Re: Varied IIgs Q's

[pubpc1@library.ucla.edu]

LOSETHECAPITALWORDSedhel@bigfoot.com (Edhel Iaur, Esq.) wrote:
>The 4-pin sound connector near the front inside the IIgs: can I just
>grab some of these pins, and connect 'em to a stereo audio out?
>Microphone/Audio in?

Sure, but you need to build your own mutiplex-decoder for stereo.
The schematics are on ground (and the instructions were posted by
someone a few months ago).  For microphone in, that's much easier.
One of the pins is for input and, when connected to a microphone
via a preamp with the ground pin, will enable you to access the
Ensoniq's ADC input.


>When I format a 3.5" disk for ProDOS in System 6.0.1, one of the
>options is 2:1 or 4:1.  What's this do?  Interleave?  If so, why would
>anyone mess with it?

Unless you have a UniDisk 3.5, stick with 2:1 interleave.  It is
much faster.  4:1 is for UniDisks because they are too slow to keep
up at 2:1.  I believe that in the case of a floptical drive using
SCSI controller, a 1:1 interleave option shows up (because SCSI is
_much_ faster), but I could be mistaken.


>Would it be harmful to the IIgs's sound circuitry if I plug an
>unamplified speaker (according to its back, it's 8 ohm, 3W max) into
>the earphone jack of the IIgs?

Not at all.  That's the cleanest sound that comes from the GS and
you will hear the Ensoniq as it was meant to be heard (minus stereo).
In fact, the phone jack is much less noisy than the sound that comes
from any stereo card because it picks up less noise from the system.
Just make sure that's stereo speaker_s_ with a _stereo_ plug.  Mono
ones short out the jack.

However, unamplified speakers don't do the GS justice.  Try amplified
speakers with bass boost or a good audio system for best results.
A stereo card like the SonicBlaster gains you _nothing_ except stereo
and sound input.  A good pair of amplified speakers connected to the
phone jack is all you need to hear the Ensoniq sing.


>Is there an NDA that lets me view the files that Teach does?  Where is
>it?

There are many.  From memory, Hermes or Shadowrite can be found on
ground or calltech.


>My IIgs came with an AE GS-RAM+.  My ads in old _A+_ magazines say it
>was supposed to come with software.  Is there a way for me to get it
>now?

You should not need any software to use it.  It probably came with a
memory verification program, like practically all other memory cards.
Just use the one that came with AppleWorks GS v1.1 (available from
Alltech Electronics http://www.allelec.com/ for $15).


>What is ProDOS 16?  Is it running beneath GS/OS or something?  Is it
>backwards compatible with ProDOS 8 programs?

ProDOS 16 was an older GS operating system that was built around an
8-bit ProDOS 8 core.  GS/OS is a much more recent and far more
capable operating system that is 16-bit pure.  It does not use any
of the old ProDOS 8-bit core.  GS/OS can run most of the older ProDOS
16 based programs and it can also run ProDOS 8 programs by launching
ProDOS 8.

The best way to think about it is that ProDOS 16's situation was like
that of Windows 3.1.  Like Windows 3.1, which had DOS baggage, ProDOS
16 had 8-bit baggage that crippled performance.  GS/OS is more like,
for example, OS/2.  OS/2 does not carry any DOS baggage.  To run DOS
programs, OS/2 launches a DOS session with a copy of real DOS.
Similarly, to run 8-bit programs (like AppleWorks Classic), GS/OS
launches a copy of ProDOS 8.

Since GS/OS is so much more capable, you should not use ProDOS 16.


>My Phasor sound card seems to work fine in the IIgs, but it now has
>lotsa interference (the kind I described before--the interference
>changes sound as the IIgs thinks about different kinds of tasks).
>Would moving it to some other slot reduce the noise?  It'll work in
>basically any slot, and I don't mind if I have to go to the control
>panel and disable the mouse, serial ports, 3.5" drives, or move my
>hard drive controller to another slot.  Since the IIgs gets quite
>toasty after a while* (the Phasor itself is no fridge, either), I'm
>rather wary of covering my Phasor with aluminum foil, etc. to ditch
>the static.

Pull the Phasor.  That sound card's quality is light years behind
the Ensoniq chip that's built into the GS.  The GS has a
32-oscillator wavetable synthesis Ensoniq sound chip.  Comparing
a Phasor to it is like comparing an Commodore 64 to an Amiga.
Actually, the sound difference between a Phasor and a GS is probably
greater than between a C64 and an Amiga, the GS being that much
better.  If you don't believe me, go to ground (I forgot the exact
folder) and get a copy of the Mockingboard emulator for the GS.
Play the same Mockingboard tunes with the Phasor, and then with
the Ensoniq through the GS phone jack.  See what I mean?


>I've noticed that the CMS SCSI card is much less expensive than
>Apple's and Sequential's.  Why?  Will it work with all the same
>flopticals, CD-ROMs, etc?

No, only Apple's and Sequnetial's will work with flopticals and
CD-ROMs.  The CMS card is hard-wired to work only with hard disk
drives, and only with the ProDOS filesystem (to 32MB per volume)
as well.  A little more spent now on an Apple High Speed SCSI card
or a RamFAST will save much headache latter on when you realize
you have to ditch the CMS card because of its limitations.  :)


>What the heck is up with the 640 mode?  Is it normal, real, 640 x 200?
>How many colors are there really?  I thought there were only 4 per
>line, but I've seen 15 colors per line in the 640 mode.  Is this some
>really funky deal like standard & double high-res?  I zoom in on a
>blue area in the 640 mode, and I see a magenta and white dither.

640 mode is 4-colors per scan line, but the 4 colors are dithered
to make 16 simulated colors (4x4=16).

That's not the coolest trick.  You should see a 3200 color mode
picture.  The GS puts a different 16 color palette on each of the
200 scan lines for a pretty respectable image (typically 100-256
colors) that's VGA like (sometimes more than others), depending on
the graphic.


>How can I associate various filetypes to various programs, so I can
>double-click th edocs in Finder, and have the right program open?

With an Icon editor.  Look for one on ground or caltech.


>This last question is mostly just for fun, but it could become very
>important in September, should my college half of my dorm room prove
>to be smaller than my computer lab/bedroom at home:
>
>How many disk drives can you hook up to a IIgs, and where do they get
>mapped to (slot/drive)?

Four on the smartport and seven for each SCSI card, limited practically
by the power supply capacity.  Under GS/OS, all the volumes (floppy,
hard drive _partitions_, and RAM disk volumes) must add up to 64 or
less.  GS/OS does not need to map to slots (it accesses by pathnames).
ProDOS 8 will map to whatever slot its convenient, so you will have
to check with something like Slotscan where exactly your drives and
partitions got mapped.


>*My IIgs shopping list DOES include a Bugg-Power supply and a fan, but
> my bucks are all blown on internet, Platinum Paint :D , a high-speed
> cable, and my over-priced comic book subscription.  You know, the
> necessities. ;D

Try "going GS" for a change.  Don't stick with old 8-bit Apple II
stuff.  That's ok, but the GS is so much more exciting.  Begin by
downloading GS-ShrinkIt! from ground.  Then grab some games, demos,
music programs, 3200 color graphics and viewers, and other programs.
Most importantly, play them through an amplified external speaker
system!  Enjoy GSing (you'll probably ignore Asimov after a week of
using GS software....well, except maybe to check out WordPerfect GS
from there).

As for commercial GS products, the answer to this question follows.

Short answer:
Alltech Electronics (http://www.allelec.com/)
Sequential Systems (http://www.sequential.com/)
Seven Hills (http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/iigs/)

Long Answer:
Friend, you are in for a treat.  GS software has come a long way
since the time when the "desktop" was an optional program.  The
GS's native OS is GS/OS, a modular OS that can accept drivers and
foreign filesystems with ease and has an integrated GUI that is
almost identical to MacOS.  It is not a precursor to MacOS, but
an independent creation of Apple.  The latest version can read
and write Macintosh disks and read MS-DOS disks (with the right
drive).

Even more good news, if you are a linux fan, you may like to
investigate the version of UNIX called GNO/ME for the GS.  Sold
by EGO Systems, GNO/ME will give you a UNIX style shell and
command line that you are familiar with.  And yes, it implements
pre-emtive multitasking of processes.

All this progress comes at a cost.  Modern GS software requires
4MB to 8MB of memory.  The good news is that if you have any 1MB
SIMM modules lying around, you can use these with the Sirius
memory board for the GS.  You should also get a hard drive for
the computer (it can use both SCSI and IDE/EIDE hard drives with
the right controller card).

Hop over to Alltech Electronics (http://www.allelec.com/) and
Sequential Systems (http://www.sequential.com/) to find the
needed upgrade peripherals.  I recommend you get a Sirius memory
board from Alltech Electronics and fill it with your spare 1MB
SIMM modules to boost your GS computer's memory to 8 megabytes.
You might also want to pick up a 500 megabyte Focus hard disk
drive from Alltech.  Alltech sells the Focus drive preformatted
with GS/OS with System 6.0.1, so you get the OS preinstalled.

For software, I recommend AppleWorks GS v1.1, also from Alltech.
They carry it for $15 and it includes a nice graphical GUI
word processor, a draw/paint program, spreadsheet, a nice DB
module that supports graphics, and a page layout module that
resembles an early version of PageMaker.  With the right addon,
you can use TrueType fonts on the GS.

If you have an spare SCSI CD-ROM drive lying around, there are
CD-ROMs for the GS!  Look at them at http://www.crl.com/~joko
(Joe Kohn's SSII organization) and http://www.sequential.com/
(Sequential Systems).

There is also a Netscape-like graphical web browser for it, but
it requires a 4MB-8MB GS and for all practical purposes a hard
drive and a 14.4 or faster modem (the GS can handle 33.6 ones
just fine, but 14.4 will do).  See Seven Hills' site for details
(http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/iigs/)

As you well know with your PCs, more memory and hard drive space
is better.  The same thing applies on the GS.  Have fun!

-Scott G.