Re: New GS Owner ?'s

[dmiller@egmont.c4systm.com (David Miller)]

(posted and mailed)

downin@clark.net (Dave Downin) writes:

>I just picked up a GS (Woz Limited Edition - ROM 01) system with the RGB 
>monitor, keyboard, mouse, and 2 3&1/2" disk drives.  It also came with a little
>software but no documentation on anything.  As such I have a few questions.

Congratulations!  Should give you lots of enjoyment (and the Performa 
makes a nice peripheral for it :)

>1) I also have a Performa 6116CD running 7.5.3.  I have found a few FTP sites
>with software but they all seem to be in .dsk format (disk images).  Is there
>anyway to download these to my Mac and save them to a floppy that I can then
>use on the GS?

I'm not positive, but I think ShrinkWrap will handle .DSK format 
archives...  it'd be worth a shot.  I don't recall offhand where you can 
get ShrinkWrap from though.

>2) I also found that Apple's site has version 6.0.1 of the GS system (I have
>a disk with 5.0.4).  It's 7 disks...I guess intended for a hard drive.  I
>grabbed disk 2 (the system disk) figuring I could at least boot with that.
>I was able to use Disk Copy on the Mac to save it out to a disk.  When I
>insert it in the GS, I get "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS".  Looked at the disk on my
>Mac and did see a ProDOS file...what gives?

Is the PRODOS file in the root directory on the disk?  Is it also a SYS 
or $FF type file?  Unless something went wrong with the save, the 
DiskCopy archive that Apple provides should have created a bootable disk...

>3) Will the GS support a 14.4 modem (I have a LineLink 144 I'd like to use on 
>the system)?

Yes.  I'm running a SupraFaxModem 336 on my BBS that I run on my Apple 
IIgs (see my sig for the number :)   However, I think you need an 
accelerator to handle more than 9600 baud reliably without a shift-boot 
to disable the extensions.  I'm pretty sure it'll handle 14400/19200 okay 
on a shift-boot without an accellerator though.

>4) Will the GS support an Apple StyleWriter printer?

Yes, but only in GS/OS applications (not under ProDOS 8) that use the 
GS/OS Print Manager.  You'll also need the appropriate printer driver for 
it, which you may have to purchase seperately (I'm not sure if Alltech 
sells them or not, but I'm pretty sure EGO Systems sells printer drivers).

>5) I noticed that when I opened it up there is some sort of memory card in it
>already...seems like I have about 1M of total memory.  What can be put in the
>other available slots?  Where can I get them?

The GS will handle up to 8 Mb of RAM.  The ROM 01 only came with 256K of
RAM, however, later sales of ROM 01 GS's came with a 1 Mb card in the
expansion slot, for a total of 1.25 Mb RAM.  You'll probably want to get 
more RAM in order to do anything serious with it.  1.25 Mb is the BARE 
minimum for running System 6.0.1.  Apple recommends 2 megs.  I have 4 in 
mine.  The card that Apple gave out in the later ROM 01 sales only held 1 
Mb, so you'll probably have to actually replace the card, instead of just 
adding chips...  I would definately suggest Alltech for a source of 
memory cards, or buy one used from comp.sys.apple2.marketplace.

There are a myriad of things to put in the other slots :)  If you can 
imagine it, it's probably out there (well, to a degree :)  The most 
popular addons these days are sound cards (let you playback and record in 
stereo), accellerators, handheld scanners (Quickie), etc.  Also SCSI or 
IDE cards, but I'll get to that in item 7 below.  Alltech sells most of 
these things, and will also know where to get the others if they don't 
sell them.

>6) Also noticed an empty white IC socket labeled "GAME".  What is/was this
>intended for?

This is mainly used for electronics experiments, and "gadget" type 
addons, to my experience. :)  It has all of the same signals on it as the 
game port on the back panel, plus a few others, and can be used for 
controlling small external devices, or as a place to plug in a second 
joystick if you happen to run into a game that lets you use two (I 
haven't seen any personally, but I'm sure there's some out there).  Also 
see comments in item 8 about the joystick port.

>7) What would be the cheapest way to hook a hard-drive up to the system?  Can
>you use regular SCSI hard drives?  If not, where could I buy one that would
>work?

You will need an interface card to hook up a hard drive, but both SCSI 
and IDE controller cards are available.  I recommend SCSI, personally, 
mainly because SCSI drives are easier to find.  (IDE are cheaper, but 
more difficult to locate from what I've seen).  

Since you have a Performa...  :) The IIgs has AppleTalk support built in. 
If you turn on File Sharing on your Performa, and set slot 1 to Your Card
and Slot 7 to AppleTalk on the GS, and run a printer cable between the
printer ports on both machines, then you can use the Performa as a file
server for the GS.  You will also need to make sure the AppleShare FST,
AppleShare Control Panel, and the SCC.Manager driver are installed (use
the AppleShare script from the installer on the System 6.0.1 set to make
sure it's installed correctly).  You'll still need to boot from the GS,
but you will be able to use the Performa's hard drive to store things if 
you want.  I'd still recommend getting a hard drive for the GS, though, 
since AppleTalk is slow :)

>8) I noticed the joystick port is the same as on the Atari style joysticks
>(just the opposite gender)...is there any way to make an adapter to allow
>you to use Atari joysticks?  If so, where can I find out how?

Not that I'm aware of.  It might work with internal rewiring, but I'm not
sure.  I do know that the pinouts are different though.  Alltech sells
Apple joysticks.  Suncom at one time made a joystick that worked on both
an IBMPC and an Apple II, with a switch on the back to switch the
pinouts... (this Suncom one was also one of the few that had a plug on it
to hook into the internal game port) but I'm pretty sure the Atari
joysticks were totally different.  (In fact, I think the Atari Joystick
pretended it was a keyboard, and sent character codes to the controller
based on the direction it was pushed, but don't quote me on it, I may be
totally off my rocker here)

>9) Is there a newer version ROM that would work on the system?  Where can
>I find one?

Yes.  But it'll cost ya :)   upgrading to a ROM 3 requires a motherboard 
swap.  The ROM 3 fixes a few bugs in the ROM, and adds some features 
(less "line" noise on the internal speaker, more seamless AppleTalk 
support, 1 Mb RAM on the motherboard, Easy Access support in ROM (sticky 
keys, keyboard mouse, etc)), but otherwise isn't a real big difference.  
I have both a ROM 01 and a ROM 3 here, and I use them pretty 
interchangeable for everything.  Once in a great while it annoys me that 
I have to use slot 7 for AppleTalk on the ROM 01 (the ROM 3 doesn't 
require this) meaning the hard drive controller has to be in slot 6, but 
otherwise, I don't think it'd be worth trying to upgrade unless one of 
those extra features I mentioned above is worth it to you.

>10) Are there any good web sites for Apple II GS info for someone who has
>never used one before?

Nathan Mates has a great Apple II Resources page...  the URL escapes me 
at the moment, but there's a link to it on my web page.  See the URL in 
my signature.  Nathan has links to almost everything Apple II that 
exists on that page, so it'd be a great starting point. :)

I would also recommend getting a Genie account.  The Apple II area on 
Genie is a superb resource in itself.  For general information about 
Genie, you can mail a2.help@genie.com.

Hmm...  guess that about covers all your questions. :) If you have any
other questions, feel free to post to csa2 (or email me, but unless it's
personal, it might help out someone else that's just getting started if
it's posted :)

Good Luck!
--
Dave Miller                 | Antimatter BBS   root@antimatter.ecore.fnet.org
dmiller@c4systm.com         | (517) 263-8384              root@ecore.fnet.org
Assistant Chief Sysop: A2Pro RT on Genie                  just.dave@genie.com
http://www2.c4systm.com/~dmiller         http://www2.c4systm.com/~dmiller/mfv