Figured out ProDOS Partition Install

["anomaly3@mc.net" <anomaly3@mc.net>]

I *finally* figured out a way to install The New Print Shop onto my 
LCIII via IIe card, and thought I'd share the whole ordeal in case 
anyone else was having the same problem, which was:

For some reason, when I tried to install The New Print Shop onto my 
ProDOS partition on my Mac HD, the HD installer utility refused to 
install - kept getting "disk errors". I thought of manually editing in 
the prefix as suggested by Edhel but I found a better solution:

Equipment Used:

LASER 128EX w/fully populated 1Mb expansion RAM board
Mac LCIII w/IIe card and attached 5.25" FDD
A DSDD 360K diskette, ProDOS formatted

Software Used:

Copy II Plus
The New Print Shop (of course!)

Procedure:

I booted up Copy II Plus on my LASER 128EX. I formatted the expansion 
RAM (/RAM5) as a ProDOS RAM disk and named it /PRODOS.HD (the name of 
the partition on my Mac). Quit Copy II Plus and loaded The New Print 
Shop.

With The New Print Shop loaded, I chose the Setup/Convert selection from 
the menu and chose to install the program onto the RAM disk (formerly 
/RAM5, now /PRODOS.HD) - the program was loaded as expected onto the RAM 
disk. :)

Exited The New Print Shop and restarted Copy II Plus. Formatted new 
ProDOS disk, labeled it /TEMP.

Launched the IIe Startup program on my LCIII, and from my HD launched 
Copy II Plus. Created new subdirectory called "PS" on ProDOS HD 
partition, in root directory.

Then, I proceeded to copy files from the RAM disk on my LASER 128EX to 
the PS subdirectory on my ProDOS HD partition (/PRODOS.HD).

Once all the files were copied (took a few disk swaps), the LASER 128EX 
had done its job and was put away. The New Print Shop now launches from 
my ProDOS HD partition using the LC IIe Card! :) :) :) :) And it runs 
MUCH faster, too!!

This process can be replicated as long as you adhere to the following 
guidelines:

** You MUST use a RAM disk other than /RAM3 (80-Column card RAM) - The 
New Print Shop stores files it uses during the course of its job on 
/RAM3, so you cannot install the program on /RAM3.

** You SHOULD initialize the RAM disk FIRST and name it the same as your 
ProDOS HD partition.

** The RAM card you use must be compatible with the utility program you 
use - Copy II Plus supports most, other programs may not.

This procedure will also work when installing the program onto a 3.5" 
disk. (In case I forgot to mention - this entire process was done using 
the 5.25" floppies).

This should work for other programs that offer to install to the HD or 
RAM disk. For some reason, be it a problem with the IIe Card software, 
or a snafu and/or incompatibility with my system software (MacOS 7.5) 
some programs crash, or simply refuse to recognize or access my ProDOS 
HD partition via the "SmartPort", and the Memory Expansion Card as well. 
All of this could have been alleviated if it worked the way it was 
supposed to, but what the hey - at least I learned something in the 
process! :)

Hope this helps anyone else who may have been struggling with their IIe 
Card as I have been with mine.

- Tony :-)