Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!pacbell.com!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!zardoz.eng.ohio-state.edu!agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu!GAYNOR From: gaynor@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: Mac Sysadmin questions Message-ID: <1991Jun13.182446.1089@zardoz.eng.ohio-state.edu> Date: 13 Jun 91 18:24:46 GMT References: <91164.092420UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> Sender: news@zardoz.eng.ohio-state.edu (Usenet news) Reply-To: gaynor@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu Organization: Ohio Cooperative Extension Service Lines: 71 Nntp-Posting-Host: agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu In article <91164.092420UH2@psuvm.psu.edu>, Lee Sailer writes: >A Mac has entered the community of machines that I support. (I'm >glad.) So I am appealing to the Mac community to give me a little >advice about the first set of sort-of-technical questions that >have popped up. > >1. There will be text files that need to travel from the Mac world to > the msdos world. > a) for serial cable transfers (or parallel, I guess) what's a good > Mac <--> msdos file transfer program. We usually use Procomm or > Kermit now. Is there a Laplink like program? Laplink exists in a version for the Mac. Contact the publisher. > b) same as a), execpt over telephone. Same software, or does advice > change? Well, Laplink doesn't work over phone lines. . Zterm is probably the best shareware telecomm program for the Mac. On the commercial end, it's a battle between White Knight (used to be Red Ryder), VersaTerm, and MicroPhone II. MP II is probably the easiest to use of the bunch. All three are very powerful. But, if you're just doing quick-n-dirty file transfer, Use Zterm. >2. What if the files that we get are not plain text? Is there msdos based > word processor software that will read the main Mac formats (macWrite? > Word? Other?)? No. But Mac wordprocessors such as MS Word 4.0 and MacWrite II will write files in MS-DOS word processor formats. >4. Is there an msdos floppy drive for the Mac, or a Mac floppy drive for > the PC? (I should probably just get an Amiga to put in the middle.) Well, if the person has one of the following Macs, then they already have an MS-DOS capable floppy drive: IIx, IIcx, SE/30, IIci, IIfx, Classic, LC, IIsi, or SE with "FDHD" on the front. All these Macs have an FDHD (Floppy Drive High Density, aka "SuperDrive"). The SuperDrive can read-and-write: Mac (400K, 800k, 1.44MB), ProDOS (800k), and MS-DOS (800k, 1.44MB). You need additional software to use the ProDOS (Apple II format) or MS-DOS capabilities. Apple File Exchange, which is included one the Mac System Software disks, will allow rudimentary use of the ProDOS and MS-DOS functionality of the SuperDrive. You may wish to look into AccessPC or DOS Mounter, which let you use the SuperDrive more effectively. If your Mac doesn't have a SuperDrive, then you may wish to look into MS-DOS compatible drives offered by Dayna. They come in 3.5" and 5.25" formats - and are somewhat expensive. >5. If I only have one external CD-ROM drive, can I move it back and forth > from the Mac (SCSI, right?) and msdos (SCSI, to be same as Mac, I guess) > so that whoever needs it can use it for a few days? (Assuming software > is available for each, of course.) In theory, yes. Provided you have the appropriate drivers for both the Macintosh and MS-DOS environments, as well as the SCSI interface hardware on the MS-DOS side. Note that most CD-ROMs are usable only on one platform. Meaning your Mac CD-ROMs probably won't work on the MS-DOS PC, and vice versa. Good luck with integrating the Mac. The Macintosh is very good at co-existing within a PC environment - a survival trait, considering all the rabid "MS-DOS Only!" goons out there... :-) --- Jim Gaynor - AgVAX System Manager - Academic Computing - Ohio State University VMS: UNIX: Disclaimer : All opinions expressed here are mine and only mine. So there! Witty Quote: "Shoot him now! Shoot him now!" - Daffy Duck, "Rabbit Seasonings"