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From: jrs@netcom.com (John Switzer)
Subject: Re: Planetfall
Message-ID: <jrsCowAnr.65n@netcom.com>
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
References: <2pjla6$b7p@snoopy.cis.ufl.edu> <badger.767384689@darwin>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 01:55:03 GMT
Lines: 33

In article <badger.767384689@darwin> badger@darwin.life.uiuc.edu (Jonathan Badger) writes:
>ddr@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Daniel Damon Roscigno) writes:
>
>>I have Planetfall on the CD ROM Today disk, but it is MAC format.  Does any
>>one have software to read a MAC CD in a DOS machine?  If so Mayhaps
>>I could extract the data file for use with zip, assuming of course that 
>>the game IS distibutable.
>
>>Dan.
>
>It should read fine on a DOS machine -- CDs don't have proprietory formats
>-- they are in a format called ISO-9660 that can be read by DOS, Mac, and
>UNIX systems. That's how the CD-ROM versions of the Lost Treasures of Infocom
>can have both the DOS and Mac versions

Thereotically this is right. In practice, though, the ISO format is not
really useful for Mac machines because the directory info doesn't have the
usual Mac stuff such as Creator and Type which would allow you to open 
a document by clicking on it. Instead a "Janus" format is used which 
partitions the CDROM into two sections - a Mac version, complete with
Mac-style directories and an ISO version, which contains the DOS/UNIX
stuff. 

So for the CD ROM Today disk, if you have a Mac you can see only the 
Mac-related info and on DOS machines, the Mac stuff is invisible. If
you had the proper drivers on the Mac, you could also access all the 
ISO stuff at ISO level 1, but I haven't seen any drivers for this
come out yet.
-- 
John Switzer             | Neon - the Barney of the automobile 
                         |	world ("Hi").
CompuServe: 74076,1250   |
Internet: jrs@netcom.com |
