Krack writes ... > > can i use an emulator to make a workable DD disk for my apple iie? I have > been able to do this with a trs-80 emulator on my i386 system. I was able to > take an image mounted as my a: and copy it to my b: > > is there any way to take a disk image and make a disk usable im my apple > iie? > .... Without special hardware (e.g. a Trackstar E board) plugged into your PC, there does not seem to be any way to create Apple II diskettes on a PC. The problem is that PC disk controller cards are committed to a way of writing bytes on diskette which is incompatible with the way bytes are represented on Apple II diskettes. The usual way around the differences in hardware is to transfer Apple II files, including .dsk disk image files, from PC to Apple II via a NULL modem connection between a PC COM port and a serial interface (e.g. a Super Serial Card or, on some A2's, a built-in port) on the Apple II. There are three common setups which reflect different levels of development and flexibility: o- Text dumps. This approach is good for 'starting from Square One' because it requires no special software on the Apple II, not even a DOS. You set input to the serial port (e.g. IN#2) and let the PC 'type in' the contents of a Text file-- i.e. the PC is like a user typing in code, instructions, etc.. DOS 3.3 is available this way. There is no flow control and minimal error checking; so, speed must be very low-- usually, 300 baud is specified as a safe speed. One limiting factor is the time required by the Apple II to handle display linefeeds, etc. and to convert/move lines of input to memory. If the sending terminal program allows setting char and line delays, baudrate can normally be increased to 1200 baud. On the other hand, Text dump transfers are usually done for only a few pieces of software (e.g. DOS 3.3 and ADT). Setting char and line delays (when allowed) is a good idea; but, 'getting it right' argues for sticking with 300 baud. o- Dedicated disk image transfers via ADT. Paul Guertin developed Apple Disk Transfer as a way to transfer .dsk 5.25" disk image files from PC directly to diskette on an Apple II with a Super Serial Card (or compatible card or port). ADT can also send 5.25" diskettes to PC where they are saved as .dsk disk image files. ADT is now available in several forms to fit transfers with most Apple II setups (i.e. with A2's using many non-SSC serial cards, and to IIgs). The 'other machine' is usually a PC. (Versions to fit some Macs and Amiga are available; but, there is very little information about them.) Getting started with ADT does require having DOS 3.3 going on the Apple II; but, it does not require the Apple II to have a telecom utility running. The Apple II side is transferred via a Text dump. Once installed, the Apple II side of ADT 'talks with' the PC side of ADT and you can transfer .dsk and .do disk images at 19,200 baud with most setups. ADT is limited to transfer of 5.25" disk images. Still, this gives you access to DOS 3.3, ProDOS, and other software on thousands of 5.25" disks maintained as disk images on the net. This includes freeware telecom utilities such as ZLink. o-'Regular' telecom transfers. This is the standard way of transferring files between computers. It requires having a DOS plus having a telecom terminal program (e.g. ZLink, Modem MGR, ProTerm, Spectrum) running on the Apple II. On the PC side, you have a wide choice of telecom terminal programs and OS's. With this setup, you can transfer practically any kind of file, including disk images and the more compact whole-disk ShrinkIt archives. Depending upon hardware and choice of software, speed can be 56k baud or even higher. About the only downside of this method vs. ADT relates to users having just 5.25" drives. Since disk images are received as files rather than the content being transferred directly to a target diskette, there is not enough space to store the file plus file info (e.g. in a directory or catalog sector) on a standard 5.25" diskette. You can check http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/Csa2T1TCOM.html for more information about setting up and doing file transfers. Rubywand