Re: Info on IIgs

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article ldickey@aztec.asu.edu (L. J. DICKEY) writes...

>I have recently acquired an Apple IIgs and was wondering
>if anyone out there can answer a few questions about it.
>If anything, at least direct me to a FAQ,

    Try <http://www.apple2.org> for archives of a this group's
official FAQ. It is no longer currently being maintained, but
very well organized, has few errors and is quite informative.
I have been writing an Apple IIgs FAQ on the side (which I'm
guilty of negelecting to finish) and should have it available
online one of these days.

>Usergroup, or web site that has any general information I seek.

    comp.sys.apple2 is a good place for help and answers, as
is Delphi if you get a free web based account or join (it is
a little isolated, but has none of the noise found here).

>As stated above, I have come across a IIgs (Woz Special
>Edition in a plantinum(?) case, and an Apple RGB monitor.
>All seem to be in good condition and I am able to use
>my existing hardware (Imagewriter II, Cardinal 9600
>modem, two Apple 3.5" and one 5.25" drives).

    That should be enough to get you started, assuming
you have at least 1.25 MB RAM (I would recommend more RAM
if you add a hardrive or put the machine to serious use).
A hardrive, lots of memory and an accelerator make quite
a difference in how the machine performs.

>How much memory does my particular system come with and

    Enter the text based Control Panel (press and hold
down Apple-Control-Esc), select the "RAM Disk" option
and examine the amount stated for 'Largest Selectable'.
Add 256K to that amount and that is how much memory is
installed in the system.

    The base amount factory installed on the motherboard
is 256K RAM, though late IIgs revision motherboards have
1152K (1.125 megabytes). Anything beyond that is added
through plug in memory boards via the 44-pin card slot.

>how much can I expand it?

    You can expand up to 8 MB RAM, however, how much you
add depends on the capabilities of any particular card.
The Apple board held 1 MB, though third party 4 MB and
8 MB cards have been quite popular in recent years. You
add memory directly to the card (usually DRAMs or SIMMs)
and then plug that into the memory expansion slot.

>Also, how can I tell which ROM I have?

    Turn it on and take note what is displayed on the
text screen which displays the words "Apple IIgs". If
you have a 'ROM 01' or 'ROM 3' it will report that on
the bottom half of the screen with a copyright notice.
If you see _nothing_ displayed below the machine ID,
then you have the original ROM revision (ROM 00).

    It is vital that you upgrade if you have the old
ROM, as you won't be able to run the current operating
system _or_ run native IIgs software released over the
past decade. You'll have to purchase the chip from
Alltech Electronics as the free upgrade offer from
Apple expired a few years back.

>It has been a year since I was able to get to this NG on
>a regular basis.  Last I heard, someone was concocting a
>VGA card for it.  Any progress on that?

    That would be the Second Sight card from Sequential
Systems (http://www.sequential.com). It was officially
released sometime in late 1995 but it has suffered from
high pricing, severe hardware limitations, lack of any
support from its company (the firmware was never fixed)
and most detrimental of all, a lack of software support.

    Its most useful function is allowing you to hook up
an SVGA frequency display, which are larger and sharper
(and more readily available) than the IIgs standard RGB
display. This comes at a cost though, since it cannot
properly shadow all Apple II graphic modes. Other from
that, it turned out to be a flop if you ask me (I know
I'm going to get flammed for calling it that, so let
me just say it was at *minimum* a big disappointment).

>I know I can hook up SCSI drives if I have a good
>interface card.  Is there a posibility of hooking
>up IDE drives?

    Yep. SHH Systems in Germany makes one or two IDE
(possibly E-IDE now) controllers that can operate a
5.25", 3.5" or even mount a 2.5" IDE drive on a card,
and supports fast DMA. Quite powerful, but costly.

    There is also Alltech Electronic's Focus HardCard
which mounts a 2.5" IDE drive, but I believe you must
purchase it with a drive and it doesn't support DMA.

>I probably have about at least a dozen questions, but
>I'm sure I'll have them answered in due time.  I just
>want enough information to get me started.

    Feel free to ask away... :)


Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca