Re: New Apple GS Computer

[salfter@salfter.ncc74656.dyndns.org (Scott Alfter)]

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In article <ooM46.188388$4K4.30518524@typhoon.southeast.rr.com>,
**** **** <***@***.com> wrote:
>Slot 3
>Datalink 2400 baud internal modem. Not a treasure, but interesting I guess.
>If I'd had this earlier, I suppose I would have been able to use nullmodem
>to create boot disks.

I had one of those, long ago...first modem I ever had.  Not bad, for 2400
anyway.

>Slot 4
>Transwarp GS board. Motherload. I wanted to dance when I saw this. The
>transwarp has a 40 pin connector on it. Is this a IDE controller too? How do
>I check what mhz I'm running at?

Nope...there should be a ribbon cable between the card and the processor
socket.  If there's an empty 40-pin DIP socket, it's more than likely for
storage of the original processor (the ZipGS has such a socket on it).

>Slot 6
>A full size Applied engineering board. On the back, one ribbon cable goes to
>a db19 (apologies to Dave Wilson, but I call them all db#). A smaller ribbon
>cable connects to a 2"x3" daught card, which has a db15 plug and a
>passthrough to the video port on the backside. Says "colorswitch" on it.
>What is all this?

This sounds like a PC Transporter, which is basically a turbo-XT clone on a
card.  It has an 8086-compatible processor, 768K of RAM (128K used for
BIOS), and CGA-compatible graphics that, depending on how it's set up, can
drive a composite monitor, an analog-RGB monitor (what the IIGS normally
uses), or a CGA monitor.

>Slot 7
>Applied Engineering Vulcan card
>
>Also, the power supply is either replaced, or covered by a large dull black
>box. Labeled 40 megs. This is my vulcan hard drive, I presume. Can I replace
>it with larger ide drives? Is this power supply enhanced? The Apple IIGS
>memory card appears to be fully populated... how much is this?

IIRC, the Vulcan carries a bigger power supply in order to power the hard
drive as well as the rest of the system.  I don't know how you'd go about
upgrading the hard drive to something bigger (all I've ever used with my IIs
is SCSI).

If the memory-expansion card is by Apple and is fully-populated, it has only
1 meg.  This would appear to be the only weak spot in your system (though
there aren't too many programs that require more than 1-1.25 megs...only one
that comes to mind is HyperCard GS, which needs 2 megs).

>   What questions should I be asking about this computer? And is a $7 price
>tag a bargain, or a steal? Looks like I have a decent development machine
>now.

That's beyond a steal. :-) Last time I scoped out the local Goodwill, all
they had were some old PS/2s and Dells.

  _/_
 / v \
(IIGS(  Scott Alfter (remove Voyager's hull number for email address)
 \_^_/  http://salfter.dyndns.org
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