Re: Where to find ProDOS 16 or Old GS/OS

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article maggip@enet.it (Pietro F. Maggi) writes...

>       After long research, finally I've found a used //GS here in
>Italy, the problem is that it has only 256Kb.  For the moment I don't
>want to Upgrade (money is tight at the moment) and so I'm relishing on
>the ProDOS 8. I've seached old 16-bit OS. but have found only the
>GS/OS v5.04

    With no memory expansion, what you have there is a glorified Apple
IIe compatible (I can pratically count the number of programs that can
run in 256K on my hands, and they are all very old and mediocre games).
You absolutely _must_ add a memory card or you will not be able to run
Apple IIgs software.

    It is really affordable too, you can pick up an Apple IIgs Memory
Expansion Card (fully populated to 1 MB) for about US$10. Just search
on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace. 

>The question is , where can i find older OS??

    Well with only the built-in 256K, the only IIgs System Software that
will run is System 1.0 through System 2.0. This is of extremely limited
use however, your launcher program is MouseDesk (an 8-bit program that
uses Double-Hi-Res graphics) and uses very old and buggy versions of the 
GS toolsets. This is pretty much useless, other than historic interest.

    You can also run System 3, but it will load directly into the Apple
IIgs Program Launcher (there won't be enough memory to start the Finder).
This is also of limited use, since you won't have enough memory to run
any native programs from the launcher.

>By the way my IIGS is a ROM 01 with 256Kb, monocrome monitor (NTSC?)
>and 2 drive (to repair samehow).

    Well unless you add an RGB monitor, a 3.5 floppy drive and some
additional memory (your going to want a full 1 MB, but you could do
with 768K or even 512K if all you want to do is run a couple of old
games and applications) you will only have an Apple IIe compatible.

    Actually, adding even those things will only bring you up to a
bare-bones Apple IIgs, enough to experiment with the machines and
run some native software. If you want to tap the full potential of
the machine, you'd eventually want even more memory (about 4 MB),
a hardrive and an accelerator board.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca