have a Good modem to >the PC, and i want to use it to get Mac files as well, in order to >move files from Mac to PC (physically) i get two suggestions >1) buy an external 3.5 drive for PC, and move this to the Mac superdrive, >problem is i don't know if i can move files from the Mac to the PC, can the >superdrive write in MS-DOS format?? With the supplied Apple File Exchange Utility or you can use one of the two commercial INITs which will display a PC disk right on the desktop. I use AccessPC and MacWEEK rated it just slightly ahead of the other one (sorry I forget the name). But if you use similar apps on both the PC and Mac, it is worth its wait in *gold*. My wife uses Excel on a PC at her office and she can bring those disks home put them in my IIsi and she double-clicks on the file and Excel opens! Then by just saving the file the AccessPC INIT converts the file as it writes it to the disk. You don't have to even wory about from which platform the disk started on! The only difference is that her IBM PS/2 Model 70 running windows is about 1/2 the speed of my IIsi. :-) >2) i can make a direct link btw my PC serial port and the Mac Modem port, >but do i have to buy RS232 for this or the PC modem port will be o.k.??? The PC modem port is just fine. You will need a Hayes modem cable for the Mac, a null modem connector, and a cable for the PC. A null modem cable/connector swaps the transmit and receive lines. Otherwise both machines will transmit on the same wire and receive on the same wire. With a null modem cable/connector, the transmit wire from the PC is connected to the receive wire on the Mac (and visa-versa). [NOTE: if the Mac cable or the PC cable is a null modem cable, the null modem cable is not wanted.] hoepfner@heasfs.gsfc.nasa.gov NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center