Re: Newbie has IIgs questions

[Toby Reiter <str4552@OBERLIN.EDU>]

On Mon, 20 Jan 1997, Ward C. Travis wrote:

> I bought a IIgs at a yard sale, one with no floppy at all. And, hence, no
> OS. I have downloaded the 6.0.1 OS from Apple, but cannot transfer it onto
> the IIgs to begin work. Here's why:
> 
> The files must be BinSCII'd first. Fine, I have an Apple ][, but I do not
> have ProDOS on it. I found ProDOS also on the Apple Web, but it too is
> BinSCII'd!
> 
> Now, I can't run BinSCII because I suspect it calls into ProDOS to make
> its files. If I could run BinSCII on a DOS 3.3 system, I'd be closer, but
> the disks it would make would be 5.25" 140K things and not real good for
> holding the GS OS. But at least then I could boot ProDOS on a DuoDisk
> connected to the IIgs.
> 
> So: is there any way to unpack the ProDOS 4.02 .BSC file on an non-ProDos
> system? (See my frustration here.)

Yes.  Most common platforms have some sort of binscii utility, at least 
as far as I know.
 
> SO: there're a few other catch-22's about why I can't get the OS onto the
> IIgs. I notice that the IIgs boots into Applesoft Basic if I leave the
> drive (I had a DuoDisk, but it's not big enough for the IIgs OS) empty.
> What would really accelerate me here is a Mac version of BinSCII that will
> leave the results on a  ProDOS floppy, or just in HFS where I can copy it
> to a ProDOS floppy using the fork-stripper app.

I would not suggest trying to boot a IIgs off a duodisk if you're trying 
to use GSOS, because as far as I know it won't work.  I would suggest, if 
you have enough ram, to download the entire system 6.0.1. (This requires 
at least 1.25 megs to run, although more is preferred.  You're going to 
be wanting memory like this anyway if you decided to actually use the 
computer).  

Anyway,  there are two binscii'ing utilities for the Mac: 
Commbin and Sciibin.  Commbin is easier to use, in my opinion, although 
sciibin is more powerful (and can decode as well as encode).  You can 
download both of these out of the /mac directory at ground 
(ground.isca.uiowa.edu).  

However, there is another solution for you if you have a Mac:  download 
the Disk copy versions of the system software.  This will allow you to 
unpack these disks to any floppy you have around, will automatically 
format them in ProDOS and will be complete working copies.  In order to 
use them you will need either ShrinkWrap or Disk Copy.  You can then put  
them in your 3.5" drive and go crazy.  Of course, after a while, you 
will probably want to think about getting a hard drive...:)

> Does it exist? Is there a BinSCII app for MacOS?

Yes, see above. :)

> I've even considered the use of WinApple.exe (Windows Apple emulator) or
> IIe 3.0, but cannot find the ROMs for IIe on asimov anymore -- and
> technically I have no rights to copy those anyway, even if I do have two
> Apple ///s, a IIgs, an Apple II+, and a 7600 in this room with me :-( I'm
> still left with no credible way to get ProDos launched on the IIgs.

Well, that would be the really crummy way of doing this. ;)  What I have 
said is much better for a person who has both Mac's and GS's.  (p.s. as 
soon as possible, AppleTalk the two buggers together--it will do you no 
end of good.)

Toby Reiter