Looking for a current Final Copy user

[brucehusker]

Hi Gang...I'm an Amiga user from back in the day. Started with a 500, moved up to a 1200 and finally a 4000. Alas, that's been some years ago now, but I miss those days. My son and I put together a newspaper for a junior high class project back then, using Final Copy. I really can't recall if it was Final Copy I or II. I saved all the files on a floppy, but the school never gave back the original and we (me) never had the good sense to print a second copy. I've saved the floppy all these years, but I have no way of knowing if the disk is still good or if the files are still intact. But I would love to find out and I'm hoping there is still someone out there who I can hire to give it a go. So I'll start here and see what response I can muster. Any takers or ideas?
Regards...Bruce

[Tenacious]

So you want to move these FC files from an Amiga disk to an IBM 720K disk or a modern USB thumb drive?  You want to send your disk to someone with an Amiga?  You just want a print-out?

Depending where you live, there is probably still an active Amigan within driving distance.  

IIRC, it seems that FinalCopy files were readable by some modern word processors, like Word, OpenOffice, etc, especially if the files could be saved in RTF.

[Matt_H]

Hi Bruce, I think we can help you get your files.

The first matter is reading the disk. You can make a disk image with a utility called adfread (see the download section of winuae.net), but it requires 2 floppy drives (and a PC that can support 2 floppy drives). There are also hardware solutions called the Catweasel and the Kyroflux that can read Amiga floppies. The Catweasel is only available second hand these days and requires a PCI slot. The Kyroflux uses USB and should be available, but their website appears to be down at the moment. Or, depending on where you're located or if you're willing to mail it, someone here could probably image the disk for you.

The second matter is reading the files. Final Copy evolved into Final Writer, and it should be compatible, so that broadens the pool of people here that can help you . I think Final Copy and Final Writer can both print to PostScript, so we can probably generate a PDF. If not, a hard copy should be possible.

(There was also a Windows version of Final Writer in the late 90s, but I don't know how compatible it is with the Amiga version. If you do manage to find that, there will probably be some font interchange issues.)

Let us know how you'd like to proceed.

[Nearly-Right]

I've still got a working Amiga system, with a few working floppy drives, and I've a copy of Final Copy 1, and 2, and Final Writer 4, 5 & 97 (last version for Amiga).

I can also clean floppy disks, to get them back to full working condition, if they have apparently ceased to work - as long as they don't have concentric circles, or other obvious damage on the disk surface, indicating physical damage to the actual surface of the disk media which you should be able to see if you slide the disk access metal cover.

Even then usually some or most of the data on them can be recovered, by one means or another.

If you have ANY doubt that the disk may not work, then DON'T try to read the disk in a disk drive as that may actually damage the disk, as the disk reading head will drag across the disk surface from the build up of debris or mould/dust that collects over the years.

Wheras cleaning it will most probably resurrect the floppy disk data - not guaranteed, but 99% of the time it does, even on game disks with hybrid boot sectors.

I'm in the UK, but if you want instructions on how to 'clean a floppy disk' then try reading Amiga Future Issue 87, 88 & 89, where there are 3 good tutorials on how to clean a floppy disk.

You can send me the disk if you like, and I'll take look at it for you, if you can't get sorted out by anyone else that is.

[motrucker]

I have working Amigas, and Final Copy II on hand. I would be glad to help, just let me know....

[brucehusker]

Hi Gang,
   Happy New Year to everyone. Geez, I'd forgotten That Final Copy later became Final Writer. I miss those days. First off, thanks for the replies. I've contacted motrucker to enlist his help and will go from there.
   I'm about 2 years from retiring and one of my goals is to get a couple of working Amigas and relive those days a bit. I really enjoyed creating animations and graphics with my Amigas, and in fact that's where I first cut my teeth in that area. I'm working on a 3d animated movie right now, and I actually produced my first 3d animations on my 4000 using Real3d. And the rest of my family still talks about MegaBall from time to time. Anyway, thanks for the response from everyone. As always, Amiga users are the best!
Regards...Brucehusker