Re: Mac person trying to learn Apple//

[wyanttr@spoc.dnet.dupont.com (Tom Wyant)]

There hasn't been a FAQ posted in this group lately (at least 
not that I've seen!). I would just wing it and post questions 
when you have them. You will find (if you haven't already) 
that the GS has a GUI interface that is similar enough to the 
MAC GUI that you will be annoyed it's not identical. I know 
this because I owned a GS first and it's how I feel about the 
MAC interface.

You will find that you have to deal with multiple operating 
systems:

DOS 3.3 is an old Apple II operating system, which is still 
around because a lot of software was never ported. 3.3 is the 
last release of DOS, and they changed the diskette format 
between 3.2 and 3.3.

Pascal I know nothing about, other than that it's there.

ProDos is the current Apple II (=8-bit) operating system.

GS/OS is a 16-bit operating system that runs only on the GS. 
In addition to the GUI, it will read and write HFS disks. Its 
"native" file system is the same as ProDos, but there are 
extensions to support forked files.

There are others (eg: GNO/ME, a multitasking operating system 
for the GS), but I would be suprised if you see them in an 
elementary school.

Current operating systems are on Apple's FTP site 
(ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/apple_sw_updates/US/Apple 
II/, and yes there is an embedded space in "Apple II"), 
though you will probably have more luck going through 
mirrors.apple.com.

The most active FTP sites appear to me to be 
ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/Zocalo/pub/apple2/ and 
ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2. 
ftp://ftp.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/ specializes in the 8-bit 
Apple IIs (ie - not the GS), and emulators (yes, you can run 
Apple II programs on your Mac).

As for home pages, Nathan Mates 
(http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/index.html) has plenty of 
links to get you started.

These are just my thoughts, and I'm sure others can add to 
them.

Welcome aboard!

Tom Wyant                     The opinions expressed in this
wyanttr@spoc.dnet.dupont.com  document are those of the 
twyant@freenet.vcu.edu        author, except for the                               
                              following, which is
                              William Shakespeare's:
                        "The first thing we do is, we'll kill
                        all the lawyers."
                        Henry VI, Part II, Act 4, Scene 2