Posted by Stiletto on December 02, 1999 at 15:56:50:
In Reply to: Reading TI Writer files w/IBM posted by ZMann on December 01, 1999 at 16:11:48:
Andrew R. Becker ([email protected]) wrote to me to say this:
"...I found out how to read and
write TI disks in a PC disk drive. A program called Anadisk has that
ability if the hardware cooperates. I wrote a little BASIC program that
translates an Anadisk "dump" file from a TI disk into a V9T9 disk image
file. I tried it with one 90 KB TI disk and it worked fine. I sent the
program to a few people by e-mail. ...most PC computers don't
have both a 5.25 inch disk drive and a disk controller that will work in
single density. My tests indicate that most of the more modern disk
controllers will work in single density. I had very good results from my
newest controller, called a Boca IDE Plus.
Let me know if you want to try reading a TI disk on your PC. I'll give
you hints and my program if you need them. First you have to get Anadisk.
It's shareware. I got it from the Simtel MS-DOS collection."
Otherwise, CADD Electronics (of PC99 fame) says this:
"Our understanding is that we will not be able to do this reliably, if at all. The best we would be able to offer is a utility that will read a TI disk in a PC 5.25" drive and convert it to PC99 format.
The following points are offered to support this argument:
If the operation is unreliable, it becomes extremely difficult for us to support. We simply do not have the resources to deal with every PC and every PC 5.25" drive combination that might occur.
TI disks are 5.25". Most of today's PCs no longer have a 5.25" drive.
We understand that "recent" PCs with 5.25" drives, have had a signal line removed which makes it impossible for them to read TI disks. "Vintage" PCs may or may not work, since the PC controller has difficulty reading sectors numbered 0-8 (TI method) rather than 1-9 (IBM method).
We found a company in California that was able to read samples of TI disks we sent them. They were willing to sell us their library for $2,500 with the caveat that it was not guaranteed to work with all 5.25" drives. The cost was prohibitive.
For these reasons no development is being done in this area. The PC99 product includes a way of moving your disk library to the PC. However, you must have a TI and PC connected together to do this.
For people who no longer have access to a TI system, CaDD provides a disk conversion service.
Note: There is at least one published routine written in C that we have tried that does not work on our test systems. We have also tested a package developed by Gary Bowser that yields very poor results. "
Info on the conversion service can be found here:
http://pw2.netcom.com/~mjmw/diskcon.htm
According to what I've read, however, only PC99 supports DSDD and DSSD as well as SSSD. MESS, Ami99 and V9T9 will only support SSSD's, which unfortunately, only V9T9 will finally be able to move the individual files over to your PC.
Hope this helps...
Stiletto