Any Aplle IIe Microdrive users here?

[retrofixes]

Sorry for the title misspelling. Modern keyboards suck..

 

I started dabbling in Apple II systems again. I'm more of a Macintosh buff and struggle with the IIe.

 

Recently installed the CF microdrive and I am lost with PC to CF file transfers..

Is there an easy way to transfer downloaded .dsk files and place them on the CF card via Ciderpress/Shrinkit?

My overall goal is Internet downloaded .dsk to 5..25" floppy.

 

It seems ADTPro Serial Cabling is the only real transfer option but was hoping for alternate methods.

 

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Edited September 27, 2016 by retrofixes

[david__schmidt]

Is there an easy way to transfer downloaded .dsk files and place them on the CF card via Ciderpress/Shrinkit?

My overall goal is Internet downloaded .dsk to 5..25" floppy.

No, that's not really what the Microdrive is for. It is like a big hard drive for the Apple IIe, and not well suited for individual floppy disk reconstitution. The CFFA3000 is the thing that behaves both like a hard drive and also a virtual floppy drive. Alternatively, there are other virtual drive devies available now. But what you're asking really isn't the Microdrive's primary use case.

[retrofixes]

No, that's not really what the Microdrive is for. It is like a big hard drive for the Apple IIe, and not well suited for individual floppy disk reconstitution. The CFFA3000 is the thing that behaves both like a hard drive and also a virtual floppy drive. Alternatively, there are other virtual drive devies available now. But what you're asking really isn't the Microdrive's primary use case.

 

That's what I am slowly realizing.

Honestly I purchased the Microdrive thinking it had CFFA specs.

 

What are the main uses of this device? Can it at-least store floppy backups and execute them via the microdrive?

[david__schmidt]

What are the main uses of this device? Can it at-least store floppy backups and execute them via the microdrive?

 

As I mentioned earlier, it's a hard drive surrogate, and it assumes you're using ProDOS - which few games do. Hard drives and floppies each had a very different role on the Apple II, and that's reflected in the floppy-only operating system (DOS, typically version 3.3) vs. the more universal ProDOS that can operate both floppies and hard drives. Your problem is that a lot of software that is on floppy images (most software, if you're counting only games) is on DOS 3.3 images, which simply doesn't play well with hard drives. It wasn't designed for that as a target, and it is painful trying to move from one environment to the other (DOS<->ProDOS). One option for bridging DOS floppy images and ProDOS is the late Glen Bredon's DOS.MASTER program, which allows virtualization of a set of different floppy images to exist on a single ProDOS filesystem, accessing each as a separate volume. It works, but it requires you to keep a good mental map of what's stashed in this jukebox of virtual disks and how to access them.

 

Recently, a lot of effort has been going into lifting games off of floppy images and making them single-loadable, even via ProDOS. If you go to Asimov and look for any title with the text "PRODOS (san inc crack)" in it, those are ProDOS floppy images that would allow you to copy the executable game to your CF card via CiderPress and skip the floppy altogether. So those would be great options for your ProDOS setup.

 

Lastly, your CF card can store .dsk images that you can reconstitute to physical floppies if you like - you could use a program like DiskMaker 8 to go from .dsk on your CF to physical floppy without having to go through ADTPro to transfer.

[The Usotsuki]

http://prodos.buric.co/

 

To toot my own horn, here's a few more, most of which you won't find with the "san inc prodos" keywords.

[Iamgroot]

http://prodos.buric.co/

 

To toot my own horn, here's a few more, most of which you won't find with the "san inc prodos" keywords.

 

Well, if you weren't going to toot your own horn, I surely was. I, for one, recognize the contribution you have made to converting Dos games to be runnable under Prodos, and, I for one, appreciate that.

[retrofixes]

 

If you go to Asimov and look for any title with the text "PRODOS (san inc crack)" in it, those are ProDOS floppy images that would allow you to copy the executable game to your CF card via CiderPress and skip the floppy altogether. So those would be great options for your ProDOS setup.

 

Lastly, your CF card can store .dsk images that you can reconstitute to physical floppies if you like - you could use a program like DiskMaker 8 to go from .dsk on your CF to physical floppy without having to go through ADTPro to transfer.

 

Awesome thank you! Diskmaker is working great! for .dsk to floppy. Before I was trying a crazy Shrinkit method.

 

As for booting games from CF. How is the .exe extracted from .dsk images?

Or are you saying the prodos game .dsk image will boot directly without file editing?

Sorry for the rookie questions. Last time I used Apple IIe systems was 1985!

Edited September 27, 2016 by retrofixes

[retrofixes]

http://prodos.buric.co/

 

To toot my own horn, here's a few more, most of which you won't find with the "san inc prodos" keywords.

You Rock.

[The Usotsuki]

 

Awesome thank you! Diskmaker is working great! for .dsk to floppy. Before I was trying a crazy Shrinkit method.

 

As for booting games from CF. How is the .exe extracted from .dsk images?

Or are you saying the prodos game .dsk image will boot directly without file editing?

Sorry for the rookie questions. Last time I used Apple IIe systems was 1985!

o.o?

 

The ProDOS disks are self-booting. But if you want to run them off a CF, copy all the files on the disk (except, obviously, for PRODOS) to a folder. Ideally copy them in the same order, so that the launch program is at the top of the folder (so use Copy ][+, not System Utilities).

[retrofixes]

Thanks so much for your help. Glad to see Atariage has a classic computer section!

I should stop by more often