Re: Is there a driver that will........

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

In article shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford) writes...

>tws (adoyson@nccn.net) wrote:
>: Is there a driver or other type of program that will allow me to use the
>: Keyboard as a mouse?
>
>Well if you're talking a IIgs, sticky keys and keyboard mouse are built
>into the hardware on the ROM 3. If you have a ROM 01, there's the easy access
>extension but it doesn't work so hot. Given today's prices, there's no reason
>not to upgrade to ROM 3. They have many improvements and new features missing
>on ROM 01s.

    I agree, if your serious about the Apple IIgs, the ROM 3 offers
many minor enhancements which make the machine more functional and
pleasant to use. A couple of good examples:

- You get a machine that is about 5-10% faster for GUI, floppy disk
loading and RAM Disk operations (due to updated smartport firmware
and System 5 tools being in ROM).

- A machine that is more flexible when working with AppleTalk and
slots (you don't have to give up an extra slot and you can stick a
card in slot 4 and still use the mouse in GS/OS).

- A nicer text Control Panel that lets you resize RAM Disk with a
warm-boot and a cleaner way to size it too (no min/max size junk).
Also a 'Mouse' menu and other existing things cleaned up and made
better.

- A just over 1 megabyte of RAM built-in to start off with, and a
bonus since you can have 5 MB of DMA compatible memory in total.

- The MB0 signal provided in slots 1 through 6, so you can stick
in a Video Overlay Card _and_ Second Sight in together, and not 
worry about having to reserve slot 3.

- Hardware shadowing of text page 2 with Alternative Display Mode
(no slowing down your system to a crawl when you see a screen full
of 2's running 8-bit software).

- A newer ADB keyboard microcontroller with (as Randy mentions above)
built-in sticky keys, keyboard mouse and compatibility with the LEDs
on extended keyboards (Caps-lock; maybe Num and Scroll lock too).

- A removable Lithum battery (in a snap case. Just pop the old one
out when your clock and Control Panel settings stop working).

- Less power consumption and electrical noise from the motherboard,
meaning _gone_ is that annoying buzzing/hissing from the Ensoniq
(plus cleaner sound in/out) and a good one--the chance you can use
high speed accelerators, like the 15 MHz one running in my ROM 3
right now (ROM 01's tend to be okay up until about 9-10 MHz).

- A set of pins (location 'S1') on the motherboard to make the text
Control Panel disappear, making your GS settings tamper proof where
young children are around (it'd make a nice security feature too
come to think of it. You'd set the startup device to ROM Disk, lock
it in and no one can tamper with your machine while your not there.
Kind of like the "Keyboard lock" on PC's).

    There are even a couple of more goodies, like the Step/Trace
commands in Monitor or the improved disassembler. Even if your not
a programmer, they're handy for peeking at SHR graphics still in
memory (from Monitor hit 'S' and then the return key).

    Things like sticky keys and mouse keyboard come in handy too,
like if you eating or drinking with one hand, you can still reset
the computer using the other. The mouse keyboard is nice if you
want to have the button locked down at times (like when scrolling
through a long list of fonts, searching for the right one).

    The down side are a couple of really old games and demos won't
run, but that is only a small handful and most of the worthwhile
ones have been patched. Beatbox is the only useful program I can 
think of that was never patched (I just use Shellplay, or rather
Deskplay instead these days. Well, when I listen to MODs, which
isn't that often ;)

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca