About
Soft Flow is committed to supporting data transfer capabilities from the primary computers of various flow cytometry systems to Apple Macintosh computers. In 1992, Soft Flow Hungary Ltd. developed the HPtoMac software application which provides a simple, rapid data file transfer from the flow cytometry systems controlled with Hewlett Packard (HP) computers.HPtoMac is not restricted to convert flow cytometry data files. You can transfer any disk file with the software, including the files saved with HP computers controlling spectrophotometers, gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers, HPLC systems, etc.
HPtoMac is a free Macintosh software application which allows you to read 3.5" Hewlett Packard (LIF) diskettes with your Macintosh computer. HPtoMac can read the diskettes which were formatted with Hewlett Packard format option 2 or 16 (see below).
When you run the software, your Macintosh computer accepts the HP diskettes to be inserted into the drive, reads the disk directory (i.e. the names of the stored files) and allows you to copy the files from the diskette to the hard disk of your Macintosh. The program creates new destination files on the Macintosh hard disk which are byte by byte identical with the corresponding source files.
Due to physical reasons associated to the hardware configuration of the Macintosh disk drive and the structure of the HP diskettes, the use of the HPtoMac software is restricted to reading the following double density (DD) and high density (HD) disk formats:
The 2 and 16 formatting options are not the default ones in the HP computers of the Becton Dickinson flow cytometry systems. It means the software cannot read the diskettes which were formatted with the LYSYS software. You can overcome this difficulty if you use diskettes with the LYSYS software that you have formatted previously with the MEDIAINIT HP software.
DD: Format option 2
- 77 sectors per surface, 9 sectors per track, 709,632 bytes total
- 80 sectors per surface, 9 sectors per track, 737,280 bytes total
- 77 sectors per surface, 18 sectors per track, 1,419,264 bytes total
- 80 sectors per surface, 18 sectors per track, 1,474,560 bytes total
MEDIAINIT is part of each HP software package. It provides the required options and allows you to format diskettes that you can use with any HP- controlled flow cytometry system. The diskettes and the acquired data files are readable by the HPtoMac application.
In order to format with the MEDIAINIT software use the following procedure:
Do: Quit the running application on the HP computer.
See: Type:
___________________________________________________Compiler Editor Filer ... Version? x
MEDIAINIT [Return]*
Volume ID? #3 [Return]**
.... Are you SURE you want to proceed (Y/N)?Y [Return]
Formatting options (default is 0) 2 (or 16) [Return]
Interleave factor (default is 1) [Return]
Medium initialization in progress.
Medium initialization completed.
Volume zeroing in progress.
Volume zeroing completed.
___________________________________________________*Path may also be required if MEDIAINIT is not in the default directory. **Type the volume ID of the floppy disk drive (frequently #3).
Run HPtoMac
1. Copy the extracted (un-zipped) HPtoMac software file onto the hard disk of your Macintosh computer.2. Double-click the application icon of the software. A dialog window entitled 'Exchange' appears.
3. Insert the Hewlett Packard diskette. 
Note.
HPtoMac can read HP diskettes which have been formatted with format options 2 or 16. These options are not the default formatting options in the CONSORT 30 and CONSORT 32 systems. An error message appears when you insert the diskette that was formatted with a format option other than 2 or 16. The 'wrong' diskettes are automatically ejected.4. The list of file names appears in the scroll window of the dialog.
5. Select the Fast Copy radio button if you wish to save the files with the same name.
The Select Folder button allows you to choose or create a new destination folder on the hard disk.
6. Select the Ask for New name button if you wish to rename the transferred files.
7. Select the name(s) of the files that you wish to copy from the diskette to the hard disk in the scroll window.
Use the Shift and Apple buttons to select more files from the list.
8. Choose the Transfer All button to copy all files from the diskette.
9. Choose the transfer button to copy the manually selected files.
10. The Eject button allows you to replace the HP diskette with a new one.
11. If you have more than one FDHD drive in your Macintosh, the Drive button allows you to select one of the available disk drives.
12. Choose the Quit command from the File menu if you wish to quit the software.
Note.
You cannot read Macintosh or IBM diskettes with HPtoMac.FCAP-list software can process both FCS1.0 and FCS2.0 data files. The data files transferred with HPtoMac do not need any additional conversion to process them with FCAP-list. However, you might need additional conversion of the files if you wish to analyze the data with third party software applications.
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