Making Macs Compatible with Windows PCs

What are the diffent ways I should make my Mac compatible with Windows PCs? - Well, files are the most common things that are needed to be compatible with Windows, so you should definitely consider techniques for sharing floppy disks, file-sharing over a network, file-sharing over the Internet, and ways of translating the actual files before or after you have transfered them between the two operating Systems. The second most common thing that people want to be compatible between the MacOS and Windows is applications, but to do this you will need some type of emulator.

First, how do I share floppy disks? - To be able to share floppy disks from the Mac side you will need a control panel called PC Exchange (In MacOS 8.5 and newer it is called File Exchange). It happens to be a free control panel included in many versions of the MacOS. If your Mac doesn't have it already installed, then use the install disks (or CD) which came with your Mac, or that you obtained seperately, and do a custom install. While doing a custom install, look under Control Panels and see if the PC Exchange is included in your installer. If it is, then simply install it, if it isn't, then you will need to obtain a version of the MacOS installer which includes it. MacOS 7.5.3 does include PC Exchange and can be downloaded for free from Apple Software Updates (a free update to MacOS 7.5.5 can also be downloaded from ASU for free), this is the version that I personally would use if it is supported by your Mac.

Once you have PC Exchange installed it is fairly simple to use (you won't even know that it's there in most cases). If you insert a DOS or Windows formatted floppy disk it will automatically be mounted on the desktop with a floppy disk that has "PC" written on it. If you would like to format a floppy disk in a PC format, when you choose Erase Disk from the Special menu (in the Finder) you will have the option of selecting "DOS 1.44MB" or "DOS 720K" for the _____________. Note: ProDOS (another option provided) is a format used by the the Apple II series of computers, it is not a format normally recognized by DOS or Windows PCs. It is that simple, you may double click on files to open them and drag files onto or off of the disk just as you would a regular Mac floppy disk and the disk will remain readable by DOS and Windows PCs. If you open up the File Exchange control panel, you will find that you can set which applications you would like to open PC files. You specify the file type by the three letter extension, such as .txt, which DOS files have. While in the File Exchange control panel, you will also find that you can click on the Options button to load drivers for selected PC SCSI drives.

Okay, how do I share files over a network with a Windows PC (from my Mac)? - What you need is software which will allow you to access PC networks other than the Mac- native AppleTalk. The most common network protocol used for doing simple file sharing between Windows PCs is called NetBUI, to access this type of network you will need a product named DAVE (by Thursby Software). DAVE brings the NetBUI protocol to the Mac and also lets you share your files using the same protocol as just accessing a NetBUI network. DAVE also has the added feature of allowing you to access printers which are shared on the network.

Some Windows PC networks use Novell's NetWare to provide dedicated file servers. By installing the Novell NetWare drivers you can also gain access to the file servers on a Novell NetWare network and access printers on the network (assuming that the network administrator has installed the software to allow Macs to connect). One thing to note about Novell networks is that they are not designed for peer-to-peer file and print sharing like like AppleTalk and NetBUI, they are designed around the client/server architecture, meaning that one computer serves files or printers and other client computers can access those files or printers, but not vice versa. You can download Novell's NetWare version 5.11 drivers for Macintosh (which they are no longer supporting or upgrading) from Novell's Netware Client for Mac OS version 5.11 page. If you want newer drivers, you will have to purchase them from Prosoft Engineering.

Other solutions for sharing files between Macintosh and Windows PCs include using UN*X NFS (<Network File Server) servers and sharing via the Internet, but as accessing NFS drives is more of a compatibility issue between Macs and UN*X, it is explained in the Macs and UN*X cross platform compatibility section.

How do I share files via the Internet? - There are actually quite a few ways. One of the easiest ways may in fact be to join a virtual drive service such as Apple's iTools, Xdrive.com, or freedrive.com (Note: I am not in any way affiliated with any of these services except for the fact that I have tried them, I am only listing them here as reference). Another method is to use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server. By using an FTP client such as Fetch or Interarchy (previously known as Anarchy) you can transfer files to and from various FTP servers. If you do not have an FTP server available to you, you can always use programs such as NetPresenz (an FTP/HTTP/Gopher server), which function as an FTP server on your Mac. And, along the same lines as running an FTP server on your Mac, you could also run an HTTP (Web) server and share files that way (by providing link in web pages). Of course, their are many, many other products, such as the free Hotline (which is modeled around the FTP idea, but also includes searching and chatting), so explore a little and see what you come up with.

How do I translate files for, or after, transfer between platforms? - still in research process

What if I want to run Windows applications on my Mac? How do I do that? - There are two different methods for running Windows programs on your Mac, the least epensive and, usually the easiest, is to emulate Windows on your Mac, the second is to buy a card which will aid your Mac in running Windows (basically it's a PC motherboard, processor, and memmory, built onto a single card which fits into an expansion slot inside your Mac). One problem with emulating Windows is that most emulators (hardware and software) require PowerPC Macintoshes, which leaves out a lot of older Macs, but if you don't mind emulating older PC hardware or Windows 3.1, then there are still some options available.

When it comes to running Windows on your Mac using an emulator, there are two ways of doing it. Actually, there are two types of emulators that you can use. One is a hardware emulator, which emulates x86 PC hardware (processors, memory, video cards, disk controllers, etc), such as the following:

• SoftPC
• Virtual PC
• Bochs

• SoftWindows

Your other option, if your Mac has an appropriate expansion slot of some type, is to use a hardware add-on card which can run PC operating systems such as Windows. Apple used to make some, but lately I have mostly seen these types of cards from Orange Micro, but if you know of some that I can add to this list, then please contact me.

Making Windows PCs Compatible with Macs

Where can I find more info on this subject? - MacWindows.com is definitely the best source for information on cross platform compatibility between Macs and Windows PCs. There is also some info on this subject at JAG's House.