Resurrected IIgs

[jmason@dynanet.com]

	I haven't had much of a chance to soft through the message
here yet, so forgive me if some of my questions have already been
covered...


	Over the X-Mas holidays I got nostalgic for my Apple IIgs's
and decided to drag them (I have two) out of mothballs.
Unfortunately, some very important bits were missing...  The manuals
and driver disks for most of the third party hardware.  I know I have
them somewhere, I just can't seem to find it.
	I've tried searching the Internet for some documentation and
disks, so far I haven't been too successful.  Since I keep getting
hits for the CSA2 FAQ when searching for most of this stuff, I figured
this would be the best place to make some inquiries.  Here's how my
system breaks down.


	2 ROM 1 Apple IIgs (2)
	2 Apple RGB monitor
	1 Apple 5.25" Floppy drive
	1 AE 3.5" DD Floppy drive
	2 ZIP Technology Zip GSX Ver. 1.02 (10MHz+64k and 8MHz+16k)
	1 C.V. Tech/Sequential RamFAST Rev. C 256K SCSI card
		(U10=M#F, U15=Rev 1.12, U16=Rev 1.11, U20=M#F,
		U27=M#F)
	1 C.V. Tech/Sequential RamFAST Rev. C 256K SCSI card
		(U10=Rev A, U15=Rev 1.12, U16=Rev 1.11, U20=Rev A,  
		U27=Lattice GAL22V10-25LP (no sticker))
	1 Sequential Systems' RAM-GS Rev 1 4MB memory card
	1 C.V. Tech/Sequential "GS MEMORY" Rev. B memory card 
		(Includes piggy-back slot for existing memory card)
	1 AE Audio Animator stereo card

	1 105MB 'TMS' hard drive (Quantum 3.5" FH mech.)
	1 60MB 'CMS' hard drive (Seagate 5.25" FH mech.)
	2 10MB Jasmine removable MegaDrive (one seems to be broken)
	1 135MB SyQuest EZ135 removable drive
	1 Plextor 6Plex CD-ROM drive

	Just to be thorough, I also have a dead Apple DD 3.5", a
damaged AE HD 3.5", and a 1MB Apple memory card...  Oh, and one of the
IIgs's has what looks to be a home-made stereo?/amplifier? card...  I
got that one used and can't for the life of me remember what the owner
said it was.


	I'm a bit concerned about the RamFAST cards...  For one thing,
I'm pretty sure they could use a ROM upgrade.  Hell, I'd like to track
down a Rev. D RamFAST, but it doesn't look like anybody is selling.  

	Anyway, I keep encountering the following errors, mostly when
attempting to do anything with the EZ135 or 6Plex...  In the RamFAST
Utility Program I get this error while attempting to format an EZ135
cart.

	Command code: $35
	Status code:  $27

	The following error usually on strikes if I attempt to use the
Advanced Disk Utils from System 6.0.1 to partition/initialize a
cartridge.  But, I have also gotten them seemingly at random (though
often in conjunction with the attempted use of the EZ135).

	"Detected trashed memory--software bug or less likely bad RAM.
	Error $0308"

	If I do a warm reboot immediately after the above error, I get
the following error.

	"RAMFAST-SCSI FATAL MEMORY FAULT CODE=0D" or "0E"

	I can't recall if these error appear when using the Jasmine
MegaDrives.  Since I can't find a manual, well, I can't exactly look
it up (I just found the online manual mentioned in the CSA2 FAQ, I
haven't nulled it over to the GS yet to read through it).
	I also can't seem to get my 6Plex to work on the RamFAST...
It (the RamFAST util) wants me to "format the drive".  I think this is
a ROM issue...  I'd really like to use the EZ135 to supplement or
replace some of the older drives (namely the CMS and Jasmine drives) I
have.  If I can get the CD-ROM to work, I was going to null modem over
ShrinkIt archives to my 'PC' and burn them to CD.
	Basically, I'd like to know if - barring being lucky enough o
find a Rev. D - how I might remedy these problems...  I'd also like to
know if there were any updates to the RamFAST software, beyond what's
in the ROM disk (RamFAST.System & RamFAST.DRIVER 8/3/1990), and if so
where I can find it (I'm pretty sure I lost any driver disk that came
with the RamFAST).

	BTW, I do not believe this problem is related to the RAM
expansion cards I have.  In any combination I still get the same
errors, on either IIgs.  Further more I have attempted to disable DMA
and to disable the ZipGSX with no luck.  

	Next up is the "GS MEMORY" card.  The only thing I remember
about this card is how annoying it is if the piggy-backed card happens
to short on the side of the case (I can't remember how many times I've
replaced that thin piece of card board).  I don't recall if this
particular card was a 4 or 8MB max card.  I'd guess it's a 4MB board,
as only the first two banks are filled resulting in 2MB.  But then
again, without the manual, I can't be sure.  Could anybody shed some
light on this card?  Was there a diagnostics disk that came with it?
And where can I get DIPs to fully populate this board?  I've heard
Alletech(sp?) mentioned.

	Lastly, there's the ZipGSX.  I have version 1.3 of the ZipGS
Utilities and the HyperStack documentation.  Have the utilities been
updated beyond 1.3?  How do I configure the SW2 DIP switches 1-7 (or
is it 2-8)?  And was there a good reason for not installing the ZipGS
CDev and Init?




Addendum:

	I forgot to mention a couple other oddities while attempting
to use the EZ135.  Sometimes I can format the EZ135 as one 'large' HFS
volume while other times I can only create 32MB HFS volumes.
Regardless of the partitioning of the cartridge.  I should also
mentioned that I also have a SyQuest EZFlyer drive.  The problems I
experienced with the EZ135 where, more or less, identical on the
EZFlyer.
	Tommorrow I'll try my Iomega zip250...  If it works for 100MB
disks, I'll probably try and snag a used zip100 for the IIgs.  
-- 

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