doug holverson wrote:
I got one of my freebee Apple II GS's to run, booting off a floppy called "Start-up". However all it does is start up in ProDOS 8 V1.2 and then immediately automatically loads a 1986 version of Appleworks. What to I need to learn and do before I can do something useful with this thing?DGH
Looks like you are getting answers in a piecemeal fashion. Let's see if I can anticipate some future problems for you.
To make a boot floppy for a GS you need to have formatted a floppy and have two files on it. Namely Prodos (you can copy over the P8 file from the GS system disks once you uncompress them then rename it) and basic.system. Prodos is necessary. Basic.system allowd you to have access to the computer through the keyboard. You can substitute any other ".system" file for basic.system if you want to run that program instead. I think the file type has to be a SYS type. This allows you to access 8 bit and some 16 bit programs.
The GSOS disks are kind of like the Mac system disks. They allow access to all 8 and 16 bit programs. With version 6.0.1 (the latest) you *really* want to find a hard drive and controller. You can do without the hard drive but I suggest getting one to make things easier.
There is also an older operating system called DOS 3.2/3.3 which you may find on some older 5.25 disks.
As to what is useful... This depends on your definition. With a couple of exceptions the general categories of programs you find on your Mac exist for the Apple//. Over all I find programming on the Apple to be easier than programming on the other machines I have.
Support is largely through the internet or user groups. If you are near a user group it would be worth your time to make at least one visit. Ours is in Winnipeg Canada (Two hours North of Grand Forks ND and eight hours North West of Minneapolis, most of us DO speak English here). We are currently looking for a new meeting location so it is best to send some e-mail first. As another poster suggested it is simply a matter of making a boot disk and getting you some software.
Once you have the basic software you can use your Mac to get more (unless you have access to a shell account through dial-up).
Hope this helps... Later Mike -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Digital Civilization magazine: http://www.digitalcivilization.ca | | http://www.mts.net/~pfaiffer = Mike Pfaiffer (B.A., B.Sc.) | | See my web page before you think about spamming me. I charge cash. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ----- BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK ----- Version: 3.12 GCS/G/IT/PA/SS d s+:- a? C++ UL L++ W++ N++ o+ K- w(---) O+@ M++@ V PS+ PE !PGP t+ 5+ X R tv b+ DI+++ D++ G e++* h! r-- !y-- UF++ ------ END GEEK CODE BLOCK ------