Re: Apple IIGS, got one free today, need some help, please

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

In article <3kav5a$ld2@coranto.ucs.mun.ca>,
Julie A. Deeley <jdeeley@calvin.stemnet.nf.ca> wrote:
>
> When I plugged everything in it made a noise, the screen said "Check
> Startup Device", and a little mac symbol goes back and forth across the
> screen.

"Mac" symbol??  Sacrilege!!!!!!  :-)

That is an "Apple" symbol, and always has been.

Seriously, though: when the IIgs says "Check Startup Device", the
primary reason is that it cannot locate a boot disk in any drive that
it scanned.  There are several possible reasons for this:

1. There is no disk in the 5.25" or 3.5" drive.

2. The Control Panel settings have been modified so that it isn't
   trying to boot from a high enough slot.  You can restore the
   original default Control Panel settings by holding down the Control and
   Option keys and pressing Reset (the "triangle" key, which you may think
   of as the power key for a Mac II).  Let go of Reset first, and keep
   holding the other keys until you hear a beep.

   This will present a menu, and option 2 or 3 lets you restore the
   default Control Panel settings, with 50 Hz or 60 Hz scan frequency
   (you should select 60 Hz).

   The default settings will scan all slots, including the 5.25" and 3.5"
   drives, to check for a boot disk.  When the computer is booted, it
   should check the 5.25" drive (it will make a seeking and chugging noise
   then spin for a couple of seconds).  The computer then tries the 3.5"
   drive (which is much quicker), then says "Check Startup Device".

   Incidentally, you can press Control-Apple-Reset to reboot the computer.

3. One or both drives may be faulty.

4. The computer may be faulty.

> 2. Can I use any of it's components on my current mac, (p-mac 6100/60)
> and is there any good reason to (ie. the keyboard as a spare?)

The keyboard will work fine on a Mac, as will the mouse.  The 3.5"
drive would work, assuming it isn't faulty and you have an external
drive port (which is not provided on current Macs).  The 5.25" drive
is no use.  No internal components are useful.

> 3. Does it need some sort of permanant boot-up disk inserted to work?
> and if so, how do I get the OS from my current mac to the GS? (Assuming
> I can download it from the 'net somewhere to my current mac)

The current IIgs system software is available in the form of DiskCopy
disk images, which can be created on the Mac, producing a set of 800k
disks.

There is a possible catch: you need at least 1 megabyte of RAM to use
the current system software.  If it is a bare-bones IIgs, it might
only have 256k.  It might also have the original IIgs ROM, which
hasn't been supported by IIgs system software since 1988.

E-Mail me if you want more details of this.

> 4. Is the OS available from an ftp site, say, support.apple.com?

Yes indeed.  I can't remember the exact path off-hand.  It is under
"Apple SW Updates/US/Apple II".

There are two forms - Mac self-extracting archives containing DiskCopy
images, encoded with BinHex, and Apple II shrunk disk images encoded
with BinSCII.
--
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand