Re: More Questions from a New IIgs User

[mfumu@alphalink.com.au (Bill Robbins)]

In article
<jonINTERNETrelayCHAT-1001002237440001@nn-157-22-180-219.napanet.net>,
jonINTERNETrelayCHAT@napaVALLEYnet.CLARInet (Jon Bettencourt) wrote:

>Can you use a Mac Plus mouse in the game port? I read somewhere that you
>can plug one into a IIgs or IIc, but I read somewhere else that IIc mouses
>won't work with the IIgs. Also, the first place I read about also said
>that on a IIe you plug it into the mouse card. But the IIe, IIc, and IIgs
>game ports should all be the same, shouldn't they?

Not sure about this, but I believe you are correct that the IIc and IIe
mouse card mice are different than the IIgs mouse.  The IIgs mouse is an
Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) device, and any such mouse for Mac or IIgs should
work OK on the other machine AFAIK.  It may be that the early Macs did not
have the Apple Desktop Bus, I don't know when that was introduced. 
However I am at the moment using a Kensington Trackball which I originally
purchased in the early 90s for use with my IIgs although it was sold for
the Mac, on my PowerBook.  When I move the PB around this is a bit to
heavy to take with me so I use a extra IIgs mouse I happen to have.  (I
also use a Mac intended Apple Extended Keyboard II (ADB) on my IIgs, and
have on occasion swapped it to the PowerBook for heavy data entry
duties.)  If it's ADB, it'll work.

>What kind of monitors can I plug into the RGB Video port? I have the
>following: Apple Performa Display, Apple Multiple Scan 15 Display, and an
>Acer SVGA. I know the port uses analog RGB. Do any of these monitors use
>analog? Or are they all digital? What about the 15Hz 30Hz 50Hz 60Hz 25Hz
>47Hz frequency thing? Do I need to build a special cable?

The IIgs uses analog RGB, most monitors/computers use digital, and there
are a few other differences as well.  The standard monitor is the
AppleColor RGB monitor.  There are (were?) a few third party monitors
which would work as well but others will have to tell you what they are.

>How can I hook up a simple network between the IIgs and a Mac Plus so that
>the IIgs can use the hard drive on the Mac Plus? Do I need a ProDOS boot
>disk or something to do that (I don't have one)? Do I need to format
>something on the hard drive as ProDOS? Do I need to completely reinstall
>the MacOS on the Mac Plus and use System 7.5 with PC Exchange?

One possibility is AppleTalk, which I recently found to be much simpler to
set up than I ever dreamed it could be.  For hardware you need two
AppleTalk connectors - I recently ran across a whole bin of them at a
computer swap meet - and a piece of standard telephone wire long enough to
run between the two computers.  These plug into a serial port of each
machine.  I won't go through all the steps for setup here perhaps someone
can direct you to an online resource for that, but once you've got it
together, it just works.  You will need to boot the IIgs independently
(not from the Mac hard disk) and I don't know if the setup can be done
from ProDOS since I use the AppleShare DA which is an NDA, inaccessible
from ProDOS.  No, you do not need to reformat the Mac hard disk or any
part thereof to ProDOS.  I use mine mainly to backup my IIgs hard disk to
a Zip drive plugged into my PB.  Copying files is actually faster this way
than plugging the Zip directly into the IIgs, perhaps because the Mac
driver is much better than the super buggy GS/OS HFS FST.  For kicks I've
also started up and run a few programs off the Zip disk in this
configuration, including 8 bit classic AppleWorks.

>I tried connecting my IIgs and my other Mac (a Quadra 700) together with
>AppleTalk. I got the Quadra to file share, but the IIgs didn't do anything
>(I did have Slot 1, Slot 7, and StartUp set to AppleTalk on the IIgs). Did
>I need to format something on _that_ hard drive as ProDOS? I did it with
>PhoneNet connectors. Maybe I should use a regular printer cable
>instead....

You should be able to access the Mac from the IIgs, but it won't work the
other way around.  (I said I wouldn't but here it is in brief.)  On the
Mac AppleTalk has to be turned on and pointed the serial port into which
you've plugged the AppleTalk connector.  On the IIgs it's a bit different
depending on whether you've got a ROM 01 or a ROM 03.  For the latter plug
the other connector into either serial port and set that port to AppleTalk
in the Control Panel.  Then open the AppleShare DA and follow through the
sign up procedure.  (This is all off the top of my head and I have a
nagging feeling that I've left something out on the Mac side.)  If you've
got a ROM 01, you've got to tie up both a serial port and slot 7, but I've
never done it so I'll leave that to someone else to explain.

Hope this is enough to get you started.
-- 
Bill Robbins, mfumu@alphalink.com.au