To transfer text files from a Tandy TRS-80 Model 4 to a Macintosh, you can
attach the Macintosh via RS-232 cable and make the TRS-80 think the Macintosh
is a printer. This is a simple inexpensive solution, necessary because the
TRS-80 uses TRSDOS, a disk operating system that is not compatible with other
systems' 5 1/4 inch floppy diskette formats. Here's how to do it:
1) From an appropriate application, save the files you want to transfer as text
only.
2) Convert these files from TRS DOS 1.3 to TRS DOS 6.0, if necessary. This is
required because the commands in steps 3 and 4 are not supported in 1.3. This
is done using the TRSDOS 6.0 command CONV, which can be applied to a whole disk
(for example, CONV :1 :2) or to a given file (for example, CONV filename:1 :2).
3) To set *CL (the RS-232 communication line device) to the appropriate driver,
issue the command SET *CL TO COM/DVR
4) To direct print output to the RS-232 port instead of the parallel port (the
default), issue the command ROUTE *PR TO *CL
5) For each file, issue the command LIST <filename> (PRT). This will "print"
the file to the serial port.
Microsoft Works is a good program to have on the receiving end of this process,
because it doesn't add the unwanted carriage returns that plague other
communications program. Use the "Capture Text" choice under the Communications
menu to specify where to save incoming data.