Re: trying to get an Apple II GS going for fun...

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

wizard@direct.ca (Astro) wrote:

>supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:
>
>> I always wince a little when running 8-bit emulation on the 
>>IIGS.  It seems such a waste of potential.
>
>Still, part of the whole allure of the idea of getting my "windfall"
>IIGS up and running was learning that the IIGS is capable of
>backwards-compatibility with the Apple II series. It's like having two
>computers in one!!!

True.  Do you know how the IIe emulator in the IIGS works,
by the way?  There is a chip on the motherboard called the
Mega II.  Apple used VLSI technology to shrink an entire IIe
into a single chip, the Mega II.  This chip showed up again
when Apple made the "IIe compatibility card" for the Mac LC.
That emulator also uses the Mega II.

If Apple wanted to, they could have fit the Mega II into a
unit the size of a calculator.  Imagine the applications!  Pull
out a calculator and type a document with a pen.  Smaller
than a palmtop and cheaper too.  But Apple never went
anywhere with the chip.  Too bad.  In 1986, few companies
had computers on a chip.

>How do I change a .dsk file [disk image file like the Apple II games I
>am previewing] into a usable file for the Apple IIGS? I guess I could
>use the DiskCopy program on the Mac to write it to a floppy, right?
>That would make a self booting-floppy? Or would it be better to use
>ShrinkIt somehow to store it on the floppy?

.DSK to file is neither DiskCopy nor ShrinkIt! format.  It is
an emulator format.  You can use the IIe program DSK2FILE
to change it back.  Of course you'll need ShrinkIt! GS first
to unpack DSK2FILE.

Read about it here:

http://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/Emulators/DSK2FILE50.SHK.txt

Download it here:

ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/Emulators/DSK2FILE50.SHK