Re: Tape Cassete Does Not Work on II/II+!!!

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Bryan Parkoff asked:

>Tape Cassete Does Not Work on II/II+!!!
>
>    Apple II+ is without any slot 0-7 (including slot 0 card) controller
>cards.  It appears AppleSoft BASIC into the screen after it is powered up.
>    I connected a cable from II+'s 'Out' to tape cassette's MIC port and
>II+'s from 'In' to tape cassette's earphone port.
>    I typed below.
>
>10 HOME
>20 PRINT "THIS IS A TEST."
>
>Turn on Apple II+
>Turn on  tape cassette
>Push Record button to record tape cassette
>Type: "SAVE" and press Return
>
>"SAVE" is completed before I stop recording.
>
>
>    I tried to load below, but it does not work.

The procedure you describe sounds right (except, of course, you had the
Apple ][+ already turned on, right?  ;-).

There are a couple of assumptions that should be checked out:

1) Was the tape actually recording (not on a leader or on crumpled
tape that often occurs near the beginning and end) when you pressed
Return for the SAVE?

2) Does the tape have some kind of auto-level control during recording
that could mess up the relatively high level record that the Apple needs?

Both questions could be answered by listening to the playback of the
recorded tape.  There should be the usual tape hiss before the tone
begins, and the level of the tone should not change.

If these conditions are met, you probably have a good recording.

>Turn on Apple II+
>Turn on tape cassette
>Push Play button to play tape cassette
>Type: "LOAD" and press Return
>
>    An error message appears in the screen: "ERR" after the tape is loaded.
>
>    Do you have idea what is wrong with this procedure?  I can be able to
>hear pitch tone from the tape after it was SAVED last time.  Please advise.

This is a hopeful result, since the ERR did not occur until the end of the
tones (if I understand you correctly).  This means that there was a checksum
error, but things are sort of working.  It also suggests that at least one
transfer actually worked.  (An Applesoft program is saved as two "records"--
one with the start address and length, and one with the program.  Each
record is separately checksummed, and if both were bad, you would get
two ERR messages.)

You should wait to press Return for a LOAD until you can hear the
beginning of the prolog tone.

If the recorder has a tone control, you should set it to a neutral or slightly
treble position.  (High frequency "edges" are important for reading.)

The volume control of the playback should be adjusted to a medium-high
level, then adjusted until the tape loads correctly.  Then, you should try
to find the highest and lowest settings for which it works correctly, and
set the volume to the midpoint between these settings.  This will increase
the reliability of the process.

When you have found control setting(s) that work reliably, mark them
so that you can return to them easily.

Make sure that the connection between the earphone jack and the Apple
is actually working (although the ERR you got sounds like it is).

There are other (alignment) considerations that arise if you are trying to
interchange tapes between different tape recorders, but they do not
apply to a single recorder.

As a point of interest, it is much easier to use tape if the recorder has
a tape counter.  This permits accurate positioning so that with a single
"cueing" playback to the speaker, the tape can be set to any of a large
number of recorded programs on a single tape.

-michael

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