Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

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SOFTWARE
Ira
hell of a lot of Tile already exists' messages
will be generated, presenting you with
the prospect of renaming the whole lot.
What would be much better is if the Amiga
could simply be made to read and write Mac
files lust like it can with PC files. This usually
meant investing in an expensive Mac emulator,
like the Emplent. For simple file transfers
though, it's ever so expensive.
Well now there's a simple and, above all
low-cost way to do it Some clever people at
Consultron have come up with a softwareonly
utility to allow your Amiga and a Mac to
get on friendly speaking terms.
The name of this wonder of wonders is
CrossMac and with it your Amiga to Mac file
transfer problems disappear. CrossMac
allows your Amiga to format, read and
write Mac-format floppy and hard disks with
ease.
Installation is simply a matter of running
the installer script and once installed it works
very well indeed, considering the complex
way a Mac stores files on a disk. There isn't
even the need for a chunky interface
when copying files from an AmigaDOS drive
to a Mac drive, thanks to the fact that
CrossMac fully integrates itself into the
Amiga's operating system.
Much the same way as you get a PCO:
device driver, which when loaded displays a
disk icon on Workbench for any PC disks in
your Amiga drive, CrossMac provides device
drivers called MACO. MAC1 and so on.
Copying files from an AmigaDOS disk to a
Mac disk is then simply a matter of dragging
the file icon to the Mac disk and vice versa.
ADDED CONCERNS
There are a couple of things to boar in
mind when using the CIA or third-party file
utilities such as Directory Opus. CrossMac
makes extensive use of the Comment field
for an Amiga file in order to store important
information.
When dragging fi les for copying
via Workbench, this field is automatically
included in the copying process. When using
CU though, you have to specify this explicitly
using the COM option. File utilities usually
have a 'Clone comment option, so check
your manual on how to set up your software
to take this step.
There are also some neat file transfer
facilities available when your files are traversing
the Amiga to Mac road, such as the
ability to recognise MacBinary files, providing
transparent conversion into the correct type.
Also available is a filetype database feature
that automatically embeds the correct filetype
and creator information for any data
being copied from your Amiga to a Mac disk,
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CrossMac certainly delivers the goods. It is especially useful for
we humble Amiga Computing writers here at IDG Media. All the
editorial and artwork for our magazines are laid out using
Macintosh computers. There is thus a constant need to transfer
both text files and picture files from Amigas to give to our subs
and art editors, and I have found that CrossMac is ideal for efficient
trouble-free transfers.
So if you find yourself wanting a low-cost, efficient and, above
all, trouble-free method of transferring files between your Amiga
Mac, Consultron's CrossMac is currently the bees knees.
Amiga Computing
MAY 1995
- MEW
Should you fi nd that CrositAtac isn't working as
It should, the Or Crocalfac diagnostic program
should shed some Sight on your dilemma
thereby allowing the Mac operating system to
Fully recognise the file.
Probably the most common type of file
which will be transferred between Mac and
Amigas will be ASCII text files. CrossMac
allows for intermediate text translation during
the tile copying process. This simple text
translation feature converts some of the
non-standard, or international. ASCII text
characters.
This is activated by simply adding the I
character to the end of arty file which is being
read or written, for example:
Eney ootOeittoule,eit3 to
CrossMac also allows Amiga owners access
to Mac-format hard disks and CD•ROMs.
Two main typos of Mac hard drive are supported.
Type 1 is termed 'Real' and is a hard
drive which has been formatted and peelhoned
with the Mac file system. either by a
Mac computer or configured so that
CrossMac may format it.
This is especially useful when using
removable media hard drives such as the
Syquest range, which utilise high capacity
'cartridges' which can be brought to another
Mac for data exchange.
The second type of Mac hard disk is
termed Simulated. This is essentially a Mac
hard disk stored on an AmigaDOS partition.
Such a simulated hard disk takes the form of
a tile which is a complete 'image' of a Mac
hard disk. This is generally only useful if you
plan to share your existing AmigaDOS drive
as a boot partition for hardware such as
Emplant.
A third type of high capacity disk is
also available when wishing to read Mac
formatted CD-ROMs.
To create or access the above drives
types, CrossMac provides two utilities,
'ConfigDisk.CrossMAC' for setting up hard
drives and 'ConfigOiskCDROM' for accessing
CD-ROMs. I have to admit to being
somewhat sceptical of CrossMac being able +
li to provide an Amiga to Mac file transfer capability
which would remain transparent, as if
simply using copying between standard
AmigaDOS disks, but that is exactly what you
gel. If you have an Amiga with a 1.4Mb floppy
drive that Is.
You see. if your main activity will be transferring
files via floppy disk, CrossMac only
works without hardware when it is dealing
with high density 1.4Mb disk drives. For
those with low density drives, like those
found in all A500s, A600s and Al200s - in
As you can see, than. are plenty ot suppon
programa and utilities lo help make your
Amiga to Stec tita transfers easy and paone-ao
other words the Amiga maionty -
Emplant Mac emulator and its File T
utility, or Amax drives (not available in
UK to my knowledge), is required.
Boo hoo, I hear all you non high-de
owners crying, that's no use to me then is
Well. not all is doom and gloom You
we just happen to have been fooling wet
neat bit of kit called Squirrel SCSI, a S
host adapter from HiSoft which lets you
nect up to seven SCSI devices to your A
or Al200 via the PCMCIA slot.
So I decided to check whether Cross
would happily co-operate with the Squi
when accessing Mac-format hard drives
CD-ROMs, And guess what? It did
admirably.
One particular scenario involved a M
only CD
-and
hundreds of high resolution 24-bit
ROM tures. Armed with my Squirrel, I connected
w
CD-ROM
h i
drive to it, inserted the Mac pict
CD-ROM into the drive and ran CrossMac'
c h
Config_CDROM utility, This duly took
c o
through a few simple procedures to create
n
mounthle
t a
that allowed me to access the
i n e
CD-ROM using a drive icon on I
d Workbench to click on.
h I then copied lots of the example pictur
ufrom
the CD-ROM onto my Amiga ha
ndrive,
simply by dragging them from
dMac
CD-ROM window into my ope
rArnigaDOS
partition window. I then fired
ADPro to view them without any hiccu
whatsoever.
SYSTEM ESSEFITIFIL5
RED Esse ntia l BLAC K R e comme nde d
Ease of use
Implementation
Value for money
Overall
2.0 or
higher
The bottom line
Product: CrossMac
Supplier: Hi Soft
Price.'f99.95
Tel: 01525 718 181
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