Anyone own a Translator One (Mac to Atari Floppy Reading Device) ?

[AtariSociety]

I picked up a nice Translator One by Data Pacific in a bulk buy and would like to use it with a Spectre 128 so I can read and write Mac disks. Mine did not come with user manual or AC (or is it a DC) adapter. From what I understand this device turned your Atari disk drives into a Mac disk drive and worked hand in hand with the Spectre 128. The Spectre 128 was the model Data Pacific came out with before the GCR and one had to use this Translator One to do the mac floppy reading and writing.

 

What I also want to know is the 2 midi ports on the Translator One. Were they there so once the Spectre 128 was running on Mac mode, it could access those ports for Midi apps on the Mac side to run?

 

Anyone with this device it would be great to find out more about it so I can try and use mine.

 

tj

[Goochman]

I thought it used the Midi ports to do the transfer to/from the ST?

[OldAtarian]

I thought it used the Midi ports to do the transfer to/from the ST?

 

That was my theory in one of the other threads. Midi transfers are extremely fast and Mac drives access data a lot faster than the ST drives so passing the data across the midi ports is probably the only way to read/write Mac disks fast enough to prevent data corruption. I wonder how the Spectre GCR does it, though. It would have to have some high speed device built in to match the speed of the Mac floppies if the Translator One is not needed or else buffer the data before writing so it can supply a steady stream of data without waiting on the ST to catch up.

Edited December 8, 2010 by OldAtarian

[ijor]

That was my theory in one of the other threads. Midi transfers are extremely fast and Mac drives access data a lot faster than the ST drives so passing the data across the midi ports is probably the only way to read/write Mac disks fast enough to prevent data corruption. I wonder how the Spectre GCR does it, though. It would have to have some high speed device built in to match the speed of the Mac floppies if the Translator One is not needed or else buffer the data before writing so it can supply a steady stream of data without waiting on the ST to catch up.

 

I don't think Mac drives are faster than ST drives (they certainly couldn't be a lot faster). The Midi connection is used for a high speed transfer between the ST and the digital logic inside the Translator device. It is used not because it is faster than the drive cable connection. It is used because the emulator couldn't use the direct drive connection, which is handled by the ST FDC.

 

The Spectre GCR is a cartridge. The emulator can perform fast transfers with the cartridge port, it doesn't need the Midi connection.

[OldAtarian]

That was my theory in one of the other threads. Midi transfers are extremely fast and Mac drives access data a lot faster than the ST drives so passing the data across the midi ports is probably the only way to read/write Mac disks fast enough to prevent data corruption. I wonder how the Spectre GCR does it, though. It would have to have some high speed device built in to match the speed of the Mac floppies if the Translator One is not needed or else buffer the data before writing so it can supply a steady stream of data without waiting on the ST to catch up.

 

I don't think Mac drives are faster than ST drives (they certainly couldn't be a lot faster). The Midi connection is used for a high speed transfer between the ST and the digital logic inside the Translator device. It is used not because it is faster than the drive cable connection. It is used because the emulator couldn't use the direct drive connection, which is handled by the ST FDC.

 

The Spectre GCR is a cartridge. The emulator can perform fast transfers with the cartridge port, it doesn't need the Midi connection.

 

The Magic Sac and Spectre 128 are also carts. The cart format has nothing to do with it or else the Magic Sac and Spectre 128 wouldn't need the Translator One either.

[ijor]

The Magic Sac and Spectre 128 are also carts. The cart format has nothing to do with it or else the Magic Sac and Spectre 128 wouldn't need the Translator One either.

 

Of course that the Magic Sac and the Spectre 128 are carts, but the Translator One it is not. The Midi interface is used to talk with the Translator, not with the emulator carts.

 

I didn't say that the cart format has any relation with the need of a Translator functionality. The Spectre GCR has a (kind of) Translator as well, but it has it integrated inside the cart. And because it is integrated in the cart, and because the cart has a fast interface, there is no need for a Midi connection.

 

You seem to believe that the problem of reading Mac disks on the ST is the speed. It is not. The main problem is the encoding. Mac (DD) disks are GCR, but the FDC in the ST can access only MFM disks. That's why you need a "Translator", or a Spectre GCR, or a Discovery Cartridge. And whatever device you use, you need a fast connection between that device and the ST CPU.