Re: My IIGS Wish List... PLEASE HELP!

[nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <19971129191501.OAA25553@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
Sanborn5 <sanborn5@aol.com> wrote:

   [Tip: press return every 70 or so columns, not 80+. Much easier
to read and quote]

>with the argument that you can't teach an old dog (namely, the IIGS)
>new tricks (web surfing).

   You can get the *content* off the web just fine these days with a
GS.  However, if you're looking for 'Netscrape Internet Exploder GS
version 42.3.12', with 24-bit color displays and all the latest fluff,
better start coding, as it's not out, and probably won't be until a
programmer does what can be done. 

>1.) I used to have an old Apple II, 5 meg external hard drive
>attached to the IIGS.

   Sounds like that might be an Apple ProFile drive. If so, that's a
very proprietary interface card (bidirectional parallel), and not
scsi. [Might be able to sell that card for something; around Apple II
users, the drives seem to be more prevalent than the cards for some
reason]

   Real SCSI cards are being sold by Sequential Systems
(http://www.sequential.com). Alltech Electronics (www.allelec.com) has
internal 'Focus' drives which are cheaper, but less expandable in the
long run.

>2.) I'm looking for a 4 meg (at least) memory expansion card for the GS. Any
>suggestions on mail-order companies that would have them, or would I be better
>off posting my request on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace?

   See those 2 companies above.

>3.) Can anyone suggest a program that will allow me to
>format/write/read Prodos disks on my Wintel machine? It would make
>downloading and transferring files to the GS much easier.

   Not gonna happen unless you have rare addon hardware on one or both
ends. The disk formats are different at the hardware level, and that's
too much of a barrier for software to overcome.

>4.) Finally, I could use a suite of internet utilities (especially a
>graphical web browser) for the GS. I've seen two that looked
>promising (the Spectrum Internet Suite/Web Browser... though I don't
>believe it was a GRAPHICAL web browser,

   It's a guified Lynx; inline pictures are not displayed. And that's
more than sufficient for most people who want information and content.
[That was the original aim of the web until some idiots started dumbing
it down in an attempt to 'sell' it to the public. Would be far better
if they *educated* people instead of assuming they're dumb as a post.]

   Derek Taubert's browser for GS/TCP isn't any much more featureful
in terms of graphics, but isn't out.

Nathan Mates

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