Re: (Not very) Floppy Disk

by Tom Oster <toster(at)bcm.tmc.edu>

 Date:  Mon, 8 Jun 1998 20:11:47 -0500
 To:  hwg-software(at)mail.hwg.org
 References:  hiwaay
  todo: View Thread, Original
Patrick Simon wrote in response to a query thread started by the Watts family:

>> I ant to download a Mac program on my PC ( because it's a lot faster)
>>   and then transfer it on floppy disk to my Mac. Is this possible?
>>
>If your macOS is a "newer" one: yes. if it isnt, you need to get this
>system-enhancement (or however those are called in macOS)
>give it a try and put a pc-formatted disk in your mac and see if it can
>read it - if yes your system has this feature - if not, you need to get
>this "enhancement" somewhere, it can be installed on any macOS - lemme
>know if you need it, i should have it on the MACs....

True - for newer Macintoshes. Very old Macs had diskette drives which could
handle only double density diskettes. These drives were not compatible with
PC formatted diskettes as they used a completely different formatting
scheme. When Apple introduced high-density diskette drives (with the Mac
IIx and IIcx, I believe), they deliberately designed them (in both hardware
and software) to be compatible with the high-density format used by Wintel
machines. When first released, the software to read PC disks was not
bundled with the OS. More recent OS releases have included the PC Exchange
software. In short, if your Mac is newer than the Mac II series, then is
almost certainly capable of reading PC diskettes. It may need a OS addition
or upgrade, though. Mac II or older, probably not.

Tom Oster                                   	Division of School-Based
Programs
Sr. Technical Consultant / Web Developer    	Baylor College of Medicine
713-798-8229 (direct) or 713-798-8200       	One Baylor Plaza, MT-545
toster(at)bcm.tmc.edu <mailto:toster(at)bcm.tmc.edu>	Houston, TX  77030
Webmaster for: http://www-sbp.bcm.tmc.edu/  http://www.nsbri.org/
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