Re: Need help getting IIgs working

[nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <btomlin-2302982007540001@mnet02-23.sat.texas.net>,
Bruce Tomlin <btomlin@aol.com> wrote:
>First, a few months ago I found an old ROM 00 machine, hooked up a 3.5" 
>drive, made a  IIgs System 6.0 boot disk from off on an old (March 1993) 
>Developer CD using my Mac, and tried firing it up.  "UNABLE TO LOAD 
>PRODOS".

   That means the first sector on the disk was written correctly in
800K disk format, but it couldn't read enough more to boot
ProDOS. Sounds like you've been bitten by the cheap and cruddy 3.5"
800K support in modern macs. Try an older mac from an era where
quality existed.

>I hooked it up, made a System 6.0 boot disk, and "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS".  
>It had an extra floppy controller card, and I got the same result (only 
>with a little more startup delay to scan for the drive) when the drive was 
>plugged into one of the extra floppy ports.

   Check that card to see if it's for 5.25" disks only (same
connector, unfortunately). If it's a Unidisk 3.5" or Superdrive card,
it may be more valueable. 

>* I've been told that I can boot System 6.0 on a ROM 01 machine with 1M of 
>RAM.  Is this true?

   Can boot. Can't do too much; should get more.

>* How do the jumpers on the 1M memory card work?  The machine I found 
>today had a second bank populated, and J2 jumpered.  The first machine was 
>empty and had no jumpers.  Am I right to guess that this refers to memory 
>size and that both jumpers in place = a full board?

   Yes, yes.

>* Is it even possible to start this thing up from a 3.5" drive?  (Or else 
>why would they put 3.5" images on the Developer CD in the first place?)  I 
>even tried an 8-bit PRODOS 3.2 system disk, but again, "UNABLE TO LOAD 
>PRODOS".

   Yes, but you might want to remove the Mac from the creation of the
system disks as it may be the problem. See the comp.sys.apple2
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html section 7.2 on how and
where you can get OS disks from, etc.

Nathan Mates

--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/      <*>
# What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
# Shun wishful thinking, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
# think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? -R.A. Heinlein