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Apple II Frequently Asked Questions: Main Hall 1 ... Start Here!
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa21MAIN1.txt rev090 September 2005
The Csa2 (comp.sys.apple2) Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs and Resource files originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Ground Apple II Administrator: Steve Nelson
Note: FAQs files in the main folder on Ground are pure Text files which have no Font, Color, etc. formatting and no set line length. This makes them ideal for printing out or for viewing via an ftp client which places the content in a text viewer such as WordPad.
Text in the "Formatted" folder is line-length formatted for convenient on-line perusing via Netscape, etc..
Welcome to the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup Frequently Asked Questions! This file is called "Main Hall" because it's your starting-off point for accessing the Apple II FAQs.
You can peruse a listing of all FAQs questions in Main Hall-2; OR, you can check out some 'getting started' and 'what's where?' Questions & Answers here.
There have been a few revisions since the August 1, 2005 release. Beside the usual updates to site listings, these include additions to the Zip Drive & Tape FAQs.
Thanks to those who have suggested modifications and posted answers or sent contributions which have been incorporated.
Best wishes to all Apple II users!
Jeff Hurlburt, 1 September 2005 rubyw...@swbell.net
General Apple II and Getting Started Q&A
001- What is a FAQ? 002- What is comp.sys.apple2 and how can I read/post messages there? 003- What software do I need to get started and how do I get it? 004- How and where do I download and upload Apple II files? 005- Where can I get Apple II information, software, books, and parts? 006- What is an Apple II: The KIM 007- What is an Apple II: The Apple I 008- What is an Apple II: The Apple ][ and Apple ][+ 009- What is an Apple II: The "Black Apple" 010- What is an Apple II: The Apple //e 011- What is an Apple II: The Apple //c and IIc+ 012- What is an Apple II: The Laser 128EX and 'EX/2 013- What is an Apple II: The Apple IIgs 014- What is an Apple II: The Apple IIe Emulation Card 015- What is an Apple II: The Trackstar Apple II Emulation Card 016- What is an Apple II: Emulators 017- Apple "][", "Apple II", "Apple //"-- which is correct? 018- What is "8 bit" and "16 bit"? 019- How can I tell what version my computer is? 020- Suppose I just want to start using my Apple II Now!? 021- Where do I find out about Apple II users' groups? 022- How can I find out more about using and programming my Apple II? 023- Where can I find out about Apple II developers?
001- What is a FAQ?
A "FAQ" is a "Frequently Asked Question". The Csa2 FAQs is a collection of topics files and resource files which seeks to supply answers to questions about the Apple II series of computers and Apple II computing. --Rubywand
____________________________
002- What is comp.sys.apple2 and how can I read/post messages there?
Comp.sys.apple2 (Csa2) is a USENET newsgroup. Messages posted to these newsgroups spread to many thousands of servers and millions of readers throughout the world.
Most Internet Service Providers support posting and reading newsgroup messages via popular browsers like Netscape and Internet Explorer. A few internet sites also provide free access to newsgroups and allow posting messages. Two are Google and Mailgate. Google also allows searching for information in an archive of newsgroup messages which goes back to 1981. (For links see Q&A 001 in MAINHALL4.txt.)
There are several newsgroups in the Csa2 and related families, all concerned with Apple II series affairs. They provide a forum for users to compare notes, ask questions, and share insights.
comp.sys.apple2 (Csa2) - Discussion plus questions & answers relating to all Apple II computers
comp.sys.apple2.comm - Communications and networking related issues
comp.sys.apple2.gno - Discussion of GNO/ME, a UNIX-like multi-tasking environment for IIgs
comp.sys.apple2.marketplace - Buying, selling, and promoting Apple II and related products
comp.sys.apple2.programmer - Discussion relating to any aspect of programming the Apple II
comp.sys.apple2.usergroups - Discussion relating to Apple II users' groups
comp.binaries.apple2 - Public Domain software, shareware, and freeware for Apple II's in Text-encoded (binscii) form.
comp.emulators.apple2 - The unofficial 'Apple II games stuff' newsgroup features discussions of Apple II games as well as of Apple II emulation on PC, Mac, and other platforms.
comp.sources.apple2 - A newsgroup for the posting of Apple II source code
alt.emulators.ibmpc.apple2 - Discussion about the use of Apple II emulation software/hardware on a PC.
--David Kopper, Dan DeMaggio, David Empson, Al Kalal, Rubywand
____________________________
003- I'm an Apple II beginner. What software does a newbie need to get started and how do I get it?
If you bought an Apple II with no software at all, then, at the very least, you will need to get diskettes which boot DOS 3.3 and ProDOS (which pretty well means you need to have a disk drive). Here is a listing of basic stuff to get ...
o- DOS 3.3: DOS 3.3 is an old but a good operating system for software on 5.25" diskette. There is a _lot_ of Apple II software on DOS 3.3 diskettes. To write and save programs, etc. under DOS 3.3 you want a disk which boots DOS 3.3 and lets you get to a BASIC prompt. Once in BASIC after booting DOS you will be able to CATALOG the diskette, and LOAD, RUN, SAVE, ... programs. DOS 3.3 commands are described in more detail in the Csa2DOSMM Q&A.
Commercial game disks often do not allow you to get to a BASIC prompt. Disks with programs from other users, software from Apple user groups, and copies of Apple's System Master disks will, usually, let you get to BASIC either by exiting a program or by doing a Reset. (See Q&A 020 below for more about this.)
o- ProDOS: Practically all of the above applies to ProDOS. ProDOS is the newer Apple II DOS which allows having sub-directories. It works with 5.25" and 3.5" diskettes as well as hard disks and other large media. (See Csa2DOSMM Q&A for more about ProDOS.)
Note: Diskettes used with an Apple II should be double-density (DD) diskettes. High-density (HD) diskettes sold for PC's will not work reliably in Apple II disk drives.
o- Copy II Plus: This is the standard general purpose disk/file management utility. Good versions for working with both DOS 3.3 and ProDOS disks are Version 7.1 and 7.2.
o- A telecom utility: an Apple II telecom utility (e.g. ZLink, ProTerm, ...) together with a serial interface board (or built-in serial port) lets you transfer the Apple II files you download on the net from your PC or Mac to your Apple II.
o- ShrinkIt: Most Apple II files are maintained on the net as shrinked files (.shk files) or on shrinked disks (.sdk files). ShrinkIt v3.4 is the standard utility for unshrinking these files; it requires a 128k Apple IIe or later Apple II. Earlier versions of ShrinkIt work on Apple II's with less than 128k memory.
Aside from Apple II user friends, there are many places you can get the above, as well as all sorts of other Apple II utility, game, etc. software:
1. Apple II Users' Groups maintain software libraries of utility and games diskettes you can copy. (See Csa2USERGRP.txt.)
2. Some schools and universities have Apple II areas where you can copy system and utility diskettes.
3. Many sellers of original and second-hand software advertise on the comp.sys.apple2.marketplace newsgroup and/or maintain web sites you can browse. Be sure to check the listing of vendors presented later on.
4. If requested via email, regular posters to Csa2 will often send one or more 'getting started' diskettes which will boot DOS 3.3 and/or ProDOS and which include some copy, telecom, etc. utilities plus games. (Expect to pay mailing and materials costs.)
5. The Apple II archive sites listed below maintain large collections of software which you can download via PC or Mac and transfer to your Apple II.
--Rubywand
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004- How and where do I download and upload Apple II files?
How: By far, the easiest and quickest way is to access software sites on the net using a PC or Mac. Files can be moved to and from your Apple II via a NULL modem connection with the net computer. If you use a Mac, you may have the option of transferring the files via a ProDOS or HFS diskette or an HFS
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa21MAIN2.txt rev090 September 2005
Main Hall-2: Contents
001- Where does FAQs content come from? 002- How and where do I locate information in the FAQs?
001- Where does FAQs content come from?
Content comes chiefly from USENET postings, emails and other submissions, Apple II archive sites, and the FAQs maintainer (past and present). As in the original rev001 release, credit is given for answers and materials used in the Csa2 Apple II FAQs. --Rubywand
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002- How and where do I locate information in the FAQs?
The main FAQs files consist of Questions with Answers centering on some specific Apple II topic. For these, the questions are listed here as well as at the start of each FAQs file and inside the body of the file. (Whenever questions are listed together, they are shortened as necessary so that each fits on a single line.)
To find an answer, peruse the Contents below for the FAQs file title-- e.g. "Csa2FDRIVE Floppy drives"-- which fits your question best and read through the questions answered in that file. If a question looks like a good match, go to the file and read the answer.
Sometimes, the best match to your question may be in some file only partly related to your topic. For instance, to find out about converting .dsk game files to diskette, you should check "Csa2FLUTILS ShrinkIt, disk image, and other file utilities" instead of the Games FAQs. Doing a 'Find' for a key word in this document is another way to zero-in on relevant material.
Another way to use the FAQs is to peruse the site listings in Csa21MAIN3. The site descriptions and links may lead to a treasure trove of information covering your topic.
There are, also, FAQs Resource files. These are pics, diagrams, mini- manuals, programs, etc. which are referenced in one or more FAQs answers. Resource files have names like R004STEREO.GIF and R007BATRAMM.zip. They are maintained on the Ground archive and a few other sites:
The Resource files are listed and briefly described near the end of this file. --Rubywand
Contents
Csa21MAIN1 General Apple II and Getting Started Q&A (part1)
001- What is a FAQ? 002- What is comp.sys.apple2 and how can I read/post messages there? 003- What software do I need to get started and how do I get it? 004- How and where do I download and upload Apple II files? 005- Where can I get Apple II information, software, books, and parts? 006- What is an Apple II: The KIM 007- What is an Apple II: The Apple I 008- What is an Apple II: The Apple ][ and Apple ][+ 009- What is an Apple II: The "Black Apple" 010- What is an Apple II: The Apple //e 011- What is an Apple II: The Apple //c and IIc+ 012- What is an Apple II: The Laser 128EX and 'EX/2 013- What is an Apple II: The Apple IIgs 014- What is an Apple II: The Apple IIe Emulation Card 015- What is an Apple II: The Trackstar Apple II Emulation Card 016- What is an Apple II: Emulators 017- Apple "][", "Apple II", "Apple //"-- which is correct? 018- What is "8 bit" and "16 bit"? 019- How can I tell what version my computer is? 020- Suppose I just want to start using my Apple II Now!? 021- Where do I find out about Apple II users' groups? 022- How can I find out more about using and programming my Apple II? 023- Where can I find out about Apple II developers?
Csa21MAIN2 FAQs Contents (part2)
001- Where does FAQs content come from? 002- How and where do I locate information in the FAQs?
Csa21MAIN3 Apple II Web Sites (part24)
001- Where can I get Apple II information and software on the net? 002- Where can I get games for my Apple II on the net? 003- Where can I find hints, docs, pics, and other game information? 004- Where can I get game creation programs and information? 005- Where can I buy Apple II systems, parts, boards, and software? 006- Where can I get Apple II books and periodicals? 007- How do I get my Apple II site listed in the FAQs? 008- What determines whether or not a site is listed?
Csa21MAIN4 Get It- Links to popular software packages (part25)
001- Where can I get ShrinkIt, binscii, DSK2FILE, ASIMOV, etc.? 002- Where can I get ADT, ADTgs, Agate, Modem MGR, Spectrum ...? 003- Where can I get DOS 3.3 and ProDOS? 004- Where and how do I get GS System 6.0.1? 005- Where can I get AmDOS, OzDOS, DOS 3.3 Launcher, ProSel 8, SpeedGS? 006- Where can I get Program Writer, GPLE, Merlin, Orca, ... ? 007- Where can I get Appleworks, ScreenWriter, WordPerfect, ...? 008- Where can I get Platinum Paint, PaintWorks Gold, DeluxePaint II? 009- Where can I get 816 Paint, Blazing Paddles, Dazzle Draw, ...?
Csa2ACCEL ZipGS, TransWarp, etc. accelerators (part3)
001- What are the correct settings for a ZipGS? 002- Why should Appletalk Delay be disabled with a ZipGS? 003- How do I set up a Transwarp on my IIe? 004- Is there a way of disabling Transwarp for games? 005- What are specs & jumper settings for a vintage SpeeDemon? 006- How does the SpeeDemon rate as an accelerator? 007- My SpeeDemon accelerator board seems to run hot. A fix? 008- How should the DIP switches be set on a v3.03 SpeeDemon? 009- How can I get a 'Cache Hit' indicator for my ZipGS? 010- How can I program the ZipGS registers? 011- How can I set up a ProDOS sys file to turn my ZipGS OFF/ON? 012- Is there some ZipGS mod that will improve performance? 013- I have a 7MHz ZipGS. How fast can the board be pushed? 014- What Oscillator freq corresponds to what upgrade speed? 015- How do I experiment with different oscillator frequencies? 016- How do I modify my ZipGS to accept the new "skinny" RAM chips? 017- Is it really necessary to increase board voltage 018- What kind of performance increase can I expect? 019- How can I modify my ZipGS for more cache and more speed? 020- Do I need new GALs to speed up my TransWarpGS? 021- How does a TWGS cache upgrade compare with a speed upgrade? 022- How can I upgrade my TWGS to 32k cache? 023- How can I upgrade TWGS speed? 024- What kind of RAMs do I need for a TWGS or ZipGS speedup? 025- How can I tell the firmware version of my TWGS? 026- For my TWGS, do I need the 2B GAL to use a SCSI interface card? 027- Why are my ZipGS settings via the Zip CDA forgotten? 028- What do the check-marks mean in the ZipGS CDA? 029- Why don't my ZipGS settings match DIP switch settings!? 030- I have a ZipGS. Sometimes my GS 'hangs' on power-up. Why? 031- The speedup has led to system crashes. What's the problem? 032- A new accelerator board has led to crashes. What's the problem?
Csa2APPLICS Applications information (part4)
001- What Operating System environments does the GS support? 002- What GS programs are there for viewing/converting graphics? 003- What Apple II emulators are available and where can I get them? 004- What is a good file copier program for the IIgs? 005- Where can I find PEEKs & POKEs and monitor routine info? 006- How can I boot a good GS System with no hard disk? 007- Can I do Reverse Speech on my IIgs? 008- Is it possible to run PaintWorks from hard disk? 009- How can I read a single ProDOS block into memory under BASIC? 010- Is there an Apple II program for ham radio CW code practice? 011- Can my GS do file sharing with a Mac's hard drive? 012- How can I use a Mac as a network server with my GS? 013- How can I set up an Appletalk network for 30 IIgs's 014- How can I capture a GS super-res screen to disk? 015- What programming languages are available for the Apple ][? 016- How can I see and edit what's in a Text file? 017- How do I save a BASIC program in ASCII text form? 018- Where and how do I get GS System 6.0.1? 019- Is a graphical user interface (GUI) available for 8-bit A2's? 020- Where can I get Applesoft shape table info and programs? 021- How can I get a Postscript file from a GS document? 022- Where can I get Appleworks and Appleworks info? 023- Where can I get Apple II languages and programming info? 024- How can I boot DOS 3.3 images on the Bernie IIgs emulator? 025- Is there a way to convert two-column Text to one column? 026- Where can I find an Apple II memory map? 027- How can I move A2 programs to Quick BASIC on my PC?
Csa2CDROM CD-ROM drives and interfaces (part5)
001- What do I need to get/do to use Music and Data CD's on my GS? 002- What do I need discQuest for? 003- How can I back up my files on write-able CD-ROM? 004- Is a special driver needed for a Toshiba External 2X CD-ROM? 005- How can I get sound from my Apple HSS card + CD300 CD-ROM? 006- Where can I buy CD-ROM discs for the Apple II? 007- Where can I find more info on CD-ROM drives, products, etc.? 008- Where can I find out more about CD-ROM recording?
Csa2DOSMM DOS and ProDOS (part6)
001- What is a "DOS"? 002- What DOS's are available on Apple II computers? 003- Are there any faster better versions of DOS 3.3? 004- What commands are available in DOS 3.3? 005- How do I use DOS commands from the keyboard? a program? 006- How do I use variables in a DOS command? 007- How do I create new DOS 3.3 diskettes? 008- How much storage space is on a 5.25" diskette? 009- Can I format a DOS 3.3 diskette for just data storage? 010- What is the "Volume Table of Contents" or "VTOC"? 011- Can I assign names to my DOS 3.3 diskettes? 012- What does it
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2ACCEL.txt rev090 September 2005
Accelerators
001- What are the correct settings for a ZipGS? 002- Why should Appletalk Delay be disabled with a ZipGS? 003- How do I set up a Transwarp on my IIe? 004- Is there a way of disabling Transwarp for games? 005- What are specs & jumper settings for a vintage SpeeDemon? 006- How does the SpeeDemon rate as an accelerator? 007- My SpeeDemon accelerator board seems to run hot. A fix? 008- How should the DIP switches be set on a v3.03 SpeeDemon? 009- How can I get a 'Cache Hit' indicator for my ZipGS? 010- How can I program the ZipGS registers? 011- How can I set up a ProDOS sys file to turn my ZipGS OFF/ON? 012- Is there some ZipGS mod that will improve performance? 013- I have a 7MHz ZipGS. How fast can the board be pushed? 014- What Oscillator freq corresponds to what upgrade speed? 015- How do I experiment with different oscillator frequencies? 016- How do I modify my ZipGS to accept the new "skinny" RAM chips? 017- Is it really necessary to increase board voltage 018- What kind of performance increase can I expect? 019- How can I modify my ZipGS for more cache and more speed? 020- Do I need new GALs to speed up my TransWarpGS? 021- How does a TWGS cache upgrade compare with a speed upgrade? 022- How can I upgrade my TWGS to 32k cache? 023- How can I upgrade TWGS speed? 024- What kind of RAMs do I need for a TWGS or ZipGS speedup? 025- How can I tell the firmware version of my TWGS? 026- For my TWGS, do I need the 2B GAL to use a SCSI interface card? 027- Why are my ZipGS settings via the Zip CDA forgotten? 028- What do the check-marks mean in the ZipGS CDA? 029- Why don't my ZipGS settings match DIP switch settings!? 030- I have a ZipGS. Sometimes my GS 'hangs' on power-up. Why? 031- The speedup has led to system crashes. What's the problem? 032- A new accelerator board has led to crashes. What's the problem? 033- How can I get a display of IIgs speed?
From: Marc Sira, David Empson, Rubywand
001- What are the correct settings for a ZipGSx? I've tinkered with "CPS Follow", "Counter Delay", and the like but have no idea what I'm actually doing.
Bank C/D cache enable -- Leave this at the default setting (SW1-1 set to ON). This tells the Zip if it's OK to cache bank-switched RAM (the old language card area). Zip's own docs say "there is no know software requiring this" but that it why it's there, in case somebody ever finds software that doesn't like it you can try setting it the other way.
Paddle Delay lets your paddles or joystick work the way they do on 8-bit Apple II's or an unaccelerated IIgs. The delay is necessary for playing most 8-bit games which use paddles or a joystick. Recommended setting is to have the delay active (SW1-2 set to OFF) unless you feel like experimenting.
AppleTalk or Interrupt Delay should always be disabled (SW1-3 set to ON). The desktop will run much slower if you enable it. The only reason most people needed it was for AppleTalk under system 5, and now there is an init on tybalt that fixes that. System 6 fixed the problem but requires CPS Follow to be enabled for the fix to work.
Counter Delay is really present just so that the ZipGS can be set to get past one of the early IIgs diagnostic self-tests. It causes the Zip to "deaccelerate" (actually all it does is temporarily ignore that any data can be read from the cache instead of the motherboard) for about 5 milliseconds any time you read one of the Video Counters. To get pass the particular self-test, SW1-4 should be set to OFF (delay active). Otherwise, the recommended setting is SW1-4 set to ON.
CPS Follow should always be enabled (SW1-5 set to OFF). It causes the ZipGS to auntomatically 'follow' the IIgs-- when it switches to "Normal" speed, the ZipGS is disabled. This is a requirement for a reasonable amount of timing-critical software. If you disable CPS Follow you will have problems with Disk ]['s and System 6's AppleTalk driver and anything else that expects the Zip to slow down to 1 mhz when the IIgs is instructed to slow down to 1MHz. For instance, border text demos (like the FTA XMAS demo) won't work if you have this disabled. Expect weird things to happen if you play with this one.
ZipGS Enable-- The card should normally be enabled (SW1-6 set to ON).
SW1-7 and SW1-8 should be set to correspond to the size of your ZipGS's cache memory. (see below)
SW2-1 through SW2-7 control slot delays for Slots 1-7. Set the switch OFF to enable the delay for the corresponding Slot. This is generally only needed for a small number of cards that are speed critical but not IIgs-aware. 5.25" disk interface cards are covered by the CPS FOLLOW option (1-5) if they are in slots 4 to 7.
I have found that it is necessary to enable the delay for slot 6 when using a 3.5" drive connected to the IIgs disk port. There are a few rare cases in which a long timed operation is performed in fast mode, and the ZIP throws the timing out unless this delay is enabled. In my case, I had some strange disk errors with certain disks until I enabled this delay.
Speaker Delay lets "old Apple II" 1-bit sounds play the way they would on 8-bit Apple II's or an unaccelerated IIgs. The delay is necessary for getting correct sound from most 8-bit games. I recommend having the delay active (SW2-8 set to OFF).
Summary
The normally recommended SW1 settings are identical to the factory default settings except for SW1-4 ...
ON x x x x m m OFF x x m m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1- Cxxx/Dxxx Cache: ON= enabled. 2- Defeat Joystick delay: OFF= allow delay. 3- Defeat AppleTalk delay: ON= no delay. 4- Defeat Counter Delay: ON= no delay. Set OFF to pass IIgs diagnostic self-test #05 ("Speed Test"). 5- Defeat CPS Follow: OFF for floppy drives to work. 6- ZipGS enable: ON. (Set OFF to allow powerup boot in slow mode and use an Init to turn GS back ON.)
7 & 8- Set these to installed Zip cache memory size:
ON ON 8k ON OFF 16k OFF ON 32k OFF OFF 64k
The factory default SW2 settings are ...
ON x x x x x OFF x x x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SW2-1 through SW2-7 control whether a card in Slot 1-7 is accessed at full speed (set ON) or "normal" speed (set OFF)*.
SW2-8 sets Defeat Speaker Delay. To play 'old Apple' music and effects correctly, the switch should be OFF to permit the delay.
*Note: Whether or not a particular card can work without a slow-down is something you can determine by experimentaton. This is easiest using the Zip CDA accessed via the Desk Accessories menu (OpenApple-Control-Escape). The CDA settings are not permanent. Once you find the settings you like, you can turn OFF the computer and set the switches on the board to match the settings that work best.
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From: Todd P. Whitesel
002- Why should Appletalk Delay be disabled with a ZipGS?
Because it saps performance every time an interrupt occurs.
The Appletalk delay was originally called the "Interrupt Delay" but they renamed it at the last minute because somebody actually tried an 8/64 on an Appleshare network and it dropped packets like crazy.
With "Appletalk delay" on, every time an interrupt occurs your Zip will disable acceleration for 5 ms, just like it does with the paddles and the speaker and the others. This is a significant effect because with VBL interrupts going you have one every 16 ms, so your Zip spends nearly 1/3 of the time not accelerating you.
Why this "fixes" appletalk: in system 5 and earlier (including the ROM appletalk code), there are software timing loops which assume 2.8 mhz operation. As you speed the system up, it gets more and more likely to drop incoming packets because it thinks they are being sent too slowly to be correct, when in reality the appletalk code is timing out too fast.
Why the Appletalk delay is not a complete solution: a full-size Appletalk packet that you'd get from a file server takes about 14 ms to transmit. The Appletalk delay covers the first 1/3 of the packet, the VBL interrupt covers at most another third of the packet, but nothing is guaranteed to keep acceleration off for the whole packet. If you speed the Zip up more, say to 10/64, it starts dropping long packets no matter what.
This latter problem was why I originally wrote ZipTalk. It required a slot delay to be enabled (in, say, slot 6 or 7), and before each appletalk packet was received I tweaked that slot -- slot delays are 50 ms, so the Zip stays unaccelerated way past the end of the packet and everything works. (I also patched packet sending, to be safe.)
In system 6 Apple fixed things correctly in the appletalk drivers. I removed the code from ZipTalk and released what remained as ZipFix. As of 6.0.1, the cursor flicker problem was fixed by apple in the control panel, so now you only need ZipFix for the GS/OS SET_SYS_SPEED hook, which nobody seems to use.
______________________________
From: Jeff Brielmaier
003- How do I set up a Transwarp on my IIe?
Bank1: Sw 1-7 -> Change to OPEN if there is a memory card that uses the "Langauge Card bank switching technique". (Normally CLOSED)
Bank1: Sw 1-7 -> Change to OPEN if the plug in card must be accessed at 1 MHz (Normally CLOSED. OPEN for Floppy diskette controllers)
Switch 8 on both Banks: Sets the power up speed of Transwarp
Bank1 Bank2
3.6 MHz OPEN OPEN <<Normal>> 1.7 MHz CLOSED OPEN 1 MHz OPEN CLOSED 1 MHz CLOSED CLOSED
----------------------
004- Is there a way of disabling Transwarp for games?
Press <Esc> at power-up will disable Transwarp completely until
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2APPLICS.txt rev090 September 2005
Applications
001- What Operating System environments does the GS support? 002- What GS programs are there for viewing/converting graphics? 003- What Apple II emulators are available and where can I get them? 004- What is a good file copier program for the IIgs? 005- Where can I find PEEKs & POKEs and monitor routine info? 006- How can I boot a good GS System with no hard disk? 007- Can I do Reverse Speech on my IIgs? 008- Is it possible to run PaintWorks from hard disk? 009- How can I read a single ProDOS block into memory under BASIC? 010- Is there an Apple II program for ham radio CW code practice? 011- Can my GS do file sharing with a Mac's hard drive? 012- How can I use a Mac as a network server with my GS? 013- How can I set up an Appletalk network for 30 IIgs's 014- How can I capture a GS super-res screen to disk? 015- What programming languages are available for the Apple ][? 016- How can I see and edit what's in a Text file? 017- How do I save a BASIC program in ASCII text form? 018- Where and how do I get GS System 6.0.1? 019- Is a graphical user interface (GUI) available for 8-bit A2's? 020- Where can I get Applesoft shape table info and programs? 021- How can I get a Postscript file from a GS document? 022- Where can I get Appleworks and Appleworks info? 023- Where can I get Apple II languages and programming info? 024- How can I boot DOS 3.3 images on the Bernie IIgs emulator? 025- Is there a way to convert two-column Text to one column? 026- Where can I find an Apple II memory map? 027- How can I move A2 programs to Quick BASIC on my PC?
From: Rubywand, David Empson, and Michael Gährken
001- What Operating System environments does the GS support?
The GS can support several. Some of the more popular OS environments include ...
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.
Apple Pascal- This is an early 1980's implementation of UCSD Pascal which can run on 40-column and 80-column Apple II's.
System- Originally called "ProDOS 16" and later "GS/OS", the collection of 'system stuff' (which includes GS/OS) is today called "System". The System Finder utilizes Toolbox routines to supply a super-res desktop, Windows-like environment. Both ProDOS 8 programs and 'GS Applications' (i.e. wares that need GS/OS to run) can be started from the desktop.
The current System, v6.0.1, can run on ROM-01 and ROM 3 IIgs's with at least 1MB of installed RAM. An earlier (smaller) System, v5.0.4, is sometimes chosen in order to obtain more free memory to run applications. Many modern IIgs applications expect to run under System 6.0.1 on a ROM-01 or ROM 3 machine with 4MB (or more) installed RAM.
____________________________
From: Dan DeMaggio and Rubywand
002- What GS programs are there for viewing/converting graphics?
The Graphics Exchange converts between many formats of graphics.
816 Paint's File Utilities work well for converting hires or double-hires pics to GS super-res.
Prizm v1.0 Converts .GIFs, Amiga IFFs, Raw Files, and some other types to Greyscale (very fast), 16 colors, 256 colors, and 3200 colors!
SuperConvert (now at version 4) loads all GS formats, plus GIFS and other non-GS specific formats and saves in all GS formats including Finder Icon files. It has more dithering options than most of the other programs, but you may have to play with it to find the best one.
Platinum Paint is a commercial program that can import all GS formats plus MacPaint. It can only save in SHR and Apple Preferred. Version 2.0 can make Animations too!
ShowPic 6 is a shareware NDA that can display most GS formats. You can also save the resulting graphic as a IIgs SHR painting.
SuperPac is a commercial program which can create/display SuperPac format compressed pics and pic pieces
Dream Grafix supports all 3200 color picture types and also 16 color and 256 color pictures. This is a very impressive commercial paint program.
Convert 3200 will handle several popular PC and Mac formats in up to 256 colors.
Jpeg.Viewer can be used to view JPEG images in black & white.
____________________________
From: Rubywand, Deacon Blue
Related FAQs Resources: R026GSEMUS.html (HTML chart)
003- What Apple II emulators are available and where can I get them?
The most popular 8-bit Apple II emus are AppleWin and Apple Oasis, which run under PC Windows, and Apple-PC, which runs under PC DOS and includes support for Mockingboard sound. These programs can turn your PC into an enhanced Apple //e running at least as fast as the real thing using software from virtual disks (disk image files). There are also 8-bit Apple II emus for Macs (one, Catakig, emulates a II, II+, or IIe) and Amiga (Apple 2000).
For IIgs emulation, the current speed and compatibility leader is Bernie ][ The Rescue. Bernie is shareware which runs on the Mac Power PC.
The chief competition for Bernie is probably KEGS (which runs under Win32, Mac OS-X, Linux, and many Unix's) and ActiveGS, an Active-X port of KEGS. Another IIgs emu, XGS, runs on PC's and Macs under a variety of OS's including DOS, Windows, and Unix. KEGS/32 and XGS/32 are for PC Windows. Another good looking IIgs emu is Sweet-16 (BeOS).
Running on modern machines, the current emulators do well on benchmarks vis-a-vis an accelerated IIgs. To get some idea of how the GS emus stack up, see the benchmarks comparison chart by Gilles Tschopp in FAQs resource file R026GSEMUS.htm . (This benchmark is a bit old and doesn't include all IIgs emus or take into account improvements to later versions of the emulators listed.)
For more emulator information, check out the comp.emulators.apple2 newsgroup and visit some of the emu websites.
For details and software relating to a specific emulator see ...
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2CDROM.txt rev090 September 2005
CD-ROM
001- What do I need to get/do to use Music and Data CD's on my GS? 002- What do I need discQuest for? 003- How can I back up my files on write-able CD-ROM? 004- Is a special driver needed for a Toshiba External 2X CD-ROM? 005- How can I get sound from my Apple HSS card + CD300 CD-ROM? 006- Where can I buy CD-ROM discs for the Apple II? 007- Where can I find more info on CD-ROM drives, products, etc.? 008- Where can I find out more about CD-ROM recording?
From: Rubywand, Jawaid Bazyar, Tony Diaz, George Rentovich, Wayne Stewart, Dave
001- What do I need to use regular CD Music Discs and access data discs (like the Golden Orchard CD) on my Apple IIgs?
What you need is ...
1- RAMFast, Apple, or other SCSI interface card. The Slot in which the card is located must be set to "Your Card" (e.g. via the Control Panel).
Note 1: Today, SCSI devices normally expect that a "termination voltage" will be supplied by the SCSI interface card. RamFAST does this; but, most other cards do not. If you have such a card and have a hard disk connected and working, then, there should be no problem-- either the hard disk is supplying the voltage or the card has been modified. Otherwise, be sure to obtain information on the needed modification. (For the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card termination power mod, see the Hard Disk and SCSI FAQs in fil e Csa2HDNSCSI.txt.)
Note 2: A version 1.01 ZipGS card needs to be upgraded to work with RamFAST.
2- External CD-ROM disc drive which your SCSI card supports.
The Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card is known to work with ...
Apple CD-150 Apple CD-600i Apple CD-SC+ Pioneer DRM-600.
The RamFAST is known to work with many drives, including any "SCSI Standard" drive and practically any NEC or Texel. Some specific models are ...
Apple CD-150 Apple CD-300 Nec CDR38 Nec CDR25 Nec CDR74 Nec CDR84 Nec CDR-501 Nec CDR-502 (reads CDs fine but the front bezel music playing controls don't work when connected to a RamFAST) Philips CM425A Pioneer DM600 (which is a 6 disc CD changer) Pioneer DR-U06S (slot loading) Sony CDU8002 Sony CDU8003 Sony CDU555S Texel DM3X1S Texel DM3028 Texel DM5028 Toshiba 3401 Toshiba XM-3501 Toshiba XM640LB (40speed)
Note 1: Check to be sure that the SCSI device number of your CD-ROM drive does not conflict with the number for your hard disk, Zip Drive, etc.. Each device on the SCSI chain should have a different number, usually in the range 1-6. #6 is usually reserved for the device you wish to boot, such as a hard disk. (A drive's SCSI number is usually set via a switch on the back.) SCSI number does not need to relate to position on the chain.
Note 2: The last device on the SCSI chain (i.e. the drive which is physically at the end of the chain) should have its Termination set to ON and Termination for other SCSI devices shoud be set to OFF. If your CD-ROM Drive is the only SCSI device, Termination should be ON. (Actually, a SCSI interface card may be able to handle two devices with Termination set to ON. However, you are likely to have problems if the last device on the chain has Termination set OFF.)
3- A SCSI cable. Common SCSI plug/socket sizes are 50-pin and 25-pin. Get a cable which matches your CD-ROM drive and the device you plan to plug into (i.e. a SCSI hard disk, Zip Drive, ..., or your SCSI interface card).
4- To hear music played from a CD, Stereo headphones, speakers, or hi-fi cables need to be plugged into the CD ROM drive. Most drives have a mini- Stereo socket in the front. To fit the socket, the plug for your headphones, etc. must be a Stereo plug.
5- A Driver file which matches your interface card. For RamFAST, it is Ramfast.Driver. For Apple SCSI cards it is SCSI.Manager and SCSICD.Driver. The Driver file(s) should be in the SYSTEM/DRIVERS/ folder (i.e. the DRIVERS folder in the SYSTEM folder). To avoid conflicts, RamFAST users should remove SCSI.Manager, SCSICD.Driver, and other Apple "SCSI ..." drivers from the SYSTEM/DRIVERS/ folder.
6- In order to play standard Music CD's via your computer, you should have the following:
o A Media Driver which matches your CD-ROM drive. For example, RF.NEC is a driver supplied with RamFAST which works with NEC drives. The Media Driver should be in the SYSTEM/DRIVERS/MEDIA.CONTROL/ folder.
o A standard System 6 control panel file (i.e. a "CDEV") named "MediaControl". MediaControl should be in the SYSTEM/CDEVS/ folder
o A standard System 6 media control New Desk Accessory file (i.e. an "NDA") named "MediaControl.DA". MediaControl.DA should be in the SYSTEM/DESK.ACCS/ folder.
7- In order to access files on data CD-ROM discs (like DigiSoft Innovation's Golden Orchard CD), the standard System 6 High Sierra file system translator file (HS.FST) should be in the SYSTEM/FSTS folder. This lets you read ISO 9660 format data CD-ROM discs. You should already have the ProDOS FST (PRO.FST) in the same folder. This lets you read ProDOS partitions which may be included along with ISO 9660 partitions on a data CD-ROM disc.
Once the above items are checked, Shut Down your IIgs. Turn it OFF. Turn OFF the CD ROM drive. Wait 10-20 seconds. Turn ON the CD ROM Drive. Wait a few seconds and turn ON your IIgs. Boot System 6.01.
Your SCSI card manual and/or information supplied by the CD-ROM drive seller is the best guide for doing any necessary setup chores. If a SCSI hard disk or Zip Drive is already connected and working, it's likely that no special setup will be necessary.
Note: If the CD-ROM drive is the only SCSI device on the chain and you are using a RamFAST along with a ZipGS accelerator, be sure to run RAMFAST.SYSTEM after booting in order to change at least one setting. You want to click [O]ptions and set "TransWarpGS" to "NO".
Playing a Music CD
Click on Control Panels in the Apple Menu. Select the Media Ctrl control panel. I have "1" for Media Channel, "RF.NEC" (the name of the driver) for Media Device, and "GAME PORT" for Port. After entering your settings, close the panel. This will save your setup in a file named "Media.Setup" in the same Media.Control folder which contains your media control driver.
From the Apple Menu click on Media Controller to show the CD ROM player. Click Channel 1, the name of your CD ROM driver sould show in the player display. Insert a CD. Click Play and adjust the volume on the drive.
Loading Data, Games, etc. from a Data CD
Startup is the same as described above. It seems to be a good idea to have a data CD in the drive before turning ON the computer. Some drive + card combinations may not go on-line if no CD is present by the time you turn ON the computer. You can experiment to see what works for your particular system.
-----------------------------
From: Jason Kettinger
I've got a Chinon CDA-435 1X speed (150Kps) SCSI-1 CDROM hooked up to my IIgs using the Apple HS SCSI card, and it works great. I don't have any encyclopedias, and CD-Audio disks do not get detected; but, the IIgs detects ISO/HFS CD removals and insertions fine without a reboot.
___________________________
From: Rubywand
002- I've heard of a package called 'discQuest' which is supposed to open the way to accessing all sorts of commercial CD's. But, if I can play CD music and load files from data CD's, what do I need discQuest for?
Below is a condensed discQuest review. It should help clarify things.
DiscQUEST v1.2.2 for 2MB IIgs from Sequential Systems CD ROM drive, interface, and System 6 or later required; hard disk and System 6.01 recommended
There is a burgeoning library of CD-ROM releases. History of the World from Library Reference is a case in point. discPassage is a PC/Mac interface program which lets a user access text, pictures, and sound tracks on CD's which employ a discPassage database.
Typically, dP products carry the digital data disc symbol and are labelled "for Mac or multi-media PC" with Mac and PC versions of discPassage included on-disc.
"Whoa! My IIgs has a CD-ROM reader, SCSI interface, and all the standard System 6.01 drivers. It still can't do much with those disc CD's."
Right. The basic IIgs setup CAN access data and programs on for-Apple II CD's. If you've added the appropriate Media NDA and Control Panel, your CD-ROM IIgs can also mimic a CD music disc player complete with all of the usual controls. Audio is output directly from the CD-ROM drive to headphones, a hi- fi amp, or a pair of amplified speakers.
"Fine; but, how do I ask the Family Doctor a question, peruse an encyclopedia, and use other neat CD-ROM data disc products?"
Actually, with HS.FST in your SYSTEM/FSTs folder, you can click the CD- ROM icon, display folders, and even load TEXT files from discPassage CD's. Your IIgs is 'compatible enough' with ISO 9660 even if some of the PC filetypes are unfamiliar. Still, this kind of access is hardly satisfactory. What you lack is the software key to unlock the discPassage database. Your IIgs cannot run PC or Mac versions of discPassage; but, it CAN run a for-GS database unlocker named "discQuest"!
How do the systems match-up? Well, I tried out several CD's under discPassage on a 33MHz '486 PC and discQuest on a IIgs with 10Mhz/64K ZipGSx. On the PC you get to see an intro pic (which discQuest skips); and, in one case, a sound file which played fine with discPassage did not work under discQuest.
As might be expected, pictures come in faster under discPassage because discQuest must often spend extra seconds processing each PC-format image. The larger the graphic and greater
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2DOSMM.txt rev090 September 2005
DOS & ProDOS
001- What is a "DOS"? 002- What DOS's are available on Apple II computers? 003- Are there any faster better versions of DOS 3.3? 004- What commands are available in DOS 3.3? 005- How do I use DOS commands from the keyboard? a program? 006- How do I use variables in a DOS command? 007- How do I create new DOS 3.3 diskettes? 008- How much storage space is on a 5.25" diskette? 009- Can I format a DOS 3.3 diskette for just data storage? 010- What is the "Volume Table of Contents" or "VTOC"? 011- Can I assign names to my DOS 3.3 diskettes? 012- What does it mean to "Boot" a disk? 013- What file types does DOS 3.3 have 014- What do the entries in a DOS 3.3 Catalog display mean? 015- Re. DOS 3.3 file names: How long? What characters are legal? 016- How can I use DOS 3.3 to read/write sectors from machine code? 017- How many 'official' versions of DOS 3.3 are there? 018- How can I find out the address and size of a BLOADed file? 019- What information is included in the VTOC and Catalog sectors? 020- How does DOS 3.3 remember which sectors are used? 021- What are the formats of DOS 3.3's main file types? 022- How can I run DOS 3.3 programs from 3.5" disks and hard disk? 023- How can I get DOS 3.3 from the net without an A2 tcom utility? 024- What is ProDOS? 025- What are ProDOS's major features? 026- Which Apple II's can run which versions of ProDOS? 027- How can I create bootable ProDOS diskettes? 028- How do I make a ProDOS disk that will boot and start a BASIC program? 029- What is the maximum size of a ProDOS volume? 030- How do I LOAD, SAVE, etc. files under ProDOS? 031- What is a "pathname"? 032- What is the default volume and folder when ProDOS boots? 033- How can I set default volume and folder under ProDOS? 034- How can I discover the volume name of a just booted disk? 035- How do I create a folder? 036- How can I access ProDOS routines from machine language? 037- How can I convert DOS 3.3 wares to run under ProDOS? 038- How can I modify ProDOS to do BLOADs to Text Page 1? 039- How can I boot ProDOS on my Franklin computer? 040- What are some good DOS 3.3 and ProDOS references? 041- How can a BASIC program tell which DOS it's running under?
From: Rubywand
001- What is a "DOS"?
"DOS" means "Disk Operating System". A DOS is a collection of machine language routines and data which lets a computer Read and Write information to/from disk. A DOS also includes commands, such as SAVE and LOAD, which you can use to create and access files on disk.
Apple II DOS, Commodore 64 DOS, and the DOS used on PC's are all called "DOS"; but, they are different systems. Their commands are similar, sometimes identical, because what users want to do with disks is about the same whatever the computer. However, the way each DOS arranges and keeps track of data on disk is very different. You will not, for example, be able to read files from a C-64 diskette on your Apple II running under DOS 3.3.
--------------------
002- What DOS's are available on Apple II computers?
DOS 3.3 is the first DOS to be widely used on Apple II computers. Many programs were written to use DOS 3.3 commands and saved on DOS 3.3 diskettes. Apple 'officially' replaced DOS 3.3 with ProDOS back in the early '80's. However, DOS 3.3 continues to be popular with II users. To get DOS 3.3 from the net, see Csa21MAIN4: Get It- Links to popular software packages.
Another Apple II DOS is the one introduced with Apple Pascal. Compared to DOS 3.3 or ProDOS, the Apple Pascal DOS is a very limited, cumbersome operating system.
-------------------
003- DOS 3.3 seems kind of slow. Are there any faster better versions of DOS 3.3?
Yes. Today, most "DOS 3.3 users" do not actually use DOS 3.3. Long ago, Beagle Bros introduced patches which resulted in much better speed, freed-up extra disk space, and added a CATALOG command which shows number of Free Sectors. Their Prontodos or some modification of it is, for practical purposes, the "current version" of DOS 3.3.
ES DOS ][ adds a few mods to Prontodos. CATALOG shows Free Sectors and Number of Tracks and it scrolls the entire Catalog (scrolling stopped by pressing any key) instead of stopping when the screen is full. ES DOS ][ also lets you use the semi-colon as a terminating 'wildcard' character. This DOS includes a CATALOG fix to show correct size of files bigger than 255 sectors.
Other popular, higher speed versions of DOS 3.3 include David DOS and Diversi-DOS; and, there are several small, special-purpose versions of DOS 3.3. (For example, one game maker used RDOS to save space and to make its diskettes harder to copy.) Below is a chart which compares speed and features for standard and speeded versions of DOS 3.3.
BLOAD Time Does Large Files Frees 15 Disp Free Error Test*** INIT CATALOG fix Sectors Sectors Msg
Std DOS 3.3**- 8.9 sec Yes No No No Yes DavidDOS- 2.8 sec No Yes No Yes Yes DiversiDOS- 2.9 sec Yes Yes No Yes err# EsDOS- 2.3 sec Yes Yes Yes Yes abbr* ProntoDOS v1- 3.0 sec Yes No Yes No Yes ProntoDOS v2- 3.0 sec Yes No Yes Yes Yes
* abbr: shows abbreviated error messages ** 1980-1983 versions *** time to BLOAD MUFFIN from the 1983 DOS 3.3 System Master disk
You can get standard and high-speed DOS 3.3's from a number of places on the net. See Csa21MAIN4: Get It- Links to popular software packages.
-----------------------
004- What commands are available in DOS 3.3?
To get very far with "DOS 3.3" you will need the DOS Manual. This is especially true when it comes to using TEXT files. Other good sources of DOS 3.3 info include _Beneath Apple DOS_ and _Apple II User's Guide_. For now, the following is a quickie guide to most Apple II DOS 3.3 commands:
LOAD NARF- loads a BASIC file named NARF.
SAVE NARF- saves current BASIC program in memory as file named NARF.
DELETE NARF - deletes file named NARF
CATALOG - lists contents of diskette to screen
RENAME NARF, NEWNARF - renames file NARF to NEWNARF
RUN NARF- loads and starts a BASIC file named NARF.
BLOAD NARF.PICTURE, A$2000 - loads in a binary file named NARF.PICTURE starting at address $2000.
note: $2000 is a hexadecimal number ($2000 = 8192 in decimal). DOS commands can use hex or decimal numbers.
BSAVE NARF, A$300, L$7F - saves $7F bytes of memory starting at address $300 as a binary file named NARF. (BSAVE NARF, A768, L127 uses decimal numbers to do the same thing.)
note: The above command statement illustrates typical DOS syntax ...
BSAVE-- the DOS command
NARF-- the file name (the space between the command and file name is not a requirement; BSAVENARF is okay)
,-- a comma to separate file name from parms which follow
A-- means an Address follows
$300-- the address from which you want to start saving bytes (the $ indicates a hex value; $300= 768). Again, spaces do not matter; A768, A 768, A $ 300 are all okay
,-- a comma to separate one parm from another
L-- means a Length follows
$7F-- the length in hex (= 127); this is the number of bytes to be saved
The command statement says Save $7F bytes, starting at address $300, to a file named "NARF". NARF will have the bytes found at addresses $300 through $37E.
note: The order of parms following a file name does not matter.
BRUN NARF.DISP, A$1000 - loads in a binary file named NARF.DISP starting at address $1000 and starts executing machine instructions at address $1000
LOCK NARF- locks file NARF (indicated by * in a CATALOG). LOCKed files cannot be deleted, over-written, etc.
UNLOCK NARF - cancels LOCKed status of NARF.
VERIFY NARF - uses checksums to verify that NARF is not a damaged file
MON C, I, O - tells DOS to display Commands, Inputs from disk, Outputs to disk. You can specify one, two, or all three (e.g. MON C, O etc.).
NOMON C, I, O - cancels all MON requests. NOMON I cancels just the "I" request.
MAXFILES 7 - sets the number of file buffers to 7. (Upon booting DOS, the default for the MAXFILES value is 3.)
PR#1 - sets the destination for Apple outputs to the device in Slot 1 (usually a printer). PR# 3 sets it to Slot 3, etc.. PR# 0 sets the destination back to the display screen.
PR#6 - normally, boots the diskette in Drive 1, Slot 6.
IN# 6 - sets the source for Apple inputs to the device in Slot 6.
IN# 0 - sets the source for Apple inputs to the keyboard (default).
INT - (integer) puts system into Integer BASIC if it is present.
FP - (floating point) puts system into standard Applesoft BASIC.
OPEN NARFOO - prepares to read or write a TEXT file named NARFOO.
READ NARFOO - tells DOS that INPUT and GET statements will obtain characters from a TEXT file named NARFOO.
WRITE NARFOO - tells DOS that PRINTed characters will go to a TEXT file named NARFOO.
CLOSE NARFOO - used to terminate access to a TEXT file named NARFOO. Just CLOSE terminates access to all OPENed TEXT files.
EXEC NARFGO - tells DOS to execute the BASIC and DOS commands found in a TEXT file named NARFGO
The above TEXT file commands handle 'normal' sequential TEXT files. DOS can also OPEN, READ, WRITE, ... random access TEXT files. (See DOS manual.)
Most DOS commands also let you specify Drive and/or Slot. For example CATALOG, D2 lists the contents of the diskette in Drive 2 to screen. SAVE NARF,S5,D2 saves NARF to Drive 2 in Slot 5.
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2DSKETTE.txt rev090 September 2005
Diskettes
001- How many tracks can I use on a 5.25" diskette? 002- Can I use high-density 3.5" and 5.25" diskettes on my A2? 003- How can I tell DD from HD diskettes if they are not labeled? 004- Some old 5.25" disks with splotches don't boot. What gives? 005- How can I defragment a diskette and what is the speed gain? 006- Why aren't my old diskettes recognized by GS/OS? 007- Can I read Apple II diskettes on my PC? 008- Where the heck can I buy double density 3.5" & 5.25" diskettes? 009- Where can I find out about different floppy disk formats? 010- How can I copy disks? 011- How can I read Apple II 5.25" floppies on a Mac? 012- Can I create standard 3.5" IIgs diskettes on a Mac?
From: Rubywand
001- How many tracks can I use on a 5.25" diskette? So far, I've heard 35, 36, and 40. What's the actual number?
The standard number of tracks on a 5.25" diskette is set by DOS 3.3 and ProDOS at 35, numbered 0-34 ($00-$22 in hexadecimal).
The original Disk ][ drive can usually handle 36 tracks with no problem. Newer 5.25" drives can handle 40 tracks.
Various modified versions of DOS 3.3 allow using 36 tracks and a few allow using 40 tracks. These mods, especially the 36-track versions, were fairly popular before the advent of 3.5" diskettes when an extra track made a noticable difference in capacity. However, unless the extra capacity is vital for some specific application, it is best to stick with 35 tracks in order to retain full compatibility with disk utilities (such as Copy II Plus) and other wares.
----------------------------
002- Can I use high-density 3.5" and 5.25" diskettes on my Apple II?
I did some magnetization tests on Double Density (800kB) and High Density (1.4MB) diskette surfaces. The tested DD surface produced more than twice the deflection of the tested HD surface. Clearly, there is a big difference in signal levels required to reliably store data on HD vs. DD.
In fact, 5.25" HD (1.2MB) diskettes will not work at all on Apple Disk ][ drives. The 3.5" HD's may work fine on your 800k drives; or, they may just seem to work fine. Either way, there's no question: a drive optimized for DD will not be optimized for HD. If you'd rather not 'roll the dice' on your software collection, stick with Double Density diskettes.
____________________________
From: Rubywand, George Rentovich, Mad ATARI user alternate, Joel
003- How can I tell the difference between unlabeled DD and HD diskettes?
3.5" HD (1.4MB) diskettes come with a square notch in the upper left corner. DD (800kB) 3.5" diskettes do not come with this notch. In the early days of PC computing, some PC users punched or drilled notch holes in DD diskettes and used them as HD diskettes. If a 3.5" diskette has a circular notch in the upper left corner, it is likely to be a DD diskette.
DD 5.25" (360kB) diskettes look very much like HD 5.25" (1.2MB) diskettes; however, HD diskettes seem to almost never have a hub ring, while DD diskettes usually do. The hub ring may be white paper, etc. and easy to spot or cut from the same material as the diskette and barely noticeable. This difference has been mentioned by Peter Norton (of Norton Utilities fame) in one of his books.
The hub ring makes it easier for the Apple Disk Drive II and other older DD 5.25" drives to clamp and hold the diskette. Older DD drives also tend to damage the center when there is no hub. If the hub ring of a DD diskette has fallen off due to age, it's a good idea to transfer the contents to a new diskette.
Otherwise, about the only observable difference is that DD diskette surfaces often exhibit a more brownish cast whereas HD diskette surfaces are generally dark grey or black.
The surest test for 5.25" diskettes is to place the diskette into an Apple Disk II 5.25" drive and try to do a DOS 3.3 format. If it formats okay, it is almost certainly a DD diskette. (This test will not always work with the newer 40-track drives. Some of these can get through a format with an HD diskette.)
____________________________
From: Rubywand
004- Recently I found that some of my old 5.25" disks would not boot. A check showed splotches etched on the surface of the media. What's going on?
As you may recall, a number of the classier 5.25" diskette brands employed (still employ?) a lubricant on their jacket liners. While the lube worked to reduce drag and noise, it also, evidently, served as a growth medium for a particularly nasty plastic and/or oxide-eating fungus!
It's probably a good idea to check each of your old diskettes. Immediately backup any diskettes with splotchy discolorations.
----------------------------
005- How can I defragment a diskette and what is the speed gain?
You can defragment a diskette by doing a File Copy of all files to a blank formatted* diskette or RAM disk which is the same size as the original. The Files on the copy diskette or RAM disk will be almost completely unfragmented.
*Note: If the diskette is supposed to be bootable, the target disk should be INITialized for the DOS (e.g. DOS 3.3 or ProDOS) used on the original before doing the copying. For DOS 3.3, you INIT a disk. For ProDOS, you can do an "Initialize" from the IIgs Finder or a "FORMAT" using Apple's ProDOS FILER utility or a ProDOS version of Copy II+.
A whole-disk copy back to the original completes the process. Tests show that this method produces much speedier diskettes than using a utility intended for optimizing hard disks.
For a nearly full 'workhorse' diskette which has seen may deletions and additions, you can expect the File Copy defragmentation method to yield a 30% to 40% improvement in access speed.
----------------------------
006- Why aren't my MECC and many other old diskettes recognized by GS/OS and mounted on the Finder display?
The problem you mention is fairly common. GS/OS via its FSTs has pretty strict definitions for what qualifies as a valid DOS or ProDOS diskette. For example, perfectly good 36-track DOS 3.3 diskettes will not be mounted by the Finder just because the number of tracks is 36 instead of the expected 35.
Naturally, copy-protected diskettes have practically no chance of being recognized. Almost certainly, this is the reason the Finder will not mount your MECC disks.
You can, still, run software from most copy-protected diskettes by just booting them.
____________________________
From: Vincent Joguin, Charlie, Rubywand
007- Can I read Apple II diskettes on my PC?
Yes. There is a way for some PCs to read Apple II DOS 3.3 and ProDOS 5.25" floppies which are not copy-protected.
By "some PCs" I mean that the PC must have two floppy drives (only one has to be a 5.25" drive) and it must be running MS-DOS or Windows 95, 98, or ME. (It won't work with NT, 2000, and XP).
You also need a program called "DISK2FDI". (For a link to the program, see Csa21MAIN4.txt.)
DISK2FDI reads the Apple floppy and creates a disk image (.do) on the PC. These images will work on most emulators.
You may find that DISK2FDI has difficulty reading some sectors which read fine on your real Apple II. If that happens, try making a fresh copy of the diskette using Disk Muncher or some other fast whole-disk copier.
For a collection of postings on using Disk2FDI see ...
A while back I requested some information regarding the reading of Apple II floppies by an PC:
ORIGINAL POST: --------------------
We have some old data from a small NMR spectrometer that was run from an Apple IIe. The same spectrometer is now run from a DOS machine and we'd like to be able to access the old data from the PC.
Does anyone know of or possess some utility to allow the data from the 5 1/4" Apple II floppies to be read from the PC? Any hints as to program names, ftp sites, etc. would be greatly appreciated.
There is a card called the MatchPoint PC card that will let you read and write Apple II DOS, ProDOS, and CP/M disks on a PC 5.25" 360K drive. We used to have one installed in an XT here and it worked fine.
The other common way of moving the data is to connect an Apple II to a PC using a NULL modem cable and using comm programs such as Kermit to transfer the data.
-------------------
Michael Hoffberg
About a year ago, I picked up card for my ibm made by TrackStar. It is basically an apple II that sits inside your IBM. When you enable it, it can boot off an apple drive, it uses the ibm keyboard and monitor.
In any case, I think that it is possible to transfer files between the IBM and Apple II with the card.
------------------
Fred R. Opperdoes
Any Apple II (E or GS) owner having an Applied Engineering PC Transporter card is able to do the job easily. It is maybe not easy to find such a person in your neighborhood.
Another possibility would be that you ask someone with an Apple IIGS to have your 5 1/4" Dos 3.3 or Prodos disk transcribed to a 3.5" Prodos disk. Every IIGS owner would be able to do so. Files on such disks can then easily be converted to MsDOS files on an MsDOS disk on a Macintosh using the Apple File Exchange Utility that comes with every modern Mac.
------------------
Leonard Erickson
You can use a COPYIIPC deluxe option board or some such. Central Point Software used to sell them.
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2ERRLIST.txt rev090 September 2005
Main Error List
001- What does error #___ mean? 002- How do I do the IIgs Self-Test; what does Error Code ___ mean? 003- What does RamFAST Fatal Memory Fault Error ___ mean? 004- What is the explanation for getting a ___ error? 005- Where can I find more information on Apple II series errors?
From: Jeff Hurlburt (in II Alive, 1996 plus updates)
001- What does error #___ mean?
Error Codes
Codes are in hexadecimal and are listed in numerical order. Except for a few IIgs System Failure codes, the system or sub-system reporting the error is shown along with the error description.
Most IIgs tool set error 'descriptions'-- like divByZeroErr-- consist of just the error name as published in the Toolbox References. When such an error is reported, the first two digits identify the Tool Set; the last two identify the error# (sometimes this identifies the individual Tool involved in the error). The name and number of each Tool Set which reports errors is identified in the listing by labeling the first error in each Tool Set group.
Many of the descriptions for 00xx codes refer to GS/OS errors. Usually, these codes have the same (or a very similar) meaning as ProDOS 16 (P16) codes, SmartPort codes, and 8-bit ProDOS 8 (P8) Machine Language Interface (MLI) codes. When there is a significant difference, other meanings are shown.
Note 1: Thanks to information supplied by David Empson several early System Failure Code messages (e.g. "File map destroyed") are now considered to be suspect as to accuracy. Yes, some kind of error has occurred; but, as David points out, the messages seem to have been incorrectly copied from Mac with no particular regard to relevance on the IIgs:
For example, all the errors referring to "Can't load a package" make no sense - the IIgs doesn't have any such thing as a package (but early Macintosh system software does). Here is another big clue: error $30 is allegedly "Please insert disk (File Manager alert)". There is no such thing as the "File Manager" on the IIgs, but there is on the Mac."-- David Empson
Basically, it appears that the faulty messages function as defaults (place holders) when more accurate third-party messages are not supplied. The suspect messages may appear; so, they remain in this listing; but, now they are marked.
Error messages marked ** indicate a System Failure message considered to be suspect.
Note 2: Error messages marked **** indicate that a more detailed discussion is available in Question 004.
Error Codes List
0000 No error 0001 GS/OS: bad system call 0001 Tool Locator: dispatcher does not find toolset 0001 P16: System Failure- unclaimed interrupt 0001 P8: Invalid MLI function number 0002 Tool Locator: routine not found 0004 GS/OS: bad parameter count 0004 System Failure- division by zero ** 0006 SmartPort: bus error in IWM chip 0007 GS/OS is busy 000A P16: System Failure- unusable Volume Control Block 000B P16: System Failure- unusable File Control Block 000C P16: System Failure- Block Zero allocated illegally 000D P16: System Failure- interrupt occurred while I/O shadowing off 0010 GS/OS: device not found 0010 Tool Locator: specified Version not found 0011 GS/OS: bad device number 0011 P16: System Failure- wrong OS version 0015 System Failure- Segment Loader error ** 0017-0024 System Failure- Can't load a package ** 0020 GS/OS: invalid driver request 0021 GS/OS: invalid driver control or status code 0022 GS/OS: bad call parameter 0023 GS/OS: character device not open 0024 GS/OS: character device already open 0025 GS/OS: interrupt table full 0025 System Failure- Out of Memory ** 0026 GS/OS: resources not available 0026 System Failure- Segment Loader error ** 0027 GS/OS: I/O error **** 0027 System Failure- File map destroyed ** 0028 GS/OS: no device connected 0028 System Failure- Stack overflow ** 0029 GS/OS: driver is busy 002B GS/OS: disk write protected 002C GS/OS: invalid byte count 002D GS/OS: invalid block address 002E GS/OS: disk/volume switched 002F GS/OS: device offline or no disk in drive 0030 System Failure Alert- Please Insert Disk ** 0040 GS/OS: bad pathname syntax 0042 GS/OS: max number of files already open 0042 P8: too many files open (can lead to NO BUFFERS AVAILABLE) 0043 GS/OS: bad file reference number 0044 GS/OS: directory not found 0045 GS/OS: volume not found 0046 GS/OS: file not found 0047 GS/OS: duplicate filename/pathname **** 0048 GS/OS: disk/volume full **** 0049 GS/OS: volume directory full **** 004A GS/OS: incompatible file format 004A P8: incompatible ProDOS version 004B GS/OS: unsupported (or incorrect) storage type 004C GS/OS: End Of File encountered 004D GS/OS: position out of range 004D P8: position past End Of File 004E GS/OS: access not allowed 004F GS/OS: buffer too small 0050 GS/OS: file is already open 0051 GS/OS: directory damaged **** 0051 P8: file count is bad 0052 GS/OS: unknown volume type 0053 GS/OS: parameter out of range 0054 GS/OS: out of memory 0055 P8: Volume Control Block table full 0056 P8: bad buffer address (can lead to NO BUFFERS AVAILABLE) **** 0057 GS/OS: duplicate volume name 0058 GS/OS: not a block device 0058 P8: bad volume bit map 0059 GS/OS: file level out of range 005A GS/OS: bad bitmap address (block# too large/ damaged disk) **** 005B GS/OS: invalid pathnames for ChangePath 005C GS/OS: not an executable file 005D GS/OS: Operating system/file system not available 005F GS/OS: too many applications on stack/ stack overflow 0060 GS/OS: data unavailable 0061 GS/OS: end of directory 0062 GS/OS: invalid FST call class 0063 GS/OS: file doesn't have a resource fork 0064 GS/OS: invalid FST ID 0065 GS/OS: invalid FST operation 0066 GS/OS: FST Caution- weird result 0067 GS/OS: device Name error/ internal error 0068 GS/OS: device List full 0069 GS/OS: supervisor List full 006A GS/OS: FST Error (generic) 0070 GS/OS: resource exists, cannot expand file 0071 GS/OS: cannot Add resource to this type file 0088 network error **** 0100 System Failure- can not mount sys startup volume **
0103 [01] TOOL LOCATOR: invalid StartStop record 0104 tool cannot load 0110 specified minimum Version not found 0111 specified message not found 0112 no message numbers available 0113 message name too long 0120 request not accepted 0121 duplicate name 0122 invalid send request
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2FDRIVE.txt rev090 September 2005
Floppy Disk Drives
001- How do I add a write-protect On-Off switch? 002- How do I add external speed adjustment to my Disk ][ drive? 003- How can I adjust my 5.25" drive for optimum performance? 004- How do I clean my disk drive R/W head(s)? 005- What is the pinout for a duodisk drive connecting cable? 006- What DuoDisk mods are necessary? 007- Will a Duodisk function correctly on my ROM 3 GS? 008- How do I fix a false Write Protect? 009- My 3.5 Disk Drives don't work! What should I try? 010- I added SCSI; now, my 3.5" drives often fail to work. Why? 011- Both of my Disk ]['s come on when booting! Is there a fix? 012- In connecting a Disk II I misaligned the connectors. A fix? 013- A sound like a shotgun going off came from my drive. A fix? 014- Uni-disk and Laser drives: neither works with my IIc. Why? 015- How do I replace a 3.5" drive mechanism with one from a Mac? 016- I have one 5.25" drive. Sys6 shows two icons!? Is there a fix? 017- How can I tell a 13 from a 16-sector Disk ][ controller card? 018- Can a Disk ][ Drive be used on a IIc or GS smartport? 019- How do I install a bi-color LED R/W indicator in my Disk ][? 020- What's the scoop on the 3.5" High Density drive? 021- What is a "UniDisk"? 022- What is a "RAM disk"; and, how do I create one on my IIgs? 023- Which 3.5" drive/interface combinations work on a IIe? 024- How can I boot from my /RAM5 RAM disk? 025- My 5.25" drive ruins every disk I insert. How can I fix it? 026- Incorrect 'Disk Full' error on a 3.5" Unidisk drive. Why?
From: Stephen Buggie
001- How do I add a write-protect On-Off switch to my Disk ][ drive?
Adding an Auto/Manual Write-Protect (A/MWP) Switch
Often, as when doing copying, it is useful to be able to guarantee that a diskette is Write-Protected whether or not the side is notched. Other times, it is convenient to defeat Write Protection-- for example, when you wish to write to a diskette side which is not notched. And, naturally, you also want a setting which permits Normal, notch-controlled, Write-Protect.
Based upon a circuit suggested by David Wilson (Australia), the A/MWP enhancement offers full user control of Write Protect. The switch's three positions are
Normal: a diskette side must be notched to permit writing. Protect ON: Writing is prohibited regardless of notching. Protect OFF: Writing is allowed regardless of notching.
A/MWP Step-by-Step
Unplug the drive from the disk controller and remove the case.
Drill a mounting hole. This can be at a convenient spot in the back or in the plastic front panel. On the front, a good spot is at the lower left, above and to the left of the "in use" LED. Another open spot is at the upper right in the space just above the diskette slot; but, we're saving this place for Part 2's enhancement. (You can't use the lower right, of course, because this would mess up the "Apple" logo!)
Cut three wires (Brown, Black, and White) long enough to run from the mounting point to the Large Connector plugged onto the back, middle of the Disk ][ circuit board.
Solder the leads to a Single-Pole Triple-Throw mini toggle Switch: Brown to center, White to one end, Black to other end. Twist the leads or encase them in tubing.
Mount the Switch. Normally, the Switch handle will point ...
o- in the Black lead direction for "Normal" (center and White connected) o- at Center for "Protect ON" (no connection). o- in the White lead direction for "Protect OFF" (center and Black connected).
Mounting the switch with the Black lead on top is recommended because it is easy to remember that Up = Normal. Route the leads to the area next to the Large Connector. (Make sure no wires will get in the way of an inserted diskette.)
Locate the Brown and Black leads coming from the Notch Detect micro-switch. The leads are the Brown (bottom) and Black (top) pair near the right end of the Large Connector (as viewed from the front of the drive).
Cut the Notch Detect micro-switch leads about 1" away from the Large Connector.
Connect the Black Notch Detect, Black Large Connector, and Black Switch leads (i.e. strip ends, solder, and cover in heat-shrink tubing or tape).
Connect the Brown Notch Detect lead to the White Switch lead.
Connect the Brown Large Connector lead to the Brown Switch lead.
Viola! Now you're ready to replace the cover, plug in the drive, and try out your A/MWP enhanced Disk ][.
----------------------------
From: Ed Eastman
Most of the time what you want to be able to do with a Write Protect modification is turn On Write Enable when a disk is not notched. That is what this mod for does. Details relate to the 5.25" Unidisk but the method will also work with other Apple II 5.25" drives.
The way the write protect sensor works on newer drives is that an LED on one side shines on a phototransistor (the sensor) on the other side. When there is a notch in the diskette you insert, light passes through the gap and the sensor 'closes' to complete the Write Enable circuit.
What we will do is give the Write Enable circuit an alternate enable option using an On/Off switch. A mini toggle switch is okay; but, I like to use a small normally-open momentary contact pushbutton switch from Radio Shack. It's compact, looks nice, and pressing the button for the few seconds usually required for a file, etc. write is no problem.
I normally mount the switch in the upper left part of the face plate, opposite the light to balance the look. Drill a hole a little smaller than required and use scissors or a larger drill to taper the hold to just where you can screw in the switch.
Before soldering on leads and mounting the switch, decide where you want to make the connections. You can locate the output leads from the sensor and splice one switch lead to each; or, you can find the place on the circuit board where the sensor leads go and connect there.
On a Unidisk you will see a large connector labeled "CN1" near the front. Pins 9 and 11 of CN1 are the write protect sensor connections. More convenient connection points are the circuit board edge side of R12 and the wire at J29.
Solder on leads long enough to reach the connection points and screw in the switch. On a Unidisk, connect one switch lead to the R12 point near the edge and one to the wire at J29.
Now when you need to override write protect on an unnotched disk, you simply press the button while writing. Go ahead and plug in the drive and give it a try.
____________________________
From: Stephen Buggie
002- How do I add an external speed adjustment to my Disk ][?
Reference: FAQs Resource file R006SPDKNOB.GIF
Adding a Speed Control Knob to your Disk ][ Drive
This article tells how to move speed adjustment from the Disk ]['s dark interior to a handy front-panel location and how to "tune" the drive for optimal performance.
One drive-test software vendor states that Disk ][ is good for about 500 hours of normal use between speed adjustments-- not exactly a strong argument for placing the control on the front panel! On the other hand many of today's Disk ][ owners are interested in applications which go beyond "normal use".
Some utilities (e.g. DiversiCopy II) report rotational speed during ongoing applications; so, relocating the speed adjuster to the front panel is especially helpful. Similarly, users who want to back up their old, copy-protected wares know that ready access to speed control is essential.
Finally, there is no question that, whatever your applications, periodic speed trimming will be required. When it is, you'll be very glad _your_ Disk ][ has a front panel Speed Knob!
Adding Speed Knob
To install Speed Knob you will need a good quality, linear taper 5k Ohm potentiometer, some wires, and a knob with a pointer mark or some other way to show position (e.g. a ring of numbers). Most of the work, really, consists of opening the drive and drilling a hole. There is no need to disconnect the drive from the controller card.
1. Remove the 4 bottom bolts and slip off the case. Unscrew the 4 bottom bolts holding the drive to the case bottom, and unplug the main ribbon cable. The drive can now be moved to your work area.
2. Drill a hole properly sized and centered for mounting your 5k Ohm pot in the upper right front panel.
3. Place the drive on its face and unscrew the 2 bolts which hold the small daughter board to the drive. (Be ready to catch loose spacers, washers, etc..)
4. Turn the small board over to the bottom side. Locate and cut the traces going to the mini-pot speed adjuster as shown in pic R006SPDKNOB.GIF.
5. Cut three wires, White, Gray, Black, long enough to reach from the board to the front panel. Connect these to your 5k Ohm pot and to the small circuit board as shown in pic R006SPDKNOB.GIF. (In case you cannot view the pic, what you're doing is substituting the new pot for the mini-pot. )
6. Re-mount the daughter board. Mount the 5k Ohm pot. Install knob.
7. Bring the drive back to the computer. Slide it onto the case bottom plate, reconnect main ribbon cable, replace bottom bolts, slide on and re-fasten case top.
You can use Copy II Plus, XPS, APEX, or one of several other utilities to set speed (see next question). A good starting adjustment will be near the center of Speed Knob's range. Once speed is adjusted, you can loosen and re-set the knob so that its position indicates a "correct" speed setting.
----------------------------
003- How can I adjust my 5.25" drive for the best performance?
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2FLUTILS.txt rev090 September 2005
File Utilities
001- What are "binscii" files and how are they used? 002- What are .SHK files and how do I use them? 003- How do I get ShrinkIt or GS-ShrinkIt going on my Apple II? 004- How do I deal with the $00 type Apple II files I get on my Mac? 005- Can I work with .zip files on my Apple II? 006- What are DSK, NIB, 2MG, HDV,... disk image files & how do I use them? 007- Where can I get ShrinkIt, binscii, DSK2FILE, ASIMOV, etc.? 008- I have downloaded files in "gz" format? How do I use them? 009- Which programs can change ProDOS filetype? 010- What is Copy II Plus and where can I get it? 011- How do I use Copy II Plus to create and convert IMG files? 012- How do I set write protection for an emulator disk image? 013- How can I create a disk image from a ShrinkIt .sdk file? 014- How can I convert a .po image to/from a .dsk or .do image? 015- What do file name extensions mean and how do I access the files? 016- How do I tell what kind of file this is? 017- How can I create new .dsk, .nib, etc. disk images? 018- How can I convert .dsk image <--> .nib image? 019- How can I convert Diskcopy images to diskette or to other formats? 020- How can I move files to/from .dsk and .2MG disk images? 021- How can I unfork forked files on my Apple II?
From: Rubywand
001- What are "binscii" files and how are they used?
The term "binscii" comes from combining "binary" with "ASCII". A file in binscii form has been changed so that it can be transmitted as text to/from net servers and services which do not handle pure binary transfers.
Today, practically all servers can handle pure binary transfers; so, binscii is no longer in popular use. However, quite a few old A2 files are still in binscii form and binscii is used for files uploaded to comp.binaries.apple2.
To convert binscii'd files to their un-biniscii'd form, you can use a program named "BINSCII" or, on a GS, the New Desk Accessory named "GScii". These programs can, also, create binscii files.
Note: Binscii is in no way related to Binary II. Binscii changes the entire file into Text. Binary II is just a small block of bytes tacked onto the front of a file, mainly to identify the file's filetype.
----------------------------
002- What are ShrinkIt (.SHK) files and how do I use them?
ShrinkIt files are the Apple II world's answer to .ZIP files in PC-ville. An .SHK file is a file which contains one or more files which are almost always in compressed form. Usually, they are produced by GS-ShrinkIt (also called "GSHK" or "ShrinkIt-GS") or the Balloon NDA, or by 8-bit ShrinkIt. Some .SHK files are produced by Macs; these may not always be compatible with A2 ShrinkIt programs.
An .SHK file can be unshrinked by ShrinkIt even if it shows up on the Apple II with a TXT or BIN filetype and even if the name does not end with ".SHK" or ".shk". If a ShrinkIt file does not show up as available for unshrinking, you can toggle an "All files" option to see the file and then select it. If an .SHK file has a Binary II header, ShrinkIt will automatically remove it and assign the correct filetype. (Of course, this will usually be SHK.)
Other kinds of ShrinkIt files include .SEA and .SDK. An Apple II .SEA file is a IIgs executable self-extracting archive-- i.e. you can click it on the GS Finder and it will unShrink. There are also Mac .SEA files and these are not GS-compatible.
A ShrinkIt whole-disk archive is an .SHK file which is usually labeled ".SDK" to show that it is a Shrinked diskette. An .SDK file can archive a 3.5" diskette (both sides) or 5.25" diskette (one side). Most are archives of 5.25" DOS 3.3 diskettes produced by 8-bit ShrinkIt.
A whole-disk ShrinkIt archive retains all data bytes on a diskette, including files, Catalog/Directory sectors, empty tracks, and DOS if present. An .sdk file of a DOS 3.3 5.25" disk created by 8-bit ShrinkIt also preserves volume number-- important for some games and utilities which depend upon volume numbers to identify disks. (5.25" whole-disk archives created by GS-ShrinkIt do not preserve volume number.)
8-bit/IIe ShrinkIt can be used to fully unshrink any Apple II .SHK file _except_ .SHK files which contain files with GS/OS resource forks and .SEA files. For this reason, 8-bit ShrinkIt should not be used to unshrink .SHK file archives containing GS programs unless you know that none of the contained files has a resource fork.
GS-ShrinkIt can handle nearly all kinds of Apple II .SHK and .SDK files. It will not handle shrinked 5.25" DOS 3.3 .SDK files created by 8-bit ShrinkIt. In fact, most users automatically use 8-bit ShrinkIt to create and unshrink .SDK files of old 5.25" wares. (Balloon does not currently support whole-disk archives.)
Naturally, things are somewhat more crowded on 64K Apple II's. On these machines, the functions are separated. SHRINK creates .SHK files and UNSHRINK unshrinks them.
On a PC, the utility NuLib (v3.24) lets you view contents and unshrink most kinds of .SHK files. (There is a handy option to unshrink and convert Apple II text files to PC text format.) It will not unshrink IIgs files with resource forks.
Here is a simple one-line batch (text) file program for easily viewing the contents of .shk files you download to a PC (just double-click on the file name):
c:\nulib\nulib v %1 |more
The above is for NuLib.exe located in folder c:\nulib . Save the text as nulibv.bat in c:\nulib and tell Windows to use c:\nulib\nulibv.bat as the 'application to perform action' for doing an Open. (You do this by selecting View--Options in the My Computer window and editing the file type info for .shk files.)
NuLib can also convert 5.25" .SDK files into .PO (ProDOS order) disk images which can be used by Apple II emulators. This works for .SDK files produced by 8-bit ShrinkIt but not for those produced by GS-ShrinkIt.
The unshrinking process is very speedy and the size of a compressed ShrinkIt file is, often, around half that of the original files it contains. This makes .SHK files very handy for archiving your software. And, since a ShrinkIt file also preserves filetype information of contained files, ShrinkIt has become the preferred format for uploading and storing Apple II files on the internet.
----------------------------
003- How do I get ShrinkIt or GS-ShrinkIt going on my Apple II?
Getting GS-ShrinkIt v1.1
If you do not already have Balloon or an earlier version of GS-ShrinkIt, there are several ways to get GS-ShrinkIt going once a file is downloaded and transferred to your IIgs. Here are the two easiest ways:
A. The Self-Extracting (.sea) version
A IIgs .sea file is a IIgs application which self-extracts the file contents when executed from the usual Finder desktop display. Since the file gshk.sea will, most likely, arrive as a Text type file, you will need to change the file's filetype to $B3 (S16) before it can be executed.
Several utilities can change ProDOS filetype. If you do not have one, you can download tchange.bin and follow the directions* in tchange_info.txt to get it going on your Apple II.
You can find GS-ShrinkIt in an .SEA file (e.g. gshk.sea) and tchange.bin on several archive sites. (See Q&A 007 below.)
B. The Shrinked Disk (.sdk) version
GSUTILS.sdk is a shrinked whole-disk file which can be unshrinked to 800k 3.5" diskette using 8-bit ShrinkIt (or GS-ShrinkIt). If booted, this diskette starts a bare-bones System 6.0.1 and launches GS-ShrinkIt.
Besides GS-ShrinkIt, also on the disk (in .SHK files) are the ZLINK shareware telecom utility and ASIMOV for converting .dsk files. Coolwriter (for reading Text) is on the disk as a non-shrinked file. All of these can be copied to hard disk or to other diskettes.
GSUTILS.sdk is available on Ground in the useful.stuff/ folder mentioned above. The 8-bit ShrinkIt in a self-extracting version can be found in the same folder.
Getting SHRINK and UNSHRINK (for 64k Apples)
SHRINK and UNSHRINK permit 64k Apple II users to work with .SHK files. These files are usually maintained in non-shrinked form. You can find them on several sites. (See Q&A 007 below.)
To get these utilities going on your Apple II, download SHRINK, UNSHRINK, and SHRINK2PLUS.TXT (e.g. as separeate files or on a .dsk disk image). Once the files are transferred to your Apple II, follow the directions* in SHRINK2PLUS.TXT.
*Note: If you download an Apple II file to a PC and transfer to a Mac and get filetype $00 ("Unknown"), the process described in the directions will not work when the $00 file is moved to your Apple II. One solution is a Mac utility to set filetype to $04 (TXT). See ProTYPE info in the next Q&A below.
----------------------------
Getting 8-bit ShrinkIt
From: Beverly Cadieux
The easiest way to get the current (3.4) version of 8-bit ShrinkIt going is via the self-extracting archive, SHRINK.EXE.
o- Download the file, (transfer to your Apple II if necessary,) and get into AppleSoft BASIC (run BASIC.SYSTEM and get to the AppleSoft "]" prompt).
o- Be sure to set the ProDOS PREFIX to the location of SHRINK.EXE on your Apple II. For example, if it is in the main directory of volume HD1, you would enter
PREFIX /HD1
o- Now, enter -SHRINK.EXE (that's a dash, then the file name):
-SHRINK.EXE
Shrinkit will self-extract, along with a documentation file. (ShrinkIt v3.4 consists of two files. One is a small start file which may be named "Shrinkit.System", "ShrinkitST.sys", or something similar. The other is the main program file which must be named
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2HDNSCSI.txt rev090 September 2005
Hard Disks & SCSI Interfaces
001- How difficult is it to add a hard drive to my IIgs? 002- What kinds of hard drive systems are available? 003- What do SCSI ID numbers mean? 004- What is "SCSI-2" and how is it different from SCSI-1? 005- Will a SCSI-2 hard drive work with an Apple II system? 006- Will my Rev. C SCSI Card work with a SCSI-2 drive? 007- What is SCSI "termination power"? 008- Can I avoid the "RamFAST/SCSI is searching SCSI bus" delay? 009- What is the pinout for the standard 50-pin SCSI cable? 010- What's the SCSIHD.DRIVER patch to ignore DRIVER43 partitions? 011- What is the "bad bug" in the ROM 3.01e RamFAST? 012- What are correct HS SCSI settings, etc. for a Bernoulli drive? 013- What are the settings for a CMS hard drive controller card? 014- Does it matter when I power-ON my SCSI hard disk? 015- Can I leave SCSI devices I'm not using turned OFF? 016- Is there a generic SCSI tutorial available for downloading? 017- What is the correct time-out setting for a Focus hard drive? 018- How do I modify my Apple HSS card to supply Termination Power? 019- Can I get a Focus drive bigger than a couple hundred MB? 020- My hard disk is on a CMS SCSI. How do I install System 6.0.1? 021- How is DMA set for SCSI cards with 8MB RAM cards on the GS? 022- My 20MB Focus bombs and there's some goo on the card. A fix? 023- Where can I find the RamFAST manual on the net? 024- How can I tell which Apple SCSI card I have? 025- Where can I find Profile maintenance and formatting info?
From: Bradley P. Von Haden
001- How difficult is it to add a hard drive to my IIGS?
Adding a hard drive is not much of a problem. Usually, you will need to insert an interface card, possibly connect a cable or two, and change a Slot setting in the Control Panel Desk Accessory.
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002- What kinds of hard drive systems are available for Apple II users?
The most versatile and most common hard drive set-up is an internal SCSI interface card and an external SCSI drive. Hard drives, cd-rom drives, removable media (SyQuest, Iomega), flopticals, and scanners all can be added to the SCSI chain. Insert the card in a slot, connect a cable or two, and change a slot setting.
The preferred SCSI card is the RamFAST Rev. D SCSI card. The next best card is the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card.
Here are some RamFAST notes:
- faster than Apple Hi-Speed, especially in ProDOS - provides termination power to the SCSI chain - allows partitions to be mapped in ProDOS - device drivers come on the card in the upgradeable ROM chip (3.01f) - allows up to 8 devices to be added to the chain - allows up to 12 partitions to be active at any one time (switchable) - allows up to 12 partitions per drive - about $130 new
Here are some Apple High Speed notes:
- no longer produced or supported by Apple - does not provide termination power to the SCSI chain (can be modified to provide termination power) - does not allow partitions to be mapped in ProDOS - device drivers are software - allows up to 7 devices to be added to the chain - allows over 100 partitions to be active at any one time - allows up to 20 (?) partitions per drive - about $110 new (if still available)
For the hard drive itself, look for a SCSI drive in an external enclosure with the following features:
- 30 day money-back guarantee - external SCSI ID switching - dual 50 pin SCSI connectors - no or switchable termination (use an external terminator at end of SCSI chain) - switchable termination power (on/off) is a plus for users of SCSI interface cards which do not supply termination power
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From: Rubywand
Another way to go is a 2.5" IDE drive mounted on an IDE interface card. This "hard card" plugs into a Slot-- usually Slot 7. Alltech sells the Focus Hard Card in varying sizes (e.g. 60MB for $99) with system software installed. SHH Systeme offers the FileCard (about $170 + cost of drive) as well as a series of IDE controller cards to which you can add a 2.5" IDE drive (about $120-$170 including mounting kit).
The IDE hard card approach offers speed and capacity comparable to SCSI, very easy installation, and, it eliminates hassles with external boxes and cables. Of course, you will still need to add a SCSI interface card if you want to connect a SCSI CD-ROM and/or Zip Drive.
Note: If you want your system to include a SCSI CD-ROM drive, it is best to have a SCSI Zip Drive or SCSI hard disk connected to the SCSI interface, too. This provides a write-able medium for saving SCSI interface card setup parms.
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From: Rubywand
003- What do the SCSI ID numbers mean?
SCSI ID numbers identify devices on the SCSI chain. Each device should have its own, unique ID number in the range 0-7. (If two devices on the SCSI chain have the same ID number, there will be a conflict and your system will not function correctly.) Higher numbered devices have higher priority-- get 'looked for' first-- so, it is standard practice to set the device you boot from to 6 or 7.
Most external SCSI devices have a thumbwheel switch, slide switch, or jumper block on the back to set ID number. Some, like the Creative x2 CD-ROM drive let you click through 0-7. The Zip Drive lets you pick 5 or 6. (By the way, SCSI ID numbers have nothing to do with which Slot the SCSI interface card is in.)
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From: David Empson
SCSI ID 7 is usually special because the Apple SCSI and Hi-Speed SCSI cards count as a device set to ID 7 by default (and every Macintosh has a hard- wired SCSI ID of 7). The only thing that is special about ID 0 is that it is the standard ID used for an internal drive on a Macintosh.
There is no problem using SCSI ID 0 on an Apple II. On a RamFAST SCSI card, it is also safe to use SCSI ID 7 for a drive. The RamFAST doesn't have a SCSI ID, but every other SCSI card does.
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From: David Empson
004- What is "SCSI-2" and how is it different from SCSI-1?
For hard drives, "SCSI-2" basically means that the drive supports a stricter command set. The physical interface is usually identical.
For other device types, "SCSI-2" means a lot more, because the original SCSI standard didn't define much in the way of device types and command sets, so most devices use proprietary command sets. SCSI-2 standardises the command sets for most types of devices.
There are three special types of interface that you might see mentioned:
"Fast SCSI" supports data transfer at twice the speed of the original SCSI standard (10 MB per second vs 5 MB per second). This will not be a compatibility issue, as it is just the maximum transfer speed supported by the drive. The Apple II cannot transfer more than one megabyte per second.
"Wide SCSI" uses a different cable arrangement to double the width of the data path (16 bits instead of 8 bits). A wide SCSI drive cannot be used with an Apple II, unless it can also operated in "narrow" mode with the original 50-pin connector. (There is also "Fast Wide SCSI", which doubles the data rate and the width of the bus.)
"Differential SCSI" involves a different type of interface to the computer, where every data signal has a balanced positive and negative pair of wires, rather than a single wire and a ground line. I believe it has a different type of connector. Differential SCSI drives cannot be used with an Apple II."
Some drives use a proprietary connector, but the standard (narrow, non- differential) SCSI bus uses the same 50-pin connector for SCSI-1 and SCSI-2.
The only significant problem you might run into is termination, and supply of termination power. SCSI-2 devices tend to be fussier about termination than older devices.
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005- Will a SCSI-2 hard drive work with an Apple 2 system?
Usually, yes. I'm on my second Quantum drive that is described as "SCSI- 2".
There is a major caveat to this answer. Some newer drives require a host which implements the arbitration phase of the SCSI communication dialogue. The RamFAST doesn't do this, and as a result there are some drives that cannot be used with a RamFAST SCSI card. A notable example is the Quantum Fireball series. However; the Trailblazer and all older Quantum models work fine.
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006- I have a plain ol' Rev. C SCSI Card, will this work with a SCSI-2 drive?
My Quantum LPS240 is working fine on an original Apple SCSI card.
Note: With the original Apple SCSI card, the card itself is not terminated, so if you are connecting more than one device, you need to add a second terminator between the computer and the first drive (using a "pass-through" external SCSI terminator, or internal termination on the first drive).
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007- What is SCSI "termination power"?
At least one device (SCSI card or any SCSI drive) must provide power for the SCSI terminators by feeding 5 volts onto the TERMPWR line on the SCSI bus.
Usually, termination power is fed through a diode to prevent backfeeding from a higher voltage source in case some other device is also supplying termination power. A good implementation will have a fuse to protect against shorts and a capacitor to cope with a sudden rise in termination power drain.
The Apple SCSI cards do not provide termination power (though some recent Apple Hi-speed SCSI cards were modified by Apple to provide termination power). The RamFAST SCSI card can supply termination power.
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2GAMES.txt rev090 September 2005
Games
001- Where can I get games for my Apple II? 002- Where can I find hints, docs, pics, and other game information? 003- Where can I get game creation programs and information? 004- What are some games in double-hires? 005- Which IIgs games will not run on a ROM 3 IIgs? 006- Where can I find out about A2 Infocom & Infocom-style games? 007- What games, etc. are on the 'Asimov Want List'? 008- For disk space used, what is your favorite Apple II game? 009- Where did the Apple II Game Gods go? 010- Are there any games which play 'old Apple II' music during action? 011- Are there any new games for the Apple II/IIgs? 012- How do I get my Apple II game site listed in the FAQs? 013- How do I play the games?
From: Rubywand, Zeprfrew, Charles T. Turley, John Beatty, Netrunner68, Marc Sira, Swigg, Steve Evans, Jm
001- Where can I get games for my Apple II?
There are many places you can get Apple II software, especially games:
o- Local Apple II Users Group (may be part of a Mac Group in your area)
o- Sellers of original and second-hand software (See ads on the comp.sys.apple2.marketplace newsgroup and sites, like KulaSoft, A2Central.com, and Shareware Solutions II.) Also check the Apple II FAQs Vendor listings:
o- Regular posters to this newsgroup will often send diskettes with some utilities and games for the cost of diskettes and mailing.
o- Apple II archives maintain large collections of software which you can download via PC and transfer to your Apple II. See the Apple II FAQs Game Site and Major Site listings:
You can find screen shot and game box pics-- great for making disk labels-- on some sites; but, no single archive or web page offers anything like a comprehensive selection.
Author, publisher, and historical information is relatively rare. One site, The Giant List, does a good job listing game authors along with their games, publishers, and dates.
If a game or series has its own web site, this will often be the best place to look for docs, support materials, pictures, and author/publisher info. Good examples are sites for Ultima, Bard's Tale, Infocom games, and the games published by Penguin/PolarWare.
For links see the Apple II FAQs Game Site listings:
003- Where can I get game creation programs and information?
There are a number of gaming systems which include Apple II software for creating games. Examples which continue to attract new authors are Eamon (Text adventures) and Explorer/gs (Ultima-style adventures).
For links see the Apple II FAQs Game Site listings:
From: Thry, Mitchell Spector, Rubywand, Kevin Loesch, John L. Graham, Edhel Iaur, Shawn T. Beattie, Kelly Petriew
004- What are some games in double-hires?
Below is a listing of Apple II games which are entirely or mainly in double-hires.
Air Heart Aliens Arthur Bad Dudes Batman Battle Chess Black Cauldron California Games Card Sharks Columns Corruption (Text/Dhgr) Crossbow Death Sword Destroyer Dragon Wars Empire Global Commander Gold Rush Heavy Barrel Hunt for Red October Impossible Mission II Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Ikari Warriors II Into the Eagle's Nest Journey King's Bounty King's Quest (I, II, III, IV) Labyrinth Last Ninja Legend of Blacksilver Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the lounge Lizards Los Angeles Crackdown Manhunter Maniac Mansion Might & Magic II Mixed-up Mother Goose Neuromancer Pipe Dream Platoon Police Quest Press your Luck Qix Rad Warrior Rampage Robocop Shogun Space Quest Space Quest II Spiderbot Spy vs Spy III Star Trek: First Contact Strategic Conquest Street Sports Baseball Street Sports Basketball Street Sports Football Street Sports Soccer Temple of Apshai Trilogy (optional hires or double-hires) Tetris (Hgr/Dhgr) The Games : Summer & Winter Edition Thexder Transylvania (Dhgr version) Victory Road Universe II World Games Zork Zero
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From: Sevag, ...
005- Which IIgs games will not run on a ROM 3 IIgs?
Some older GS games have been converted to run on a ROM 3. These are games that I found to not work (I tried all versions):
Alien Mind (cracked version) MJ Basketball Shuffle Puck Captain Blood Skate Or Die Star Wizard
and one demo:
Weaky Demo
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Update
I found a version of Streets Sports Soccer that runs on ROM 3-- it's the one without the crack screen on bootup. So that game is gone from the list now.
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From: Rubywand
006- Where can I find out about Infocom & Infocom-style games I can play on my Apple II?
A good start is a series of fantasy game articles published, mainly, in the August through November 1999 issues of GS WorldView and since added to from time to. These are now interlinked for easy perusal.
The articles cover 1990's through early 2000's interactive fantasy competition releases, Infocom's Lost Treasures I and II, a 'missing Lost Treasure', plus some more recent Zork series releases. Coverage includes brief descriptions plus download links. A convenient way to get into the articles is to go to GSWV's Archive at ...
Arcade Volume I from Keypunch Software- It had several nice action games by "Rod" or "Hot Rod" including Sea Hunt and Galactic Glider. Berzerker Raids Car Builder Conflict in Vietnam (probably needs to be in .nib form) Cross Country Canada Dragon Fire (not the arcade game)- The title screen had inversed text, centered, and it said DRAGON FIRE; definitely low-res; the maze is a rip off of Super Dungeon and Dragonmaze. I think the character was four squares big, and was red. ... Empire II: Interstellar Sharks (1982, EduWare) Empire III: Armageddon (1984, EduWare) Gertrude's Puzzles (The Learning Company) Gertrude's Secrets (The Learning Company) Gwendolyn Hot Rod and Hot Rod 2 Ice Demons- You use the paddles to control 1 or 2 characters that shoot arrows at demons that emerge from platforms of ice. One of them was a happy face; one of them was a happy face with sunglasses. John Madden Football La Femme qui ne supportait pas les ordinateurs (The woman who couldn't stand computers) by Chine Lanzmann Match Boxes (Broderbund) Music Construction Set (mouse-capable version) Pride and Predjudice Rogue Trooper Sign of the Wolf Silent Service (8-bit version) Star Warrior Starflight 1 and 2 (PC only?) Thunder Cloud Toy Shop (Broderbund) Transportation Transformation Wizard War Worms
Docs
Genetic Drift (instructions and hints) Three Mile Island
Other
Apple Intercourse
Found!
Wings Out of Shadow (Berserker Works) - Sallyraphael (aka Knockstump) Star Crystal (Ba'rac Limited) - Sallyraphael (aka Knockstump) Odell Lake - Chris M. Super Dungeon (Programma) - aghwerhefw Think Quick - Sam Kaves of Karkhan (LEVEL-10) - Mike Maginnis Karateka II, both parts - Sallyraphael (aka Knockstump) and xorxif Alkemstone (LEVEL-10) - xorxif and Mike Maginnis
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From: Mookie Harrington, A2MG, Paul Guertin, Tony Turner, Matt Jenkins, Donald C. Lee, Dennis Doms, John L, Roy Miller, Jay Edwards, Joe Kohn, John Minkov, Michael Crimlisk, Mary Sauer, Dave Althoff, Rubywand, A2BOBR, GSMANIAC, Erik Struiksma
008- For the space used on disk, what is your favorite Apple II game?
Here are the results from postings to Csa2, Cea2, and Apple II forums on Delphi:
Airheart Ali Baba Alice in Wonderland Alien Mind Archon Aztec Balance of Power Bard's Tale Bard's Tale II Boulder Dash Bounce It Brickout Castle Wolfenstein Caverns of Freitag Choplifter Computer Baseball Conan Dark Forest Dark Heart of Uukrul David's Midnight Magic Death Sword Drol Eamon games Elite Epoch Flight Sim II Hadron Infocom text adventures John Madden Football Journey Karateka Kings Quest I, II, and III Lady Tut Legacy of the Ancients LemminGS Lode Runner Marble Madness Masquerade Mean 18 Montezuma's Revenge Moon Patrol Ms. Pacman Olympic Decathlon Panzer Battles Pick 'N' Pile Pitfall II Prince of Persia RasterBlaster Reach for the Stars Rescue Raiders Robot War Robotron 2084 Rocky's Boots Scott Adams' Adventure games Serpentine Shanghai Sherwood Forest Silent Service Skyfox Sneakers Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter Spare Change Stellar 7 Struggle for Guadalcanal Super Bunny Swashbuckler Sword of Kadash Tetris The Lurking Horror Thexder Ultima Ultima IV Up 'n Down Wasteland
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2HDWHACK.txt rev090 September 2005
Hardware Hacking
001- What's a good hardware project book for the Apple IIe? 002- How can I use a thermistor to read temperature on my A2? 003- Will a prototyping Slot Board fit all Apple II's with Slots? 004- What is the pinout for the Apple II series Slots? 005- I've been getting Fatal System Error 0911. Is there a fix? 006- Why does my GS Control Panel keep resetting to the defaults? 007- How do I replace my GS "BatRAM" battery? 008- Is there a program to record/restore Control Panel settings? 009- How I can safely clean out dust from my Apple II? 010- How can I safely remove oxidation from IC pins? 011- After smoke came from my GS the KB doesn't work. What's wrong? 012- What is the mini circuit board near the front of my GS for? 013- How do I add RAM & set jumpers on the IIgs 1MB Memory Card? 014- How can I move my IIgs to a PC tower case? 015- How can I convert a IIgs into a portable IIgs? 016- Where can I get Robot kits to use with my Apple II? 017- Where can I get "Zip" package chips for my AE GS RAM-III card? 018- What chip can I use to replace a bad RAM IC in my IIe? 019- Could someone please post a resistor color code chart? 020- What advantages does the ROM 3 GS offer vs. the ROM-01 GS? 021- How can my ROM 3 GS + 8MB Sirius card do large file copying? 022- My ROM 3 with RamFAST crashes with an 8MB Sirius. What's wrong? 023- Where can I find Apple II diagrams? 024- What No Slot Clock chip should go in my IIc+ and where? 025- Where can I find Apple II socket, etc. pinouts? 026- What IC do I need to use the GS-RAM Plus in my Apple IIgs? 027- Where can I get prototyping boards that fit Apple II Slots? 028- What are the numbers and functions of major Apple II ROMs? 029- What is the C-One?
From: Paul Guertin
001- Could anyone suggest a good project book for the Apple IIe. I'm interested in using an old box for tracking the temperature in a water bath.
Vernier software publishes a book called "How to Build a Better Mousetrap" which contains 14 hardware projects for the Apple II. Project #6 is a temperature probe connected to PDL0.
ISBN for the book is 0-918731-16-X. Vernier Software ( http://www.vernier.com ) 2920 S.W. 89th Street Portland, Oregon 97225 USA (503) 297-5317
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From: Sheldon Simms
A good book is _Inside The Apple IIe_ by Gary B. Little. It isn't a project book, but it does have a good chapter on using the Game I/O connector for "electronics experiments."
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From: Cyrus Roton
002- How can I use a thermistor (a resistor which has a variable resistance related to ambient temperature) to read temperature on my Apple II?
You can connect a thermistor to a paddle input and supply a voltage to the other end. Current flows through the thermistor to charge a .022 mfd capacitor inside the apple2. When the paddle is read, the apple2 discharges the capacitor and resets a timmer. Then the cap is allowed to charge. When the charge reaches the trigger level (3.2 volts) the timmer is stopped and the count is read out.
The lower the value of the thermistor, the faster the charge and the lower the count. Also, the higher the voltage, the faster the charge. A resistance of about 120K with a 5 Volt supply will give a count of about 250. You can add an external capacitor across the paddle input (to ground) to increase the charging time (if needed)
The formula is charge=input volts * (1 - exp(-t/RC))
So, you can use a supply voltage and external capitor as required to fit the resistance value of the thermister (or other resistive component). Probably, the best way to find the correct values woud be to try a variety of values and plot the "count" as a function of the variable resistance. Then compare the plot against the resistance curves for the thermistor (probably not linear), and work out some conversion formula to use in your program to correlate "count" to temperature.
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From: David Empson
003- Can I use the same prototyping Slot Board for all of the different Apple II's with Slots?
Prototyping boards certainly would be the same for the II, II+, IIe, and IIgs. The slots on all slotted Apple IIs are physically identical
There are minor differences between the slot signals on the various machines and on some slots in the same machine, mostly affecting rarely used special pins. (See Question 004 for more details on signal differences.)
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004- What is the pinout for the Apple II series Slots; and, what differences are there in Slot signals from machine to machine?
Here is a quick summary of the Apple II series Slot signals:
Pin 1: I/O Select ($Cn00-$CnFF, where n is the slot number).
Pins 2-17: Address bus A0-A15.
Pin 18: Read/Write.
Pin 19: unused on the II and II+. On the IIe and IIgs, this has composite horizontal and vertical sync on slot 7, and is unused on other slots, except for slot 1 on the IIe only, which has a diagnostic function to disable the oscillator on the motherboard.
Pin 20: I/O Strobe ($C800-$CFFF).
Pin 21: this is the RDY input to the micro on all machines, but it behaves a little differently in the IIgs, or in a machine with a 65802 installed.
Pin 22: this is the DMA pin on all machines. Again, there are special issues for doing DMA on the IIgs which can cause compatibility problems.
Pin 23: this is used for the interrupt daisy chain (out) on all Slots except 7. In the IIe only, this pin can be connected to the GR signal (graphics mode enabled) via a motherboard modification.
Pin 24: DMA daisy chain out.
Pin 25: +5V.
Pin 26: Ground.
Pin 27: DMA daisy chain in.
Pin 28: Interrupt daisy chain in.
Pin 29: Non Maskable Interrupt.
Pin 30: Interrupt Request.
Pin 31: Reset.
Pin 32: this is the INHIBIT pin on all machines. This behaves differently on all three machines: the II and II+ only allow the $D000-$FFFF ROM area to be inhibited. The IIe allows RAM to be inhibited as well, but has strange interaction with main and auxiliary memory. The IIgs only allows this signal to be used if the machine is running in slow mode.
Pin 33: -12V.
Pin 34: -5V.
Pin 35: unused on the II and II+. On the IIe and IIgs, this is the colour reference signal on slot 7 only. It is unused for other slots in the IIe, except for slot 1 where it provides a poorly documented facility to disable the keyboard address decoding. On the original IIgs, slot 3 provides the M2B0 signal (Mega II Bank 0) via this pin and it is unused on other slots. The ROM 3 provides M2B0 for slots 1 to 6.
Pin 36: 7 MHz system clock.
Pin 37: Q3 - Asymmetrical 2 MHz clock.
Pin 38: Phase 1 clock (1.023 MHz).
Pin 39: something called "USER 1" on the II and II+, which can be used to disable all I/O decoding if a modification is made on the motherboard. On the IIe, this pin provides the SYNC signal from the micro, which indicates an opcode fetch. On the IIgs, this pin provides the M2SEL signal, which indicates that a valid slow memory access is in progress. This pin must be used by IIgs cards that decode the address without use of the IOSEL, IOSTRB or DEVSEL pins.
Pin 40: Phase 0 clock (1.023 MHz).
Pin 41: Device Select ($C0n0-$C0nF, where n is the slot number plus 8).
Pins 42-49: Data bus D7-D0.
Pin 50: +12V.
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From: Rubywand, David Kopper, Guenther Unger, Gabriel Hawkins, Michael Mahon
005- I've been getting Fatal System Error 0911 and when I do the internal diagnostic it gives a system bad : 09010001. Is there a fix?
Fatal System Error 0911 and Self-Diagnostic Test 09010001 mean the same thing: You are, very likely, experiencing one of the following malfunctions:
o- Temperature-sensitive ADB IC
This problem was first identified in a 1988 article in issue #58 of Computist. If your IIgs is a true ROM-01 (produced starting in mid-late 1987) or a ROM 3, you are very unlikely to have an ADB IC with this defect.
Otherwise ... A guess would be that you are running a ROM-00 machine which has been upgraded to ROM-01. If this is the first time you've noticed the '0911 problem, it is likely that this is the first summer you've owned and used this particular machine.
Many early GS's come with an ADB IC which malfunctions over a narrow range of relatively low temperatures. Rooms are normally cooler during summer; so, this is when the error pops up most frequently. Some users first notice a plague of '0911 crashes after adding a System Saver-GS (which increases cooling).
Note: Some reports have attributed '0911 crashes to overheating of one of the two main ADB IC's. So far, it looks like these reports are cases of misinterpreting the actual failure syndrome-- i.e. warming up a cool IC enough to get into its failure region.
'0911 bombs can occur 'any time' but they usually happen at startup and when doing OpenApple-CTRL-ESC accesses to the Desk Accessories (CDA's, Control Panel, ...) menu. As the machine warms up, '0911 crashes tend to become less likely.
The bad news is that there is no 100% fix except to replace the temp sensitive ADB IC-- hard to do since it is soldered to the motherboard and, in any case, known-good replacements are difficult to find.
As to _which_ ADB IC-- there are two, the ADB Controller and the ADB GLU- - our notes say the ADB Controller; but, we could have easily misidentified the function back then and the ADB GLU IC 'clicks' better with memories of the fix. (The ADB GLU IC is a square IC near the right front of the motherboard.)
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2HISTORY.txt rev090 September 2005
History
001- Where can I find an in-depth history of the Apple II? 002- What happened in the final years of the Computer Wars? 003- How did Woz invent the Apple computer? 004- What did the first Apple ads look like? 005- When did the Apple II FAQs begin and who have maintained it?
001- Where can I find an in-depth history of the Apple II?
A comprehensive Apple II History is presented in six volumes:
Volume I R016V1HIST.TXT R016V1HIST.DOC Volume II R017V2HIST.TXT R017V2HIST.DOC Volume III R018V3HIST.TXT R018V3HIST.DOC Volume IV R019V4HIST.TXT R019V4HIST.DOC Volume V R020V5HIST.TXT R020V5HIST.DOC Volume VI R021V6HIST.TXT R021V6HIST.DOC
Volumes I - V are the actual history. The Appendices are in Volume VI.
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From: Rubywand
002- In 1981 it seems like 'the world' was Apple's for the taking. What happened?! What were Apple II users saying and feeling in the final years of the Computer Wars?
The Computer Wars Chronicles
What follows is a series of articles I originally did for COMPUTIST beginning in the late 80's. They chronicle the end of an era. You will find all of the speculation, analysis, predictions, and hype one might expect in writings which oscillate between recognition of impending reality and a crusade to oppose it.
The pieces are, roughly, dated by Issue number. The first article appeared in Issue 67 in the late Summer of 1989. I'm pretty sure the last article appeared in the Fall of 1991.
This collection was recently reprinted in Tom Turley's A2-2000 on-line 'zine. Tom keeps insisting that old A2 writings will be of interest to 1990's computer users. Maybe he's right. It may be entertaining to relive these snapshots of Apple II history.
Jeff Hurlburt, 1997
ISSUE 67/ Revolution
The Missing Upgrade
Spring has long since sprung and my predicted "significant IIgs upgrade" has yet to materialize. The problem, according to Western Design Center's Bill Mensch, is not available hardware--- 65816's have been tested above 12 Mhz and the '832 will soon be ready for prototyping--- the problem, he says, is that Apple is not particularly interested in an upgrade, or, even, in preserving the II series!
Unbelievable? Not at all. Neither Commodore nor IBM were willing to upgrade their lower priced lower profit lines; if Apple lets the II stagnate into obsolescence, it will be following a well-worn trail. Elimination of the II line would free the company of any remaining hacker/experimenter influence, cure a chronic case of microprocessor schizophrenia (65xxx vs. 68xxx), and release resources currently devoted to II series development, production, and marketing. Finally, speculation aside, one has only to look at what the company has done--- or, more precisely, NOT done--- to support its IIgs...
NEED: Traditionally, upgrades are forced by the competition. By fall of last year, it was clear that lower prices for VGA resolution IBM clones posed a serious threat. The II series would be in serious trouble, I reasoned, if Big Green did not soon introduce a MAJOR IIgs upgrade. The bare bones requirement has to be something around 8 MHz speed, with a mod to access display memory at current "fast" speed, AND access to 640 x 480 16-color graphics. More sound RAM, a second display block, better disk I/O, a nd a multi-color TEXT mode would be nice; but, obviously, without speed and graphics parity, the IIgs isn't even in the ball game.
Such demands are not, as some like to claim, merely a product of users losing out in 'my computer is better than yours' contests. For many applications, it is now possible to define something like speed and resolution 'absolutes': there is such a thing as "not fast enough" or "not enough detail", whatever the competition is doing. Today, no super-res word processor or desktop publisher runs "fast enough" on the IIgs-- the user is always conscious of trading away speed for "power"--; nor can the user o btain anything like an accurate on-screen view of many fonts. "WYSIWYG" just isn't possible with only 200 lines of vertical resolution.
Similar considerations apply with respect to many utility, scientific, and entertainment applications. The worry is that continued incompatibility with VGA-developed 'control panels', windowing setups, and artwork will slow the release of IIgs versions; and that, increasingly, speed may become a disqualifier. No one, in short, is talking about 'gilding the lily'; the focus is upon such mundane concerns as decent 'productivity applications' comfort levels and continued access to new products.
Now, as you read this, it is summer; IIgs sales are on a double-digit slide, and, assuming there is no last minute upgrade announcement, the II line IS in serious trouble. Just how serious became obvious to me when a fellow IIgs devotee, Baywoof (a.k.a. "the Boardbasher"), confessed that he was dumping his Apple and moving to an IBM. He figures that, for the price he can still get for his IIgs stuff, he can buy a complete VGA color '386 clone system.
I've seen his numbers; and, at worst, the difference is probably less than three or four hundred dollars!-- this for a three or four times speed increase, twice the hard disk storage, faster floppy access, lower peripherals prices, easier upgrades, larger software base, and much better graphics. (BUT, he will, for now, have to give up IIgs-quality sound. Ha!)
Anyone still inclined to accept the pomp and glitz of Apple group festivals at face value need only peruse a recent "Computer Shopper". With luck, somewhere in a few hundred pages of IBM clone ads and product reviews, you will find Don Lancaster holding forth in the the three or four pages of what qualifies as the "Apple" section.
"Wait!", you cry, "what about the 'New II in '89' promised at last winter's 'Fest? or reports of a plug-in upgrade?" So far, the only evidence of a "New II" is yet another addition to the malingering IIc series and some talk of a "New IIgs" with in-ROM operating system smarts and on-board MIDI. As for Apple's plug-in upgrade, this is rumored to be a bridge board to partial Mac compatibility. That is, for a few hundred dollars, you may soon be able to turn your IIgs into a Mac Jr.! (Gosh, wasn't it just a few months ago that IBM carried off a Fortune Worst Marketing Blunder of the Decade Award for its PC Jr.?)
We have, long ago, passed the point where it makes any sense to talk about maintaining II series dominance in software markets. And, since schools must select computers with an eye to what students will use at home, Apple's much-touted education base is about to 'turn blue' as well. The question now is: how much of the current base of users and creative talent can be held while someone (Applied Engineering, Comlog, Laser, ?) puts together a significant, reasonably priced upgrade?
QUALITY CONTROL and SERVICE: Our II+ ran flawlessly for nearly six years before requiring a new power supply and keyboard IC replacement. A veteran of countless experimental mods, it continues to perform well. Our IIgs, on the other hand, is presently on its third motherboard! (Actually, it may be the fourth; it's hard to be sure. I do recall that one of the replacement boards didn't do anything, except short out the power supply.)
The main problem is an apparently endless supply of sub-spec proprietary IC's (e.g. video and ADB controllers). So, why three (3) motherboards!? Well, Apple does not allow its local sales/service reps to replace soldered-on IC's. Should your ADB controller bomb (or, more likely, you finally discover that it has been sporadically malfunctioning all along), "repair" consists of swapping out the motherboard. If your warranty has expired, the cost is $270 plus your old board!
As to old complaints-- a II series marketing strategy designed to create a toy image, high prices, slowness in releasing documentation, Mac exploitation of II events, etc., etc.-- elaboration is hardly necessary. The record is one of studied insult, rapacious greed, sloppiness, and dismal neglect.
Let Them Eat Cake
Does Big Green management truly wish to be rid of the II? I doubt it. As security against future Mac troubles, the II series has proved to be priceless insurance. (Remember, it was the IIgs and solemn oaths to 'be true to our Two' that turned things around in '86.) The Apple Lords appear, instead, to have opted for the no-development-cost, string-the-user-along strategy perfected by Commodore in dealing with its 64/128 line. Unfortunately, the IIgs is priced against '386-class competition, not cartrid ge arcade machines.
In the long run, the biggest problem with this 'Mac in red, II gets fed; Mac in black, II gets sack' philosophy may be that it makes for remarkably poor PR. Scan through the message bases of a few local Apple BB's and what you find is the kind of mistrust and ill will that used to be reserved for 'The Phone Company'.
There is, for some reason, a widespread perception that Apple is perfectly willing to sit on its hands while hefty user computing investments turn to mush. Now, what do suppose is going to happen when many of these thousands of II owners and former owners are asked to suggest company, school, and university computer purchases? Somehow, Apple is managing to convert its most valuable asset into a fatal liability. (It's not nice to skimp on your II
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2MONITOR.txt rev090 September 2005
Monitor
001- How can I fix an unstable display? 002- I'm using a TV + IIc RF module. How can I improve the display? 003- What monitor repair Safety precautions are recommended? 004- How do I discharge the High Voltage anode? 005- How do I open my RGB monitor's case and get set for repairs? 006- What tools and solder should I use for repairs? 007- What's the fix for a flickering, Jumping, display? 008- How can I fix an all-red, all-blue, etc. monitor display? 009- Is there any more RGB Adjustments info? 010- How do I adjust Centering on my GS RGB color monitor? 011- How do I adjust Focus & Intensity on a blurry GS RGB Monitor? 012- What is a replacement for the RGB "flyback" power transistor? 013- How do I fix sporatic Shrinking and Flicking in-out of Focus? 014- How do I fix a serious case of shimmy on my GS monitor? 015- Which monitors and adapters can I use to replace my IIgs monitor? 016- What are the pinouts for Commodore's 1084 monitors? 017- What is a "composite video monitor"? 018- What is the usual way to connect an Apple II to a display? 019- How can I do the "Color Killer Mod" on a //e? 020- My A2 display doesn't work with a "TV/Game Switch". How come? 021- Can I use a color TV with my IIc+? 022- What is the //c/IIc+ video port pin configuration? 023- Where can I buy a replacement RGB monitor for my GS? 024- What kind of RGB monitors will work with a IIc? 025- Can I replace my GS RGB monitor with one from a PC? 026- What are the specs and pinout for the GS RGB monitor? 027- Do I need monochrome monitor to get a clear 80-col display? 028- Is there a high-quality replacement for RGB monitors? 029- Can I use a GS RGB monitor with my IIc? 030- Why does a composite monitor I added show a fuzzy dim display? 031- Is my SecondSight board the cause of increased system crashes? 032- Why do Inwords and PublishIt bomb on my SecondSight board? 033- How many dots are actually sent to the GS monitor per line? 034- My GS RGB monitor takes a long time to get bright. A fix? 035- Where can I get a GS RGB monitor cable? 036- Can I replace my Apple II composite monitor with a PC VGA monitor? 037- IIgs monitor screen goes blank and power light goes out. A fix? 038- Why doesn't hires look as good on my GS RGB monitor?
Monitor RepairMini-Manual (Q&A 001-014) 4/98 version
This mini-manual describes Repairs & Adjustments which usually involve removing the case. Before removing the case, check to see that the your problems are not due to a poorly connected monitor cable or misadjusted monitor controls.
From: Rubywand
001- My display is sharp but it seems to be unstable. Is there a quick, easy fix for this?
Maybe. First, check your cable connections to make sure they are solid. Also, try diddling the side and back controls. Sometimes, these become dirty or develop bad spots.
If diddling a control seems to cure or nearly cure an unstable, jumping, etc. display, you can be fairly sure that a squirt of Control Cleaner will help. The cleaner needs to reach the control's resistance element-- the place where the wiper touches the carbon track in a potentiometer-- and you should turn the control back and forth after squirting the cleaner. Probably, you will need to remove the case to get a good shot at the dirty control.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
002- My Apple IIc has the IIc RF modulator module and is connected to a color TV through a TV/Game switch. The color is okay but the display is more or less ragged depending on where I run the cable. Is there a way to get a better, more stable display?
If you are using a plain hi-fi type cable to connect from your IIc modulator to the TV/Game switch, then, changing to a video cable may help. If you are using a much longer cable than necessary, try a shorter cable.
Another popular trick is to form any unused length into one or more loops (use wire ties or tape to hold the loops together). Wrapping unused cable length around a ferrite or iron core (e.g. from an old transformer) is a variation on the same idea.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
003- What Safety precautions should I take when working on my monitor?
Basically: unplug the monitor and let sit for a day, wear goggles, work on a non-conductive table surface, do not stress CRT neck.
Unplugging the monitor and letting it sit for a few hours reduces the danger of shock from stored charges; it does not eliminate it. The usual warning for this kind of work is AVOID touching two different circuit points at the same time. Like, don't touch the metal chassis and the conductive surface of the CRT at the same time.
WEAR protective GOGGLES. If you should, somehow, bump or stress the CRT neck-- as in jumping when you get shocked-- it may break. The result may be a peaceful THOOP! or the CRT may implode in a spray of glass. (Avoid using the CRT's neck to support the monitor in any position.)
Work on a wooden or plastic-topped table with plenty of space. Try to position yourself, tools, and the monitor so that when you get 'stung', the chances of breaking something are reduced.
As much as posible, avoid using heavy tools of any kind. An inadvertant tap from a mini-screwdriver is much less likely to crack the CRT than a bonk from a full-sized screwdriver or pair of pliers.
Rubber gloves are probably a good idea so long as they do not get in the way. Of course, pointy connections and components can puncture gloves.
It's a good idea to clip a wire to the chassis and touch the other end to the conductive surface of the CRT a few times before doing any work in order to drain off any charge there.
Note: Several places in a monitor or TV carry high enough voltages to deliver an uncomfortable shock. Draining the charge from one point does not guarantee that other points have been discharged.
===========================
From: Joe Walters
004- How do I discharge the High Voltage?
The HV charge (20,000+ volts) might not be much reduced by just waiting a few hours (or days), especially if you are in a low humidity location and the tube, etc., are of good quality. You can, probably, _reduce_ the shock hazard by discharging the High Voltage at the anode. You can not, really, expect to eliminate the shock hazard. (See WARNING below.)
1. There is a long wire (called the anode) that goes from the high voltage power supply to the top of the tube where it is snapped into a hole. You can't see the hole because there is a rubber shield built onto the wire. The end of the wire goes to a metal clip which, without the rubber shield, looks somewhat as below. One squeezes the clip so the end slips into the hole in the tube.
--- --- == \ / ===== back of CRT \ / <-- metal clip (This is what your grounded | screwdriver needs to touch.) [|] [|] insulated Anode lead going to HV module [|]
Needless to say, UNPLUG the monitor before beginning. Simply turning it off isn't good enough.
2. Get a clip lead and clip one end to a long slender screwdriver
3. Clip the other end to the metal chassis of the TV (i.e the metal frame parts)
4. Carefully! slip the screwdriver tip under the rubber flap on the top of the tube until it touches the internal wire that both holds the anode wire in place and conducts electricity.
Step 4 may result in a somewhat loud "SNAP" as the tube is discharged. Be prepared so you don't jump and break something.
WARNING: After "discharging", do _not_ assume that no High Voltage is present. Almost certainly, some High Voltage remains or may reappear over time.
===========================
From: Rubywand
005- How do I open my RGB monitor's case and get set for doing internal adjustments or repairs?
Whatever it is you plan to fix, if you remove the monitor case, you will probably need to unplug the cable running from the circuit board to the Controls/Switch Module on the side of the case. Use 'whiteout', nail polish, etc. to mark the position of the plug. In more detail ...
1. Unplug everything from the monitor & let it sit for a day.
2. Put on protective GOGGLES. Place the unit face down on a wooden or plastic-topped surface with lots of space and good lighting. Remove the screws. Place the unit in nomal position.
3. Have a fat magazine ready. Slide the case off until you are able to see the control leads plugged into the main board on the right side of the case. Mark the plug position with 'white-out', nail polish, etc.. Unplug the connector.
4. Slide off the case while supporting the monitor and slide the fat magazine under the circuit board to prop up the monitor from behind.
5. Discharge the HV (optional, but, generally, a good idea).
6. <Do adjustments, fixes on Monitor>
7. When done, reinstall the control assembly.
8. Still wearing GOGGLES, support the monitor, remove the magazine, slide on the case, reconnect the plug, finish sliding on the case, replace screws.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
006- What tools and solder should I use for repairs?
For any soldering use a good quality pencil-style iron rated at 25-40 watts with a holder and sponge. Use high quality (60/40 tin/lead or better) rosin core solder (e.g. Kester "44" 20 gauge).
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
007- How do fix a Flickering, Jumping, display which sometimes collapses to a line?
If the monitor exhibits major flickering, periodic collapse of the display to a line, etc., then it may help to know that a common source of such
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2KBPADJS.txt rev090 September 2005
Input Devices
001- How do I do the Shift Key Mod? 002- What's a "VIDEX" board? 003- I need a GS ADB keyboard cable! Where can I get one? 004- How can I make a PC-to-Apple Joystick converter? 005- How can I do an Apple-to-PC Joystick conversion? 006- What are the dip-switch settings for the "BITMOUSE" card? 007- How can I switch my IIe keyboard layout to Dvorak? 008- What keyboards work as replacements for a GS keyboard? 009- What is a Koala Pad and how do I test it? 010- Can I convert a C-64 Koala Pad to work on my Apple II? 011- How do I make the internal cable for a IIe numeric keypad? 012- Is there a cable or card which lets you connect two joysticks? 013- How do I write programs for the Apple Graphics Tablet? 014- Why does my II+ KB act like the CTRL key is always pressed? 015- Can I replace my bad IIe keyboard with one from another IIe? 016- Why does my IIe keyboard keep repeating characters? 017- How do I read the joystick on a GS in native mode? 018- Is a Y-adapter available for my GS keyboard? 019- How do you use the Kensington TurboMouse with a IIgs? 020- How do I clean my mouse? 021- What is the best kind of mouse pad? 022- How do I clean my keyboard? 023- Is there a fix for a bad trigger on my Flight Stick? 024- How can I improve the feel of my original (beige-key) IIc KB? 025- Can I replace my broken GS mouse with one from a Mac? 026- What is the pinout for the IIe, //c, and similar 9-pin mouses? 027- How do I write programs which use the mouse? 028- How can I replace a bad keyboard encoder IC on my IIe? 029- Can I use an Apple III joystick on my Apple II? 030- How can I be sure my joystick is properly adjusted? 031- How can I play joystick games on an emulator? 032- How do I fix a "stuttering" IIgs? (IIgs keyboard fix) 033- How can I use a PC mouse on my Apple II?
From: Steve Jensen
001- How do I do the Shift Key Mod?
Here's info from my files on the 'shift key mod':
The one wire shiftkey mod is the oldest and simplest fix that can be made to the Apple II to get true upper and lower case operations with the shift key. Most good word processors have input routines that check the PB2 input on the game I/O port to determine if the shift key is being pressed. Some programs that have these routines are Wordstar, Write-on, Apple Pascal 1.1 and many others. Follow the steps below to install the shift key mod.
parts: 1 mini-grabbette clip (Radio Shack PN 270-370) 1 15 in. piece of small guage wire 1 16 pin socket
1) Solder one end of the wire to the mini-grabbette clip.
2) Solder the other end of the wire to pin 4 of the 16 pin socket as close to the body of the socket as possible.
3) Turn the Apple II off and remove the cover.
4) Remove anything plugged into the game I/O socket.
5) Attach the mini-grabbette clip to pin 24 of the keyboard encoder connector. This connector is located inside the Apple II directly beneath the RESET key. Pin 1 is nearest the power supply and pin 25 is nearest the right edge of the Apple II. Use the grabbette clip to attach to the standoff _pin 24_ (second from the end).
6) Lead the other end of the wire with socket attached along the right edge of the motherboard and plug it into the game I/O port. Be careful to plug pin 1 to pin 1 when putting this socket in. Pin 1 of the game I/O port is towards the front of the computer.
7) Replace the cover and start using lower case characters.
____________________________
From: Paul Creager
002- I opened an Apple II+ the other day found that there was a board labeled "VIDEX" tacked under the keyboard. What is a "VIDEX" board?
The official name is the Videx Keyboard Enhancer. It replaces Apple's keyboard encoder board underneath the keyboard. Besides providing true U/L capability (with the Shift Key), it had a small (10-20 character) buffer and supported programmable macro keys.
I had one on my ][+. I remember a couple of wires had to be run to the motherboard. One enabled true Shift key usage. The other I can't remember. If you don't have a wire running to an IC on the motherboard, that explains why your Shift key isn't working. It could very well be the same spot where the "traditional" Shift key mod is made.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
003- I got a free IIGS but with no GS ADB keyboard cable! Where can I get one?
Jack Somers and Supertimer report that ADB cables which will work fine are available at low prices from stores which carry Mac supplies.
An alternative is to get an SVideo cable from your nearest video/audio electronics store. Although these cables have no external shield, all four ADB lines are connected. I tried one on our GS and it worked fine. One thing: the absence of an external shield may produce extra TV/Radio interference.
----------------------------
Related FAQs Resource: R029PCA2XRF.GIF (gif pic file) Related FAQs Resource: R030PCA2RF.GIF (gif pic file)
004- How can I make a PC-to-Apple Joystick converter?
If you are looking for the best stick at the best price for your Apple II, building a simple PC-to-Apple2 joystick converter is the way to go. Practically every computer stuff store carries PC sticks and you will have a wide selection of brands and models from which to choose.
Note: The converter detailed here will not work with "auto-fire" circuits included in some PC joysticks. If you use an auto-fire stick with this converter, "auto-fire" should be switched Off.
For a modified design which supports both auto-fire and non auto-fire operation see FAQs Resource R030PCA2RF.GIF.
My PC stick is a standard CH Products "FlightStick". A resistance measurement produced a disconcerting revelation: the X and Y pots top-out around 100k Ohms-- 50k less than a standard Apple II stick! Fortunately, you can compensate for the difference just fine by adding a bit of capacitance. The finished converter is shown below:
To PC Stick To Apple II Or to 16-pin IC plug 15-pin Dsub 9-pin Dsub ribbon cable to female connector male connector internal Game socket
add .01 uF cap* between [5] & [3] [ 6] & [ 8] Optional: for fine-tuning, add a 500k trim pot in series with the cap.
add .01 uF cap* between [8] & [3] [10] & [ 8] Optional: for fine-tuning, add a 500k trim pot in series with the cap.
*Note: The Capacitors compensate for smaller R range of PC sticks. The C values are approximate. There is some variation in the built-in capacitance for each Apple II and a ".01 uF" cap may be off by 20% or more.
For standard 100k Ohm PC sticks, picking a ".01 uF" cap pretty well guarantees you will be able to cover the full Apple II X and Y range (0-255). To make sure and to get a wide active swing, it's a good idea to use clips to attach caps and check performance using the program below.
A pictorial 'diagram' of this converter is available. For the pictorial, see FAQs Resource R029PCA2XRF.GIF.
For checking and adjusting stick performance on your Apple II, use a program which continuously reads and displays X and Y stick values. The program below does this and displays "B0" when Button 0 is pushed and "B1" when Button 1 is pushed. Do a CTRL-C to exit.
20 PRINT "X= "; PDL(0); TAB(15); "Y= ";PDL(1); TAB(30); 30 IF PEEK(49249)>127 THEN PRINT " B0"; 40 IF PEEK(49250)>127 THEN PRINT " B1"; 50 PRINT: GOTO 20
Note: If your Apple II uses an accelerator chip or board, make sure that it "slows down" for joystick accesses or just set Speed to "Normal" (1MHz).
Most likely, after X and Y centering is set (around 128) you will find that the a stick tops-out too early in the X-max and/or Y-max direction. For best control precision, what you want is for extreme values to occur near the extremes of stick movement:
X (horizontal) Left= 0 Right= 255 Y (vertical) Up= 0 Down= 255
This way, you have lots of active swing which makes graphics work and playing most games much easier.
If you included the trim pots in your converter, adjusting for maximum active swing will be easy so long as you can get to the max 255 values with the pots at lowest resistance. (Increasing the resistance acts like lowering the value of the connected capacitor.) If your converter does not include the trim pots, experiment with swapping in capacitance values between .002 uF and .01 uF to get the best control 'spread'.
The converter I built fit inside heat-shrink tubing. Putting it in a small plastic box may be better. You could mount the trim pots (and/or switches with fixed "trim resistors") and select between settings for a 'Fast', short swing, 'hot' Game Stick and a 'Normal', full swing, 'cool' Game/Graphics Stick.
----------------------------
005- I have a great Apple II joystick I'd like to use on my PC. How can I do an Apple-to-PC Joystick conversion?
If you've compared the pinouts and info for Apple II and PC joysticks, then you know there are some important differences:
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2PRINTER.txt rev090 September 2005
Printers & Interfaces
001- How do I do the ImageWriter II self-test? 002- What are the DIP switch settings for IW-II and IW-LQ printers? 003- How do I do the ImageWriter-LQ alignment test? 004- Can I use a 'straight-through' cable to connect my IW-II? 005- My Imagewriter II doesn't print! What's wrong? 006- How can I keep paper from jamming in my Imagewriter II? 007- The bottoms of letters don't get printed. How can I fix this? 008- What is the 'trick' for restoring a printer ribbon? 009- How do I connect a "Centronics interface" printer to my Apple? 010- Where can I get a Grappler+ cable? What is the pinout? 011- What are the DIP switches on my Grappler+ for? 012- What printers will the Harmonie drivers work with on my GS? 013- What's the best GS interface for connecting a parallel printer? 014- How can I use my Epson Color Stylus 800 with my IIgs? 015- Why aren't fonts found after being moved to a new GS volume? 016- When I run Platinum Paint I get error $1301. What's wrong? 017- Can I clean the nozzles on an Epson Stylus printer? 018- What is the pinout for a GS to ImageWriter I cable? 019- Where can I get Imagewriter II ribbons? 020- How can I connect my Imagewriter II to a PC?
From: Mike McElfresh
001- How do I do the Imagewriter II self-test?
With the printer OFF, hold the Form Feed button down while pressing down the ON switch. Release both buttons when the print head starts to move. To stop, turn the printer OFF.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
002- I bought an ImageWriter II and an ImageWriter LQ. What are the DIP switch settings for these printers?
While a number of settings are the same; there are some differences between IW-II and IW-II LQ in DIP switch settings as well as which DIP switches are present. Unless there is a note attached or a setting is labeled "IW-II" or "'LQ", the indicated setting applies to both printers.
IW-II DIP switches are located near the left front side, inside the printer. Lift the cover to get access. 'LQ DIP switches are located near the left rear of the printer under the rear cover. When changing switches, power should be OFF.
ImageWriter II & II LQ DIP Switch Settings
In Imagewriter manuals, "SW-1" refers to DIP switch module 1. Each such module has several individually numbered switches. For example SW-1 #5 refers to switch #5 on the SW-1 module.
When a switch is UP (pointing toward the back of the printer) it is open or OFF.
When a switch is DOWN (pointing toward the front of the printer) it is closed or ON.
When a setting is labeled "usual" this refers to the usual setting at the time a printer is shipped in the USA.
The settings for SW-1 have to do with printout format. ImageWriter control codes can override these settings. The codes for a particular setup could be sent in a character string by your program or an application.
On SW-1 all of the switches are normally open (UP) except #8 which is closed (DOWN). These settings work for printouts under Appleworks and several other programs which take care of page breaks. For tasks like listing a program, doing a hex dump in the monitor, etc. you may want SW-1 #5 to be DOWN for automatic skipping over perforations between pages.
Character Set SW-1 #1 #2 #3
American U U U default Italian D U U Danish U D U British D D U German U U D Swedish D U D French U D D Spanish D D D
Form Length SW-1 #4
11 inches U default 12 inches D
Auto Perforation Skip SW-1 #5
No U default Yes D
Character Pitch SW-1 #6 #7
10 cpi U U 12 cpi D U default 17 cpi U D 160 dpi D D (proportional)
Line Feed with Carriage Return SW-1 #8
No U CR only Yes D CR plus LF
The settings for SW-2 are concerned with hardware interfacing. #1 and #2 set the baud rate the printer will expect:
SW-2 #1 #2
300 (on IW-II) U U 19200 (on IW-II LQ) U U 'LQ default 1200 D U 2400 U D 9600 D D IW-II default
You should set the switches to match the speed of your printer interface. For the IIgs serial Printer Port, the Port and the DIP switches would normally be set for the maximum speed the printer can handle (e.g. IIgs Port at 9600 baud and DIP switches set DOWN DOWN for the IW-II).
SW-2 #3 is usually set UP to enable DTR hardware handshaking. If your interface wants to use XON/XOFF handshaking, set #3 DOWN.
SW-2 #4: If you have the 32K Memory Option, LocalTalk card, etc. installed, SW-2 #4 should be set DOWN. Otherwise, it should be set UP (the usual setting).
IW-II: SW-2 #5-#6 on the IW-II are factory-set to optimize hammer firing and should be left alone by the use (On my IW-II #5 is DOWN and #6 is UP.)
'LQ: SW-2 #5-#7 (#7 is only on the 'LQ) on the IW-II LQ are used to set the number of cut sheet feeder bins attached to the printer.
'LQ SW-2 #5 #6 #7
1 U U D 1 and 2 D U D 1, 2, and 3 D D D 1 and envelope U U U default 1, 2, and envelope D U U 1, 2, 3, and envelope D D U
'LQ: SW-2 #8 (only on the 'LQ) sets Auto Paper Load position.
To print line U default To paper bail D
'LQ: SW-3 #1-#5 (only on the 'LQ) are factory-set to optimize printer operation and should be left alone by the user.
'LQ: SW-3 #6-#8 (only on the 'LQ) control vertical alignment of dots in bidirectional printing mode. Set for best alignment.
----------------------------
003- How do I do the ImageWriter II LQ alignment test?
The 'LQ Alignment Test
With printer OFF, press Select, Line Feed, Form Feed. Hold them pressed, turn ON printer, and release buttons after printer head starts to move.
The printout shows four possible switch settings with six lines of vertical bar printouts for each setting.
Settings are indicated like this: 1 0 0 (which means DOWN UP UP). An asterisk by a setting means it is the current setting.
Set the switches to the setting which best lines up the vertical bars in the printout.
---------------------------
004- Will a 'straight-through' cable work for connecting an ImageWriter II to my GS?
No. In the ImageWriter cable, Pins 1 & 2, 3 & 5, and 6 & 8 are supposed to be swapped from one end of the cable to the other.
----------------------------
005- My ImageWriter II doesn't print! The head moves, and I can hear the pins striking the paper, but I get nothing. What's wrong?
Check ribbon positioning. If the ribbon is properly positioned, then, you may need to adjust the the print head - to - roller distance (sometimes called the "paper width" adjustment). There is a small lever near the lower right side of the roller. Click-position it in a notch or two.
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006- How can I keep paper from jamming in my Imagewriter II?
A surprising number of Imagewriter users go for years putting up with paper jams during long printouts. A nearly 100% cure is to just pop up the top rollers so that they do not press the paper against the roller.
----------------------------
007- I notice that the bottoms of letters on my ImageWriter II's printout are not showing up. How can I fix this?
A likely explanation is that the printhead needs to be moved in (toward the big roller) a notch. This is a standard "Paper Thickness" adjustment on many printers. On IW, you do it with a lever to the right of the roller.
Another possibility is that the printhead needs cleaning. Be careful what you use to clean a printhead because some solvents can dissolve the mask which lines up the pins. Light oils and gasoline seem to be especially bad. A fine bristle toothbrush plus some standard detergent in warm water or a household cleaner (like Fantastik, etc.) should remove most dust and gunk. Whatever you use, avoid soaking the printhead in anything very long-- i.e. get it reasonably clean and then blow/blot dry.
Changing settings on the DIP with the factory settings which "users should leave alone" _may_ have some effect on firing of the bottom pins. I don't know. Probably, you would want to try everything else first.
----------------------------
008- What is the 'trick' for restoring a printer ribbon?
For cartridge ribbons, such as the one in ImageWriter II, it is easy to 'restore' a ribbon to dark printing with a few spritzes of WD-40. Using a pocket knife, pry off the lid of the cartridge, and, as evenly as possible, lightly spritz the bunched-up ribbon. Restore the lid and roll the tape back and forth a few inches. Let the cartridge sit for several days in a plastic bag.
The idea is that the WD-40 spreads unused ink into the ribbon's print area; so, it will not work for restoring multi-Color ribbons. Since you are adding no ink, this trick is good for only one or two 'restorations'.
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009- Can anyone tell me how to connect a printer with a "Centronics interface" to my Apple II?
The Centronics interface is the standard parallel interface for many printers. To connect such a printer to an Apple II, you need a printer interface card and cable. Since the cards were a popular item in the early 80's and were produced by several different companies you should be able to get a good one without too much trouble.
The cards turn up fairly often at swap meets, should be easy to find on
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2POWER.txt rev090 September 2005
Power Supplies & Cooling
001- What's the pinout and load specs for the IIgs Power Supply? 002- Are the power supplies for the ][+ and IIe interchangeable? 003- What are the output capabilities of GS and IIe power supplies? 004- Can I use a 'generic' surplus power supply in my Apple II? 005- How do fatter leads reduce noise on the +5V & +12V lines? 006- Is there any more that can be done to eliminate glitches? 007- Is there a power supply upgrade kit for the Apple IIgs? 008- What kind of internal fan can I install in an Apple IIgs? 009- Why do so few GS power supplies have a fan installed? 010- What are some good Apple II power supply fix tries? 011- Some of our classroom IIe's don't work at all. Is there a fix? 012- Why does my Apple IIe often fail to turn on?! 013- What does a rapid chirping noise on a GS power supply mean? 014- How do I fix a nearly dead GS power supply? 015- What is a "Buggie Power Supply"? 016- Do I need the metal shielding in my GS case? 017- My System Saver IIgs has gotten very noisy. How can I fix it? 018- My System Saver IIgs panel feels springy? Is there a problem? 019- Can an overloaded power supply affect IIgs sound?
From: David Empson
001- Does anyone have pinout and current ratings info for the Apple IIgs Power Supply?
The Power Supply connector pins are numbered as above. When you are sitting in front of the computer, pin 1 is nearest you. (i.e. pin 7 is nearest to the back of the motherboard).
____________________________
From: Rubywand
002- Are the power supplies for the ][+ and IIe interchangeable?
Yes. The plugs are the same and the ratings are the same and they look alike. Aside from, possibly, needing to add mounting holes for particular models, you should be able to swap ][+ and IIe power supplies whenever you wish.
----------------------------
003- Could someone compare the output capabilities of the GS and IIe power supplies?
Okay. This is from information presented in GS and IIe manuals:
PS Connector Output Max. Output Current Pin# (GS/IIe) Volts (GS/IIe)
7/6 - 5 V 0.25 Amps /0.25 Amps 6/5 -12 V 0.25 Amps /0.25 Amps 5/4 +12 V 1.00 Amps /1.50 Amps 4/3 + 5 V 4.00 Amps /2.50 Amps
2/2 GND 1/1 GND
----------------------------
004- Can I use a 'generic' surplus power supply in my Apple II?
Sure. Check out the power supplies listed in the MPJA, JDR, Jameco, and similar catalogs (see http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/A2FAQs3VENDORS.html for links). Mainly, you are looking for a relatively compact switching power supply which fits the following guidelines:
1- all four Voltages (+/- 5V and +/- 12V) are available* 2- the power supply can be fitted into your Apple II 3- the +5 Volt output is rated at 5-10 Amps 4- the +12 Volt output is rated at 1.5-3 Amps 5- price is no more than $25
* Except for PC power supplies, good four-output models with a -5V output seem to be rare. You can add a simple -5V regulator circuit to the -12V output to obtain -5V.
As more and more new surplus power supplies are dumped, part of your shopping challenge is finding one which is _small_ enough to work well with the Apple II. This explains the price guideline. If a unit costs more than $20, the odds are pretty good that it's too big physically or electrically.
Too big electrically? In general, power supplies need to be loaded in order to do a good job of regulation. A 25-Amp output which is called upon to deliver 1 or 2 Amps is more likely to exhibit problems with feedback and regulation than were it asked to deliver, say, 5 or 6 Amps. An Apple II with a few power-sucking Slot cards will work fine with many PC power supplies; a base system with no cards could have problems adequately loading some PC supplies.
Your best choice for an in-the-case replacement is likely to be some $10-$15 unit rated at a total of less than 125 watts which was originally designed to power a printer, monitor, or portable PC. Probably, it will be "open frame" with no case, switch, fan, or power cord.
Installing a power supply unit-- i.e. one not specifically designed for the Apple II-- inside your Apple II can involve a fair amount of work. When I did such an install on our II+, the most time-consuming part was fixing up a way to mount the On/Off switch and AC cord socket in the usual power supply opening in the back of the case. (Mounting the stuff on a small plastic panel set into the opening worked fine.)
The power supply board itself mounted nicely on spacers in the space provided for the standard PS. Once the AC and various DC lines were connected, the new PS came on-line without a hitch. Our II+ hasn't had any power supply problems since.
____________________________
From: Rubywand, Marvin Miller, Michael Mahon
005- Could you please explain how adding thicker wire will decrease noise on the +5V and +12V lines? I received and installed my new "Heavy Duty" A2 power supply and get the same results with my Second Sight board as before-- it still locks up the computer on boot-up.
The leads coming from most Apple II power supplies have a low resistance-- much less than 1 Ohm. (Thanks to Michael Mahon for driving home this point!) Even so, as a user piles on peripherals and the current load increases, a wire lead's resistance may prove to be too high to allow maintaining proper operating voltages and low system noise-- e.g. you routinely get "FATAL SYSTEM" errors.
A good indicator of power problems is a noticeable drop in voltage on the +5V line as measured on the motherboard. Instead of the 4.9V - 5.0V typical for a light load, it will be 4.7V or lower.
Measurements and experiments with standard IIgs power supplies indicate that the actual DC voltage drop through the 18 gauge +5V and Ground leads is only (approximately) a total of 0.04V at 3Amps, which is what a moderately "loaded" IIgs system will draw. The explanation for getting a drop of 0.2V - 0.4V or greater appears to be power supply regulation error. Some standard (and "heavy duty") Apple II power supplies with 18 gauge leads will hold at-motherboard voltage to around 4.9V at 3-4 Amps and som e won't.
It is easy to see that a system designed to work at 5 Volts will eventually begin to malfunction as the available voltage drops by half a volt or more. In fact, any actual computer system would be likely to experience crashes long before the average, measured at-motherboard voltage got down to 4.5 Volts.
A voltmeter reading at the motherboard does not show instantaneous spike or "noise" voltages. Each time a circuit switches, there is a change in current drain. Quite a few circuits are switched with each main system clock transition; so, the change in current can be substantial at 1 x and 2 x main clock frequency. Other events, like turning ON a disk drive, can also produce brief up or down shifts in current drain. Either way, you have brief changes in voltage across the power supply and its leads.
The brief voltage changes are called "spikes" because they are VERY brief. The larger the current shift and the greater the effective resistance of the power supply plus its leads, the higher the spike voltage generated. Since these spikes are in series with the circuits connected to the PS and since they are difficult to eliminate via bypass capacitors, they propagate throughout the system.
Even worse, as current draw increases and spike voltage increases, at-motherboard supply voltage decreases. So, you have a 'double whammy': the lowered supply voltage reduces IC noise immunity just when you need it most.
At some point, noise spikes appear which cause latches, memory IC's, etc. to switch state. If the latch is on a RAMfast, you may get a disk read error. If a memory chip is affected, data will be corrupted, program instructions may change, ....; in short, your computer is likely to malfunction.
All of which is bad enough; but, there may be another negative affect when noticeable system noise appears 'across' the power supply. How many csa2 posts complain about GS power supplies that crater "for no reason" after just a couple months? How many users seem to be on eternal quests for a solution to PS woes? Reducing the noise may significantly extend the life of your Apple II power supply.
Power supplies with noticeable regulation error often benefit greatly from heavier leads, especially for +5V and Ground. Reducing the actual drop through the lines reduces the resulting error; and, at-motherboard voltage is back to 4.8V or better under high loads. The heavier leads also reduce noise.
Whether or not tighter regulating power supplies benefit significantly from swapping in heavier leads is an open question. At high switching frequencies the power supply's leads will have a higher effective resistance and the spike voltages appearing across the power supply output will be larger. If you notice otherwise 'mysterious' system glitches despite having a good, solid looking power supply and/or that power supplies tend to crater when connected to your Apple II, swapping in heavier leads may be a good idea.
Our current GS power supply is the one which came with the computer when it was purchased in the Fall of 1986.
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2SOUND.txt rev090 September 2005
Sound & Music
001- How does the GS produce so many simultaneous sounds? 002- Is there a way to output quadraphonic sound on a IIgs? 003- Do I get Stereo from my IIgs Sound Output jack? 004- Why should I add a stereo board to my GS? 005- How can I build my own GS stereo board? 006- How can I transfer sound files created on a Mac to my GS? 007- How do I program a Phasor Sound Card? 008- What is required to build a Sound Input board for my IIgs? 009- What's what re. MockingBoard hardware and programming? 010- How do I get my MockingBoard to work on my GS? 011- How do I play Ultima IV/V with MockingBoard sound on my GS? 012- How can I get 'regular Apple sound' to play through MB outputs? 013- What GS programs will let me play MIDI files? 014- Would FExt.NDA let you play thru Synthinit? 015- Can I play .WAV files on my GS? 016- What formats are used for audio files? 017- How do I use my Echo speech synthesizer to produce speech? 018- What types of sound files are used on the GS? 019- Where can I find more info on cards, editing, digitizing, ...? 020- What is "old Apple" sound and how is it produced? 021- What is a good source for .WAV and .BNK files? 022- How can I get more System Sounds for my GS? 023- How can I run Music Studio 2.0 from hard disk? 024- How can I record better sound samples on my IIgs? 025- Squeals and other noises spoil my GS stereo board sound? A fix? 026- My IIgs has no sound from the internal speaker. What's the fix? 027- Where can I find GS music and music creation programs? 028- Does any Apple II emulator include Mockingboard support? 029- Does anyone know what a "Supertalker" card is used for? 030- My GS stereo board's sound output is very low and noisy. A fix? 031- How can I create sounds and music on my 8-bit Apple II? 032- Where can I get Mockingboard disks and music?
From: Todd Whitesel
001- If the GS only has eight output chanels, then it would seen to me that it could only play eight different sounds at a time. So how can I digitize fifteen different sounds and play them all back simultaneously?
To summarize the following lecture:
There are 32 oscillators (16 generators) and 16 channels. Not all are used for actual sound output.
Oscillators are "smart voices" Generators are oscillator pairs that can generate extra effects with each other Channels are actual independent output lines like left and right speaker
That said, let's start at the top.
The DOC is a coprocessor with its own dedicated 64K of RAM. All the sound samples have to be put in this RAM before they can be played.
The DOC has 32 'oscillators' which are essentially smart DMA channels. Their basic function is to sweep through areas of the DOC memory reading samples and playing them. They can do so at variable speeds (automatically repeating or skipping sample values as necessary), they can loop on a power of two boundary, they can stop when they read a zero, they have independent volume settings, and various other things that aid in reproducing complex instruments without loading down the main CPU.
But when you come down to it, the DOC is capable of playing 32 sounds simultaneously and independent of each other, provided that all the sample data fits in the DOC RAM.
The oscillators are not all perfectly identical in operation. For the basic sample playing and looping they are, but for some more complex functions they must be paired. This is where the concept of 'generators' comes from -- the 16 generators ARE operationally identical and that is why software prefers the generator concept. Both oscillators and generators are numbered from 0, so oscillators 0 & 1 are generator 0, oscillators 2 & 3 are generator 1, and so on.
Generator 15 (oscillators 30 & 31) is reserved for system use (one oscillator is set to loop slowly at zero volume, to generate tempo; I forget if the other is used by anything, it's probably used to play mono samples).
Most software use one generator per voice. Since 15 generators are left over, spec'ing the GS as having "15 voice sound capability" is a fair statement.
The actual output that comes out the DOC is a 'time-domain multiplexed' sound output and five digital bits. What happens is this: the DOC services each oscillator in turn, and for each oscillator the current sample value is multiplied by the oscillators' volume setting and a voltage proportional to the product is output on the sound output. Four of the digital bits are set to the 'channel number' setting for the oscillator and the last one simply changes voltage from about 3 volts to about 0.5 (for you EE folks out there, this is the negative edge of an output-valid strobe).
External hardware is responsible for splitting off the various channels (4 bits means that there can be 16 of them) and outputting them seperately. The motherboard hardware just ignores the channel setting and mixes all the sound outputs into the speaker/earphone. The sound connector on the motherboard only has room for 3 of the four bits, so expansion cards that plug into the sound connector can only get 8 seperate output channels. Most stereo cards (AE's sonic blaster, for example) only pay attention to the lowest bit, so even numbered channels are left and odd numbered channels are right (or is it the other way round? I forget).
No, it isn't simple, but it gives a lot of flexibility -- most of which is largely untapped.
____________________________
From: Keen Jeffrey Alfred
002- Is there a way to output quadrphonic sound on a IIgs?
We all know that the "S" in GS stands for sound. Stereo cards abound but the GS is capable of much more. The following circuit uses the same technique as stereo cards to decode stereo but decodes quadrophonic. Inside the GS by the memory expansion slot exists the J-25 sound expansion connector that most stereo cards use. The pin outs are as follows:
J-25 Connector
1 Analog to digital in (end nearest front of computer) 2 Analog ground 3 Waveform out 4 Channel address zero 5 Channel address one 6 Channel address strobe 7 Channel address two
The analog in (pin 1) doesn't concern us here. The waveform out is the important signal. The contains the output of all oscilators one after the other in quick succession (the DOC only handles one at a time). When the DOC is outputing the waveform from an oscilator it puts the channel address from the DOC register $A0 + osc (most significant four bits) on the three channel address lines and pulls the channel address strobe low. (The DOC realy has four lines but only three are connected in the GS).
The circuit below uses the first two lines the decode the channels (creating 4 unique channels) and breaks the signal into four parts depending on the address using cmos single position single toggle wired as dual position single toggle switches. Then the chopped output is smoothed with an active low pass filter with a corner frequency of 17.7KHz.
Because most programs only use stereo the second channel address in normally low so this circuit will also decode stereo and this will turn up at the front two outputs. I have built this circuit on a bread board but need to make a PC board to make a better sounding circuit. Also the output impedance should be set to 75K ohms but I haven't yet gotten around to it.
To make sound in stereo or quad all you have to do is place the binary address of the channel you wish the sound to have in the control regsister for the ocsilator (the tools can do this) and there you have it.
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2T1TCOM.txt rev090 September 2005
Telecom-1 Hardware & Transfers
001- How do I transfer files between my Apple and a PC or Mac? 002- How do I transfer/convert my A2 word processor files to a PC? 003- How do I use ADT & ap2222pc to transfer disks between A2 & PC? 004- How do I transfer files between computers using NULL modem? 005- How do I NULL-modem Text files without getting garbage? 006- How do I make a "NULL Modem" cable? 007- What is the maximum length for a NULL modem connection? 008- What are the connections for a standard modem cable? 009- How do I make a GS hardware handshake High-Speed modem cable? 010- What is the maximum modemming speed I can get from my Apple II? 011- What telecom programs run on Apple II computers? 012- Where can I get ADT, ADTgs, Agate, Modem MGR, Spectrum ...? 013- What are the settings for the Apple Super Serial Card? 014- What are the Serial Pro card's dip switch settings? 015- What are the settings for an Apple Serial Interface Card? 016- What cable can I use to do NULL modem transfers with my IIc? 017- What cable(s) can I use to connect a modem to my IIc? 018- How can I connect a modem with a Dsub-9 socket to my IIgs? 019- How can I program the Super Serial Card in assembly language? 020- How do I set up Hyperterm to do transfers with my Apple II? 021- How do I get an Applesoft program into a PC-DOS computer? 022- I want to use a fax modem with my IIGS. Is this possible? 023- Can I do modem-to-modem transfers between my home computers? 024- What cable can I use to do Apple IIc <---> PC ADT transfers? 025- Where can I buy modem cables and NULL modem adapters?
From: Rubywand
001- How do I transfer files between my Apple and a PC or Mac?
The best, most flak-free way to move stuff between your Apple II and PC or Mac is via a standard NULL modem transfer. (A NULL modem connection joins a serial port of the Apple II to a serial port of a PC, Mac, etc. via a NULL modem connector joining modem cables from each computer. Radio Shack and ThinkStuff sell NULL modem connectors/cables.) The usual way to get the most out of this connection is to have a telecom program on the Apple II talking to a telecom program on the PC or Mac. For more infor mation on standard NULL modem transfers see Q&A 004 below.
A variation of the standard NULL modem setup is a software package plus cable specifically designed for transferring files between computers. For information on such a package, see Q&A 002 below.
Other ways of doing a direct PC-Apple II transfer include ADT and Ap2222; and, for Mac-Apple II transfers, there is MacADT. These software packages include programs for both computers-- e.g. Apple II and PC-- which let the user do transfers via serial ports (ADT) or game port and printer port (Ap2222). They are, mainly, intended for moving whole A2 5.25" disks. For more information, see Q&A 003 below.
Another option is to use a BBS-- perhaps your own company BBS-- or an internet website, ftp site, etc.. You upload from one machine and download with the other. For more information about uploading and downloading, see the Telecom-2 FAQs.
A completely different approach is to move files on diskette. For PC transfers, this normally requires that either the Apple II or the PC have a plug-in card and disk drive which lets it read diskettes from the other machine. For example, an Apple II could have a PC Transporter board with a PC drive connected; or, the PC could have a TrackStar board with an Apple II drive connected. For more about TrackStar, see relevant information in Csa21MAIN1.
Depending upon model, installed OS, and available utilities, Macs can exchange files with Apple II computers via ProDOS and HFS 3.5" diskettes. Macs with the A2 plug-in board can handle standard 5.25" A2 diskettes.
A modified version of the above approach is for PC users to employ a utility which allows writing to HFS diskettes.
Files can also be exchanged with PC's and Mac's using Zip disks. (See Csa2ZIPTF.)
----------------------------
From: SuperTimer and Rubywand
If your other computer is a Mac, you can format a Mac HFS (standard) DS/DD 3.5" disk and the GS can read and write it if you have the HFS FST installed. That's how I exchange files with a Mac...
On a PC, you can install a program called MacDrive 98. This program allows Windows 95 to read, write, and format HFS volumes.
To transfer files from HFS media to ProDOS disk on the IIe, IIc, or IIc+ you can use A2fx or HfsLink. The IIe, etc. must have an 800k 3.5" drive connected to access 800k HFS diskettes. This method would also work for IIgs's which can not run a version of System supporting the HFS FST.
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From: Ruud
For Mac users, if the file arrives in a .zip or .sit form, it's easier to work with because it's 'protected' from being altered by the Mac file system (i.e having a resource fork added). An .shk file isn't protected since that is a native A2 format.
Then it's a matter of getting the file onto a Mac *with an old-style disk drive*, mostly the ones that 'suck your disk in' by themselves, but some later ones - mainly in 68k machines, Powerbooks seem particularly good - work as well. Powermac drives are not reliable, while a 68k Powerbook or SE/30 works fine.
So, after getting it onto the 68k, I unzip/unstuff the file to obtain the contained .shk, etc. files and let them be processed by ProType, which restores A2 file types. Then I put them onto a ProDOS disk mounted on the 68k Mac (using system 7.6.1) and restart ProType and let it change the types on the A2 ProDOS diskette again just to be sure.
After booting the Prodos disk on the Apple II, it is just a matter of starting Shrinkit v3.4 to unshrink any .shk files.
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From: MDRipley37
For Mac users, there is a shareware utility named "][2Mac" for transferring 5.25" diskettes from Apple II computers to Mac as IIe- and Bernie ][ the Rescue-compatible disk images. It works for transferring images from Mac to Apple II diskettes, too. I have used it for over a hundred transfers with no problems and Apple II disks that boot up just like the originals.
____________________________
From: Rubywand
002- How can I transfer and convert word processor files from an Apple II to a PC Microsoft format (DOS, Word)?
There is a Sequential Systems package complete with cable named "CrossWorks" which lets you transfer Appleworks, Word Perfect, text, and other ProDOS files to a PC. It transforms them to a variety of PC formats (e.g. AppleWorks to/from Microsoft Works). An alternative is to convert the Apple II file to plain Text and send it that way.
____________________________
From: Bill Mackin
003- I've heard of ADT and ap2222pc. How do these packages work for transferring Apple II disks between an Apple II and a PC?
Yesterday I downloaded ap2222pc.zip written by some guy in Hong Kong. It copies whole Apple disk images over to the PC, or PC to Apple, or individual files back and forth!
You buy a 25-pin male parallel port connector and two 8-pin DIP sockets from Radio Shack. He gives the wiring diagram for connecting 9 wires between them. You type in a 6502 assembly program on your apple at address 300. Save the program, shut things off, hook up the wire from your PC printer port to the Apple Game Controller socket, turn them on (Apple first, then the PC), and run his programs.
It works great! I've already made 26 disk images from my old Apple disks.
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From: Paul Guertin, Sean Gugler, Paul Schlyter, Rubywand, Ronny Svedman
ADT (Apple Disk Transfer) lets you transfer 5.25" 16-sector A2 disks from your Apple II to your PC. It will also transfer standard 5.25" .dsk disk image files from the PC to a formatted 5.25" diskette on the Apple II. The connection is a fairly simple NULL modem link between serial ports using standard cables and adapters.
Transferred disks can be DOS 3.3, ProDOS, Pascal, ... . However, ADT will not correctly transfer most copy protected disks to the PC; and, it will not transfer ProDOS-order (usually .po) disk image files to the Apple II.
ADT is a pair of dedicated telecom transfer programs-- one for Apple II running under DOS 3.3 and one for the other computer (almost always a PC; but, there is also a version for Mac). The PC-side program is available in a vesion for Windows 95, 98, Me (adt.exe) and one for MS-DOS (now named "adtdos.exe").
There are several versions of the Apple II-side program in order fit different models and serial interfaces:
ADTssc- The current version (1.22) of 'standard ADT'. It requires that an Apple Super Serial Card or compatible card be installed or that the Apple II be a //c or IIc+ (which have SSC-compatible serial ports).
ADTcc- ADT modified to work with many, mostly older, non-Super Serial Card serial interfaces. (Current version is 1.21.)
ADTgs- Currently at v.91, this is ADT modified to work with the IIgs modem port. (ADTgs will, at present, do only PC-to-Apple II disk image transfers.)
ADT is practically always distributed as a .zip file including at least an Apple II and PC program plus directions for transferring the Apple II program dump file to your Apple II, setting up, and operation.
The latest distribution, ADT_2004.zip includes the three Apple II-side programs, both PC-side programs, directions, and assorted support files.
Each Apple II-side program is a block of code (e.g. adt.dmp) designed to be dumped from PC to an Apple II
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2T2TCOM.txt rev090 September 2005
Telecom-2: Downloading & Uploading
001- What's the easiest way to download files from Apple II sites? 002- Some of my downloads are bad; what's wrong? 003- Are there download files I should process on the PC (or Mac)? 004- How do I upload files? 005- What kinds of files should I upload to which sites? 006- How can I read & send email and newsgroup msgs with my A2? 007- With a fast modem, how can the IIe connect to the internet? 008- I'm running the Lynx web browser. Where do I put the URL? 009- How do I download an .SHK file through Lynx? 010- Can I send and receive FAXes using my Apple II? 011- What is a "Binary II" header? 012- Should I add a Binary II header to files I upload? 013- How can I use my Apple II on the internet?
From: Rubywand
001- What is the easiest way to download files from Apple II sites?
Modern PC internet browsers like netscape and Internet Explorer have spoiled much of the challenge of connecting to sites on the net. For example, entering
in IE's "Address" box gets you to Ground's IIgs games folder ready to download with just a mouse click.
Downloading via a Browser
Some major Apple II sites are FTP sites-- places you get to via an ftp:// URL. FTP connections tend have a pretty raw look-- instead of colorful backgrounds, pictures, fancy buttons, etc., what you see is mainly text showing folder and file names. You may get folder icons and, perhaps, some simple icon next to each file name.
Today, many Apple II sites are web sites with pages you get to via an http:// URL. Often, web download sites will offer a relatively fancy display listing titles with descriptions and, by each title, a button to click to do the download. Other web sites may do without html pages and not be much fancier than an FTP site.
Whether FTP or HTTP, you usually just click a button or file name to start the download process. An exception might be when the file is a Text file you wish to download; for Text file downloads you may need to right-click or SHIFT-click on the item to get some sort of 'Save file' dialogue.
If the file is some binary type (like .shk, .dsk, .zip, etc.), just clicking on the download link or button should bring up a Save dialogue-- like an alert asking if you wish to Save the file-- or take you immediately to a Save window.
When regular (left) clicking gets you to a Save dialogue or window, it indicates that the download page's server knows that the item is not Text or that your browser is one which defaults to binary mode when the filetype is not recognized. Either way, the odds favor getting a good download.
Many Apple II sites are on servers which have no difficulty recognizing PC filetypes like .zip and .bin but do not recognize popular Apple II filetype designations such as .shk, .sdk, and .dsk If a regular click on a download link or button for a shk, or other binary file results in a dump of garbage text to your screen, it means your browser thinks it is supposed to download some kind of Text file.
Right-clicking or SHIFT-clicking should allow you to avoid the garbage and get a Save dialogue and download the file. However, since the browser thinks it's Text, the resulting file will probably have the linefeed character code ($0A) added after every $0D in the file which is not followed by an $0A. So, almost certainly, the download will be corrupted.
One try at a workaround if you are on an http:// site is to try the place's ftp:// URL if it has one. If that doesn't help, contacting the FTP site via an FTP program will almost certainly work.
If you are using an older browser, going to a newer version of IE or Netscape could get the job done.
If you have not defined the particular Apple II filetype in Windows and/or your browser, that may help. (See Geoff Weiss's page which talks about making web browsers aware of Apple II file types for ftp connections at http://www.gwlink.net/geoff/IIdownload.html .)
If the item is available from another place, you may find that going there for your download solves the problem.
Another pretty good alternative is to go ahead and download the .shk, etc. file and use a PC utility named "Uncook" to try producing a copy with the corruption removed.
Uncook was 'discovered' by GS Ed (manager of the ACN Florida archive); and tests indicate that it usually succeeds when the file is corrupted. If the file is not corrupted, Uncook may produce a messed up copy! Fortunately, it is pretty easy to tell when the latter occurs.
If the result of Uncook is a file just 2-4 or so bytes smaller, the original is probably good and the Uncook is bad. If the new (Uncooked) file is known to be the correct size (like it's a 143,360-byte .dsk file) or if it is many bytes smaller, or if the site is known to deliver corrupted files, then the Uncooked file is probably good. And, if there is any doubt, you can always try using both files-- e.g. the .sdk file which gets you a "bad data" error during unshrinking is the bad one.
A slightly different approach is to use a good FTP program (often called an "FTP client"), such as WS_FTP or Cute FTP. It is easier to download (or upload) multiple files, speed is usually a bit better, and, since you can force binary mode, direct FTP is not much bothered with file type recognition.
To connect to an FTP site you can run a dial-up program to establish contact with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and start your FTP program. If you are on the net under Netscape, 'Explorer, etc., then you are already connected to your ISP and can start your FTP program as a new task.
After starting your FTP program, you can select the FTP site you want from a list you've created. The list, also called a "profile list", contains ...
o- the site's internet name-- such as "ground.ecn.uiowa.edu" (Note: there are no "/" folder separators in this entry.)
o- the particular folder or directory you want to begin with-- such as "/2/apple2"
o- and the folder on your computer for downloads-- such as "C:\Downloads".
Other information, such as the kind of connection (usually "Unix standard") and the password you send to the site-- usually you will log-in as "anonymous" and use your email address as the password-- are entered more or less automatically when you first create a site's profile entry. (To create a new entry you will usually just click "New", "Create New", etc. instead of picking a site to contact.)
When the connection is made, you will see a list of files and folders in the folder you have entered. If you open one of the folders, you will get a new listing of files and folders contained in the selected folder. You can 'navigate' deeper into the archive and reach, say, Ground's /2/apple2/Collections/AOL/Games folder; and you can navigate backward to, say, /2/apple2/Collections and explore some other collection, such as /2/apple2/Collections/1WSW.
You can, also, change the the drive and folder on your hard disk to which you wish to download. For example, the default "local" folder may be C:\Downloads whenever you connect to Ground. If you want downloads to go into D:\TempStuff, you can pick this destination. Another situation in which you may wish to change the local folder is when uploading files to a site.
Practically all programs and compressed disks will be in .SHK, .SDK, .DSK, or some other "binary" form. In fact, "Binary" should nearly always be your download/upload mode setting, even when downloading (or uploading) Text files. About the only exception would be when dealing with a binscii archive site which can not handle binary.
In general, when downloading an Apple II .SHK, .ZIP, etc. file, it is best to avoid letting any "helper" applications process the file during download. Usually, it is best to unZIP .zip and .gz files on the PC but, still, after you have completed the download. Your Apple II can take care of un-Shrinking and most other kinds of processing which may be required after the file is downloaded and transferred from the PC (or Mac).
To download one or more files you click-highlight each file you want. Then, you click some button-- such as an arrow symbol pointing to your C:\Downloads folder-- to start the download.
Usually everything will go smoothly and the files will appear on hard disk in your target folder (e.g. C:\Downloads). If you use a dedicated ftp utility you will, usually, be able to see the exact length of a file on the site's file list. One good check for a successful download is to compare file lengths displayed in your target folder with those shown in the FTP site's file list. If you do straight downloads with no processing, there should be no differences for binary transfers. (Text file transfe rs in Text mode often result in small length changes.)
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002- Some of my downloads are bad; what's wrong?
If the exact length of a downloaded file is different than its exact length on the download site (e.g. as shown via your FTP client program), the download is probably corrupted. (Text files are something of an exception-- i.e. the download length may be different and the file may have characters added; but, usually, the "corruption" has no damaging impact.)
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2ZIPTF.txt rev090 September 2005
Zip Drives & Tape
001- What is a "Zip drive"? 002- What is a "Zip disk"? 003- What do I need in order to use a Zip drive? 004- What kind of SCSI interface card do I need? 005- How do I install a Zip drive? 006- How do I get started using the Zip drive? 007- How does Zip Drive speed compare with a hard disk's speed? 008- Can I use Zip disks to transfer files to/from other computers? 009- Will forgetting to set the termination switch cause damage? 010- How does Zip Drive perform with an Apple HS SCSI card? 011- Is a CMS SCSI card adequate for connecting a Zip drive? 012- Which SCSI interface works best with a Zip Drive? 013- Will I be able to format and partition a Zip disk? 014- Should I let the Finder handle formatting of new Zip disks? 015- Can I format a Zip disk for HFS? 016- The disk in my Zip Drive is not recognized. How come? 017- I added SCSI; now, my 3.5" drives often fail to work. Why? 018- Why do I get this "Ramfast/SCSI is searching SCSI bus" msg? 019- What's a good utility for doing tape backups on the GS? 020- What's needed to add a SCSI Tape backup unit? 021- What about tape backup on a IIe? 022- Does Apple's Hi-Speed SCSI card allow swapping Zip disks? 023- What can I do after the Zip on my Apple SCSI "sleeps"? 024- What is the "Click of Death"? Is there a fix? 025- What is a "Qic" tape? A friend needs to read a Qic-80 tape. 026- How do I restart my HS SCSI + Zip when the Zip deactivates?
Zip Q&A 001-008 info mainly from the 1996 II Alive review by Eric Dietrich
001- What is a "Zip drive"?
The typical Zip drive is a 100MB removable media system. Cobalt blue in color, the popular external drive is compact and light-- about the same size as the newer external modems. The 100s "SCSI Zip" connects to the any computer with a SCSI port including the Apple IIgs or IIe equipped with a SCSI interface card.
The Zip drive is made by Iomega. Price for the 100MB external model is around $130. This includes the drive, cable, information sheets, one disk with "Zip Tools", and a 3.5" installation diskette. (The material on the zip disk is PC/Mac compatible and the diskette is for MS-DOS. This stuff will come in handy should you wish to be able to use your Zip drive on a PC with a SCSI port or on a Mac. None of the software is required for using the Zip Drive on an Apple II.)
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From: David Wilson
Below is updated information on available Zip Drive models:
100MB Zip Drive models now include ... External- parallel, SCSI, "Plus" (SCSI/parallel), usb Internal- SCSI, IDE, and three ATAPI drives
250MB Zip Drive models include ... External- parallel, SCSI, usb Internal- ATAPI
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002- What is a "Zip disk"?
A Zip drive disk is a cartridge just a bit larger and thicker than the familiar 3.5" floppy diskette with a smaller shutter and no physical write- protect mechanism. It is rated as among the more rugged moderately-high- density removable disks.
100MB disks sell for around $10. 250MB disks sell for around $20.
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003- What do I need to use a Zip drive?
You need an Apple IIgs or Enhanced IIe and a SCSI interface card.
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004- What kind of SCSI interface card do I need?
There are three 'popular' options: The Apple Revision C, The Apple Hi- Speed, and the RamFAST. The Revision C is older and a bit slower because it does not utilize direct memory access (DMA), a feature that the Hi-Speed and RamFAST have. The Apple cards are no longer made or supported; but, you may be able to buy one at a swap meet.
The Sequential Systems RamFAST has DMA plus an on-board cache of either 256kB or 1MB, making it the fastest interface available. RamFAST has a full set of utilities in ROM, so, it's easy to set up, too.
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From: Willie Yeo
Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card users need to remember that these cards normally do not supply termination power. (RamFAST does; but, not the Apple Hi- Speed SCSI card.) To work properly with the GS, a Zip drive connected to the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card requires either another device that can supply termination power, or requires a hardware hack on the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card to provide the termination power.
Note: The Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card termination power modification is detailed in the Hard Drive and SCSI FAQs (file Csa2HDNSCSI.txt).
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005- How do I install a Zip drive?
The main Zip installation step is plugging it in. The drive uses DB-25 connectors and, so, most likely, the cable will plug directly into your interface card with no need for an adapter. In case you need an adapter for an older 50-pin plug, these can be obtained from Alltech.
If you already have other SCSI devices, the one currently plugged into the interface can plug into the Zip. Or, the Zip can be plugged into a hard disk, CD-ROM, etc. at any point in the chain of SCSI devices.
Set SCSI ID Number- Every hard disk, CD-ROM drive, etc. on your SCSI chain needs its own ID number (0-7). While most devices are flexible and will allow you to choose any available ID, Zip gives you a choice of two: 5 or 6. If you are using an Apple Hi-Speed card and you already have a hard disk, you'll have to set the Zip to 5 in order to continue to boot off of your hard disk (which needs to be 6). The RamFAST is somewhat more flexible in that it doesn't take ID 7 for itself and will allow you to boot f rom any SCSI device.
Set Termination- Another consideration is termination. If all you have connected to your SCSI card is the Zip Drive, then you should set the switch on the back to turn ON the termination. If you have other devices that come after the Zip, then you should set it to OFF. (Actually, the Zip presents a light termination load and can be left with termination ON whether or not it is the last device.) The last device in the chain (the one farthest from the interface) should always have termination set ON.
Hardware-wise, that's it. In all likelihood, your setup will work fine. If not, you can get help from experts at Alltech, post a question on comp.sys.apple2, or, even, read the documentation that came with your SCSI card (when all else fails ...).
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006- How do I get started using the Zip drive?
Once your drive is connected, its time to start your machine and prepare a Zip disk for use. The Advanced Disk Utility (on a IIgs) or the utility that came with your SCSI card can do formatting and set up partitions (i.e. create named "Volumes"). Usually, with new for-PC Disks, just partitioning is required for use under ProDOS. Each 100MB disk can hold three max-size (32MB) ProDOS partitions.
If your interface is a RamFAST rev. D 3.01f or later model, you will be able to treat Zip disks much like large floppies. They will mount and unmount properly in the GS Finder, etc..
Most other interface cards will want to treat your Zip Drive and disk like a hard disk. This is because the cards were designed before removable high-density R/W media became popular. You may be able to swap in a disk after booting; but, the new disk is likely to be treated as though it is the disk which was present during power-up. This could lead to messed-up partitions, lost files, and other problems. With such interface cards, the safe way to swap Zip disks is to turn OFF the computer.
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007-How does Zip Drive speed compare with a hard disk speed?
Iomega claims 29ms average access time, which is slower than modern hard disks but, still, very speedy.
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008- Can I use Zip disks to transfer files to/from other computers?
Mac--> IIgs
Yes. However, Macs put a driver on the disk as well as a partition map. Both look like partitions to the IIgs. Since the IIgs can't read them, it will ask you to format or eject. Here's a trick you can try: When you insert a Mac- formatted Zip, just click "eject" until the disk mounts. The IIgs will then ignore the extra Mac stuff, and mount just the legitimate volume(s). (E. D.)
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From: Supertimer
Mac <--> IIgs
Shared HFS GS/Mac disks should be formatted on the IIGS because the IIGS tends to provide a format that is acceptable to both platforms while the Mac tends to ignore the needs of the IIGS.
Besides the standard Apple Disk Utility (ADU), you will need GenEx. GenEx extracts the generic Mac SCSI driver from ADU's resource fork and puts it into the IIGS' drivers folder. Thus, when ADU looks in that folder, it finds and installs the driver and does not give the "no mac driver found" error. You can download GenEx (GenEx.shk) and info (GenEx.shk.txt) from Ground at ...
Once you get GenEx, use the following procedure to prepare Zip disks:
o- Go to the Apple Advanced Disk Utility (ADU) on the IIgs and select Partition Drive. Delete all the partitions except one and resize that one partition to fill up the entire drive. Click on the button to repartition the drive. At this point, ADU will ask you if you want to low level format and warn you that it is going to take a long time. Click on Yes.
o- ADU will wipe the drive. By doing it this way, you are giving ADU a clean slate to install the GenericMacSCSI driver onto the drive.
o- Finally, initialize the HFS volume.
Surprise, the new Zip disk works on both the IIGS and Mac without annoying errors!
The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2006. Administrator: Steve Nelson
Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2USERGRP.txt rev090 September 2005
Users' Groups
001- How can I find out about Apple II users' groups? 002- Where are Apple II users' groups I might contact? 003- How do I get our Apple II group listed?
From: Rubywand
001- How can I find out about Apple II Users' Groups?
Many Apple II users groups continue to meet, especially in major cities and on university campi. If a local group listing is 'missing' from your phone book, check for a Mac users group-- a number of Apple II groups merged with their Mac counterparts often as one or more SIGs (special interest groups).
The Apple User Group Connection (800-538-9696 ext 500) may be able to steer you to a nearby Apple II (or Macintosh) User Group. You can find a listing of users' groups below.
Of course, you can always post a question to comp.sys.apple2.usergroups and/or to Csa2 main (comp.sys.apple2).
____________________________
From: Rubywand, Willi Kusche
002- Where are Apple II users' groups I might contact?
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