Re: Un/Newbie Questions

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

Jeff Blakeney <CUTjblakeney@sympatico.ca> wrote:

>On 30 May 2005 17:25:16 -0700, sc-ii@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>>Hey all. After being out of the ][ world for a few years, I'm coming
>>back.
>
>Glad to see yet another user return.  Personally, I haven't left since
>I started using these machines in 1983.  :-)

    Add me to that list, I began using the Apple II in 1982 and still going!

>>I just got a new ROM03 system with only an Apple 256k card in it (so
>>total mem is 1.352mb or something like that) and two SuperDrives (but
>>no SuperDrive controller), and don't remember much about the system.
>>Hopefully someone can refresh my memory on some topics.
>
>That would be 1.375 MB (1.125 + 0.25).  Fully populating that card
>will give you 2.125 MB of RAM to use which is enough for most purposes
>but if you get yourself a 4 MB memory card then you'll be up to 5.125
>MB and not have to worry about RAM at all. 

    As most GS-specific software expects 1.25 MB (1280 KB) RAM, at the 
very least any ROM 3 system should have a 256 KB Apple card installed.
More is recommended, if not required, once a mass storage device 
(i.e. hardisk or CF-Flash card) is added running System 6.

>I used to have 8 MB of memory in my memory expansion slot but decided to 
>save some power and generate less heat in my IIgs by just using a 4 MB card.

    The other issue that comes to mind is DMA compatibility beyond 4 MB in
the expansion slot, though some cards do manage to get around it.

    My Sequential Systems 'RAM GS Plus' (formerly the CV-RAM) is DMA
compliant with the RamFAST, and low power and very compact, being
about the size of a 3.5 inch floppy diskette a few chips. Years ago I wrote
that it had DMA fault issues (before owning one) but I've not noticed any
personally. 

    Honestly, it is overkill having 8.125 MB RAM, though nice for keeping
a good sized RAM Disk permanently set and still having more than enough 
memory available for applications.
  
>>1.
>> I don't have an RGB monitor yet, so I plugged the RCA video into the
>>RCA video-in jack on my TV. But there's no color. The hardware Control
>>Panel thinks there is color, but flipping things around just gives me
>>shades of grey. What did I miss?
>
>I believe the composite output works the same on the IIgs as it does
>on the other Apple IIs.  If you are in a text only mode then the
>computer does not output any colour burst signal on the composite
>video output but when you go into a graphics mode it does.

    More or less. The major difference is color ASCII text (foreground and
background) appears in 16 shades of grey output to a composite display, 
but rather moot since the 8-bit Apple II only produces white text on a black
background.

    Composite video also has issues with IIgs Super-Hi-Res graphics, 
where colors will look wrong and generally what I call "a rainbow mess".
A Video Overlay Card cleans this up rather nicely if you want to display
Super-Hi-Res on a composite display.

>The thing I found weird is that if you do have an RGB monitor hooked
>up and tell the control panel to switch to monochrome display, you
>still get colour on your RGB monitor unless you are in Double Hi-Res
>mode.  :-)

    That's normal. The Control Panel "monochrome" option only has
_one_ affect on an RGB monitor, and that's to mimic the color-killer
switch on the Apple Color Monitor IIe/IIc, but only in Double-Hi-Res
mode oddly. You get the full 560x192 resolution versus 140x192
with color; MouseDesk or MultiScribe is a good example of this.

    It does have a more practical use on composite monochrome displays,
such as the green Apple Monitor II, Monitor III, Monitor IIc or monochrome
black and white display Apple sold for the IIgs. Graphics will appear in
multiple greyscales instead of pixel dot-patterns. Give it a try and check
out the difference!

>>2.
>>I want to do music, probably with GS/OS only. What is the best (MIDI)
>>hardware and software combination? SynthLab?
>
>I use the Apple MIDI interface.  It can be used by both Macs and the
>IIgs and is simply a small box with a 8 pin mini DIN connector and
>cable to connect to either the modem or printer port on the computer
>and has two 5 pin DINs for hooking up to MIDI equipment.

    As it was commonly used by pre-G3 Macintoshes, that is likely to be
the easiest to find and most inexpensive MIDI setup. I used one on my
Apple IIgs for years and it worked flawlessly with most software, there's
even a driver for it in System 6.

    Right now I'm using the AE Audio Animator as my MIDI connection;
that works nicely as well.

>As to software, SynthLAB has pretty nice sound but you are limited to
>7 voices at a time and it has little to no way to edit what you
>capture.  There are some commercial programs I've never had a chance
>to try like MusicWriter and MasterTracks.  Two commercial ones I have
>tried and wasn't impressed with are Music Studio and Music
>Construction Set.  There is also shareware, freeware and public domain
>programs like SoundSmith and Music Composer.  I'm sure there are
>others as well.

    synthLAB is great for using any generic MIDI keyboard as a slave
keyboard. That is, instead of using the built-in audio from the keyboard,
you have it "play" the Ensoniq in the IIgs live. My favorite instrument
patches to load were 'Orch.bnk' (nice strings and brass) and 'InstF.bnk'
(amazing cathedral pipe organ and church bells). My 'GrandPiano.bnk'
and 'Jazz.bnk' were fun too. :)

    I never did like Music Studio or Music Construction Set either, their
being very early (and less exploitive) of the IIgs's capabilities. Though
the latter was a nice demonstration of what even a simple program 
could do with the Ensoniq chip. Deluxe Music Construction Set GS
even more so, as Zany Golf and The Immortal proved.

    Overall I found music sequencer software was in the same boat 
as word processors for the IIgs. Nothing that great ever really came
along (I suppose MasterTracks Pro was the equivalent of AWGS-- 
the best there was but still very lacking).

>There are lots of options for sound hardware for the IIgs as well.
>The stock IIgs only outputs sound in mono so if you want to get stereo
>output you need to track down a stereo card.  There are also
>digitizing cards that will let you capture audio but most of those are
>mono only.  I think the Audio Animator from Applied Engineering might
>have had the ability to capture in stereo.

    Yes, both the Sonic Blaster and Audio Animator captured in stereo,
though the latter did a vastly better job since it used its own ADC and
housed in an external shielded case.

    For stereo cards the MDIdeas and Audio Animator were decent,
the Sonic Blaster was not. The Audio Animator is my favorite of the
whole bunch, as it combined stereo-ouput, audio-digitizing and MIDI
all in one card (plus added an external mixer with headphone jack).
Some of them though, like mine, inadvertently had their left/right
audio reversed. Annoying in games like Crystal Quest and Dungeon
Master.

>>3.
>>I want to do some early educational stuff with the system (my kid is <
>>1 year but that'll change soon enough). I only have a Wintel machine
>>now. I think I can get a CDROM for the IIGS and download disk images on
>>the PC, but then what? Actually, I don't have a SCSI card on the
>>IIGS.... Plus I don't know what IIGS 3.5" kiddie or educational titles
>>are good....
>
>Most of the educational software for the Apple II line was for the 8
>bit computers and is one 5.25" disks.  You might want to look into
>adding one or two to your system to make using them easier.

    There's a nice archive of Apple IIgs educational software over
at The Apple IIgs Educational Retrospective Slamdunk (which is
an expansion of the Gaming Fairway and Productivity Ring)

http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/slam_dunk/index.html

Mitchell Spector