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Old 09-08-2005, 08:33 AM   #1
ferrellsl
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Default Mac Floppies in an Amiga
Is it possible to use Macintosh DD or HD floppy drives with an Amiga? If so, is there anything special that needs to be done with hardware/software on the Amiga?
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Old 09-08-2005, 08:44 AM   #2
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
Long ago I use CrossMAC. As easy as CrossDOS.

Edit: No special hardware required.
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Old 09-08-2005, 10:12 AM   #3
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
I don't want to read Mac disks or files. I want to use a Mac floppy drive as a replacement for an Amiga drive.
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Old 09-08-2005, 10:18 AM   #4
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
Oops. Misread your message.
I don't think that's possible.
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Old 09-08-2005, 10:22 AM   #5
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
No problem. I had heard that Mac drives were variable speed like Amiga drives, so they seem like a logical replacement. I suppose I could just try one and see if it works. They are only about $10 USD on Ebay.
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Old 09-08-2005, 10:32 AM   #6
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
As far as I know, they are totally incompatible. Of course, I've never tried it. I'd certainly study pinouts and read up a little bit before blindly plugging, though. Fried CIA chip isn't a good smell. :-)
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Old 09-08-2005, 12:44 PM   #7
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
I dont know about mac drives, but i used one from a "digital" machine once.. It worked somewhat, but it did not register that you swapped floppies. That might have been fixed by moving around some pins or something, but it was ages ago and i did not have a clue about it back then.
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Old 09-08-2005, 01:39 PM   #8
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
Physical format:
In HD mode MAC drives ('superdrives') are PC compatible, in DD mode they're spinning with multiple speeds and are not compatible with the rest of the world. Special tools (included with A-Max) enable Amiga & Mac to exchange disks with reduced capacity.

Connectors: probably totally incompatible, yet the A-Max hardware worked as an adaptor to connect Mac drives (DD).

Note: the HD mode will not work with Amy due to the limited speed of Paula's FDD controller while the DD mode will not of much use due to the incompatible speed; you'd need to read/write longer/shorter tracks and wouldn't be format compatible with anyone else.
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Old 09-08-2005, 02:28 PM   #9
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
Actually, Amiga HD drives can read/write Mac MD disks with CrossMAC. Mac DD disks require a real Mac drive, which I think can only be connected via AMax.
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Old 09-08-2005, 02:58 PM   #10
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
@ferrellsl
Quote:
I had heard that Mac drives were variable speed like Amiga drives, so they seem like a logical replacement.
Very old mac drives are variable speed. Later drives are std PC floppy drives.

Amiga floppy drives are not variable speed.
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Old 09-08-2005, 07:51 PM   #11
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Default Re: Mac Floppies in an Amiga
Hi there,

on Aminet there are several Hardware hacks available...

http://www.aminet.net/search.php?path=hard/hack&start=150

have fun...
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