Re: Was just handed a Apple//gs for free...now what?

[yjgent@aol.com (Yjgent)]

Ralph said:

Hello,

I was just given a Apple//gs for free, new to the Apple world, hope I
get get some clues from the folks here, power wise it looks fine, came
with a 3.5" drive, keyboard and mouse (of course), color monitor,
looking inside, I see a memory card (is there any memory on the
motherboard), not sure what kind of memory is
there, if any...have to look again. When I boot the system, I get a
message saying, "Check Startup Device!".
I do have a disk utilites floppy from a Machintosh //se, its on a HD
disk, when I put that in a bootup, its
ejected out. Which leads to to believe that the disk drive is a 2D.

Questions I have:

    1) Is this error, saying its looking for the bootup disk or is there
a problem in the disk drive connected?

    2) Is the disk drive a 2D or HD...and how can I tell.

    3) Where can I get a bootup disk

    4) Is there any utilites out there that will allow me to download
files with my PC, or a SunSparc Station,
         and transfer them into a Apple format? (until I can get the
Apple//gs online and hooked to the internet)

    5) Can I network my Apple//gs, to my PC and SunSparcLX...what do I
need?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Ralph E Wagner
lawrew@inreach.com
==========================================
It would seem that there is no hard disk installed so all your software has to
come in through the 3.5".  You need to get a hold of some IIGS specific
software and a system disk.  The first place to check would be to find your
local Apple User Group.  You can call Apple and get a referal to a group, just
don't ask them any IIGS questions - most of the new people at Apple probably
never saw one or even heard of it.  The number at Apple for user group referals
is 1-800-538-9696.
Most of the programs for the GS are self booting, containing the system right
on the disk with the program.  All you have to do is put the disk in  the drive
and turn the computer on or warm boot with the Apple-control-reset combination.
 If you get a system you can click on the Apple icon in the upper left hand
corner and see how much available memory is in the system.  Most of the early
ones were shipped with 1 Meg installed.  You can do a lot of updating, adding
more memory, sound cards, modem, hard drive etc.
Good luck with it.
 
John Gentile M(ASCP)                   President - Rhode Island Apple Group
yjgent@aol.com
Microbiologists do it with culture.