Re: Questions, questions, questions

[nathan@cco.caltech.edu (Nathan Mates)]

In article <010184MCXWDKCGMSCIRF@ods.sol.net>,  <dreamer@ods.sol.net> wrote:
>1)  Does anyone have info/pricing/availability on any of the following,
>new or used:
>Video Overlay Card

   Pretty much used only. Not too many exist, lots of people want
them; bid early, bid high.  (That's how I got mine, and you're not
going to get it until you pry it from my cold, dead body :)

>//e Workstation Card

   Ditto, but may be available from some second-hand sellers, like
Alltech (inquiries 619-724-2404) or Shreve Systems (can't read number
in latest GS+ ad; their orders only number is 800-227-3971). This
isn't really needed in a IIGS, and without a Mac as a file server, an
Apple II localtalk net's noly going to be able to share printers, not
files, you know.

>HyperStudio

   Sill being produced & sold. Quality Computers should have it; call
800# directory enquiries at 800-555-1212 and ask for Quality Computers.
Probably about $80

>The BEST RAM card for the //gs (one that can be used as memory and/or a
>RAMdisk).

   They all can. If you've got enough, you can have a ramdisk and
enough leftover memory to run stuff. I'd recommend the 4MB version
from Sequential Systems at 800-759-4549. Price maybe $120.

>Whether or not DMA has to be turned off when using the hispeed scsi card
>on the //gs.

   As long as your ramcard supports DMA (like the 4MB SS one), and is
4MB or less.

>SuperDrive (and card)

   Rare. Might have to poke around the used places. Alltech (number
above) says that they have Superdrives for $199 (called the 'FDHD'),
and new 800K drives for $165. Shreve might do better on used ones.

>3.5" drive and card

   Definitely more common on the drive (cards are not needed on the
GS unless you plan on attaching more than 2 3.5" disks). See altech
& shreve again, 




>Finally (at least for now), I have one final question...I'm currently
>running my BBS on a //e, with the Print-It card (which has a connection
>right on the card which uses a cable that has a centronics connector on
>the other end, but also has a connector on the card for a serial cable)
>connected to the Citizen 120D printer, and a //gs (ROM 1) connected via
>the printer port to an OLD ImageWriter wide carriage.  I would LIKE to
>be able to run BOTH computers on the SAME printer (preferrably the IW
>for obvious reasons), but I refuse to part with the Print-It card due to
>special features it has, and I don't want to have to get an extra
>printer card for the //gs.  Is there ANY way I can hook both the
>Print-It card and the //gs port to the IW?

   Since the PI card can do serial (which is what the IW uses), you're
in luck. You'll have to get a cable from the PI card, a serial
switchbox (getting the pinouts right could be lots of fun) and a cable
from the switchbox to the IW. Poke around magazines like 'Computer
Shopper' for serial switchboxes; I have no clue as to what socket
the IW has, and you'll either have an easy time getting a switchbox
and cables or a hellish.



>Oh, gee, I just thought of another question...hehehe
>I was told a while back that, if you have an accelerator in your //e or
>//gs, and you are running a DMA SCSI card (hispeed or RAMFast), you will
>have to disable the DMA because of conflicts between it and the
>accelerator. 

   On //es, I believe that most accelerator cards (dunno about the
Zip or Rocket series) do conflict. On the GS, the Zip GSX 1.02 board
definitely works just fine with my RamFAST; older TWGS cards may also
have problems.



>Gee, another one just popped into my head...In the System 6 Advanced
>Disk Utils, does the "Zero" function act as a low-level format, or is it
>just some sort of fancy erase feature?  I have no dox for System 6 and
>am growing frustrated.  (6.0.1 that is)

   Just a fancy erase. It writes zeros to every block on the disk;
it's much simpler most of the time to just write down a new directory
than give the drive a real workout. You shouldn't really be doing any
low-level formatting anyhow on most drives nowadays. Just parition and
use.


>By the by, I read in one or the other book (either the //gs manual, or
>the Apple II Guide) that you should always use the installer to add
>drivers, CDEVs, and stuff like that.  Yet, I have a friend who NEVER
>uses the installer and swears by just copying the stuff to disk using
>GS/OS or whatever.  I was wondering if there is ANY reason why I SHOULD
>use the Install program?  Something interesting happened to me when I
>used Install to put the HD drivers on the system 6 disk.  Not only did
>it corrupt the disk but it also corrupted the install disk (6.0.1).  I
>found this odd and was wondering why the 6.0.1 installer would corrupt
>both system 6 and itself...Any ideas?

   The installer forces you to reboot after installing certain things,
including fonts, finder extensions and such. This makes sure things
are loaded correctly. (Which translates to fewer calls like "I just
installed this NDA and it isn't in the apple menu yet?" "Did you
reboot?"  "Reboot? What the heck is that?") Sometimes, I use the
installer, others I just copy, since I know what the heck I'm doing :)

   As to the 'corruption' issue, you sure your system's ram is ok and
all? That's very unusual.

Nathan Mates
-- 
* Nathan Mates   http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/              <*>
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