Re: Appletalk and IIGS

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <4cj9sn$5mm@yama.mcc.ac.uk>,
Duncan Entwisle <duncane@jumper.mcc.ac.uk> wrote:
> In the control panel the Apple IIGS claims to have built in appletalk 
> (although this doesn't have a tick next to it - whatever that means)

The ticks in the control panel are used to indicate the default
setting (if you use the "restore default settings and 50 Hz" or "...
60 Hz" options in the Control-Option-Reset menu, or the battery RAM
loses its contents).

The IIgs does have built-in hardware support for AppleTalk
(LocalTalk), using either the Printer or Modem port.

In the ROM 1 IIgs, you must set either of slot 1 or 2 to "Your Card"
and set slot 7 to "AppleTalk".  The AppleTalk connection will then
make use of whichever of slot 1 or 2 is set to "Your Card".  (If both,
then the Printer port will be used.)

In the ROM 3 IIgs, you must set either of slot 1 or 2 to "AppleTalk".
Slot 7 also has an "AppleTalk" option, but this is only there for
compatibility with brain-dead programs that assume the IIgs AppleTalk
support is accessed via slot 7, and enabling it will waste a slot.


On the firmware side, the ROM contains enough code to allow the IIgs
to boot from an AppleShare server, but the full set of AppleTalk
protocols is only available after booting in this fashion, or by
booting from a local system disk that has AppleTalk support installed.

If booting from a local disk, you must boot via GS/OS to be able to
get full AppleTalk support.  (There is a file which doesn't seem to
have been widely released which allows printer-only access when you
boot ProDOS-8 directly.)

> can this only be accessed by extra software, or could I use it to boot 
> from my Mac (is that possible - would it require extra software on the 
> Mac side too) - as this would save me buying a 3.5 inch disc drive.

You can only boot from a Macintosh that is running the full AppleShare
server software, version 2.x (takes over the whole machine and runs
under System 6) or 3.x (other programs can be run at the same time,
requires System 7).  Version 4.0 and later do not support network
booting for an Apple II.

With the File Sharing support provided by System 7, you can log onto
the Mac from the IIgs after booting from a local disk, but you cannot
boot from the Mac.

Even with the full AppleShare software (which is very expensive), you
will still need a 3.5" drive, as you have to install the necessary
software onto the server from a IIgs.

I wouldn't recommend just borrowing a drive - you will be able to do
very little with a IIgs connected to a server which doesn't have a
3.5" drive, as you won't be able to install any new software, for
example.
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand