Re: GS OS 6.0.1 Install problems

[shack@deimos.frii.com (Randy Shackelford)]

In article <19970809174801.NAA27002@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
AKocur <akocur@aol.com> wrote:
>I've had a number of  Apple //e's and //c's, but now I've gotten my first
>GS. Its a Woz ROM 01, and I got it with a monitor for $20. The pawn shop I
>got it from didn't have any disk drives with it. I just got 2 3.5" drives,
>and went to apples web site and got all 7 disks of 6.0.1.  I downloaded
>the sucessfully and formatted 7 disks on my Powermac 6100 in 800k ProDos
>format. Then I used Shrinkwrap to make disks out of the disk images. I
>used high density disks but taped over the hole so that my mac would
>recognize them as 800k disks. After making the disks, the mac recognized
>them properly and I could open and look at the files on the disks. I went
>to put the first disk in the GS, the install disk and when it boots it
>says unable to load prodos. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to get 800k
>disks instead of the HD ones? I read on a web site that some macs don't
>properly make 800k prodos disks. It that the problem? Anyone who has any
>experience doing this I would greatly appreciate some insite here. 

The first step is to use DD disks. Using HD disks formatted into 800K is
a crap shoot at best. I recently saw someone online selling unused DD disks
for $11 per 100 disks, so they're cheap if you look around. But don't bother
trying Computer City and the like, they don't carry 'em any more. I guess
stores catering to the peecee market assume people ditch their box every
time Microsloth puts out an OS revision, so everyone must have HD floppies 
by now.

Secondly I would use Apple's Disk Copy to make the disks instead of a shareware
program. It's always been trouble free for me. Version 4.2 is the old standby,
or you can get 6.1.2, which can mount image files as Shrinkwrap does.

Finally, if the web site you're talking about is the online FAQ for this
group, take what it says about Macs with a grain of salt the size of the 
salt licks you see in cow pastures. It's lean on fact and heavy on opinion
on that topic. The fact of the matter is that any Mac can format 800K disks
which it can read, but some models have trouble with disks formatted on old
IIs and Macs. This is due to the use of the new age floppy controller, which
debuted on the AV Macs, the 660av and 840av. These boxes can be particular
when it comes to reading old 800K disks, since the new age controller wants
more precise track alignment on disks than older drives provide. This is indep-
endent of the fact that Apple stopped using Sony floppy drives, and does not
constitute an attempt to sabotage compatibility with Apple IIs, as you may
have read. I use an 840av, into which which I swapped a brand new Sony drive
mech after buying it. Aside from a few really old 800K disks from my IIgs, it
has had no problems. I've never heard whether the new age controller is used
in Powermacs like your 6100. I've never heard about problems with 800K drives
in Powermacs either. It could be that they switched back to the old controller
after problems with old disks started showing up.

So to sum it up, I advise using real DD disks and Apple's Disk Copy to make 
the disks. Also if you feel brave, maybe crack open your IIgs' floppy and
see if it's gummed up and could use a cleaning or other attention. If you
got it used, there's a good chance of that.
-- 
Randy Shackelford                                 
shack@frii.com