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Writing Mac floppies under Windows

A

atari2600a

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I'm a Mac n00b, & I just got a 1MB Mac Plus from someone on Craigslist. Problem is, I have no Hard disk for it. (So I boot to the floppy request screen)

I know very little about Macs & stuff. So...Is there a Windows program that will write a Mac floppy image under Windows?

EDIT: I MIGHT have an external Mac CD drive from somewhere else. Anyone think it can read CD-R's &/or if I could boot from it?
 
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Yes, that does exist- I had one for win 3.11 (last time I worked with a Mac, it was that long ago ;)
I'm going to dig a bit to find the name-
 
I belive transmac can write mac disks. However, that will not help you in this instance, because the mac plus has an 800kb drive in it, and you can't write mac 800k disks under windows.
 
Maybe if you get a custom floppy drive controller. However I doubt even a CatWeasel or alike can read/write Mac floppies due to the Macintosh uses adjustable rotation speed and most floppy drive mechanisms don't support that.
 
A guy once sent me some utilities for this very problem, but I have since lost the email and done a system restore. It was a self extracting OS 6 boot disk...

Once you have your mac booted to OS 6, then a little program called DOS Mounter (Or DOSmounter?) was useful. When installed on a system it could create a disk that a Mac and an PC could read.

I'll see if I can find my post on the list, many moons ago.
 
Find the local Mac user group and have somebody make you up some OS floppies. To properly make 800K disks you need an old 68K Mac (newer PPC macs have different drives and they don't work well on 800K floppies).

800K (3.5" DD disks) are also a bit hard to find these days, so look around for them.
 
I realize you're asking for Windows, but I think I've been able to create Mac floppies for my SE/30 using Linux. If you're interested, I'll see if I can find my notes.
 
Ya, to write an 800K floppy for your Plus, you need an older Mac. The 400k and 800k disks are recoded at a variable speed.

I use a SE with 800k disks to write the images for Lisa disks.

-Jason
 
OK, now I need to find a store that still sells floppies! The surplus MIGHT have some, but I can't be certain. Costco & Sams Club stopped selling them years ago, Fry's is a 1/2 hour drive away, & I'm getting tired of writing over my step father's dieing 15yr floppies...
 
the best mac to read/write old 400 or 800 disks is a macintosh IIci with system 6 and disk copy 4.2
 
I have a Quadra 60 for that. half the height of a IIci, and yet it has a 68040/25 (mine has a 68040/33, and I did the resistor trick to go to 33Mhz).
On top of that, the Q605 will take a single 72-pin SIMM, but it'll take up to a 128Mb stick, plus 4 on the MoBo = 132MB! I have I think MacOS 8.1 on it, runs really nice!

OK - back OT - if you can find a Central Point Copy II PC Deluxe Option Board, your in luck in the PC world. I just gave one to a friend in April. The others chiming in are correct - 400/800k floppy writing is not compatible with the floppy controller chips on PC's. another option is the Catweasel PCI controller, from Individual Computers (www.jschoenfeld.com). I think there's one on eBay now, or was. another place to find these is www.softhut.com, but they are not cheap: $120-150 or so.

Cheapest option is finding an older 68xxx mac to use! A Quadra 605 (or LC475 - same deal) is a relatively small box to use. IIci, IIsi, etc... wil also do.

That thing will really only be happy with MacOS 6.0.8 or so.
Make sure to find the 4MB hack, if your Plus doesn't already have it. you snip some resistors or capacitors, and bump it to 4MB RAM by replacing the SIMMS

Here's the link : http://macplus.mia.net/installram.html


Tony
 
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It's a 2MB model; why would I want it at 1MB?

Anyways, I can't seem to find my mouse & keyboard for my LCII (probably spent 5 minutes digging around in rubbish to find my VGA adapter), so it looks like I'm temporarily screwed...again...
 
Oh, BTW, I'm pretty sure a Plus won't boot from a CD.

also, I have DS/DD 720K 3.5" floppies if ya need a stack. I bought like 1000 in bulk a couple years back, to have some for my IIgs and Amiga machines, mostly the IIgs, though.

If ya want a stack, lemme know. I think they're sealed 25-to-a pack. Just pay the shipping, and I'll throw ya a stack. Oh, I don;t have labels, though.
They're white, so you can use a sharpie, or find oether stickers. what I need to find is DS/DD 5.25" floppies.

I also have a ton of 68K mac software, as well. :D

Hotline is great for 68K mac software downloads.


Tony
 
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