Re: IIgs Newbie / Anfaenger Fragen PART TWO

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Dirk Engelmann <diengelmann@metronet.de> wrote:

> I want to connect an old 700MB SCSI-II HD in an external case, 
> the SCSI-ID is 0 currently.
> The drive LED lights up at boot time, but the drive is completely
> inaccessible.

Which SCSI card are you using?  You said an Apple one, but Apple made
two quite different cards: the original Apple SCSI card, and the
High-Speed SCSI card.  (This may not be a factor here, but it useful to
know this for narrowing down any problems you might run into.)

If you aren't sure, there are quite a few visible differences between
the cards.

The original Apple card has a large rectangular 40-pin chip made by NEC
with the part number "5380" mentioned on it.  There is also a row of
eight jumpers near the front of the card.

The Apple High-Speed card has two square-pack 44-pin PLCC chips in brown
sockets.  One of these is made by NEC and is labelled "53C80".  There is
also a 4-way DIP switch near the lower centre of the card.

If you have the original card, it is important to verify that you have
the final release of the firmware for it.  The ROM should be labelled
"341-0437-A".  (This is the "Revision C" firmware.)

If it is 341-0112A or 341-0112B then you have the revision A or B
firmware, and need a ROM upgrade to get the full capabilities of the
card.

>   - Where do I find software for low and high-level formating and
>     partitioning?

The IIgs system software (System 6.0 or 6.0.1) includes everything you
need.  System 5.0.4 is probably OK for the High Speed card, but earlier
versions do not support it properly (you need to use updated drivers
which were supplied with the card).

If you have the original Apple card, you can use the tools supplied with
System 5.0 or later.

All formatting and partitioning tasks are handled by the program
Adv.Disk.Util (Advanced Disk Utilities).  For System 5.0.x, this program
is on the System.Tools disk.  For System 6.0 and 6.0.1 it is on
SystemTools1 (if I remember right - if not, then it is on Install).

Before being able to use this, you will need SCSI.Manager and
SCSIHD.Driver installed on your system disk (both of them go in
*:System:Drivers).

Low-level formatting is only available as an option if the drive
contains a single partition, and what this actually does depends on the
particular drive.  (The program just issues a SCSI Format command - it
is up to the drive to do something sensible; some will actually do a
low-level format, but some just erase the disk or do nothing.)

High-level formatting (erasing a partition) can be done from Finder.

>   - Max. Partition sizes?

For a ProDOS partition: 32 MB.  HFS is limited to 2 GB.

If you want to boot from the drive, you must have a ProDOS partition
first, and the System Software must be installed on the first partition.

If you want to access files from ProDOS-8 programs, they must be on
ProDOS partitions.

>   - Any Filesystems preferred(PRODS vs. HFS)?

I'm still wary of using HFS on the IIgs due to lack of volume recovery
tools (and I also like the ability of ProDOS to be able to set the order
in which files appear in the directory - HFS forces everything into
alphabetic order, which is a nuisance at times).

I also use ProDOS-8 programs a fair amount.

My 800MB drive has about ten 32MB ProDOS partitions, and the rest is
divided up into larger HFS partitions.  If I was still actively using
the machine and was going to repartition the drive, I'd probably aim for
fewer ProDOS partitions and larger HFS ones.

> In Slot 1, there is a Grappler+ (ROM V3.3)card with a centronics cable
> attached, and on the other hand, I have a little serial-->parallel
> converter Box which fits into the Mini-DIN printer port of the IIgs.
> 
>   - Which port should I use?

Whichever one works.  I think I'd prefer the serial port via the
converter, because the Grappler has this nasty habit of prompting the
user if an error is reported by the printer - not very helpful for a
desktop application (or does it only do this for BASIC programs?)

You would probably get better performance via the parallel port if
printing graphics (including all non-draft printing from GS/OS
programs).

Try each method and see which you prefer.

>   - Can I connect any Centronics printer to the IIgs?

It depends what software you intend to print from.  GS/OS is supplied
with a generic Epson dot matrix printer driver, so if your printer can
emulate that then you get minimal functionality. 

There are third-party drivers which extend your options considerably.  I
believe that Shareware Solutions is the current supplier of the Harmonie
package (is that right, Joe?), which includes HP deskjet drivers among
others.

For printing from ProDOS-8 programs, your results will vary.  In many
cases you can select the printer from a menu.  In some cases (e.g.
AppleWorks) you can also enter a custom printer definition, so if you
have documentation for the command set you should be able to use almost
any printer.

>   - Do I need Drivers for the printers or for the grappler card?

For GS/OS programs?  Yes to both.  The printer and port drivers are
separate.  GS/OS comes with a generic PARALLEL.CARD driver which may
work with the Grappler.  See above for printer drivers.

AppleWorks needs a minor change to its default interface card settings
to work properly with a Grappler: set the interface card codes to
"Ctrl-I 0N" instead of the default "Ctrl-I 80N".

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand