Apple Mac to IBM-PC file exchange and diskette exchange ------------------------------------------------------- I often get requests from owners of older Macs who now have IBM-type PC's (as well as iMacs and G3 and G4 Macs) about how to do one of two things. Either they want to read files (or run programs) from their older Mac's diskettes; or they want to connect their older Macs to their new systems. First, I must be clear about my business position as a reseller of old Macs. I have to leave it TO MY CUSTOMERS to make technical decisions and choices. I do not want to be in the position of telling my own customers what they "must" buy from me. There are many Web sources for information about Macs old and new. My Web site points to a few of those. I also have some Mac books in my "books and software" section that may be useful, and there are older books about Macs from sources of old computer books. PLease use these and other resources to help you make your TECHNICAL decisions about what to purchase and how to use it. However, I can answer some basic questions and I'll respond here with some basic information. First, I will address the diskette issue, then networking. Diskette conversions -------------------- Very old Macs, such as the 128K, 512K, 512KE, Plus and SE used diskettes in either 400K or 800K formats. These diskettes are physically different from the currently popular (year 2000) 1.4MB diskettes used on many Macs and IBM-PC's. If you need more of those older diskettes I can provide them (used) and more information. But for the purpose of this note, I will otherwise say that it is a PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY for an IBM-PC to read or write these old Mac 400K and 800K diskettes. (The execption is for specialized hardware designed for such odd purposes, if you have such hardware this message is not written for you.) Most of the later old Macs with 1.4M floppy drives could also read 400K and 800K diskettes. The newest Macs, like the iMac, do not have floppy drives but there are now USB compatible floppy drives: these do NOT read 400K and 800K Mac disks but can read 1.4M PC compatible disks. I have many older Macs (later than model SE) that can read files from 400K and 800K diskettes, and which can also support PC 1.4M formats. Later versions of System 7, such as 7.5.3, provide some of these services. Apple made a utility called "Apple File Exchange" to read and write IBM-PC type diskettes, for earlier versions of System 7; later on these services were incorporated into System 7.5.3 with the appropriate System Extensions. System 7.5.3 is provided by Apple at no charge via their Web site, as a set of disk images that in principle one can download and convert into diskettes, from which one can install System 7.5.3. I can provide System 7.5.3 under some circumstances, check my Web site for this. Among the "compact Macs" that have appropriate resources for 400K, 800K, 1.4M diskettes, AND that have memory and hard drives sufficient for System 7, include the SE/30, Classic, and Classic II. (The SE FDHD or SE "superdrive" will support 1.4MB diskettes but is limited to 4MB of memory.) These and later Macs, for the most part, support sufficient memory to run System 7 and they generally can still read 400K and 800K Mac diskettes. Of the compact Macs I mentioned, only the SE/30 allows memory expansion beyond 10MB or so; more memory in general allows System 7 to run faster. There are of course all the Macs which came later. Most of them can read and 400K, 800K, 1.4M Mac and 1.4M MS-DOS disks. Generally the people who ask about this problem have a Compact Mac and are looking for a "Compact Mac" solution. I do not intend at this time to provide additional instructions or directions for such a project. I hope I have provided enough information for some to find out what they need to learn to do. A Web search using some keywords from the above text will be very informative. But I have had customers who bought my older systems for just this purpose and who have sorted all this out. Also, please note that "reading files" is not the same as "running programs", again you will have to determine how to USE the files you might transfer. In other words, new software may not be able to read or use files from old software. Networking between old and new Macs, or to IBM-type PC's. ---------------------------------------------------- I will be very very brief about this. Older Macs used a form of networking called "Appletalk", and they were connected in this kind of networking generally via "PhoneNet" connectors to telephone-like wiring schemes. Apple also supported various forms of Ethernet networking. I sell some of the Ethernet cards and Phonenet connectors and related devices. But I DO NOT PROVIDE guidance or support in their use. Check my Web page and look under "networking" for whether I have hardware for your Mac. Most older Macs used what is called "NuBus slots" to hold hardware expansion cards for things like networking. I have a number of NuBus network cards. I also have some cards intended for specific Macs that do NOT have NuBus slots, such as some of the compact Macs and the Mac LC series (or with LC-compatible expansion). Check my site for specifics and check the technical information on your Mac to find what is compatible. Also: the kinds of networking that Apple has used, is generally NOT COMPATIBLE with the kinds of networking IBM-type PC's (Microsoft Windows machines) use. Even if the connectors and cables look the same, the way the information is exchanged is not. This may also apply to some of Apple's later systems including the iMac. For more information about all this, you will have to search the Web, bookstores, and libraries. My Web site points to a few Web pages and references a few books on this. YOu might look at Apple's System 8 documentation for comments about Mac/PC networking. Final notes ----------- I will offer a final bit of consideration. Most people who contact me want to do a ONE-TIME conversion from their old 400K and 800K Mac disks to their "new" system: an iMac, a Windows 98 system, that sort of thing. Or they want to do it occasionally: they use an old Mac daily, but need to make PC-compatible files sometimes. For their purposes it may be reasonable to simply obtain an inexpensive compact Mac, to read each disk and convert it to a PC-compatible disk as needed. Or, to convert all their old disks all at once. Apple's Web site can be VERY INFORMATIVE. They have a Technical Information Library and many many documents on line. Many of their old manuals are available online. Please look over their information resources. Finally, any information, advice, considerations or suggestions here are NOT WARRENTED whatsoever for accuracy, completeness, or reliability. It is up to YOU, the customer, to make your own determinations as to the usefulness of whatever it is you purchase. PLease refer to my "terms and conditions" on my Web site for more details before purchasing. Herb Johnson