Re: II GS. What came with the unit?

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

.D.E. <catena-ind@Forget.The.Spam.Home.com> wrote:

> Would the old square original Apple II drives work with the IIGS?

Yes.  There are two ways to connect them:

1. You can use an original Disk ][ controller card in slots 4-7,
provided you set the slot to "Your Card" in the control panel.  If you
use the card in slots 1-3, it won't work in 8-bit software unless you
set the system speed to "Normal".  (This is handled automatically on the
fly if the card is in slots 4-7.)

2. You can use an adaptor to allow the drive to be connected to the
built-in disk port (provided you don't exceed the limit of two 5.25"
drives connected to this port).

Apart from the issue of "wasting" a slot, the other disadvantage of
using a Disk ][ Controller Card is that its firmware doesn't support the
"continue booting if no disk is found" feature.  With 5.25" drives
connected to the built-in disk port, the system will attempt to boot
from lower slots if no disk is found in the 5.25" drive (assuming you
have set the startup slot to Scan, 7 or 6), after a delay of a couple of
seconds.

> The IIGS also could use a 3.5" floppy as well couldn't it?

Yes.  It supports both the UniDisk 3.5 and the Apple 3.5 Drive (which
was the "native" drive sold with a complete IIgs system).

You can also use a Macintosh 400K or 800K drive with a third-party
controller card, and Apple sold a card which allows a SuperDrive (high
density) to be connected and used to its full capabilities.

> Is the controller built into the system?

Yes.  The built-in disk port supports both 3.5" and 5.25" drives.  If
you are mixing drive types, you must connect Apple 3.5 Drives first,
then UniDisk 3.5 drives, then 5.25" drives last.  There is a limit of
two Apple 3.5 drives, two 5.25" drives, and a theoretical limit of 127
UniDisk 3.5 drives (the power supply and signal limits would restrict
you to about four of them).

> Is there a printer controller as well?

There are two serial ports (printer port and modem port), using
Mac-compatible Mini-Din-8 connectors, with support for LocalTalk
(AppleTalk) and asynchronous serial.

You can install a parallel card if you need to connect a parallel
printer.  It would typically go in slot 1, with the slot set to "Your
Card" in the control panel, disabling the built-in printer port (serial)
in the process.

> Is there an emmulator anywhere that I can download to familiarise myself with
> the OS?

There is a commercial emulator, Bernie to the Rescue, which runs on the
Mac.  I imagine there are other emulators as well, but I've never gone
looking for them.  The comp.emulators.apple2 newsgroup may be able to
point you in the right direction.

An emulator won't help with hardware familiarisation, of course.

I'd also suggest reading the FAQs for comp.sys.apple2, which would
answer many of your questions.