I won’t talk about the issues of software to write the images (thank you ResEdit).
The solution was to download the data on a newer machine, transfer it to an old Mac (via USB) with a Mac OS X able to write HFS disks, then to copy the images (800 kB) on a 1.44 MB floppy, plug it into a (very) old Mac with an internal drive and finally write data on 800 kB disks. More specifically, the most effective way to create a set of installation disks for the Spectre GCR is to use a Mac that can connect to the Internet (Apple offers images of a lot of stuff) and equipped with an internal floppy drive, but I do not have one. Finally, Mac OS X can only read the classic HFS in its recent versions. Bad news, USB drives are limited to HD disks. The second one is that to read a DD floppy… You need a compatible player. The first one is that the DD disks are rare in 2014, so you have to edit HD disks of 1.44 MB. This is a concern for transferring data, for several reasons. The Spectre GCR card will control the Atari player (via a cable) in order to make it accept Apple floppies.įirst thing to know, the Atari only reads double density disks (the 800 kB of the old Mac). To simplify, Apple drives have a variable rotation speed and sectors that have a fixed physical size, while the conventional players (PC, Atari, etc.) have a fixed rotation speed and variable physical sector size. One of the advantages of the card (which was not on the previous version) is that it can handle Macintosh floppies that use a GCR coding, which explains the name of the card. Emulate is not the right word since the Atari and the Macintosh used the same type of processors (68000) at that time, but the idea is there: we will start the Macintosh operating system on an Atari.įor legal (and practical) reasons, a Macintosh ROM has to be inserted in the Spectre GCR card. The Spectre GCR is an expansion card for Atari computers which – coupled with a dedicated software – emulates a Macintosh Plus. Did you know that not-so-long ago, it was possible to turn an Atari ST into a Macintosh? With the help of a fellow fan of Atari (Brume on the Atari-Forum), we restarted a Spectre GCR.