Re: Help with original Woz special edition GS

[Kim Howe <khowe@omninet.net.au>]

In article <d8ki5uo118ftbqerq8jmh5730e3gajqh6u@4ax.com>, Dog
<dogma420@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hello fellow Apple 2 people!!
> 
> I need a little help.  I have an original Woz edition with a 1mb card
> installed...no hard drive, original motherboard....original rom....
> 
> what are my options?  This system was over $3k when I bought it, and
> I'd like to keep it for all of the great games it had to offer.
> 
> I need some information on updating the rom/scsi card with hd
> info/additional ram (how much is right?)...I am very experienced at
> wintel machines, and I am a technician by trade on these systems.
> 
> Was forced in business to switch to the wintel machine long ago, but
> when I was younger, the Apple2 was king...
> 

Know what you mean. The Apple II is still fun.

> Configuration:
> 
> Song TV/RGB monitor combo
> 5.25 floppy
> 3.5 floppy
> Original GS with 1 mb expansion card (total memory is 1.25mb)
> Imagewriter 2
> 
> I originally had gotten on the 'list' for GS upgrades of the rom, but
> never did get a call back, and at the time the system's configuration
> had suited me just fine...
> 

The upgrades can be a little difficult to come by now. I have one set
left, which I don't really want to part with. I'm pretty sure some of
the other guys on Syndicomm might have some.

> ...I am really interested in integrating it into my home win2k domain,
> using TCP/IP...if I did get more memory, upgraded rom, and a scsi hdd
> setup, I would like to be able to use with appleworks, play games, and
> also surf the web with it (which I have no clue on).
> 

My current GS setup has a Rom 3 GS, 4 meg expansion card, Zip 8/64,
Supersonic Sterio card, an Apple HS SCSI card and a LANceGS ethernet
card in it. It has a 1 gig hard drive and a CD Rom. I print out to a HP
DeskJet printer at up to 600x300 dpi in Black, or color. I use the GS
for programming, playing games and doing various stuff on the net. I
also do the odd bit of word processing and speadsheets on it too. Don't
get me wrong, I'm not stuck somewhere in a time warp. I use it for
these things because it does and good job and I enjoy it. I also have a
Mac G4. 

OK so what do you need to do to get your system up and running? First
you need a rom upgrade, or another motherboard. These days the
motherboards are often easier to find! I highly recommend joining
Syndicomm. (Go to www.syndicomm.com, or www.a2central.com to check it
out.) You'll find other people doing similar things with Apple IIs, a
lot of whom don't read this newsgroup. I'm chatting with about 10
others as I type this :) It's probably the best place to find some of
the harder to get items too. 
Once you've got your Rom sorted, you'll need ram and hard drive. Go to
http://www.allelec.com/indexa2.html
You can order a Sirius ram card and a Focus hard drive from there. The
hard drive is an ide notebook drive on a card, which is a very neat
solution. There are no currently available SCSI cards, so you have to
go hunting the second hand market to find one, and they can be pretty
pricey. You really only need SCSI if you want to add a CD Rom as well.
A CD Rom is nice to have nowdays, since there are a number of GS CDs
available, but not really essential.The other item you might want is
the LANceGS ethernet card. You can check it out at
http://lancegs.a2central.com/
You'll need some software too. Spectrum is the current king of the hill
in telecommunications, which is a commercial product available from 
 http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko
You can also try out my TelnetNDA and the current preview of my web
browser called Arachnid. You can find out about them (and a couple of
games I've written) at
http://www.syndicomm.com/~kimhowe


> What joystick would be recommended for this system?
> 

I really like the original Apple joystick, which shouldn't be too hard
to find. Others prefer different joysticks.

> Thanks so much, and everyone have a good week!!!
> 

You've welcome. I hope you do managed to get your GS upgraded. It can
really be a lot of fun.

Kim Howe
khowe@omninet.net.au