Anti-freeze for Apple IIgs

[casa@unm.edu (Jim Pittman)]

I wonder if someone can improve on my list of tactics to minimize
crashing/freezing in an Apple IIgs. I am getting really tired of
continual crashes/freezups in a variety of programs. I have been
avidly reading comp.sys.apple2 for many years to glean tips on
making my Apple II Plus / Apple IIgs machines run better, but I
haven't been able to eradicate crashes/freezes. What am I missing?

Here are programs that crash/freeze a lot for me:

ShadowWrite (actually Hermes 1.3.4) often freezes the Nth time I
use it after restarting the computer, where N is a number usually
higher than four or five but seldom as high as ten or twelve.

GraphicWriter III version 2 often freezes when I do something in
the middle of a fairly complex document with several pages and
multiple columns per page. Spell checking is especially hazardous.
On two or three occasions the document file became poisoned and
could no longer be loaded into GWIII without freezing up; on other
occasions GWIII itself would not start up without freezing.

Word Works Pro 2.1.2 can be counted on to freeze without warning
about thirty percent of the time somewhere in the middle of doing
complex things like a multiple find/replace.

Quickie v.2 crashes easily; versions 3.1 and 3.2 only occasionally.

On the other hand, I use a lot, and almost never have crashes/freezes
with: Spectrum 2.1, Platinum Paint 2, AppleWorks 5.1, Gno/ME 2.0.4, 
Find File 1.2, MUG!, Contacts.GS, AppleWorks GS 1.1, The Print Shop
GS, TransProg III, Quick Click Calc....

The Quickie is in a ROM 01; all the other programs seem to crash
or freeze up the same way whether they are running on a ROM 01 or
a ROM 3 machine. The machines have 4-meg or 7-meg or 8-meg memory
cards. The machines have Zip accelerators running at 8 or 9 mHz
and the SCSI cards are RamFAST with 1 meg cache.

Tactics I have used to attempt to suppress crashes/freezes:

1) Check memory with various utilities. I have never so far
   had a believable report of bad memory.

2) Re-install GS/OS 6.0.1. Has rarely made much difference.

3) Re-install the application program. This worked great for
   Graphic Writer III once, but it only cured a particularly
   violent mode of crashing. It hasn't done a thing for minor
   everyday modes of crashing.

4) Re-install helper programs such as Pointless; re-install
   corrupted TrueType fonts. This worked once for a particular
   set of trashed fonts; don't know what trashed them but think
   it was an intermittent SCSI connector failure. This does not
   seem to help the run-of-the-mill crash/freezes.

5) Turn off, remove cards, tighten up all socketed ICs, re-seat
   cards, turn on. This has been a sure cure for problems on
   my Apple II Plus but rarely does any good on the IIgs's.

6) Remove inits, DA's and such. I have got my list of add-ons
   down by abandoning AlarmClock, CompareFiles, Catalog, File
   Peeker and MoreInfo from the Six-Pack package; I no longer
   load up DesktopDoctor, EllieFont, Calendar, NiftyCalc,
   Calculator, KeyFind, MemoryMonitor, NoDOS, EGOed, TypeSet
   or GSCIIPLUS. I do insist on loading UltraBlank because I
   have never been led to believe it contributes to crashes;
   that is, when I don't load it I still get crashes/freezes.

7) Use ShiftyList 2 to load only particular inits or load them
   in a different order. So far I have found no combination
   that improves or makes worse crashes/freezes.

8) Install the various SoftDisk patches. I don't know if they
   make any difference.

9) Install Message Checker 1.02. I very rarely see this kick
   in before a crash; when it does, it tells me nothing I can
   use to prevent future crashes.

10) Install GUPP 1.0.5f1. I can't tell whether this does any good.

11) Install IR so I can get to the inits listed in #6 above if
    and when I need them. (By the way, IR is a great utility and
    I'd hate to do without it.)

12) Check my SCSI connectors for tightness. (But I have much the
    same pattern of crashes/freezups in ROM 01 computers which
    run from a non-SCSI Focus drive with no cables/connectors.)

13) If I intend to use Hermes 1.3.4 for several files at one
    session, instead of doing the convenient thing and double-
    clicking each file to start up Hermes, I call Hermes up from
    the Apple menu and then "Open" the first file; when done
    editing I "Save" the file; then I "Close" that file and
    "Open" the next one. This seems to reduce the probability of
    crashing/freezing with Hermes as compared to double-clicking
    on each file in succession.

14) Temporarily hook up a Buggie IBM power supply; get crashes/
    freezes just the same.

15) Run everything through an APC uninterruptable power supply;
    get crashes/freezes just the same.

16) Use Deliverance to overhaul the main HD partition. This actually
    fixed a serious problem once, but at other times it reports the
    partition has no errors.

17) Do Special / Shut Down / Restart fairly often, or go to Trans-
    Prog III and select Quit Application and Cold Restart. This has
    come to be my most-used tactic. Why should I have to do this?

I am unhappy with crashes/freezes with Hermes because it is such a
useful and easy-to-use editor/viewer. I also regret the unreliability
of Word Works Pro because it easily does editing chores that are
either impossible or very difficult with other editors (for example,
finding/replacing CTRL-M and CTRL-I characters).

I am especially unhappy about crashes/freezes with GraphicWriter III.
Along with Spectrum, this is the most "serious" application I have
on my IIgs machines and it causes me the most grief when it fails.

Despite many patches and bug fixes from SoftDisk and Nathan Mates'
GUPP, I am sure there remain significant bugs in GS/OS 6.0.1 that
will never be tracked down that contribute to my crashing/freezing
problems, but it is amazing that several of my applications seem to
be completely reliable. I wish I could make all of them so.

Thanks for any enlightenment.

- Jim Pittman - AppleQuerque Computer Club - casa at unm dot edu