Path: news1.icaen!news.uiowa.edu!news1.chicago.iagnet.net!qual.net!iagnet.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!207.207.0.25!nntp.texas.net!newsgate.swbell.net!swbell!not-for-mail From: Rubywand Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: New to Apple II again... Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 12:12:35 -0600 Organization: Southwestern Bell Internet Services, Richardson, TX Lines: 257 Message-ID: <35097713.8F2088A5@swbell.net> References: Reply-To: rubywand@swbell.net NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp-207-193-10-39.hstntx.swbell.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: (null) 889812606 945 (None) 207.193.10.39 X-Complaints-To: usenet@nnrp1 X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I) Xref: news1.icaen comp.sys.apple2:131285 Koichi Takagi writes ... > > I had a //c in 1985, and now a PowerMac 7200. > > I just found an unused IIGS at a friend's house, and want to get > word-processing and modem access to the University with it for him. > > I know these must be tired questions, so just try point me in the right > direction: > > Where can I get a modem, A standard modem (e.g. a Zoom 14.4, 28.8, etc. model) is fine. You will want a "High-Speed" hardware handshaking modem cable. For the modem cable, heck with Intrec ... Intrec Software (888-PROTERM; http://www.intrec.com ) or Alltech ... Alltech (760-724-2404; http://allelec.com ) > AppleWorks (did they make that for IIGS?) Scantron Quality Computers (800-777-3642 http://www.sqc.com ) has been the official vendor for Appleworks stuff. Supposedly they sell the current version of Appleworks (v5.1) as well as a product called "Appleworks-GS". Unless your friend's GS has 4MB of Expansion RAM and an accelerator board, Awks-GS is not recommended. (Actually, it is not recommended anyway.) The standard word processor for the GS is classic Appleworks 5.1. > and some > terminal software for it? How much? The best for-GS telecom program is Spectrum from ... Seven Hills Software (850-575-0566; http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware ) Retail price $85 Requirements Apple IIGS running GS/OS 6.0 or later [i.e. System 6.0.1] At least 1.25MB of memory Two 3.5" disk drives although a hard drive is strongly recommended A very good telecom program which does not require System 6 is ProTERM A2 from Intrec Software ($59.95). ProTERM A2 comes with an excellent manual and is the favorite of many GS and other Apple II users. > What else can the IIGS do? The GS can support three major 'environments': DOS 3.3- usually Beagle's Prontodos or some other speeded version of the original DOS 3.3. This is the 5.25" diskette-based disk operating system used for years on earlier Apple II's. It's commands are designed for use from BASIC programs or from the keyboard. Many old Apple II games and other wares are on 5.25" diskettes which boot DOS 3.3. ProDOS 8- e.g. ProDOS v2.0.3. This is a disk operating system which supports a variety of devices (e.g. 3.5" drives, hard drives, etc.) and allows sub-directories. Commands are very similar to DOS 3.3 and are designed for use in BASIC programs or from the keyboard. BASIC and 'system' programs can also utilize direct CALLs to well-defined ProDOS Machine Language Interface routines. GS/OS- usually System 5.04 or System 6.0.1. This is the desktop, Windows-like environment utilizing super-res displays. Both ProDOS 8 programs and 'GS Applications' (i.e. wares that need GS/OS to run) can be started from the desktop. The program which runs the desktop is usually called the "Finder". As to what kinds of things the GS can do ... It can play Apple II and IIgs games. It can be used to compose and play music. If you have a 'Stereo Board', it can play two-channel and stereo music. It can talk via Talking Tools from Byte Works ... Byte Works (505-898-8183; http://hypermall.com/byteworks/bwad.html email: mikew50@aol.com) It can be used to create graphics using painters such as Platinum Paint. It can be used for desktop publishing via wares like Awks-GS, Medley, etc.. With a CD-ROM drive and interface, it can access major Apple II wares archives such as the Golden Orchard CD from DigiSoft Innovations .... DigiSoft Innovations ( http://www.hypermall.com/cgi-bin/ssis/digisoft/digisoft email: Jim Maricondo at digisoft@hypermall.com) and it can play standard music CD's. It can access text, sound, and graphics on Disc Passage format CD's via Disc Quest software. It can record sounds and do 'Reverse Speech'. (To record sounds you need a 'Stereo Board' with an input or a separate sound input module such as the Ace board or the Hyperstudio card from Roger Wagner.) It can be programmed in BASIC (Program Writer makes this much easier), Pascal, C, (via the ORCA packages from Byte Works) and 65816 assembly language (via Roger Wagner's Merlin-16+ or ORCA/M from Byte Works). It can be used to create interactive sound-graphics presentations via Hyperstudio or HyperCard ... How much a particular GS can do depends, mainly, upon installed memory and whether or not a hard drive is connected. Alltech sells the handy, easy to install Focus 'Hard Card' hard drives-- at least 80MB is recommended-- as well as expansion memory boards-- 4MB is recommended. Alltech sells the System 6 diskettes (recommended for modern GS setups with 4MB and a hard drive) as well as System 5.04 diskettes (recommended for small 256k - 1.25MB GS systems). I'm pretty sure that Alltech includes System 6 on their Focus hard drives. Note: You can download System stuff from Apple's web site and transfer it to the GS. However, if the GS is a pretty 'bare bones' system, you save a lot of hassle for just a little cost by getting the System diskettes from some place like Alltech or getting a hard drive with System already installed. > And > what's up with emulation on the Mac? .... At present, there are three major GS-on-Mac emulators. Most of the info presented below comes from ... http://www.emulation.net/apple2/index.html Bernie ][ The Rescue >> Bernie ][ The Rescue (formerly Fast Eddie) is the most promising source of Apple IIgs emulation. Bernie ][ The Rescue is a third-party product delivering completely accurate IIgs emulation via a low-level emulator implementation ("emulating metal"). It's fast, stable and runs almost every Apple IIgs software program effortlessly. It's also very useful as an Apple II emulator, since the IIgs was backwards compatible with the older Apple II series. Bernie ][ the Rescue is also the only IIgs emulator which can run Wolfenstein 3D .... << ref. Andre Horstmann and Henrik Gudat, authors of Bernie ][ The Rescue http://www.magnet.ch/emutech/Bernie/index.html XGS-Mac >> XGS is a port of a Unix-based Apple IIgs emulator, which is free and in the public domain. It includes tools for conversion of DSK and DiskCopy disk images, and should work well with most Apple IIgs applications. XGS has definitely improved from its first incarnation. Ensoniq support works suprisingly well in a number of titles, and the disk image conversion process has been made much easier. The GS Finder boots up very well under XGS, although not quite as quickly as Bernie (which has been tuned for PowerPC, unlike XGS, a more portable application). << ref. Joshua M. Thompson, author of XGS and Michael Bytnar, who ported XGS to Macintosh. http://www.jurai.org/~funaho/emulators/XGS/ http://classicgaming.com/xgsdos/ http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/~m-bytnar/XGS-Mac/ GUS >> Gus is an Apple IIgs emulator for Power Macintoshes. It is an Apple project that many feel is a great Apple IIgs emulation package. Currently, Apple is giving away copies of Gus to schools who will sign a non-disclosure agreement. << http://www.apple.com/ (good luck!) Since Bernie appears to be the current GS-on-Mac front-runner, here is some additional information from the F.E.Systems EmuTech web site: >> Bernie is the result of a major engineering effort. Optimized for Power Macintosh® computers, Bernie combines compatibility and speed in an easy-to-use package. This unique software-only emulator coexists with MacOS® and runs virtually any Apple II and 16-bit Apple IIGS software. In both the MacOS® and Apple II world, Bernie is a reliable tool that gets your job done - on the Mac but still using your favorite software: AppleWorks® Classic, AppleWorks® GS, GraphicWriter as well as hundreds of other applications, games and tools. .... Bernie's core module is a speedy 65816 emulator running at speeds far beyond that of a stock Apple IIgs (approx. 6 Mhz on 601/66Mhz machines, well beyond 25Mhz on high-end Macs). Bernie is distributed as shareware. For a fee of $25, you can register your copy and acquire a license for forthcoming versions 1.x for the Macintosh. << For more Apple II stuff information, you can ask more questions and/or check our newsgroup's Frequently Asked Questions files. These are maintained on the world's largest Apple II resources site at URL's already mentioned in this thread. Other worthwhile Apple II FAQs groupings include ... Dr. Tom's extensive "A2 FAQ Collective" at http://209.100.61.57/A2.FAQ/ and Nathan Mates's fine "Official FAQs" collection at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html . Rubywand