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

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

wizard@direct.ca (Astro) wrote:

>Well guess what? I finally got an OS to load!!! And I didn't even
>receive my mail-order system 5.0.4 disks yet. Yeah, I downloaded the
>System 6.0.1 "system disk" from Apple to my PC. It arrived as a .bin
>file. I took it to the Mac I know and put the .bin file on the Mac
>desktop. Then I ran it through Stuffit. It transformed [expanded] into
>??? a .sea file. [I don't know what a .sea file is.] Undaunted, I ran
>the .sea file through a program I downloaded called "ShrinkWrap"
>[because I couldn't find the DiskCopy program on the internet in such
>short notice... but I think I have a full link to it:
>http://www.ifcss.org/ftp-pub/software/mac/utils/ ] where was I... oh
>yes... and ShrinkWrap wrote the file to an 800k ProDOS-formatted DSDD
>floppy [I finally tracked down a source of DSDD floppies in
>Vancouver]... and when I brought the disk home to the IIGS, I popped
>it in the drive, powered up the IIGS and !BiNGo! System 6.0.1 loaded.
>I spent a little while familiarizing myself with the landscape of the
>OS and saw that it was good. Wasn't much I could do yet with no
>additional software yet prepared, so I formatted a couple of 5.25"
>floppies just for fun ;-)

EXCELLENT!  Then you are almost ready to make the jump to HFS.
Boot up System 6.0.1 and double click on the System folder.  Next,
double click on the FST folder which is within the System folder.
Look at the FSTs there.  You can see the ProDOS FST, which is
why you can read and write ProDOS disks, but the HFS FST is missing.
That's because it is on one of the other System 6.0.1 disks (I think one
of the System Tools disk or the Installer disk).  Use the same method
you did above to convert all six System 6.0.1 disks and look at the FST
folder of each one until you find an FST file named HFS.FST.  Copy
that file to the FST folder of the System 6.0.1 "system disk" that you
currently have.  Once you reboot, you'll be able to read and write
and even format Mac HFS 800k disks!

Keep that HFS.FST file handy too because you can also use it when
your System 5.0.4 disks come.  Good luck!  Keep me informed of
what happens.

You should also take a look at the "synthLAB" disk, one of the
six supplied with System 6.0.1.  That's the music program and it is
pretty cool (be sure to plug walkman style headphones or amplified
speakers borrowed from a PC or Mac into the headphone port
at the back of the IIGS).  You still have to boot from the System disk,
but then you can swap in the synthLAB disk and start the music
program.  Then rock with the Ensoniq wavetable synthesizer built
into the IIGS!