Re: Goodbye GS/OS (was:Aliases in GS/OS)

[Jalapeno <jalapeno1@mac.com>]

In article <1213181.YYNYKHMJ@news.telusplanet.net>,
 Simon Williams <DON'Temail@luddite.ca> wrote:

> On Fri, 13 Dec 2002 21:51:47 GMT Andy McFadden <fadden@fadden.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Jalapeno <jalapeno1@mac.com> wrote:
> > > An 800k floppy is really a tight squeeze for System 6.0.1. Back in the 
> > > day it was suggested that a floppy only system is better off with System 
> > > 5.0.4 because a hard drive equipped system benefits best from 6.0.1
> > > etc..
> 
> Thanks for all the help... I've got it running pretty lean - I see why
> running off floppies in not recommended, it really slows things down.
> 

If you have enough memory to create a ram disk, that can speed things 
up, especially if you have enough memory to create a ram disk large 
enough to install the operating system and the program files on the 
thing. For GS/OS that would mean a 4MB card (most likely).

> After many hours of messing around I had the brainstorm of ditching GS/
> OS altogether (since I'm really only using 8-bit progs). Now I've got
> it booting Apple 2 DeskTop of a 5.25" and put all my ProDOS apps on one
> 3.5" floppy (S-C Assembler, Program Writer, Copy II Plus 9.1, Mouse
> Paint, Multiscribe, Sound Editor, Basic System), which leaves one 3.5"
> and one 5.25" free for data disks or other programs.
> Probably not how the GS was meant to be used, but as a "peripheral" for 
> my 8-bit machines it's pretty slick.
> 

Believe it or not, most GS's were purchased by schools who used them as 
fast IIe's. It is my belief that the GS was an attempt by Apple to 
migrate schools from the II to the Mac which would explain why it is 
II-like, yet Mac-like at the same time.

> Now here are a few further questions:
> 
> The Apple-Ctrl-Esc control panel doesn't seem to remember it's settings,
> which I presume is because the battery is shot... I'm willing to bet 
> that Wal-Mart doesn't stock these batteries, so is there any modern 
> equivalent that can be shoe-horned into place?
> 

This is addressed in the FAQ (Hardware Hacking, Part 13, section 007, 
iirc).


> Also, I noticed that A2 DeskTop won't run under ProDOS 2.x -- what are
> the big differences from 1.x ?
> 
> And furthermore... (not sure if this is even a valid question) does the
> GS run P8 applications directly or is there some kind of emulator in
> ROM ???
> 

The MEGA II on the motherboard is a nearly complete IIe in a chip. I'm 
sure David E. could give a good explanation (and likely has, so just do 
a google search for all his articles, print them out, sort them, take 
them to a copy shop and have them bound into a reference manual ;o)

> Additionally, I'm using the composite colour monitor that looks like it
> belongs on the GS, but doesn't give a very satisfactory image... would
> a real GS (RGB?) monitor be a worthwhile investment? Would it make a 
> difference to P8 or just GS/OS ???
> 

The images are much sharper on an RGB monitor and color text a lot 
crisper. I used a green screen Monitor /// for a while which is just 
ducky for programming, unless you need color.