I'm playing around with a vintage Mac Plus I
picked up on eBay. I wanted one of these back
when I was in college but couldn¹t afford one.

There are a lot of great software downloads
available online. I'd love to delve in, the
problem is.. how! I'm working an ethernet
solution to get onto the internet, but a
far easier way would be to use my laptop
for downloading, then transfer the software
to 800k floppies and run them on the Mac Plus.

The problem is that the USB floppy drives
I have laying around don't recognize 800k
formats, only 1.4Mb. I can't put a 1.4
drive on a Mac Plus, because the hardware
is limited to the 800k drive.

Anyone know of an 800k capable USB drive?

Thanks,
Michael

In article <BC3965EA.10031F%reel.time@mindspring.com>,
Michael De Lazzer <reel.time@mindspring.com> wrote:

> I'm playing around with a vintage Mac Plus I
> picked up on eBay. I wanted one of these back
> when I was in college but couldn¹t afford one.
>
> There are a lot of great software downloads
> available online. I'd love to delve in, the
> problem is.. how! I'm working an ethernet
> solution to get onto the internet, but a
> far easier way would be to use my laptop
> for downloading, then transfer the software
> to 800k floppies and run them on the Mac Plus.
>
> The problem is that the USB floppy drives
> I have laying around don't recognize 800k
> formats, only 1.4Mb. I can't put a 1.4
> drive on a Mac Plus, because the hardware
> is limited to the 800k drive.
>
> Anyone know of an 800k capable USB drive?
>
> Thanks,
> Michael
>

Hi Michael,

A couple other solutions...
SCSI to ethernet adapter - pretty cheap on ebay
external SCSI hard drive or cdrom - again, really cheap.

Michael De Lazzer <reel.time@mindspring.com> writes:
>
> There are a lot of great software downloads available online. I'd
> love to delve in, the problem is.. how! I'm working an ethernet
> solution to get onto the internet, but a far easier way would be to
> use my laptop for downloading, then transfer the software to 800k
> floppies and run them on the Mac Plus.
>
> The problem is that the USB floppy drives I have laying around don't
> recognize 800k formats, only 1.4Mb. I can't put a 1.4 drive on a
> Mac Plus, because the hardware is limited to the 800k drive.
>
> Anyone know of an 800k capable USB drive?

As far as I know, nobody has ever made one.

Your available options here are:

- Ethernet on the Plus. SCSI-based adapters can be purchased. They
won't be fast, but given the speed of the Plus, this shouldn't be a
problem. I know that Dayna used to make such an adapter. Some web
searching should reveal what's still available today. Also check
computer flea markets an Ebay.

- A SCSI-based drive on the Plus. I've seen SCSI-based 1.44M drives
that should work. A SCSI-based Zip drive will also work (if you
have a Zip drive on another computer.) Simply attaching your Plus's
hard drive to the SCSI port on another Mac (assuming your other Mac
has a SCSI port, of course) also isn't a bad idea.

- If you have another Mac that has Ethernet and an 800K-compatible
floppy drive you should be able to use that as well. Anything
before the iMac should have an appropriate floppy drive. Anything
from a Quadra on should have built-in Ethernet, and many more models
can take an Ethernet interface card in a NuBus/PDS/Comm/whatever
slot.

- You can put a SCSI CD-ROM drive on the Plus. You can burn an HFS
formatted disc from another Mac and read the files from there.
(Note that no Plus-compatible version of MacOS will be able to read
HFS+, so don't burn your disc with that.)

-- David

Here's what I've learned... There's only one company that made a
1.44 floppy compatible with a Mac Plus. It's from Applied Engineering
and it's called the AE HD+. The + is critical, and finding one
hasn't been easy. I'm still looking.

I've had absolutely no luck with SCSI ethernet solutions thus far.
I've picked up several, but can't get any to work yet. I'm not
sure if it's a driver issue, or if I need to get the OS on a
hard drive to be able to load a driver for the device or what..
I'm running OS 6, and from what I hear, there's a lot of jiggling
you have to do to get it working. Once I have a hard drive installed,
OS 7 should make things a lot easier. We'll see. I've learned that
regardless of which ROMs are in a hard drive, unless it has an
Apple logo on it, a Mac Plus probably won't see it. I've been
through two I've purchased cheaply on eBay, and neither has been
seen by the system... both were said to have Apple ROMs.

This is all just a bit of fun for me. I'm in no rush.

-Michael







On 1/25/04 7:59 PM, in article m2d6979x83.fsf@qqqq.invalid, "David C."
<shamino@techie.com> wrote:

> Michael De Lazzer <reel.time@mindspring.com> writes:
>>
>> There are a lot of great software downloads available online. I'd
>> love to delve in, the problem is.. how! I'm working an ethernet
>> solution to get onto the internet, but a far easier way would be to
>> use my laptop for downloading, then transfer the software to 800k
>> floppies and run them on the Mac Plus.
>>
>> The problem is that the USB floppy drives I have laying around don't
>> recognize 800k formats, only 1.4Mb. I can't put a 1.4 drive on a
>> Mac Plus, because the hardware is limited to the 800k drive.
>>
>> Anyone know of an 800k capable USB drive?
>
> As far as I know, nobody has ever made one.
>
> Your available options here are:
>
> - Ethernet on the Plus. SCSI-based adapters can be purchased. They
> won't be fast, but given the speed of the Plus, this shouldn't be a
> problem. I know that Dayna used to make such an adapter. Some web
> searching should reveal what's still available today. Also check
> computer flea markets an Ebay.
>
> - A SCSI-based drive on the Plus. I've seen SCSI-based 1.44M drives
> that should work. A SCSI-based Zip drive will also work (if you
> have a Zip drive on another computer.) Simply attaching your Plus's
> hard drive to the SCSI port on another Mac (assuming your other Mac
> has a SCSI port, of course) also isn't a bad idea.
>
> - If you have another Mac that has Ethernet and an 800K-compatible
> floppy drive you should be able to use that as well. Anything
> before the iMac should have an appropriate floppy drive. Anything
> from a Quadra on should have built-in Ethernet, and many more models
> can take an Ethernet interface card in a NuBus/PDS/Comm/whatever
> slot.
>
> - You can put a SCSI CD-ROM drive on the Plus. You can burn an HFS
> formatted disc from another Mac and read the files from there.
> (Note that no Plus-compatible version of MacOS will be able to read
> HFS+, so don't burn your disc with that.)
>
> -- David

Michael De Lazzer <reel.time@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:<BC550745.10F17C%reel.time@mindspring.com>...
> Here's what I've learned... There's only one company that made a
> 1.44 floppy compatible with a Mac Plus. It's from Applied Engineering
> and it's called the AE HD+. The + is critical, and finding one
> hasn't been easy. I'm still looking.
>
> I've had absolutely no luck with SCSI ethernet solutions thus far.
> I've picked up several, but can't get any to work yet. I'm not
> sure if it's a driver issue, or if I need to get the OS on a
> hard drive to be able to load a driver for the device or what..
> I'm running OS 6, and from what I hear, there's a lot of jiggling
> you have to do to get it working. Once I have a hard drive installed,
> OS 7 should make things a lot easier. We'll see. I've learned that
> regardless of which ROMs are in a hard drive, unless it has an
> Apple logo on it, a Mac Plus probably won't see it. I've been
> through two I've purchased cheaply on eBay, and neither has been
> seen by the system... both were said to have Apple ROMs.
>
> This is all just a bit of fun for me. I'm in no rush.
>
> -Michael
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 1/25/04 7:59 PM, in article m2d6979x83.fsf@qqqq.invalid, "David C."
> <shamino@techie.com> wrote:
>
> > Michael De Lazzer <reel.time@mindspring.com> writes:
> >>
> >> There are a lot of great software downloads available online. I'd
> >> love to delve in, the problem is.. how! I'm working an ethernet
> >> solution to get onto the internet, but a far easier way would be to
> >> use my laptop for downloading, then transfer the software to 800k
> >> floppies and run them on the Mac Plus.
> >>
> >> The problem is that the USB floppy drives I have laying around don't
> >> recognize 800k formats, only 1.4Mb. I can't put a 1.4 drive on a
> >> Mac Plus, because the hardware is limited to the 800k drive.
> >>
> >> Anyone know of an 800k capable USB drive?
> >
> > As far as I know, nobody has ever made one.
> >
> > Your available options here are:
> >
> > - Ethernet on the Plus. SCSI-based adapters can be purchased. They
> > won't be fast, but given the speed of the Plus, this shouldn't be a
> > problem. I know that Dayna used to make such an adapter. Some web
> > searching should reveal what's still available today. Also check
> > computer flea markets an Ebay.
> >
> > - A SCSI-based drive on the Plus. I've seen SCSI-based 1.44M drives
> > that should work. A SCSI-based Zip drive will also work (if you
> > have a Zip drive on another computer.) Simply attaching your Plus's
> > hard drive to the SCSI port on another Mac (assuming your other Mac
> > has a SCSI port, of course) also isn't a bad idea.
> >
> > - If you have another Mac that has Ethernet and an 800K-compatible
> > floppy drive you should be able to use that as well. Anything
> > before the iMac should have an appropriate floppy drive. Anything
> > from a Quadra on should have built-in Ethernet, and many more models
> > can take an Ethernet interface card in a NuBus/PDS/Comm/whatever
> > slot.
> >
> > - You can put a SCSI CD-ROM drive on the Plus. You can burn an HFS
> > formatted disc from another Mac and read the files from there.
> > (Note that no Plus-compatible version of MacOS will be able to read
> > HFS+, so don't burn your disc with that.)
> >
> > -- David

Look into MacKermit over a serial connection. MacKermit will talk to
any other Kermit (i.e. PC version) and you can move files from one
machine to another over a serial link. Think of it as a real slow
FTP.

Or if you get a modem and PPP software I think you can bring the Plus
up on the internet. (We did this with OS 7 on a Plus) and then you
can use various FTP programs (see Mac Orchard) and download the stuff
directly to the Plus.

--jim

Michael De Lazzer <reel.time@mindspring.com> writes:
>
> Here's what I've learned... There's only one company that made a
> 1.44 floppy compatible with a Mac Plus. It's from Applied
> Engineering and it's called the AE HD+. The + is critical, and
> finding one hasn't been easy. I'm still looking.

Good luck.

> I've had absolutely no luck with SCSI ethernet solutions thus far.
> I've picked up several, but can't get any to work yet. I'm not sure
> if it's a driver issue, or if I need to get the OS on a hard drive
> to be able to load a driver for the device or what.. I'm running OS
> 6, and from what I hear, there's a lot of jiggling you have to do to
> get it working. Once I have a hard drive installed, OS 7 should
> make things a lot easier. We'll see. I've learned that regardless
> of which ROMs are in a hard drive, unless it has an Apple logo on
> it, a Mac Plus probably won't see it. I've been through two I've
> purchased cheaply on eBay, and neither has been seen by the
> system... both were said to have Apple ROMs.

These solutions all require a system extension to work. Unless it's
very small, you probably won't be able to make it fit in the system
folder of an 800K floppy.

System 6 without a hard drive isn't _too_ bad if you have a second
floppy drive. This way you can leave the system disk in one drive
and use the other for your applications and documents. A hard drive
is still better.

As for hard drives, a Plus should be able to use any SCSI hard drive
you have, _BUT_ Apple's formatter (Apple HD SC Setup) and the driver
it installs will only work with Apple drives.

A third-party formatter (like FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit, CharisMac's
Anubis, or LaCie's SilverLining) should be able to format non-Apple
drives. I've used older versions of all these programs to format
generic SCSI drives on my SE. I personally prefer Anubis to the other
two.

The latest version of FWB's tool requires OS 8.1 or later, so it
won't work with your Plus.

LaCie's web site doesn't mention Silverlining. They may not sell it
anymore.

CharisMac's site doesn't say what version of MacOS the current
release of Anubis supports. I'd recommend e-mailing them and asking
about it.
http://www.charismac.com/Products/Anubis/index.html

-- David