Re: Apple IIGS Questions

[nathan@cco.caltech.edu (Nathan Mates)]

In article <9MAY199417392203@acad3.alaska.edu>,
Mr. Spock <faso101@acad3.alaska.edu> wrote:
>   I have some GS questions for you guys, as I'm considering getting one.

   Keep your lines to about 70 chars; it makes quoting much easier.

>1. Is is true that the later ROM versions of the GS provide better
>compatibility with old Apple II software (I'm mostly interested in the
>games) I had a ROM01 GS and it had pretty poor compatibility with most
>of the games I had. Will the current version of system software
>provide better compatility and allow me to launch DOS 3.3 and old
>Prodos software directly from the finder?

   Hmmm. Better compatibility is a hard thing to define.... My Rom 01
can play 90% of games that ran on my //e when those disks are booted.
The exceptions: Karateka (anyone wanna help me on this), Archon 1 & 2.
That's about it. It seems to be the copy protection on them that's the
qproblem; depending on a Disk ][ card or a ][+ ROM is rather lame.

   If you want to run things from the finder, there's a little bit of
case analysis to do:

- Dos 3.3 Games. If they are actually Dos 3.3 games (not copyprotected, 
and don't use weird disk accessing, and sit in 48K of RAM), you can get
a Shareware (but the author has droppped out of the GS market, I seem
to have heard) program called Dos3.3 Launcher that's really cool, and
allows you to drop whole disks on a HD, and then launch them from the
finder.

   I have about 15-20 Dos 3.3 "disks" sitting on my HD; as long as I'm
out of GNO (GS sorta-Unix system, very cool, but can't run at same
time as Dos 3.3 or ProDOS 8 progs), I can just double click on a disk
image from the Finder 601, and run it.

- Old ProDOS 8 stuff. Once again, if they're well behaved, they can be
really easily launched from the Finder if GNO isn't running. Some old
ProDOS 8 stuff assume that they can just take over the system (namely
games), so you either won't be able to quit back to the finder easily
at the end (sorta minor), or conflict with things also in memory, so
they don't run.

   There's a fix for this sort of thing if you have a RamFAST SCSI
card for the GS, and more than 1 HD partition. With the RamFAST, you
can just hold down a key on the keypad during boot, and it will boot
off that partition. That way, I have GS/OS 6.0.1 on one partion for
normal stuff, 504 (boots damn fast :) on another for some
compatibility checking, and ProDOS 8 partition, so I can run all of
the ProDOS 8 games if I fell like it (been several months since I
actually did, but anyhow :), like Task Force, Rastan, Battle Chess,
and a few others.


>2. Does the Apple IIGS use Direct Memory Access for any subsystem (SCSI,
>floppy, serial ports, etc)? Does it contain any supporting or coprocessing
>chips? Are these made use of by current system software?

   All of the built-in stuff doesn't seem to DMA; it's just that way.
If you get addon cards, they may or may not support DMA. Here's a 
list of those cards that more or less (up to 4MB, less so with a TWGS
installed) support DMA:
   Apple HS Scsi card
   RamFAST Scsi card.

>3. What are the advantages of the TransWarp GS over the ZipChip? What other
>acceleration options do I have? Where can I get these accelerators and how
>much?

   Zip is faster on most configs, can probably go faster when upgraded
(debatable; not gonna really start things like this). Also runs cooler,
uses less power, etc. It's also still being manufactured.

   TWGS is out of business, so they may be cheaper. That's about it.

>4. Is it possible to connect a GS (through Appletalk) to my mac and copy and
>use software from my GS disks from the hard drive of my mac?

   Very possible. Here's a quick summary of things you need to do:
-Install System 6.0 or 6.01 on the GS, and turn appletalk on.
   (you'll need a HD on the GS to make this anywhere decent)
- Get a Mac with System 7 or 6 with Appleshare. Turn sharing on for
  it, and share a folder on the HD.
- Connect the two. If you only have 2 machines, you just need a single
  cable... A cable that goes from a GS (or mac) to an Imagewriter will
  do; plug it into the printer port on the mac, and whatever port your
  gs has set for appletalk.

That lets you run GS programs (not disks, unless they're in Dos 3.3
launcher format, I've heard) over the net. 


>						(FASO101@ACAD3.ALASKA.EDU)
>

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