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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for c.s.a2 Part 2/4
- Subject: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for c.s.a2 Part 2/4
- From: nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)
- Date: 1996/10/01
- Expires: 1 Nov 96
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
- Organization: Vector Internet Services, Inc.
This part 2 of 4 of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting of the
comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup. Copyright (c) 1996 by Nathan Mates
(nathan@visi.com) This document can be freely copied so long as 1) it
is not sold, 2) any sections reposted elsewhere from it are credited
back to this FAQ with the FAQ's copyright info and official WWW
location left in place.
This FAQ is posted on the WWW for 24 hour a day (barring system and/or
internet malfunctions) availability from
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html. As I am constantly
updating and fixing sections of this FAQ, making a link to the
document over the WWW is preferred-- that way, there aren't obsolete
versions floating around.
--- Begin part 2 of 4
Q#16 Adding Hardware:
Q#17 Can the Apple II connect to 3.5" drives or flopticals for other
platforms?
A: For 400K or 800K Mac 3.5" drives, in general, no. Apple's 3.5"
drive that was sold with Apple IIGSs has logic to sense which machine
it is hooked up to (Apple II or Macintosh) and it works accordingly.
Most 3rd party drives don't bother to put in Apple II support in their
drives. Some may work if you hook them up to a UDC instead of an Apple
3.5" inch card. Old style Mac 800k drives are very slow.
Mac 1.44MB (High Density) 3.5" drives can be used if you have both
both the High Density 3.5" drive and the new Apple 3.5" superdrive
controller card. If you don't have both, you will only be able to do
regular density (800K). Of course, you will also need High Density
Disks. ProDOS 8 programs not only recognize the 1.44MB disks, but most
programs format and recognize HD disks just fine. You can even boot
off of a HD disk, allowing plenty of room for GS/OS Desk Accessories
and such. There are a few drawbacks: you cannot boot copy-protected
software or some FTA demos. Also, you can't daisy-chain a 5.25" off a
HD card. Also, it takes up a slot, even on the GS.
Unfortunately, Apple never seemed to have sold very many of the
Superdrive controller card, while used superdrives are apparently
plentiful, so you may have a hard time getting your hands on a
superdrive controller card.
The SCSI Floptical drive (also rare, but may be a bit easier to find)
can also read and write 1.44MB and 720K disks, as well as its special
21MB disks, but not 400K or 800K Apple II disks. You'd need a SCSI
controller card, and special drivers with an Apple High Speed SCSI
board or a recent ROM version with the RamFAST board. For more
information, please see the Apple II &Floptical FAQ at
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/floptical.html, and this FAQ's
section on SCSI.
IBM PC 3.5" drives (as well as all sorts of low and high density 5.25"
drives) can be connected only with the (discontinued) Applied
Engineering PC Transporter card, or the Bluedisk card from SHH Systems
(See the section on dealers and hardware addons of this FAQ for their
address and WWW page).
There are also reports that the "CTI Drive" allows you to hook up IBM
3.5" and 5.25" disk drives (no High Density support yet) to your Apple
II. [IBM drives are cheaper] Some software is included to read MS/DOS
disks on your Apple. Otherwise, ProDOS and GS/OS recognize them like
normal drives. Unfortunately, information on this "CTI drive" is
minimal at best, and nobody's responded to my requests for more
information on them.
Q#18 Can the Apple II connect to keyboards, mice, etc. from other
platforms?
A: IBM PC keyboards are almost impossible to connect to any Apple II;
the only possibility is to buy a device used to connect such a
keyboard to a Macintosh, and try that with your GS.
IBM PC Serial Mice (usually have 9-pin serial connectors) can be
connected to Apple //es with Sequential System's board. Although the
connector is shaped identically, the //c, //e, and GS's joystick port
in back is not a serial port; serial mice just won't work if connected
to it. (If you have a GS, just buy a Mac ADB mouse and use that)
Most Macintosh (except for the ones with the phone jack connector,
such as the original Mac and Mac 512) keyboards and mice are Apple
Desktop Bus (ADB) devices. ADB made its debut on the Apple IIGS; it
was later adopted by the Mac SE and other computers in the line. This
means that most Mac ADB mice and keyboards will work on the GS. There
are no reported incompatabilities with Mac mice that I've heard about,
though multibutton mice may only have one button work on the GS.
Macintosh keyboards may not work; here is a list of ones known to work
and not, compiled by Bradley P. Von Haden (bpvh@primenet.com)
Work:
Apple ADB Keyboards I and II
AppleDesign Keyboard ($85 - MacMall(66s), Mac Zone(47b))
+Apple Extended Keyboard (original)
Apple Extended Keyboard II ($155 - MacMall(66s), Mac Zone(47b))
Adesso 105 Extended Keyboard ($80 - Mac's Place, Mac Zone, Tiger SW)
Adesso 102 Wxtended Keyboard w/ Trackball [Trackball does NOT work]
($100 - Mac's Place, Mac Zone, Tiger Software)
Arriva Extended ($40 - MacMall(66s))
Interex 105 Extended ($55 - MacMall, Syex Express; $34 - Computer
City)
Key Tronic MacPro Plus ($130 - Mac Zone, APS Tech.)
OptiMac Extended Keyboard (???)
PowerUser 105E Extended Keyboard ($50 - MacWarehouse(59))
SIIG, Inc MacTouch Model 1905 (~$100.00)
Sun OmniMac Ultra [extended, ADB type] (???)
Suntouch ADB Extended Keyboard ($75 - Syex Express)
VividKey Extended Keyboard ($60 - MacMall)
Do not work:
Apple Adjustable Keyboard
MacALLY Peripherals Extended Keyboard
MicroSpeed Keyboard Deluxe MAC
???:
+Adesso Easy Touch ext kb ($44 - Mac Zone(47b))
+Adesso ProPoint ext kb w/ thinkpad ($60 - MacMall(66s))
+Alps GlidePoint kb ($110 - Mac Zone(47b))
ClubMac Extended Keyboard ($39 - ClubMac(13))
Datadesk MAC 101 E ($100 - MacWarehouse, Mac Zone)
Datadesk TrackBoard ($100 - MacWarehouse, Mac Zone)
Key Tronic Trak Pro Plus ($230 - APS Tech.)
Performance Soft Touch Extended Keyboard ($49 - Mac Zone(47b))
Spring Sun Tech MacPride 97 ($90 - MacMall)
Spring Sun Tech MacPride 105 ($59 - MacMall)
Spring Sun Tech MacPride 110 ($80 - MacMall) [MAC/IBM switchable]
Spring Sun Tech MacPride KidBoard ($100 - MacMall)
????:
+Adesso NUForm Ergonomic ext kb ($60 - MacMall(66s))
+Adesso NUForm Ergomomic ext kb w/ pointer ($70 - MacMall (66s))
+Adesso NUForm Ergonomic ext kb w/ touch pad ($90 - MacMall (66s),
Mac Zone (47B))
Adesso Tru-From Ergonomic ext kb ($79 - Mac Zone(47b))
Adesso Tru-Form Ergonomic ext kb w/ pointer ($90 - MacMall(66s))
Q#19 Can I use Macintosh RGB or IBM VGA/SVGA Monitors with my ][?
A: Not normally. Even with the GS's RGB monitor connector, the GS puts
out a 15Khz horizontal refresh signal. Most modern monitors (notable
exceptions are the old NEC Multisync 1 and 2 monitors) require the
signal to be at least 30Khz, and thus won't display the picture. If
you have a question on whether a given monitor will work, check the
manual for it or contact the manufacturer to see if it'll support
15Khz horizontal syncs. Older Apple II RGB cards (such as those to
extend AE Ramworks cards) should have the same problem.
The one way to bridge the "use Apple II monitors with Apple IIs" rule
of thumb is to purchase the Second Sight (tm) VGA display board from
Sequential Systems. (See the dealers section of this FAQ for their
address and WWW page). The Second Sight mirrors Apple II video modes
fairly well onto the VGA display, as well as supplying some VGA modes
that programmers have begun to tap into. With it, you can connect
VGA/SVGA monitors to your //e or GS
If you are desperate for a monitor, the Apple II line puts out a video
signal from the back port that can be hooked into the 'line in' port
of a NTSC VCR or modern TVs-- just use a male-male RCA phono jack,
which electronics shops should carry. Alternatively, a 'RF Converter'
(try your local Radio Shack or the equivalent) can be used to connect
that signal to a TV without a 'line in' connector.
Q#20 Can I hook up a modem to my Apple II?
A: Yes, most external serial modems should work great with an Apple
II. Models such as the //c, IIc+ and IIGS have a serial port built in;
the ][, ][+ and //e do not and will need to have one added.
An Apple ][, ][+ or //e with Apple's Super Serial Card and an external
modem that's fast enough can connect at 9600baud fine; 19200 may be
iffy. (Past 19200 pretty much requires an accelerated Apple II). There
is an addon to the Super Serial Card called the Turbo ASP that has a
theoretical maximum of 230,400; see the entry for Lightning Systems in
the dealer's section of this FAQ.
The very first revision of the //c motherboard had a faulty serial
setup that prevented most machines from reliable serial communications
faster than 2400 baud. See the section on the //c in this FAQ for
information on how to determine if a system is likely to be affected.
Various companies sell cables for the Apple //c; check out Atlaz
Computer Supply (516-239-1854) or LYBEN Computer Systems at (800)
493-5777.
The GS (and probably the IIc+) and the appropriate software (such as
ProTERM, Spectrum or ANSITerm) can connect at up to 57600 baud. (Once
again, an accelerator is recommended for the higher speeds).
For any Apple II, speeds past 9600 pretty much require you to get a
'Hardware Handshaking' modem cable. This is a cable with connections
between the handshaking pins (cheapo cables may only have the 3 wires
necessary to do simple serial) and thus allows the computer to tell
the modem that it is temporarily too busy to receive data, so the
modem doesn't send more data until the computer's ready.
Internal modems for Apple IIs only seem to have gone up to 2400 baud,
which was fast for the time the boards were made, but is now fairly
outdated. You cannot use internal PC modems in Apple IIs.
Q#21 Can I hook up a LaserWriter, DeskJet, etc to my Apple //e?
A: A number of them. The best bet is probably the HP DeskJet series.
Most supported printers have either regular serial or parallel
connections. The tricky part is getting the software to do what you
want. The DeskJet, for example will print very nice-looking text with
regular old "PR#1". But if you want to change the font or print
graphics, you may have to purchase some software. One excellent
program for these types of printers is PublishIt 4.
For AppleWorks fans, there is the program called SuperPatch. Among
it's patches is a cool DeskJet 500 (most DeskJet 6xx printers should
be compatible, but check the documentation) printer driver. You can
print sideways, and change fonts with normal AppleWorks commands. The
DeskJet driver is built in to AW 4.0 and later.
The Apple Stylewriter family is not supported by any //e program to my
knowledge.
Q#22 Can I hook up a Laser printer, ink jet, or bubble jet printer to
my Apple IIGS?
A:In short: a number of them, but not all. Please look through the
following list to check if a particular model you're looking at is
supported. Also, the following applies to all programs which support
the GS system toolbox methods for talking to printers through drivers.
Most GS programs support this; Print Shop GS is an exception-- it'll
pretty much only work with the printers listed in the program, and
then only at its printing resolutions.
On the GS, you can hook up most LaserWriters made by Apple via
AppleTalk or direct serial connection. A GS program can typically
print to a LaserWriter if it's connected to the GS via AppleTalk; just
install the LaserWriter drivers from the System 6 disks. Note that
some LaserWriters from Apple may be 'Quickdraw,' not true Postscript
printers, so they won't work from the GS. The Laserwriter, Laserwriter
II, LW II NTX are all known to work fine.
Of the Apple Stylewriter family, ONLY the original Stylewriter will
work on the GS, and then only from GS/OS with the System 6 drivers. As
Apple has not written drivers or released the specifications so that
drivers could be written by third parties, none of the rest of the
Stylewriter models works when connected to a GS.
The HP DeskWriter family is mostly only for Macintoshes; the DeskJet
3xx, 5xx or 6xx (xx= any 2 numbers, plus some optional letters)
printer families is much more friendly to all models of the Apple II.
If you get a DeskJet, or PaintJet, etc, you can hook them up via a
parallel printer card or serial cable depending on what ports the
printer has. The exceptions to this are HP's recent 'Windows Only'
printers, such as the HP DJ 820C models, which don't work at all with
Apple IIs.
But, in order to use pretty much any inkjet or bubblejet printer that
the GS can talk to effectively, you will want Harmonie from Vitesse
(better-- supports color printing on HP inkjets that have such support
built in) or Independence (cheaper, but only black & white printing)
from Seven Hills. They are new printer drivers for GS/OS programs
only. These two programs extend the ranges of printers supported by
the GS. If you want to print from an 8-bit program, see the previous
question.
Harmonie's drivers also support a number of printer modes that other
printers can handle. Apparently the Canon BJ-200e works well with
Harmonie 2.1's Epson LQ or Epson LQ 4000 drivers.
As provided by Richard Der, here is a list of printers and such
supported by Harmonie; there may be other printers that are compaible
with such models listed here, but are not listed. Nobody's gotten a
list of printers supported by Independence to me yet, unfortunately.
Printers supported by Harmonie:
--Canon Dot Matrix--
Canon 1080
--HP DeskJet (or DeskWriter) Ink-Jet--
DeskJet (Manual states all DeskJet and DeskJet 5xx drivers
DeskJet 500C work with DeskWriter series of the same number
DeskJet 520 using the high speed Printer 57.6 serial port
DeskJet 550C driver included with on the disk)
DeskJet 560C *560C driver is compatible with DJ/DW 600C and 660C
printers. The DJ 400 is like th DJ 600C. The DJ 560C
driver is listed as a 600x300dpi one whereas all the
rest are 300x300dpi.
--Epson LQ 24-pin Dot Matrix (or Canon Ink-Jet)--
Epson LQ (Epson LQ drivers work with Canon BJ models for
Epson LQ 4000 hi-res 360dpi printing. Some older models have
Epson LQ 800 dip switches that must be set to enable automatic
Epson emulation -> for example, the BJ-200e
requires DIP switch 12 to be set to ON. The printer
manual should say what to do for the specific model.
BJ-10e, BJ 100, BJ-200, BJ-210, BJ-4100, and BJ-600
models also list Epson LQ emulation and should work
with one or more of these drivers.)
--Epson 9-pin Dot Matrix--
Epson MX 80
--HP LaserJet laser Printers--
LaserJet
LaserJetIIP
LaserJet III (Newer LaserJet models also work with these drivers
as are any HP compatible laser printers)
--Misc. Dot Matrix Printers--
Okimate 20
Panasonic 1124
Pinwriter
--Misc. Ink-Jet--
HP PaintJet
QuadJet
I'd like to get a list of all printers that are 1) officially
supported by Harmonie/Independence, 2) not officially listed, but a
driver exists that works well with them and 3) don't work at all with
Apple IIs. Given that I have neither the time nor the money to test
every printer on the market, I'd appreciate feedback sent to me at
nathan@visi.com.
Q#23 What are the pinouts for all the various Apple II connectors?
A: While these pinouts are a little too big to include in this FAQ
outright, you can still find them in the same place on the WWW as this
FAQ, in Nathan Mates's set of Apple II Resources. The pinouts page is
available at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/pinouts.html.
Q#24 Can I hook up a scanner up to my //e or IIGS? Can it do OCR?
A: Yes and Yes. (OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition -- the
ability to convert a scan into text) Just pick up a Quickie scanner
(by Vitesse) and InWords (by WestCode Software). You can scan 4"
columns (you must have 512K to 1 Meg) and can even paste them together
to make 8" scans. Then you can use InWords to "read" text and put it
into a text file or AppleWorks Word Processor file.
Apple put partially completed support for a few Apple flatbed scanners
onto the System 6.0 Golden Master CD, but the test program for it
could not save a scan to a file. No programs support various popular
TWAIN-compliant scanners such as those from HP.
Q#25 Can a Disk ][ be used on a GS smartport?
A: Yes. Call Jameco Electronics (Phone: 1-800-831-4242) S20 PIN HEADER
TO DB19-PIN CONNECTOR MODULE ADAPTS II/II+ DRIVES FOR APPLE IIC. PART
NO: 10022 PRODUCT NO.: AAM APPLE IIC ADAPTER $3.95
If you don't mind some soldering, you can make this cable up yourself.
Take a look at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/diskiicable.html
Q#26 I want a Y-adapter for my GS keyboard.
A: Redmond Cable has an ADB Y-connector cable for separating your
mouse from the side of your keyboard (also can be used to work around
a failing ADB port on the keyboard). See the 'Resources' section of
this FAQ.
Q#27 How about hooking up cheap IDE Hard Drives?
A: There's a card called the Turbo IDE, does DMA, and is apparently as
fast as a RamFAST SCSI card. See
http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/shh.html, or contact jlange@tasha.muc.de
for details like technical specs, pricing, and S/H procedure.
The first revisions of the Turbo IDE controller's ROM supported only
256MB of capacity on a single drive. With IDE HDs now being sold at
ten times that capacity, you may have to do some hunting to find
drives that small.
Q#28 Can an Apple II connect to a SCSI device?
SCSI is a protocol (method of transmitting data) that lets you hook up
to 8 SCSI devices on a SCSI bus (SCSI devices connected together).
There are Hard Drives, tape drives, scanners, and more available as
SCSI devices.
To get SCSI on an Apple II, you need to buy and install a SCSI card.
(//cs and IIc+s have no native SCSI cards, but Chinook (later bought
out by Sequential) made a Smartport capable drive as your only choice
for HDs). At first, there was the Apple Rev 'C' SCSI card (named after
the final ROM version--all previous versions MUST be upgraded to work
with current software). There were several clones from the likes of
CMS and Chinook. Then Apple came out with it's High Speed DMA SCSI
card. This has the ability to do Direct Memory Access to the RAM in
your computer, which speeds things up. This created a lot of problems
with cards that were not DMA compatible.
CV Technologies (bought out by Sequential Systems) also has a DMA SCSI
card called the RamFast. This card has 256K or 1MB of on-board RAM to
make it even faster than Apple's card. It can also supply terminator
power if you drive does not supply it. Both of the new cards support
things like SCSI tape backup units, removable SCSI drives, SCSI
CD-ROM, and of course SCSI hard drives. Both the new cards also
require an Enhanced //e. RamFasts have had their ROM upgraded many
times; you may want to look into getting the latest if you have
removable devices such as Flopticals, CD-Roms, Zip Disks, and tape
drives.
Most fixed and removable SCSI disks can be connected to Apple IIs with
the addition of a SCSI card. People have used Zip, Syquests,
Bernoulli, Floptical devices. With older revisions of the SCSI cards,
they may NOT recognize them as removable devices, leading to crashes
and/or data corruption if you switch removable disks with the computer
on. Most SCSI HDs can also be used, but certain SCSI II devices that
insist that the SCSI card have a SCSI ID (the Quantum Fireball seems
to be one of the main culprits) won't work with at least the RamFAST
3.01f ROM version and possibly others.
You must manually give each device it's own unique ID number from 0-7.
The SCSI card is usually set to 7. On a SCSI chain, there must be a
Terminator (a bunch of resistors) at each end. Some drives have
internal terminators (3 small yellow-orange packs) that can be
switched on and off, and some drives come with an external terminator
(a "plug" to put on the back of the drive). Nothing other than the
ends of the chain should be terminated.
Also, somebody on the bus must supply terminator power (one of the
SCSI lines). If There are any problems (multiple things with the same
ID, too much termination or not enough, or no terminator power), you
may be able to use the drive, but your data will get corrupted. Most
of the time, the computer will refuse to recognize the drive.
There are two types of SCSI cables: the 50 pin Centronics-type (like
on parallel printers) or the 25-pin "D" connector. The 50-pin is the
SCSI standard, the 25-pin is the Apple standard. There are also cables
with the 50-pin centronics connector on one side and the 25 pin "D"
connector on the other.
Q#29 Tips on setting up a SCSI system:
* You can have multiple drives on one SCSI card, just make sure you
remove the termination on all the drives but the last one. This is
because the newer SCSI cards are terminated (and they count as a
SCSI device).
* Always check that the cords are plugged in properly. Never
connect/disconnect anything when the computer is on.
* SCSI ID numbers 0 and 7 tend to have special meanings; the Apple
High Speed SCSI displays multiple copies of partitions online if a
drive has that ID. Use 1-6 instead.
* The computer will boot the hard drive with the highest SCSI ID,
which should be ID 6.
* Try letting the drive 'warm up' for 15 seconds before turning the
computer on. The SCSI cards look for drives only at startup, and
may ignore any drives that are not ready.
* Try turning off DMA. If this helps, you may have a non-DMA
compatible card, such as the early versions of the TransWarp,
early versions of the GS RAM, or any 8-bit accelerator.
Alternately, try setting up a RAM disk for all but 4 MB. Some RAM
cards can only do DMA in the first bank.
* Check that each device has a unique ID. Most drives have a
thumbwheel on the back to set the ID. Your SCSI card (yes, it
counts too) is probably ID 7. Number your drives from 6 downwards
for best compatibility. The IDs have nothing to do with what slot
the card is in.
* Is there a terminator at each end of the SCSI bus? (the DMA cards
are terminated, and some drives are internally terminated.)
* Try the software that came with the card. It may give helpful
diagnostic messages (I.E. the Apple DMA SCSI utilities-- Does it
say "No Apple SCSI card found" or "No SCSI devices found"?)
* RamFast boards have gone through many ROM revisions. The latest is
3.01f; if you want to use any removable disks (Zip/Syquest disks,
CD-Roms, Flopticals, tape backups), you should contact Sequential
Systems (see above for address) to purchase a ROM upgrade for your
board.
* Do you get the message "Unable to Load ProDOS"? If so, it's
booting your drive but you have no system software on it. Try
hitting Control-Reset, then PR#5 (or PR#6) to boot a floppy. Then
install the system software (i.e. ProDOS or GS/OS).
* In extreme cases, try reformatting the drive, repartitioning, and
re-installing the System software.
* If the drive access light blinks in a regular pattern before the
computer is turned on, it is telling you that it has a hardware
malfunction. It needs to be serviced.
* Did you try re-installing the System software? Many times, the
data on a drive will get corrupted if you run the drive with
improper terminators or conflicting SCSI ID's. Sometimes you will
not notice the corrupted data until after you fix the problem. If
re-installing the System software helps, it was probably a
software problem, not a hardware problem.
* The Apple HS DMA SCSI card requires an Enhanced //e. It will not
work on the older //e without an Enhancement Kit.
* To really put a drive through it's paces, copy a LOT of stuff from
one partition to another (copy the entire partition if you can).
If there is a problem with DMA or SCSI ID's, it will probably show
up as a strange GS/OS error. (GS only)
* Make sure you do not have the Apple SCSI drivers installed if you
have a RamFast. It may cause random problems (they leave an
interrupt handler dangling if they can't find their card.) (GS
only)
* Make sure you are booting the right slot. If the card is in slot
7, you can set the startup slot to Scan or 7. (GS only)
* If you boot up and only 1 partition shows up, you need to install
the SCSI drivers. (GS only)
* If you boot up and it says "Drive XXX is already on the desktop"
over and over: Probably a SCSI ID problem. (GS only)
* If you add a CD-ROM, drivers are availiable from Trantor Systems
LTD, 5415 Randall Place, Fremont, CA 94538 (415)770-1400 (GS only)
* At least one device must supply terminator power to the bus (Pin
26). The Apple Cards do not supply this, and some drives don't
either. Result: The drive won't be seen by any software.
* Some CMS Platinum drives had pin 40 disconnected for obscure Mac
compatibility reasons. This can cause problems with the Apple IIs.
* Make sure you use the drivers from GS/OS, and not the ones that
ship with the Apple HS SCSI card. (Doesn't apply to RamFast).
* To low-level format an AE Vulcan drive, go into PART.MANAGER, move
the highlight to "format" and type "AE". Then say yes to all the
prompts.
_________________________________________________________________
Q#30 How do I get files off the net? 8/26/96
Quick summary:
1: Make sure you know how to download files from ftp sites
2: Make sure you have a Binscii decoder
3: Make sure you have a Shrinkit unpacker
4: Unpack with the programs
And, in more detail, starting with a word of explanation:
[There used to be details about older Apple II packing programs in the
FAQ, but as they're pretty much never used anymore, the info on them
has been relegated to the 'obsolete' section of the comp.sys.apple2
FAQ at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.old.html]
Q#31 What are Binscii & Shrinkit, and why do I need them? 8/26/96
Shrinkit was written by Andy Nicholas to be able to take multiple
files or disks and compress them into one file. This allows a authors
to distribute programs, documentation, and anything else as one
complete file. It is analogous to (but NOT the same as) Stuff-It or
[PK]ZIP for Macs and IBMs. Shrinkit comes in many different forms, as
is noted in the section on downloading it.
Binscii is a method of turning Apple II files into pieces that can be
safely transmitted by the internet, such as usenet and email, and
restored to the Apple II file later. It is used for two major reasons:
1) Since it splits files up into manageable pieces, it lets huge files
be transmitted without fear of being cut short. 2) Since it translates
files to strictly printable characters, mediums that cannot safely
send binary files (i.e. files put through Shrinkit) such as email and
usenet can send binscii'd files.
Binscii is similar to the unix 'uuencode' encoding, but it is not
identical, and far superior. It allows Apple II filetype information
to be restored when the file is unpacked. Secondly, binscii is usually
not concerned about email or news headers (it ignores them when
unpacking), and also can unpack the various pieces of a binscii'd file
in any order, and the original file will be be intact as long as all
the pieces were unpacked. Finally, you do not have to rejoin all the
binscii pieces into one file before unpacking.
Why these two programs are so necessary in downloading is the
following: pretty much all Apple II programs are first compressed with
Shrinkit, and if they are to be sent via email or to
comp.binaries.apple2, the shrunk file is then binscii'd. To unpack,
you will need to first un-binscii the file, if appropriate, and then
un-Shrink it.
Ok, fine. What do Binscii and Shrinkit files look like?
If you are given a file, first look at the end of the filename. If it
ends in ".BSC" or ".BSQ" (no quotes, and upper/lower case doesn't
matter), you most likely have a binscii file. Shrinkit files tend to
end in ".SHK", but ".BXY" is also used.
If that isn't helpful, or you have a file without a name, then take a
look at the first few lines of content. After any optional news or
email header, a binscii file should look like this:
FiLeStArTfIlEsTaRt
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789()
GSOMEFILE.SHK AQhmAAAAA8)4MIAI02DA9ARMQEDtAQhmAIVZ
gYITA6u7xADA0MjM3YTNBlDOENkQwYURzITM2UDN5gzNDJUQGVERyEDM1QzM4cjN
CFUOFR0QxAjR0MjM3YTNBlDOENkQwAQRzITM2UDN5gzNDJUQGVERyEDM1QzM4cjN
The first two lines are constant throughout all binscii files; the
third contains the filename ('SOMEFILE.SHK' here) and then the encoded
file.
On the other hand, a .SHK file cannot have any news or email header,
and has only about 6 characters at the start (not all viewable on a
normal screen, especially non-Apple IIs) that identify it. Thus,
trying to look at the first few lines is pointless.
Finally, you can always try to unpack the file, as the binscii and
Shrinkit programs will notify you if the file is not in the format
they can unpack. As files are always binscii'd last, you should thus
try and unbinscii an unknown file first, then try to unshrink it.
Enough technical discussions, now on to the specifics of where and how
to get binscii and shrinkit running on your system.
_________________________________________________________________
Q#32 Where can I get Apple II software and info on the net? 8/31/95
[A quick note about URL notation: For those of you with full net
access, you can run a web browser (like Lynx if you are dialed in from
your Apple), which will understand URLs directly. Otherwise, ignore
the 'http:' ones and see the next section on how to use the FTP ones.)
Hint:
ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Hostname Directory
Major FTP sites and mirrors:
ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2 We (The Apple II users of the
internet) paid a good chunk of money for this drive, so it's the
biggest, and may have the best selection. During normal daytime hours,
it may be busy, but the WWW interface at
http://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/ is almost always available
ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2 Maintained by Dan Zimmerman, this
large Apple II Archive also has a WWW interface at
http://apple2.caltech.edu/a2archive.html, which supports automatic
binary downloading for most files, which is very nice.)
ftp.apple.com, dts/aii Get Technical Info, System Software, etc. here.
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/archive/apple2 Another large Apple II
archive. Once again, the WWW interface at
http://www.umich.edu/~archive/apple2 can be less overloaded.
ftp://archive.orst.edu/pub/mirrors/archive.umich.edu (Umich mirror)
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/apple2 Usually overloaded; try the
WWW interface at http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/apple2
ftp.support.apple.com, pub/apple_sw_updates/US/Apple_II/HyperCard_IIGS
Hypercard GS, but really only unpackable on Macs. The .bxy files are
not readable on Apple IIs unless you manyally strip off the 512 byte
header
http://www.openix.com/~jac Archive of all postings to
comp.sources.apple2.
ftp://names.wvu.edu/pub/apple3 - Apple III stuff
OK, so here's a bunch of resources:
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html- Hypertext version of
this FAQ
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/index.html - Even more FAQs on all
sorts of questions and subjects
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/emulate-apple2-faq - Emulation FAQ
http://www.crl.com/~joko/ssii.html - ShareWare Solutions II Homepage
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/index.html - Nathan Mates's Apple II
Links. Lots of 'em.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/bbs.html - Mike Shecket's BBS listing
Other FTP Sites:
ftp://ftp.ms.uky.edu/pub/appleII Mostly very old Apple II software
ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/gifstuff/apple GIF viewing software for Apple
IIs only. (And outdated. Major sites listed above have better
selections)
ftp://info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive Looks
like a umich mirror again
ftp://syr.edu/software/kermit/appleII Kermit sources for the Apple II.
ftp://watsun.cc.columbia.edu/kermit/a Kermit stuff in forms that look
unusable to Apple II users.
Archives of C.S.A2 Newsgroups:
Dejanews, http://www.dejanews.com, is an excellent searchable archive
of pretty much all major usenet groups, including all of the Apple II
newsgroups. It's only good back to about March 1995 as of 8/31/96, but
they may be trying to extend that back.
Other, more limited archives:
===============================
wuarchive.wustl.edu /usenet/comp.sources.apple2 (complete!)
/usenet/comp.binaries.apple2
?ftp.tohoku.ac.jp /pub/news/comp.binaries.apple2
hp4nl.nluug.nl /pub/newsarchive/comp/sources/apple2 (incomplete)
mcsun.eu.net /pub/newsarchive/comp/sources/apple2 (incomplete)
nic.funet.fi /pub/archive/comp.sources.apple2 (complete?)
relay.cs.toronto.edu /pub/lists.1989 (1989 only)
If you have a Shell account, you can use 'archie' to find ftp sites
with a particular file.
_________________________________________________________________
Email suggestions to nathan@visi.com. As always, let me know of any
mistakes, updates, corrections, additions, etc.
There are a lot more questions with answers not included directly in
this FAQ; please see http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq for more of
them.
Copyright 1996 by Nathan Mates ( Nathan Mates)
--- End Part 2 of 4
--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/ <*>
# What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
# Shun wishful thinking, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
# think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? -R.A. Heinlein