Re: IIgs Questions

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

Jacob M. Kaplan <jkaplan@macsrule.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I just got my first IIgs today:

Welcome!

> 1). It has a Scooter II thingy coming out of the back; it plugs into the
> game connector inside and comes outside via a ribbon cable; it looks like
> there are two ports on the Scooter II thing. What is this for?

Doesn't ring any bells.  If they are 16-pin DIP connectors, it might
just be an extender to provide easy access to the internal game port.

> 2). It came with an Apple branded SCSI card; is this the standard SCSI
> card for the IIgs?

There are three "standard" SCSI cards for the Apple II.  In order of
speed (slowest to fastest), they are:

1. The original Apple SCSI card.
2. The Apple High-Speed SCSI card.
3. The RamFast SCSI card.

The original and high-speed Apple cards are easy to distinguish if you
look at the card.

The original card has a row of eight jumpers near the inside edge of the
card, and the SCSI chip is a standard 40-pin DIP labelled NEC and 5380.

The high-speed card has a 4-way DIP switch near the lower middle of the
card, and has two socketed 44-pin PLCC chips (square), once of which is
the SCSI chip, which is a 53C80.

If you have the original card, make sure it has the latest firmware
revision.  The ROM on the card should be labelled 341-0437-A.  This is
the "revision C" firmware.

There is only one firmware version for the high-speed card.

> 3). It came with a RAM expansion card plugged into the memory expansion
> slot; how do I tell how much RAM the card has?

Without going to the trouble of identifying the RAM card brand, the
easiest way is to go through the following steps:

1. Identify which ROM version your machine has.  When you turn it on, it
should start up immediately with a text screen that says "Apple IIgs" at
the top, and may have a copyright message at the bottom.  If so, the
last line says either "ROM Version 01" or "ROM Version  3".

If you just see the "Apple IIgs" at the top and no other text on the
screen, you have ROM version 0, and need an upgrade to version 01 to be
able to run any recent (1988 or later) native IIgs software.

ROM version 0 or 01 has 256KB of RAM on the motherboard, while ROM
version 3 has 1.125MB (1MB plus 128KB).

2. Go into the Desk Accessories menu by pressing Control-Apple-Escape,
select Control Panel from the menu, and go to the RAM Disk page.  The
"largest selectable" size gives a guide to how much RAM is in the memory
expansion slot.

(a) If you have ROM version 0 or 01, then the "largest selectable"
figure is the amount of RAM in the memory expansion slot.

(b) If you have ROM version 3, then subtract 896K to get the amount of
RAM in the memory expansion slot.

> 4). I'm trying to run the old game Maniac Mansion on it (it comes on a
> 5.25" floppy). It says it's for the //e and IIc, but I assumed it would
> work on the IIgs also. I put it in, and after awhile, it came to the title
> screen where you choose the characters, but I couldn't figure out how to
> choose them. In the manual, it says that if you don't have a joystick
> (which I don't), you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard, but nothing
> happens when I push ANY of the keys on the keyboard, including the arrow
> keys. Is it possible that this game just doesen't work on the IIgs, or is
> the copy bad (is that why it took so long to load)?

I'm not particularly familiar with this game, but there may be a couple
of reasons why it is having trouble working on the IIgs.

1. It might only work properly if the IIgs is forced to run at the same
speed as a IIe or IIc.  The speed is set using the "System Speed" page
in the Control Panel - either "Fast" or "Normal" (IIe/IIc compatible).

2. The keyboard might not be working because keyboard buffering is
enabled.  Go to the "Keyboard" page in the Control Panel and try turning
it off.


One option you might like to consider is to reset all the control panel
settings back to their defaults.  To do this, reset the computer by
holding down Control-Option-Reset (the reset key is the one with the
triangle, separated from the rest of the keyboard).  Make sure you hold
down the Option key after letting go of either of the other two.

You should get a menu with four items.  Item 2 is "Set system standards
and 60 hertz".  Choosing this will restore the default control panel
settings, then reboot the machine.

This means you are starting from a known point.

Note that the default settings include the system speed being set to
Fast, so you might need to slow it down to Normal again.

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