Re: ?'s about a IIgs

[nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <4v0efj$33n@login.freenet.columbus.oh.us>,
Robert Schaefer <rschaefe@freenet.columbus.oh.us> wrote:
>Hi, everyone.  I just picked up a gs (it was too good of a deal to let it
>go by!), and now I have to do something with it.  It's an older one I think,
>Woz Limited Edition, but I don't know the ROM version.  How do I find this
>out, and what one do I want?

   This question is answered in the comp.sys.apple2 FAQ, accessible at
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html, but as visi's web server
seems to be having a bad day, I'll repeat it here.

   Turn the monitor on about 30 seconds before turning on the
computer.  When you first power it on, it should say "Apple IIgs" at
the top of the screen, and possibly some information at the bottom,
including the ROM version. If it says nothing about the ROM version,
it's the oldest version, 0. The other possibilities are 01 and 3.

   You can upgrade a ROM 0 to a 01 by swapping 2 chips. Alltech
Electronics [(800) 995-7773 or (619) 721-7733] used to and should
still carry them.

   ROMs 01 and 3 are both adequate for what users want to do. The
major difference you'll see as a general user (the FAQ has a better
list) is that the Rom 01 has 256K of memory on the motherboard, the 3
has 1MB. The only way to upgrade from an 01 to a 3 is by a motherboard
swap, so it isn't done that often.

>  it has a RAM card with an Apple copyright on
>it, 1 soldered bank, 3 socket banks, this would be the 1meg memory expansion
>card?

   Quite possibly. Note that it's the "1MB when full" memory expansion
card, which probably means it's got 256K on it. New 4MB ram cards can
be purchased for under $100 from Alltech or Sequential Systems
(www.sequential.com), and really help out the GS.

>Now, I have a sister in school, and they use macs for most of their
>wordprocessing.  I was wondering, can a gs be taught how to read & write
>mac formatted disks?  How 'bout some of the more popular mac wordprocessor
>formats?  

   The latest versions of the GS System Software (6.0 or 6.0.1) can
read and write Mac 800K disks on the normal 3.5" Drive. [It can also
do 1.44MB disks if you own the Apple 'Superdrive' 1.44MB drive, as
well as the Superdrive controller card, but those are rare.] However,
System 6.x really wants 1MB of memory at a minimum, and you really
have to hack and slash at it to fit it on a 800K floppy with Mac
support.

   The Mac formats it can read (probably not coincidentally, ZERO of
the Microsloth Word formats) are raw text, Teach, and with certain
programs (Graphic Writer III's addon, probably some others) the 'Rich
Text Format' (RTF).

>Also, will a gs take regular ][+ cards?

   Most of them. A few were too big to fit in the GS (Microsloth
Softcard, among others), a few were obsoleted (80-col cards), and a
few oddball required hardware quirks of the ][+. Most printer cards
should work fine.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/      <*>
# What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
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# think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places?  -R.A. Heinlein