Re: how applicable?

[knelson@acs.ryerson.ca (Ken Nelson)]

Gina Anderson (gina@stocko.com) wrote:
: Won't someone help me?  I am a relatively new teacher who has 2 
: Apple IIgs computers in my classroom.  I just can't figure out 
: what to do with them with a class of 33 students.  I have very 
: little software, and to tell you the truth, very little 
: knowledge of Apple computers (I use a PC at home.)  I have read 
: encouraging posts to AOL regarding the use of the Apple and 
: became once again encouraged that I could do something with 
: these "dinosaurs" in my classroom, but further investigating 
: has left me only more discouraged!  I have only the basic of 
: capabilities, probably only what came with the purchase of an 
: Apple IIgs.  In scouring our library I was able to find an SCSI 
: card (I don't even know what type of device it is intended 
: for), and what I believe to be a CD Rom disk drive.  However, 
: the CD has no update disk or whatever is needed to make it 
: work.  As you can tell, I don't even know how to explain my 
: problem.  I would appreciate any help I can get in the for of 
: very simple explanations.

	The ApIIGS is really two computers in one: an APIIe and an 
APIIGS. The GS stands for Graphics and Sound. The GS side is a 16 bit 
computer with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) capability.
For the computer to be very useful in th GS mode you really need a memory 
expansion card and an accelerator card...then the GS works like a Mac. 
In fact it can be networked with Mac computers and share printers and 
other peripherals.
	You really need a lot of assistance...I'ld start by trying to 
find the local Apple educational dealer...they'll want to sell you Macs 
but they may have staff that know the APII...there are an awful lot of 
them in classrooms still. There are still sources of educational software 
and upgrade cards for the GS...you'll find many references here on the Net.
	The next source of help would be the local usergroup...Apple can 
help in directing you to your closest group...which will be mostly Mac at 
this time but you are likely to find a few who know APII products and can 
help with mail order and local sources.
	The SCSI card probably doesn't need any software to allow for 
hard drive and CD hook up although there are only a few GS specific CD's. 
Any SCSI hardrive can be hooked up to it and it will greatly increase the 
speed of the computers operation.
	The most revereed and useful piece of software for the 
APII series of computers is Appleworks and the lates version 5 is still 
sold by Quality Computers. This gives you an integrated Word processor, 
spreadsheet and database. So kids can learn basic computer skills and 
build all kinds of information resources for the courses and projects 
they are working on. The National Appleworks Users group is disbanding 
after December but they have hundreds of disk with templates and 
databases of Presidents and countires and capitals etc....you can 
probably find someone who has some of these resources.
	Please feel free to contact me by e-mail if you are having 
problems locating resources...we have lists of suppliers and shareware 
software on our bulletin board and I could provide a bibliography if your 
into reading manuals etc.
	BTW, the two GS's you have could be networked together and share 
a hardrive and CD etc. You could also hook up a modem and use Proterm to 
communicate with BBS's and the internet. In fact there is a local BBS 
(Warp Six) which is run from an APII ( the software is public domain).
	So those dinosaurs can be resurrected and do your class a lot of good.

	Ken