Re: The perfect AppleIIgs

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

In article sands@itis.com writes...

>What would you need to have the perfect IIgs?

    Three things: Speed, Memory and Storage. Those are the major things
missing from an Apple IIgs taken right out-of-the-box, which Apple had
refused and failed to ever address (they'll left it up to 3rd parties
to fill in the missing gaps, see below).

>My wife is using an old IIgs for word processing and other college
>work.  We're deciding whether to keep the IIgs or change to an IBM
>compatable.

    The IIgs is more than capable of that task. There are certain areas
where an IBM is more suitable, but it doesn't sound like your in need
of one for what your wife is planning to use it for. I myself have an
IBM but continue to use my heavily upgraded IIgs (perhaps not as much
as I used to, but I could never replace it. Personal and nostilagic
feelings aside, it still continues to be a very powerful and valuable
machine, which is more than I can say for most other computers its
same age).

>Our current system has RGB monitor, 512k rom01, 40 meg
>harddrive,

    The most urgent upgrade you require is additional memory. As a rule,
no IIgs should have less than 1 MB of memory, what is necessary to run
the bulk of software out there (or basically, just to tinker around and
use the machine). If you want to utilitize the machine for serious use,
then you'll want around 4 MB of memory. This is enough to load in all
sorts of extensions, bells and whistles and give suitable breathing room
for any applications your working with.

    You already have a hardrive, another vital piece towards making the
GS usable. However, if you really want to get the best performance, I
would recommend replacing it with a larger hardrive mechanism (something
of at least 120 MB in size or greater, which will not will only provide
the extra storage you'll need, but almost certainly a speedier drive).
Add to that a DMA SCSI controller card, such as the Apple High Speed or
or RamFAST card.

    Finally, you might consider an accelerator board. These replace the
existing CPU with a faster one, along with a high speed cache buffer to
run frequently used code in. Your GS right now is running at 2.6 MHz,
with an accelerator board you can increase that speed from anywhere from
6 MHz up to 16 MHz (I currently run my own at 15 MHz, and the difference
is like night and day. I seriously question whether I would still have
any serious interest in my GS if I didn't have an accelerator installed).

    Those are the three things I mentioned above if you want to perfect
your IIgs. A hardrive (a fair sized modern one), additional RAM and an
accelerator board. Once you have those your GS runs like a completely
different machine, "growing up" from a glorified Apple IIe compatible
to a true and native Apple IIGS.

>ApplewriterII printer, kolapad, mouse, joystick, and an old modem
>(quicktel 9624c9600 send fax, 4800 rec fax, 2400 bps)

    The ImageWriter II is fine, but you can easily use modern inkjet
and laser printers. All you basically require is a software package
with the correct drivers (i.e. Harmonie or Deliverance). You should
definitely find a better modem, a 14.4K external will work fine if
you have a hardware handshaking modem cable and decent software (so
will 28.8K and 33.6K modems if you have the extra money to invest).
Oh, some printers will require a parallel interface board but those
are dirt cheap really (ditto for the correctly wired modem cable,
both costing around $5-$10).

>What would be the best software

    You could try AppleWorks GS, others may recommend using AppleWorks
Classic (8-bit version) as it's less buggy and faster. Pointless is a
nice add on for using TrueType font technology (and will allow to you
directly use Mac TT fonts). I'll let others answer this question in
greater depth, but I should mention Seven Hills Software and Shareware
Solutions II as a good place to find most of what you'll want.

>and the cost.

    Well, to be perfectly honest, any upgrades you purchase which are
Apple II-specific are going to be expensive. The SCSI board is around
$100, the accelerator $150, memory another $100 (that alone is enough
to purchase a nice little 486 or Pentium starter system). Of course
you can find these items second-hand on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace,
in which case expect about 50%+ off what I mention above.

    Things like an external 14.4K modem and 200 MB hardrive can be
found for as little as $25 a piece (used), maybe even less if you
shop around the various marketplace/forsale groups on the Internet.
The same thing applies to inkjet and laser printers, those can be
found for $50 or less depending on make and brand, but _any_ you
find will beat the quality and speed (and noise level! ;) of that
old 9-pin dotmatrix you currently have.

>She would need:
>       operating system

    You can get the full 'System 6.0.1' System Software package at
no cost, just download it from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys-soft
It comes on six 800K 3.5 diskettes. The operating system is called
GS/OS.

>       terminal software

    I'd recommend ProTERM 3.1 (an 8-bit program). Another worthwhile
program is Spectrum 2.1, which has some nice optional accessories you
can purchase for it, like a mouse driven (text based) WWW browser. In
future this may be expanded to be more with TCP/IP due to be released
by the end of this month.

>       modem

    Once again, find any 14.4K external modem as they're quite cheap
these days (just be sure it is not one of those software modems that
require special Windows or Mac drivers. e.g. USR Sportster "SI")

>       extended memory ( can I use old 1 meg simms?)

    Yep, if you want to go that route, purchase an Alltech Sirius RAM
board. Any 1 MB SIMMs that are at least 150 ns or faster will do, and
that use 8 or 9 chips (not the one or two chips). That might be cheaper
than buying a Sequential Systems RAM GS which comes with all the memory
soldered-in.

>       integrated desktop accesories and word processor

    Look around ftp://apple2.caltech.edu, there are all sorts of
desk accessories and extensions, even freeware word processors
that are NDA's (ShadowWrite/Hermes for example, quite good minus
the fact it doesn't have a spell-checker and multiple rulers :)

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca