CSA2 Part 4
From: tdiaz-apple2-org (Tony Diaz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2,comp.answers,news.answers Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Followup-To: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: comp.sys.apple2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Part 1/4
Archive-name: apple2/faq/part1 Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: August 21 2007 Version: 5.1.38 URL: http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ
The next section is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting of the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tony Diaz (email: tdiaz-at-apple2-dot-org), all rights reserved. This document can be freely copied so long as 1) it is not sold, 2) any sections reposted elsewhere from it are credited back to this FAQ with the FAQ's copyright info and official WWW location ( http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ) left in place.
This may not be the latest version of this FAQ-- this is an archived copy. For that, drop by http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ
This FAQ may not be sold, bundled on disks or CD-ROMs, reprinted in magazines, books, periodicals, or the like without prior consent from the maintainer, Tony Diaz. Exceptions are explicitly granted for Juiced.GS and _The_Lamp. Email me for permission otherwise.
Big thanks to Nathan Mates, the previous maintainer of this comp.sys.apple2 FAQ, for allowing it to live on after his departure and anyone who took up that mantle before him.
--- Begin part 4 of 4
Some Common Questions (with answers!) 8/30/97
7.1 Can my Apple II connect to the Internet? A: Short answer: yes, any 80 (maybe even 40) column Apple II with a serial card (and almost always a modem) can connect to an Internet Service Provider that provides a shell account. (Please note that "connect to the internet" is the better term for it; avoid the media's popularizing of metaphors related to driving or surfing.) Longer answer: As of 3/8/97, the only available method is to have a serial (modem or null modem) connection to another computer which can translate and run stuff on it. Most of the time, this means that you will need to find an Internet Service Provider (ISP) which supports a plain "shell" connection. (Telling them you have an Apple II will likely confuse them; just tell them that a VT-100 shell is what you want). For a list of ISPs, try checking local newspaper advertisements, or drop by http://www.thelist.com. This will give you a straight text connection to the internet; no fancy graphics. Yes, it's a lot less eye candy, but the advantage is that files transfer faster. You can still download files, pictures, and the like, and deal with them later. Once you are signed up for a shell account, you will need to connect up, usually via modem and terminal program. 99% of shell accounts are in unix systems; you should talk to the tech support desk of wherever you get your connection from for information on how to do items such as email, usenet, and the like. If you have a GS have Seven Hills Software's Spectrum (modem communication program), they have just announced a set of addons that allow WWW browsing from an Apple II. According to their WWW press releases at http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/iigs/sis/, you will need a GS with 4MB RAM (HD and accelerator recommended), Spectrum 2.1, a modem, and a GEnie or dialup Unix shell account. It does not appear to support any form of TCP/IP connection such as SLIP or PPP. If you do not have a GS capable of running Spectrum's browser, the program 'lynx' runs on unix/vms/etc machines and lets people access the World Wide Web and display it on VT-100 terminals. It's not on every system by default; if not, ask your sysadmins to install it. The default ProTerm setup for VT100 is not too friendly to Lynx-- you will need to turn off inverse text for 'bold' and 'underlined' text if on. (Consult your manual for information on how to do so). Alternatively, when starting Lynx, you may want to start it with the "-show_cursor" option. As noted above; you can download graphics to your Apple II and view a number of formats-- see the section on dealing with graphics for more information. As of 28 Aug 1997, Richard Bennett's freeware implementation of a TCP/IP stack for the GS is in BETA initial release, and available from its home page at http://www.zip.com.au/~kashum/marinetti/. It appears to support SLIP (PPP promised for availability shortly) right now, and is not guaranteed to be fully functional or stable. One package is in a state of perpetual near completion: GS/TCP for the GNO/ME unix-like environment for the IIGS. As of January 13th 1998, it is NOT released yet. GNO/ME requires 1.5-2MB of RAM and a HD on your GS to use, so you may not be able to run it with your current setup. For more information from the author, Derek Taubert, see http://www.geeks.org/~taubert/gstcp/index.html. Documentation on GNO/ME in general can be found at http://www.gno.org/gno/ . 7.2 I don't have an OS/Boot disk for my Apple II or want an update. Where do I get it from? First, consult the following chart to help determine what you should be looking to run on your Apple II-- there's a lot of possible OSs. Downloads usually require you to have comm programs up and running on your Apple II and/or Mac with a 3.5" disk that fully supports 800K disks (a lot of Powermacs are flakey in that area). Without such an ability, see below for places to purchase/copy it from. See FAQ Section 2.* on the Apple II models or FAQ section 7.7 on determing RAM to determine what your Apple II has if the limitations in the following are confusing. * Any Apple II, 5.25" drive, 32K or more RAM: DOS 3.3. This is not legally available online to the best of my knowledge, as Apple still holds the copyright and distribution restrictions on it. However, Diversi-DOS, a Shareware enhanced version (may require 48K or 64K RAM) of it with many speedups is available online: ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple8/OS/divdos41c.bxy * Apple II+ or better, 5.25", 3.5", or HD, 64K RAM: ProDOS 8 v1.0-1.9. [Avoid v1.3 if using a ][+ or unenhanced //e]. ftp://ftp.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/A pple_II/Apple_II_Supplemental/Apple_II_System_Disk_3.2.bxy [Note: have not verified that this is ProDOS 1.9] * Apple //c or IIc+, Enhanced //e, GS, 5.25", 3.5", or HD: ProDOS 8 v2.x. A shrunk 800K 3.5" disk with this version is at ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/8bit.system.4.0.2/sysdisk402. bsc [Not available in 5.25" format online] * Apple IIGS, 3.5" disk or HD, 512K or more RAM: ProDOS 16. Very old and slow. Not available anywhere online legally to my knowledge. * Apple IIGS (ROM version 01 or 3), 3.5" disk or HD, 768K or more RAM: GS/OS version 5.0.4. Get the .bsc files from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/gs.system.5.0.4/ * Apple IIGS (ROM version 01 or 3), 3.5" disk or HD (HD highly recommended), 1MB or more RAM: GS/OS version 6.0.1. Download from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/gs.system.6.0.1/ or a Mac 'Disk Copy' format at ftp://ftp.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/A pple_II/Apple_IIGS_System_6.0.1/ See this FAQ's Section 9 (System 6.0 Mini-FAQ) for more info on bugfixes, updates, problems with this version. All of the above were always distributed as full versions of the system software; there is no need to 'upgrade' thru system 4 or 5 to get to 6. Consequently, don't look for any patches to save download time; those never existed. [Note: there are some other versions of the System Disks not listed above; the ones listed are the latest versions, which you should be running to get as many features and as few bugs as possible. Most of the older (and especially the very buggy) versions are not available online for that reason.] Without an operating system, you can't run a comm program to download the operating system, so you're in a bit of a quandry. One method is to call 1-800-SOS-APPL and try and find an Apple II user group in your area. They should be able copy things for you. If you are unable to find a local user group, one of the next best options is to contact Steve Cavanaugh (section 10.2), who is licensed to copy ProDOS 8 [runs on pretty much all Apple IIs with at least 64K of RAM], along with a 5.25" disk full of comm programs, etc. The comm program disk costs only $3, which is a great deal. Ask him for more details if interested. Alltech Electronics (see FAQ section 10.2) is licensed to sell many of the above, such as GS System Software 5.0.4 and 6.0.1, Apple // System Disk 4.02, and ProDOS 1.1.1. Contact them for details on pricing, etc. 7.3 How I connect my Apple II to an Appletalk (and/or Ethertalk) network? A: Appletalk support is pretty much available for the //e and GS only; the functionality never made it into the ][, ][+, //c or IIc+ models. Appletalk software on the Apple II will allow you to connect to 'Appleshared' volumes on server machines (Macs, WinNT4.x, and many unix platforms), and also certain printers shared on the network; there is no current way for Apple IIs to share their local drives to any other Appletalked boxen. Also, note that you'll need some sort of Appletalk to Ethernet gateway if you want to use Appletalk with any non-Apple hardware; see next section below on Ethernet. Filesharing over Appletalk is possible if the non-Apple II machines share their drives. Macs can do that with System 7.x and 8.x's personal filesharing; see the documentation and online help, as this is outside the scope of this FAQ. Windows NT 4.0 is reported to support Appleshare also (see its docs and help again); Unix machines can use the 'Columbia Appletalk Protocol or for for Linux, see http://thehamptons.com/anders/netatalk/. [Netatalk supports sharing volumes and printers]. To access shared volumes, turn the sharing on the host machine, and from the GS, use the 'Appleshare' graphical control panel to connect up. Booting an Apple II over Appletalk is not a trivial task, even though the System 6.0/6.0.1 include "disks" to support it. To boot an Apple II over Appletalk, you must also own Apple's Appleshare 2.x or 3.x software for Macs; 1.x or 4.x (and anything newer than that) won't work. This software reportedly cost near $1,000 new; while you may be able to find it for less nowadays, the cost and slowness of Appletalk may not make this worth it. You may either want to boot the GS off a 3.5" and run applications from an Appleshared volume, or invest in a HD for the Apple II (Alltech Electronics has 20MB HDs for $59 as of 8/19/97, which will prove far faster and overall more useful). Some printers can be connected to an Appletalk network; Imagewriter IIs with an addon board (either Apple's board or Sequential System's 'MegaBUFF'/'Q:Talk lto' boards) can be networked, as can all Apple Laser printers supporting PostScript and the Appletalk serial port. Although several inkjet printers support Appletalk (various Stylewriters and HP Deskwriters), there is no GS support for them over a network, even if they'll work when directly connected. To get Appletalk running on a //e, you will need a //e Workstation card, which provides an Appletalk port, and the associated software, which is bundled with it. That way, you can connect to an Appletalk network and use shared drives and/or printers. Once that is ready, install the Appletalk software. From a GS, Appletalk is slightly more complex in terms of deciding which slots you want to dedicate to it. In a ROM 01, Appletalk requires turning slot 7 to 'Appletalk' (use the control panel, accessible by pressing Control-Open Apple-Escape), and either one of slots 1 or 2 set to 'Your Card'. If you have something in slot 7 that you care about (usually a hard drive controller), what you can do is move that card to slot 1 or 2, and set the boot slot to 1 or 2. A ROM 3 is simpler-- set one of slots 1 or 2 to Appletalk. The Appletalk cable plugs into the back of your GS in the printer port (ROM 1 if slot 1 is 'Your Card', ROM 3 if slot 1 is Appletalk) or the modem port (slot 2 is Your card/Appletalk). Once the GS is set up, from the System 6.0 or 6.0.1 (recommended) installer, select "Custom Install" and then select the Appletalk, Appleshare, Appletalk'd Imagewriter and/or Laserwriter packages to install. Once you have Appletalk set up on the various machines, you'll need to decide how to connect them. If there are only 2 machines and both are connecting via the serial port, a printer (i.e. null modem) cable between the two will suffice. If you want to connect more than two devices, you can use either Apple's Localtalk wiring scheme (expensive and pretty much phased out) or the 'Phonenet' style connectors that let you run ordinary phone wire between the different machines. Look for phonenet hardware at computer stores or mailorder catalogs. Unfortunately, the serial ports in Apple's Super Serial Cards, //c and IIc+, and PC clones' serial ports are not capable of putting out Appletalk signals. From a PC, you'd probably have to find one of the rare (and therefore pricey) PC Appletalk boards that exist. As ethernet (and TCP/IP to a lesser degree) has taken over the Unix, PC and Mac networking setups, see the next section (7.4) below for some possible workarounds. 7.4 Is there any Ethernet capabilities for Apple IIs? A: There is no publically available Ethernet setup for any Apple II model. There are also rumors of an independently designed Ethernet board, but it's not released. There were several models of Appletalk <-> Ethernet gateways that can be used to connect up Apple IIs to Ethernet networks for use in a mixed network of Apple IIs, Macs, PCs and unix boxes. Shiva's FastPath 4 or 5 have been recommended as working well in this capacity. (Apple designed and made an ethernet card to be released at about the same time as GS/OS 6.0.1, but canned the project when they decided to try and write off Apple IIs as a bad memory, and shoved the cards produced in a warehouse or worse. Fewer than five of these cards are known to be owned by people outside of Apple. That's very stupid, considering Apple could have made a nice profit on those things. Don't ask me where to get one of those; I don't know, and if I did, I'd get one for myself before telling any of you-- Nathan :) Tony Diaz has a web page up with more details on this card; check out http://www.hypermall.com/~tdiaz/AIIEthernet.html. [While this card had OS-level support (until they axed that code along with the card) for Ethertalk, since Ethertalk is merely Appletalk packets over Ethernet, this card is therefore an Ethernet card]) There are a number of SCSI - Ethernet transcievers available for Macs and the like, but they are EXTEMELY unlikely to work at all on the GS. Essentially, the RamFAST SCSI card does not support interrupts or devices feeding it data. In addition, all of these transcievers use proprietary (and info is not publically available) protocols. 7.5 What is 8 bit and 16 bit? A: That indicates how big the chunks of data are that the CPU can manipulate at once. The Apple IIGS is a 16 bit machine and all other Apple ]['s are 8 bit machines. (It is possible to put a 65802 (extremely rare nowadays) as a replacement for a 6502 or 65C02, and get limited 16 bit functionality, but as the GS has a lot of extra chips to support what it does, you still would not be able to run 99.9% of GS software on such a machine) 7.6 How can I tell what version my computer is? A: Look at the case of the computer to determine which Apple II you have, then in the section on Apple II model information (sections 2.x) for that model. The methods of determining the versions of each model are integrated into the other information for that model. 7.7 How much RAM is in my Apple II? A:This is easiest to determine with an Apple IIGS. Go to the text control panel by pressing the control, open apple, and escape keys at once, then select the RAM Disk option under the Control Panel option. Note the 'Largest Selectable' entry, and add 256K to that-- that's how much RAM is available to GS programs. (The GS reserves a minumum of 256K for programs, though pretty much only older Apple II software will run in that space). Note that this does not count ram on cards in slots 1-7, though you're pretty much limited to only using RAM Disks or Appleworks addons in there. With earlier models of the Apple II, this is a much more difficult problem, because any software that wants to take advantage of extra RAM has to be written to recognize any RAM past the first 64K of memory. [Applesoft BASIC, for example, only cares about the lower 48K of RAM unless you use addon packages.] As noted in the sections on Apple II models above, the system has a default of anywhere from 4K-128K built in. The extremely common 'Extended 80-column card' for the //e added 64K to the //e's default 64K. Most Apple II RAM cards did come with a diagnostic disk and possibly patcher programs to allow them to determine how much RAM is in the system, as well as allowing programs like Appleworks access to the extra RAM. If you suspect you have more than the defaults, but can't be sure, asking on comp.sys.apple2 is probably the best bet. 7.8 Can I use High Density disks on my double density Apple II drives? A: Only if you don't care about what's written to them. Basically, the magnetic properties of High Density disk media is different, and though you may be able to write to them and immediately read it back, after a few months, odds are pretty good that the disk is unreadable. In short, I strongly recommend not using anything other than Double Sided, Double Density (DSDD) disks in Apple II 140K 5.25" drives. Some people report that they have successfully used HD 3.5" disks in their 800K drives without problems, while others have had some problems. Use them with some caution; as with everything else, making sure that there are adequate backups of all files you care about is a good insurance plan in case of any problems. Of course, should you have a high density drive (1.2MB 5.25" or 1.44MB 3.5"), then use high density disks in it. Although the local computer store may not carry DSDD disks, many national mailorder places do carry them. Check them out. 7.9 Why do partitions have a maximum size of 32MB? A: ProDOS, the usual choice for Apple II disks (Hard Drives, CD-ROMs, etc), is limited to 32MB per partition. It would require rewriting large chunks to get it to work with larger partitions. Just use the partitioning tools (included with the SCSI card or the like) to make several 32MB partitions. If you have a GS with System 6.0, you can install the HFS FST (you must do a customized install, not the Easy Update), which lets you have partitions larger than 32MB. The System 6.0.1 HFS FST should have the patch applied to it before it is used with volumes larger than 64MB, but I (Nathan Mates) have had volumes corrupted and don't really trust the HFS FST. (See the System 6.0 Minifaq in this FAQ for details on where to download the patch. The differences between HFS and ProDOS are as follows: ProDOS partitions: Limited to 32MB, your boot (first) partition MUST be a ProDOS volume. Disk integrity checkers exist (ProSEL by Charlie's Appleseeds, Salvation by Vitesse) to make sure your disk remains uncorrupted as possible. HFS partitions: Requires GS/OS System 6.0 or higher, and therefore 1.5MB RAM. You can not boot a HFS disk on an Apple II. Maximum volume size is either 2 or 4 gigabytes (pretty darn big either way). System 6.0.1's default HFS FST has bugs that are know to corrupt disks >64MB; even with the Apple-approved patches it may not be stable. The only way to verify that a partition is uncorrupted is to take the HD to a Mac and run Apple's Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities on it-- no GS HFS disk verification programs exist. Keeping good backups of your files is a real lifesaver when problems happen, no matter what filesystem they're saved to. As a side note, DOS 3.3 volumes are limited to 400K each; my having multiple 400K volumes per disk (same theory as multiple 32MB partitions on a HD), patched DOS 3.3s can access up to approx 100MB (254 volumes * 400K each) at once. Such patches are not really available to the general public to my knowledge, however. There were a few DOS 3.3 patches that let them use 2 400K volumes on a 800K drive, though I've never used them. 7.10 How do I convert from an Appleworks file to a text file without formatting codes? Appleworks lets you 'Print' to a file on disk-- hit Open-Apple-P, and select "A file on disk." That should do a reasonable job of translating the Appleworks file into text without formatting such as boldface and italic, but leaves in the centering. Others have reported that setting up a special printer entry can yield slightly better results. (The exact procedure for that depends on the version (1-5) of Appleworks. Consult your manual for more information.) Make a new printer, which is identified as a 'Silentype' printer, but prints to disk. Make sure the printer interface code is empty. 7.11 What programming languages are available for the Apple ][? A: Larry W. Virden (lvirden@cas.org) maintains The Apple II Programmer's Catalog of Languages and Toolkits. The official version is at http://www.teraform.com/~lvirden/Misc/apple2-languages.txt. 7.12 Can I install DOS 3.3 stuff on my hard drive? A: This mostly depends on what you're trying to do. As noted in the section on HD partitions above, DOS 3.3 volumes are limited to 400K each. Thus, they can be highly inconviencing trying to put those on a regular HD. (And no publically available software really exists to do that) A far better solution is to use DOS 3.3 Launcher. It lets you copy unprotected DOS 3.3 140K disks to your hard drive, and run DOS 3.3 under ProDOS. Such functionality does have some requirements, though: programs must only use 48K of RAM (the upper 16K is reserved for ProDOS, which is running at the same time), not do any copy protection or disk hackery, and generally behave themselves. DOS 3.3 Launcher is available from the normal Apple II ftp sites: ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/utils/dos3.3.shk 7.13 Is there any form of Unix that I can use on my Apple II? A: Yes, a pretty good commercial variant exists, but only for the GS: Procyon's GNO/ME. Since the GS (nor any other A2 model) doesn't have any form of memory protection or virtual memory, and the 65816 is limited to a maximum of 64K of stack space, programs that assume they can use whatever amounts of ram they want (gcc, X Windows, etc) can't be run at all. New info as of 8/16/97: GNO/ME v2.0.4 has been reclassified by Procyon to be freely copyable; it is now available for download from ftp://ftp.hypermall.com/pub/gno or http://www.gno.org/pub/apple2/gs.specific/gno/base204/ . Online documentation can be found at http://www.gno.org/gno/ . GNO/ME runs on top of GS/OS, so you can multitask text-based programs with at most one GS desktop GUI program. 7.14 Can I generate Postscript from my Apple II? A: The GS most certainly can with the right software; certain packages like Publish-It (at least versions 3 and 4; maybe also earlier versions as well) for the //e or //c also have such functionality. The GEOS family of programs for the Apple II can also generate postscript, but those programs are not available anymore to my knowledge [I believe that maybe the Springboard Publisher can do that also; more info would be appreciated] To print to a postscript file on the GS with any program that follows the GS's methods for printing (Print Shop GS and pretty much all non-GS programs won't work), install the Laserwriter driver to System 6.0 or 6.0.1. You do not need to have a Laserwriter; just install the driver. [This will install Appletalk as well; to avoid the annoying message about Appletalk not being available at boot, disable the 'SCC.Manager' file in the drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk.] Once this is done, select the Laserwriter as your printer driver. Select 'Print' from within a GS application, and at the standard dialog which appears, do not press return to print. Instead, hold down the Open Apple and 'f' keys while you click on the 'OK' button with the mouse. That will force a print to disk. The resulting postscript file is saved to the Drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk with the name 'Postscript.GSxx', with 'xx' being a 2-digit number that starts at 00. You can then take the postscript file to another system and view or print it. The Laserwriter driver from System 6.0.1 may not be compatible with all Postscript printers (especially the non-Apple ones); if you're having problems, you may wish to try using the driver from System 6.0. Note that the GS's Laserwriter driver does not properly handle Truetype fonts in documents (which requires 'Pointless' from Westcode Software), so you may want to use only the fonts your postscript printer knows. [Those lists vary; everything knows Times, Courier and a few more, but check your printer's manual for info on what it supports.] 7.15 How do you copy from a 5.25" disk to 3.5" disk? A: ProDOS has no problems with this, as long as you copy by files. Note that ProDOS can only have 51 files in the main directory. If you try to exceed that, it will give you a cryptic 'Disk Full' error. If there really is space left on the disk, you can copy all the files into a subdirectory to get around the 51-file limit. Subdirectories can support more files in them than any ProDOS volume has to store them as different files, but in practice, you should limit them to a few hundred files per directory. Copy protected 5.25" disks and DOS 3.3 programs tend not to want to copy to other disks. You may have to put up with them as is. 7.16 My Apple II is running too fast. How do I slow it down? A: If you have a GS without an accelerator card, use the builtin control panel (accessible by hitting control-open apple-escape at once or holding down the 'option' key on poweron) to change the system system between 'Normal' (1Mhz, same as a stock ][, ][+, //e, or //c) and 'Fast' (2.5Mhz). With accelerators installed in the GS, the 'Normal' speed still means 1Mhz, but 'Fast' is whatever the card is set to run at. The Transwarp GS has in its ROM a CDA (accessible from the text control panel as above) for configuring the speed; the Zip GS has both official and 3rd party (better) utilities to configure its speed in 16 levels. Pre-GS accelerators (AE Transwarp models, Zip Chip and Rocket Chip, among others) tended to be disableable if you held down the 'Esc' key when the system [re]booted. That would drop the system back to 1Mhz until the next [re]boot and/or poweron.
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Strange problems:
8.1 How do I get out of Basic (that little "]" prompt and cursor?
A: Type the word "BYE" and press return. For more information on Applesoft, see Nathan Mates's Applesoft FAQ at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/asoft.html You can also get more information on DOS 3.3/ProDOS commands at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/dos.html
8.2 What are the problems with GSCII?
A: GSCII is a great program, but has two subtle problems: First, it won't work correctly if you extract to a HFS disk (so extract to a ProDOS disk). Also, it won't set the size correctly on S16 files. This should only be a problem when downloading Shrinkit GS. In that case, use BINSCII. The rest of the time you will be extracting .SHK files, which don't care about extra bytes at the end.
8.3 AppleWorks won't print to my printer. What gives?
A: AppleWorks will refuse to print to a slot that has a disk device. In the past, this worked well because if you try to print to a slot that has a disk controller in it, you will re-boot. But now, this can cause problems when a disk device is 'mapped' into your printer slot (due to a limitation in ProDOS, you can only have 2 drives per slot. Extra partitions on your hard drive will be re-mapped to other slots). If you have a RamFast, you can re-map the drives to different slots. Otherwise, (for AW 3.0) use this patch:
POKE 768,128: POKE 769,10 BSAVE APLWORKS.SYSTEM,TSYS,A$300,L2,B$AE3
If you didn't understand that, e-mail me, or look into John Link's SuperPatch program, which includes many more patches.
8.4 My GS control panel keeps resetting to the defaults and/or forgetting the date-- the battery is dead.
A: It's probably your battery. If you have a ROM 03 GS, can you just pop it out an get another. On the ROM 01, you will need a Slide-On Battery Replacement Kit from Night Owl Productions. See address in hardware & software vendors section (10.2).
8.5 I'm getting Error XXXX or YY. What's it mean?
A: Some common errors and their cause:
A larger list of all error messages, but not always the best description of the cause is at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/gserrors.html.
ProDOS Errors: UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS - You can't boot a disk unless it has ProDOS and a
something.SYSTEM file on it (Pre-1.9 ProDOS)
$27 I/O Error. Possibly a bad disk? Verify it with Prosel or Copy II Plus $44 Path not found (You gave an invalid directory name) $45 Volume not found (you didn't type in the right disk name) $46 File not found (you didn't type a valid filename) GS/OS errors: 0201 Out of memory 0911 Either your GS is overheating, or the ADB port is having problems 0301 Bad TransWarp 0308 (Also see 8021) Something has trashed critical parts of memory 11xx GS/OS could not successfully load an application or program 8020 Either random TransWarp, or SCSI (try using different SCSI connector) 8021 If you get this at random times and you have a HS Apple SCSI, it's
probably a version conflict. Install the SCSI drivers from your GS/OS
disk, not your HS Apple SCSI disk.
8.6 Why does my Apple II lose characters when I'm using the modem?
A: Check the following: 1) Your software may need interrupts enabled. Examine DIP Switch 2-6 on your Super Serial Card. 2) If you have an unenhanced //e, you need to enhance your //e. 3) If you have a //c, it may be one of the ones that had a serial port problem. Talk to your dealer about upgrading it for 2400 baud support. Also, to use a modem faster than 9600 pretty much requires a 'Hardware Handshaking' cable, not a cheap one.
8.7 Where do I get support for AE boards now that they are closed?
A: Bruce BABB, ex-AE bench tech, is offering support out of his home for customer support of AE's boards. He also hints that another company is opening that will sell many of the Apple II products the AE made. You can reach Bruce via Email at 76004.1575@compuserve.com
8.8 Is there a QWK reader for the Apple //e?
A: Yes, it's called 2qwk!. To use 2qwk! you must patch ProDOS to allow filenames sent by MS-DOS machines. The Apple II version is now available via ftp from ground and caltech.
8.9 I've got a problem. How do I troubleshoot it?
* Asking others for help is fine, but if you do, please provide the
following information. (And the act of finding out this
information may help you find the cause on your own)
1. Is it reproducible? One system crash that happened out of the
blue and never reoccurred is almost impossible to track down
and fix.
2. When did the fault appear? During boot? After a fixed amount
of time? Whenever you do X in program Y?
3. Any and ALL error messages reported by the system. Copy them
down and repeat them exactly; saying "it gave an error" is
not useful.
4. How dead the system is. Does the mouse still work, but clicks
do nothing? Does it do anything at all?
5. System configuration. What cards in what slots, how much RAM,
which SCSI controller and rom version (if applicable), what
size HD, etc.
* If you have just purchased a bunch of new hardware and/or
software, resist the temptation to install all your new toys at
once. Take it one step at a time and test everything after adding
each item. (i.e. Run the diagnostics and try your old programs.)
* If you have an enhanced //e, //c, IIc+, or GS, try the system
self-test: hold down the Control key, the Open Apple key, and the
Option (or Solid Apple) key. Then press and release Reset. Lastly,
let up on the other keys. Sit back and 'Watchen Der Blinken
Lighten.' If you run into a problem, please see the next section
on self test errors and what they mean.
* Leave the computer plugged in, but turned off when installing
cards. Touch the top of power supply before and often during your
work. Better yet, use a wrist strap tied to ground through a 1
Megaohm resistor.
* Make sure you have the required components for the program. Does
it require an Enhanced //e? More RAM? A separate boot disk?
* Never use your original disks. Make a backup and store the
write-protected original in a safe place.
* Be sure to keep your disks away from stray magnetic fields, such
as those emanating from phones, monitors and speakers.
* If you have an accelerator, try to disable it or take it out
entirely. It may not be compatible with the new item. (This is
actually rare; the one consistent thing accelerators have problems
is the GS's self test)
* Check all your cable connections. Do not disconnect or connect any
cables with the computer on-- this includes disk/hard drives,
keyboards, mice, etc.
* Try pulling out other cards and disconnect your joystick. If you
have a lot of cards, you might consider a Heavy-Duty Power Supply
from A.E. It supplies 6 Amps instead of a measly 2.5 Amps. Test
the power supply with a voltmeter while the computer is on.
* Call the manufacturer to see if there is an upgrade or a fix with
the program.
* Most RAM cards come with a memory tester. Try running it in
continuous mode for several hours, even if your RAM seems to be
working.
* Verify your disk(s) with Copy ][+ or the Finder to see if you have
any bad blocks. A better choice is ProSEL, which provides a
comprensive set of disk verification and fixing errors.
* On a GS, check your control panel (control-open-apple-escape)
settings: What is the startup slot set to? Is the slot set to
"Your Card"? Check your RAM disk setting. Is it taking up all your
memory? Try setting the speed to normal if it's a non-GS program.
* On a GS, try take out or disable your INITS, CDAs, NDAs, and
CDEVS. (With System 6, just hold down the shift key while
booting). If the system is fine when shiftbooted, then there is
probably a conflict between some of them. Try manually disabling a
few at a time, and seeing if the problem disappears. You can
narrow down a problem to an init or few that way.
* If you have a hard disk, try booting from a System Disk and/or
reinstalling the latest system software. Using the installer that
came with the system software the the best and safest way to
install system software; hand installing parts can cause problems.
* AppleWorks GS 1.1 comes with a memory tester (try it).
* The TransWarp GS has a continuous test on the CDA (try it too).
8.10 My GS reported a problem with the Self Test. What do the numbers mean?
The full list with explanations of these codes are available in Apple's technotes, archived here at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/tn/iigs/095.html or ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/tn/iigs/tn-iigs-095. In short, the error code should be an 8-digit number in the form AABBCCDD. Look at the AA number, and check the following table:
01: Failed checksum in motherboard RAM/ROM. 02: Failed ram on motherboard. 03: Failed softswitch and register test. 04: Failed RAM address test 05: Failed Speed test 06: Failed serial port test 07: Failed clock test 08: Failed Battery RAM test 09: Failed Apple Desktop Bus (ADB- usually keyboards & mice) test 0A: Failed shadow register test 0B: Failed interrupts test 0C: Failed Sound test
Please note that with a Zip GS in the system, the system will always report an error, even if none exists. You will get an 05xxxxxx if DIP switch 1-4 is ON, but if that's off, you're likely to get 0Bxxxxxx (not on all Zips) or 0Cxxxxxx errors. If you suspect a real problem, then you can either switch off the Zip (1-6 off), or remove the Zip from the system and try with the normal processor. Do all modifications to DIP switches or cards in general with the computer off, as usual.
8.11 My Apple II goes into a self test or reboots when I turn it on.
Try unplugging any joysticks, paddles, or anything else plugged into the back joystick port or the internal game port. Since the primary and secondary joystick buttons appear the same to the system as the open and closed (option on the GS) apple buttons, if your joystick's buttons are misreported as down, the system can assume you're trying to continually do a self test. If your system works without the joystick plugged in, your joystick is defective.
This is a general rule of thumb for troubleshooting, as noted above. Pull out EVERYTHING not needed for the problem (go down to computer, monitor, and optionally the keyboard for the base problems), and slowly add components until the problem reappears. When it does, you've isolated the problem. [As usual, only plug or unplug devices with the power off.]
8.12 My Hard Drive (or other disk) crashed! What do I do?
If you have adequate backups, reformat it, and copy the data back. If you don't have backups, this would be a good time to start praying. Dead disk recovery is a delicate art at best; be forewarned that there is a good chance that some to all data will be lost.
Reminder: Keep good backups of any files you care about!
There are two commercial programs that can do a decent job at recovering as much as possible from a ProDOS disk: ProSEL (8 and 16 bit versions published by Charlie's Appleseeds) and Salvation: Deliverance (published by Vitesse). ProSEL-8 is the only package that runs on non-GS Apple IIs, so it may be your only choice. ProSEL-16 and Salvation both require GSs.
Refer to their manuals for the specifics on how to attempt volume restoration with them, though from what I've heard, they have a much better chance of restoring files in subdirectories, not the top-level directory. Thus, it may be prudent to store important files in subdirectories so that they can restored later. [With a limit of 51 files in the top directory, you'll be forced into using subdirectories sooner or later on hard drives.]
If you managed to repartition or erase your drive, at least with ProSEL (and possibly also Salvation, though I have not used that or heard from any owners), you have a decent chance of restoring most files if you repartitioned it EXACTLY as it used to be partitioned: same partition sizes in the same order. Do NOT reformat the drive or partitions-- that'll write to all disk blocks, which will make recovery essentially impossible. Then, run ProSEL on it and tell it not to assume a valid volume bitmap for each partition. You'll probably lose files in the root directory, but it's a better than nothing.
8.13 My Apple II is reporting the wrong year. How do I fix that?
First, if you have a GS, and the internal clock is reporting the wrong year each time you boot up, you probably have a dead battery. See section 8.4 for where to get a replacement.
ProDOS 8 does have a problem in its year calculating code-- the designers assumed that a table holding only 6 years would be sufficient. They were wrong. You'll have to patch ProDOS every few years to keep it up to date; a text file including a Basic program is on Apple's FTP site: ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/slotclock-patch.txt
The above is a Applesoft Basic source code inside a text file; you may want to instead download the program included on the latest ProDOS 8 system disk: ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/8bit.system.4.0.2/sysdisk402.bsc
8.14 My RamFAST board is reporting an error. What's the number mean?
Here's a list of the RamFAST Fatal Memory Fault codes:
$00 Unknown, probably means that the RamFAST is very confused $01-08 DRAM memory test failure $09 EPROM checksum failure $0C Z180 processor crashed, indicates some hardware fault $0D Error writing cache data to disk $0E Termination power error
8.15 What does "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS" mean when I boot a disk?
ProDOS is not automatically installed on every disk formatted under ProDOS. All that is writted to disk is a very short boot stub that looks for a system (type 'SYS') file in the root directory called 'PRODOS'. If that file is present, it is loaded, and ProDOS installs itself. If there is no PRODOS file found, the error message of "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS" is displayed on the screen.
To make such a disk bootable, all you need to do is copy the file 'PRODOS' from a working ProDOS boot disk to the root directory of the disk you want to be able to boot from, assuming there is enough free space to copy that file.
You will also want to copy at least one other system (type='SYS') to the root directory of any disk you want to boot, as ProDOS scans the root directory for the first SYS file with name ending in ".SYSTEM" to execute, or it'll be unhappy. A good candidate for such a file is Apple's "BASIC.SYSTEM", providing the Basic interpreter and command line interface to ProDOS.
If you choose to use Macs and Disk Copy to download System 6.x, make sure to use Double Sided/Double Density (DSDD - 720K or 800K) disks-- 1.44MB (HD) disks will be written to as 1.44MB disks, which most GS drives cannot deal with. Also, if your GS is refusing to boot off the install disk (with an 'UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS' message), and you have a Quadra or Powermac, you may be a victim of Apple's costcutting in 3.5" drives-- those drives may report disks as successfully written, but GSs will be unable to read them. Switch to an older Mac with a usable drive, or use a null modem program to transfer the files.
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GS System 6.0 mini-FAQ
9.1 Where can I get System 6, and what fixes are there for the known bugs in it? First off, if you don't have it on your GS, you may want to consider upgrading to System 6.0.1. Like all GS/OS releases, you will need to make sure you've got a ROM 01 or ROM 3 before you even think about running it. Although you may be able to get it to boot in less RAM, 1.25MB of RAM is pretty much a minimum; 1.5-2MB RAM is recommended if you want to run a lot of the fun addons. Secondly, an 800K floppy is rather cramped for space as a boot disk; a Hard Drive helps immensely. (If you're looking to strip a boot disk down to get as much space as possible, please see my reference of files in the GS/OS installation at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/sys6files.html.) System 6.0.1 has a number of bugfixes and small addons from System 6.0; they both have similar RAM requirements, so you should consider moving to System 6.0.1 if at all possible. Also, many problems that existed in System 6.0 and 6.0.1 have only been fixed in patches to System 6.0.1, such as the HFS FST and programs that GUPP fixes. (See below) Next, you'll want to download them. On the internet, they're available in Apple II (.BSQ) form from Apple's FTP site at ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/gs.system.6.0.1/. There are 6 disks to either System 6.0 or System 6.0.1; you should download and unpack them (with Binscii and Shrinkit. Then, boot the Install disk. When unpacking the .BSQ files from Apple's FTP site without a hard drive, you'll notice that some of the disks can be larger than 800K, even when partially unpacked. Creating a Ramdisk from the control panel greater than 800K will let you unpack these big disks without any problems. (Remember to kill off that ramdisk before trying to run GS/OS if you have less than 1.5MB of RAM) If you have access to a Mac with "Disk Copy", you may want to instead try downloading the disks in that format from ftp://ftp.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/Apple _II/Apple_IIGS_System_6.0.1/ If you choose to use Macs and Disk Copy to download System 6.x, make sure to use Double Sided/Double Density (DSDD - 720K or 800K) disks-- 1.44MB (HD) disks will be written to as 1.44MB disks, which most GS drives cannot deal with. Also, if your GS is refusing to boot off the install disk (with an 'UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS' message), and you have a Quadra or Powermac, you may be a victim of Apple's costcutting in 3.5" drives-- those drives may report disks as successfully written, but GSs will be unable to read them. Switch to an older Mac with a usable drive, or use a null modem program to transfer the files. While a little too big for this FAQ, Nathan Mates has written a reference detailing the various files installed by System 6.0.1 with comments on their use, as well as which files are required for minimal disk usage. Please see http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/sys6files.html. 9.2 Common Problems If you are still using System 6.0, it is recommended that you upgrade to the latest and greatest version, 6.0.1. It is available at Apple's FTP site (see section for the address). The HFS (Macintosh) FST (File system translator) included with System 6.0.1 does contain at least one bug, which can corrupt a HFS volume of 64MB or larger. It is strongly encouraged that you download and install the patch. (You'll need to copy all the files off to non-HFS volumes, install, and copy back for safety). The patch is available from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/addons/patches/patchhfs.shk I (Nathan Mates) have had HFS volumes corrupted, so I'm pretty confident that there are more bugs in the FST. There are no native GS HFS volume checkers; you'll have to take the drive to a Mac anytime you need to run a checker such as Apple's Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities. (Also, Macs want a special driver, which may require you to [re]format the drive on a mac, or use a special program to insert it. This boils down to the general computer rule of thumb: If you care about your files, make sure you have backups! Despite the hard work of the Apple Computer programmers, some bugs slipped through in System 6.0.1. Both as a recommendation for system stability, and as a plug for a program of his, Nathan Mates (maintainer of this FAQ) has found and fixed a number of them. These include memory trashing bugs in the 6.0.1 Finder, the Pascal FST not recognizing legal punctuation in disk names, and many more. Get the free program 'GUPP' (Grand Unified Patch Program) from a major Apple II FTP site, or directly from Nathan's ftp site for his programs: ftp://ftp.visi.com/users/nathan/a2software/gupp.shk Copy ][+ may be a great program for making the one personal backup copy of a piece of software that you are legally entitled to, but its file copy, delete, and directory sorting functions will corrupt a disk when used on a directory with GS/OS 'forked' files. (Pretty much all of the system software is forked, as are most GS applications). Do NOT use it on disks or HD partitions with such files. ProSEL 8 or 16 can repair some of the damage done, and provide safe disk and file utilities. If the mouse cursor wipes out everything it moves over, you may have a software conflict with Closeview. To deactivate it, from within the Finder, open the 'System' folder on your boot disk, then the 'System.Setup' folder. Find the icon named 'Closeview', and click once on it. Then, from the 'Special' menu, choose 'Icon Info...'. A window will open up, with a check box for 'Inactive' in the top right. After setting it to inactive, reboot. You can do the same thing for any other Desk Accessory, Control Panel (CDev), or Init (in the System.Setup folder, should you decide not to want to run it. Easy Access also can and does cause lockups with programs, especially on the ROM 01. Deactivate it just like you did with the Closeview program-- it's in the same folder. If you are getting an annoying message about Appletalk not being available at boot, but you're not using Appletalk in general, disable the 'SCC.Manager' file in the drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk. Missing features of system 6? Perhaps you just used easy install, which doesn't install all the bells and whistles. Try clicking on the 'Custom' install (versus the easy install) in the Sys 6.0 installer and add the nifty things like Calculator, Find File, HFS FST, etc. You can also read the Shortcuts file on the 'SystemTools2' disk for some great keyboard shortcuts. Finder 6.0 icons that match by name and have a leading wildcard require uppercase letters. For example, a name like "*.txt" never matches, but "*.TXT" works fine (it matches regardless of a file's actual capitalization). (This was accidental; the 5.0.4 Finder did not care about capitalization in icon files.) Two misconceptions about System 6: The A2.RAMCARD is not for the GS's /RAM5. It only works with "slinky" (i.e. standard slot) cards. Also, the DOS 3.3 FST has nothing to do with MS-DOS. 9.3 Tips & Hints The AppleShare logon programs have always looked for a folder named "Mail" inside your user folder whenever you log onto a user volume. If there's any items in there, they present a dialog that says "You have mail." With the Sounds control panel, you can make it play a sound of your choice then. If you don't want to see your icons on boot, set bit 1 (i.e. the 2nd LSB) of BRAM Location $5F. Be sure not to mess with the other bits. Use the toolbox calls! The FinderExtras folder goes in the same folder as the Finder (generally the System folder). If you don't like yellow folders in the Finder you can change the byte at offset +65 in the Finder resource with type $C001 and ID 1. Change the $E0 to whatever you want (the first digit is the default folder foreground color, and the low nibble is for the outline color). Only folders that do not already have a color recorded in a Finder.Data file get the default color. 9.4 If you have a RamFAST The RamFast and ProDOS 2.0.1 both try to do re-mapping of drives to unused slots. This can cause problems, mostly when launching and returning from ProDOS 8 applications (crashes or wants you to insert disk). Solution: Configure the RamFast not to re-map. If you have a RamFAST with a ROM revision less than 2.01a, you need to get a newer ROM from Sequential Systems. Otherwise, V2.01c allows setting Slot Priority Allocations to 0 which will let ProDOS deal with them. V3.0 allows you to choose between RamFast mapping (works now) and ProDOS 8 mapping. If you can't wait, you can Patch ProDOS 2.0 not to re-map slots. Look for "10 BF C9 A5 D0 07" and change the $A5 to $00 (should be byte $1A3 in the 5th block of the file). Hack at your own risk. 9.5 If you have a Vulcan or AE High Density disk Due to problems with the Vulcan, when booting, it asks for your System Disk. Just put the Vulcan driver on your boot disk, boot it, and then launch the installer. Alternately, put the driver on the installer disk and boot it. (but you have to delete some of the installer scripts first) For the AE High Density Drive, be sure to remove Apple's 3.5" driver when putting on AE's. 9.6 If you have ProSel as your program launcher Rename start to something else before running the installer, or else the Finder won't be installed. Also, ProSEL as a launcher will cause a bogus $0040 error on some programs such as the first DOTW release. 9.7 If you have an AMR 3.5" drive If the computer hangs (mostly at the Standard File Save/Open dialog box) with no disk in the drive, try putting one in. What's happening is that GS is reading the status from the drive, and the drive won't return anything unless there is a disk in the drive. Just stick a disk in and all will be fine. If it really annoys you, either deactivate the 3.5" driver (get IR so you can double-click to re-activate it) or simply keep a disk in the drive at all times. This is not a problem under ProDOS 8. 9.8 GSCII+ & HFS Note There is a problem with the HFS FST, but only GSCII seems to be affected. When de-binscii-ing files, put the output onto a ProDOS volume, not an HFS one. [ Mega-thanks to Dave Lyons & friends for these. ] 9.9 Finder 6.0.1 is displaying garbage in the windows! System 6.0.1's Finder occasionally gets some of its files corrupted, and then fills a window (or the screen) with multicolor garbage when a window is opened. This is extremely annoying, but there are ways to fix it. First, try installing Grand Unified Patcher Program (see the section above (9.1) on system 6.x patches). If that doesn't work, go to the 'Preferences...' menu item under the Finder's 'Special' menu, and turn off the hiding of invisible files. Inside the 'Icons' folder on each disk/partition, there's a file called 'Desktop'. Trash it, and reboot. [This file contains window sizes and custom icon placements, as well as duplicate copies of icons from System 6-savvy applications with 'rBundles' attached. No real harm other than losing the window placements is done by trashing it.] Lastly, you can look for bad icon files-- make a new folder (such as 'Icons2') on each hard drive, and move all files except 'Ftype.Apple' out of the Icons folder on each disk/partition to the new folder. Reboot and see if the problem still occurs. If not, move a few files back at a time, reboot, and see if you have the problem. When you've isolated the problem file, don't use it anymore. 9.10 Icons no longer point to apps. How do I rebuild the desktop database? Easiest way: from Finder, go to prefs, turn off hide invisible files. In each disk partition's 'Icons' folder, there should be a file named 'desktop'. Delete it. That'll just force a new desktop database file to be created next time you start the Finder; you'll still have to click on each file that put its rBundles into there to rebuild it. Better way: Softdisk G-S #47 or 48, program I (Nathan Mates) wrote called 'Rebuilder'. Deletes the desktop file, then scans the drive for all rBundles and adds them. 9.11 How do I make a 3.5" disk that boots and runs an Application? Assuming that this (or any other program) is a ProDOS 16 or GS/OS app, the way to put it on a self-booting disk is: 1) Format disk, install GS/OS on it, with any desired extensions, etc 2a) Copy the app you want to run to the system folder of that disk, and rename it 'Start' -OR- 2b) Copy the app you want to run to the root directory (lowest level) of the disk, and make sure its filename ends in ".SYS16", renaming it if necessary. If you do this, delete any 'Start' program in the system folder. This assumes that the program is small enough to fit on that disk; if space it tight, you may want to consult either http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/mini.601.html and/or http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/sys6files.html for lists of what files you might be able to remove. 9.12 What's the difference between 2:1 and 4:1 3.5" formatting? These two ratios are possible interleave factors for 3.5" disks. Unidisks 3.5"s maximum speed is at the 4:1 interleave factor; if 2:1 disks are inserted in them, a lot of time will be wasted while the disk blows revolutions reading sequential sectors. Apple 3.5" drives best speed is at 2:1; 4:1 disks in them can be accessed slightly slower than 2:1, but not anywhere near as bad as 2:1 disks in Unidisk drives. Thus, if you don't have Unidisk drives, 2:1 should be selected, but if you're using a mix of drives or Unidisks, 4:1 is the optimal speed. 9.13 What do I do with icon files for the Finder, and how can I customize how they appear? Under System 6.0, each volume you have online can (and the Finder will occasionally auto-add this) have a folder named 'Icons' in the root directory. Applications with separate icons files (as identified by a Finder 'Get Info') can have that icons file copied to the Icons folder of that partition. For example, the application /Games1/OneArmBattle/OneArmBattle should have its icon file copied to /Games1/Icons/ . Most icons files are simply cute fluff, and are not needed to run things correctly. A lot of files may also slow down loading of the Finder, as it must reload all icons files each time. The 'FType.Apple' file installed to the Icons folder of the boot disk along with the rest of the System Software is a required file for the Finder, GS Shrinkit, and possibly other applications. Do not mess with it; it does not contain any icons, but the text descriptions of file types you can see from the Finder. If you want to make your own icons, or point them at various applications, the best way to do this is to make up a custom icon for the filetype, and set the icon application path to the application you want to run. IconED 2.0 is a good icon editor, and is available from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/utils/. Once your icon file is created, it should be saved in an Icons folder on one of your disks, preferably the boot volume. As the first match of an icon is used, you may want to do a directory sort to move your custom file to the top of the Icons folder or elsewhere if things are matching oddly.
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Resources for the Apple II 6/12/97
Listed below are some places to get information about the Apple II. You should also try your local user group (and the user group library), friends, relatives, library, school, FTP sites, books, and etc. One good book is "The Whole Internet Users Guide & Catalog" by Ed Kroll, published by O'Reilly & Associates Inc. Nathan Mates has a set of WWW pages with all sorts of online resources, more Apple II FAQs and more; visit http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/index.html 10.1 Apple II Groups You can become an associate in the Apple Developer Program for $350 (for Mac and Apple II) or a mere $150 (for Apple II only) by calling 1-408-974-4897. That gets you Develop magazine, Apple Technical notes, the Apple Developer CD, discounts on Apple products, and more! If you want to license Apple Software for distribution with your product you can get information by calling 1-408-974-4667. (Note: You need a license to distribute Apple System Software, including ProDOS, and the Installer.) USUS (Keith Frederick (Secretary), P.O. Box 1148, La Jolla, CA 92038) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and influencing software standards to aid in the development of portable software. They have a large software library including a lot of source code (for almost every language or computer). NAUG, the National AppleWorks Users Group used to be a group devoted to that wonder program, AppleWorks. Joe Kohn and SSII have taken over distribution of their materials; see http://www.crl.com/~joko/naug.html 10.2 Hardware and Software Vendors There is a larger set of lists with more WWW links available at Nathan Mates's set of Apple II Companies pages at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/com/index.html. The following list is in alphabetical order by company name; no guarantees are made about the suitability of products listed, companies, or anything else. Alltech Electronics (http://www.allelec.com/, 760-724-2404 orders, 760-724-8808 FAX, 2618 Temple Heights, Oceanside CA, 92056; info@allelec.com) sells all kinds of hardware and general software for Apple II's-- one of the best 1-stop shopping areas. The Apple User Group Connection (800-538-9696 ext 500) can tell you the closest Apple II (or Macintosh) User Group. The ARC (Apple Resource Center, http://www.thearc.com/ (209) 832-4300, FAX (209) 832-3270, Orders (800) 753-0114, thearc@thearc.com, 1014 Central Avenue Tracy, CA 95376, U.S.A.) has a number of replacement parts for Apple II items as well as some repair facilities. Atlaz Computer Supply (616 Burnside Ave, Inwood, NY 11096. 516-239-1854 phone, 516-239-1939 fax, 888-here-fax fax, atlaz@pipeline.com)is reported to sell cables for connecting //cs to other devices like printers and modems, as well as other items. Adrian Vance's 'AV Systems' (http://www.webmag.com/AVCatalog/ 702-395-3572, P. O. Box 26533, Las Vegas, NV 89126) publishes a "Apple II Survival Manual" has 450 disks in it for the Apple II, all models. Stephen Buggie, (buggie@unm.edu, 200 College Rd. Gallup NM 87301) modifies IBM PC power supplies to fit Apple IIs, as well as Disk ][ modifications. Contact him for pricing, availability and specific product details. The Byte Works (http://www.hypermall.com/byteworks/index.html 8000 Wagon Mound Drive N.W. Albuquerque, NM 87120 (505) 898-8183 email mikew50@aol.com) is still selling Apple IIGS assemblers, compilers, and utility programs such as a spreadsheet and a morphing program. They are also one of the few sources for Apple II books full of technical and programming information. Steve Cavanaugh (appleblossom@delphi.com, http://people.delphi.com/appleblossom/ 8 Ardley Street, Brockton, MA 02402) has now taken over the distribution of a 5.25" disk with modem utilities, a terminal program (Comm.System 2.5), Shrinkit 3.4, BinSCII 1.0.3, UU 1.1, Sneeze 2.2 and UnShrink 2.1 in ready to run format. Also included are all the docs for the above programs, plus Zlink (in archived format). this service. Send $3 to cover postage and materials to Steve Cavanaugh, Apple Blossom Publishing, P.O. Box 120434, Boston, MA 02112-0434. [Chuck Orem used to provide this.] He is also licensed to copy ProDOS 8; contact him for details. He also publishes The Apple Blossom, a "bimonthly newsletter reviewing new hardware and software for the Apple II computer as well as presenting original how-to articles and interviews." He's also involved in Hyper Quarterly, "our new disk-based subscription for Apple IIGS users. Every three months subscribers will get two disks of the latest and greatest in HyperCard IIGS stacks. The premier issue will be sent out at the end of April, 1997." CCV Software (http://catalog.ccvsoftware.com/ is still selling many Apple II commercial educational and productivity titles. Charlie's Appleseeds (chuckn@pro-nsdapple.cts.com 9081 Hadley Place San Diego CA 92126-1523 (619) 566-1297 (weekends, try 619 566-0387)), sells ProSEL-8 and ProSEL-16, which includes disk fixing utilities for ProDOS disks. The Tulin IIGS SCSI driver for Flopticals (possibly also Zip disks) and Apple's HS SCSI cards are available from Wing Cheung 4901 Corona Court Union City, CA 94587 email wing_cheung@compuserve.com Ask for pricing and availability. Compu-Teach Educational Software (http://www.wolfenet.com/~cmpteach/ ), 1-800-448-3224, still sells various Apple II educational software titles. Creative Solutions (http://members.aol.com/CreatSltn/ CreatSltn@aol.com, (513) 429-5759 M-F 9-5) is located in Beavercreek, OH, and "Specializes in hardware, software, and repairs of AppleII, Macintosh, Laser, and Franklin computers." The Cynosure BBS (410-549-2584 Settings: 8 data bits, No parity 1 stop bit, up to 14400 bps) has a license to distribute system Apple software (ProDOS and GS/OS). Contact Doug Granzow at dig@pro-cynosure.cts.com. Digisoft Innovations (digisoft@hypermall.com) has a CD called Golden Orchard that is full of Apple II-specific programs. 18MB is accessable from 8-bit //e's, the rest is in HFS partitions that can be accessed with GS/OS System 6. Cost is around $60. They also have published Twilight II, a screen saver for the IIGS. The 'Duncan Institute' has a large library of educational software for Apple IIs; their web site is http://www.gate.net/~duncanin/ Edlie Electronics (800-645-4722 or 516-735-3330) is selling "The ProDOS User's Kit". It seems to be your basic ProDOS operating system and a manual. I doubt that it's a current version, but it's worth a look if you need ProDOS on 5.25". Educational Resources (800-624-2926) sells educational programs for the II. EGO Systems (http://www.hypermall.com/ego/ 423-843-1775, Fax 423-843-0661 e-mail diz@chattanooga.net), has discontinued their GS+ Magazine, and is closing down their line of various Apple II hardware and software items. Intrec Software (http://www.intrec.com/) is still selling ProTERM 3.1, the best text comm software for 8 and 16 bit Apple IIs. Kitchen Sink Software ( http://www.kitchen-sink.com/ email: info@kitchen-sink.com, 1169 Stroud Ct. Westerville, OH 43081-1134 800-235-5502, 614-891-2111 (voice) 614-891-4545 (fax)) is still supporting its Apple II products. Kula Software (http://www.angelfire.com/hi/kulasoft/ 2118 Kula Street Honolulu, HI 96817, (808) 595-8131 kulasoft@pixi.com) has a number of disks full of software, as well as misc books, used software, and indices of various magazines. Michael Lutynski (626-335-7506, animasia@rocketmail.com), the author of Animasia 3D (GS desktop animation application) is still selling copies for $99, contact him for details. [Manuals may need to be reprinted occasionally.] LYBEN Computer Systems at (800) 493-5777 is reported to sell cables for connecting //cs to other devices like printers and modems. Marin Macroworks, 1675 Grand Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901-2211. MECC (http://www.mecc.com/ 800-685-MECC) is a well-known educational software shop. Memory Plus Distributors (602-990-2327) has a number of hardware items available; contact them for details. M&M Software has a large collection of mainly educational software for the Apple II, Macintosh, DOS and Windows. Their web site is at http://www.mm-soft.com/ 800-642-6162, M&M Software, P.O. Box 15769, Long Beach, CA 90815. National Communications Inc. (http://www.thomasregister.com:8000/olc/natcomm/apple.htm) sells a number of cables such as modems that they claim to be compatible with Apple IIs, //cs, Laser 128s, and the like. Parkhurst Micro Products (510-837-9098) sells ANSITerm, a GS-only communications program that supports X/Y/Z-Modem (plus variants), Kermit, VT-100, Color ANSI, and offers features like a text editor, a large scrollback buffer, and macros. Procyon Enterprises, Inc (http://www.hypermall.com/companies/procyon/ PO Box 641 Englewood, CO 80151-0641 (303) 781-3273) published many Apple II products such as GNO/ME and Splat!; GNO/ME has been reclassified into the freely copyable category. Ready Access Memory (http://readyaccessinc.com/ ) apparently sells a number of Apple II related items. Redmond cable (206-882-2009) makes and sells all sorts of custom cables. Roger Wagner Publishing, Inc (1050 Pioneer Way, Suite P, El Cajon, California 92020, 619/442-0522) is still publishing Hyperstudio for the GS, and Merlin (assembler/disassembler) packages for the Apple II family. Scantron Quality Computers, http://www.sqc.net/ (800-777-3642 or 810-774-7200, 810-774-7740 Tech Support, 810-774-2698 FAX) not only sells Apple II products, but maintains a list of user groups and publishes an informative newsletter geared towards educators (called Enhance). They also published AppleWorks 5.0. To get a QC catalog and a free subscription to Enhance, just call! Contact QC (on GEnie), QualityCom (on AOL) or sales@sqc.net. Sequential Systems (http://www.sequential.com/ 800-759-4549 or 303-666-4549, 800-999-1717 tech, 303-666-7797 BBS) has many products, including GS software that reads some (but not all) multimedia CD-ROMs, VGA display, Memory, SCSI, and other boards for Apple IIs. Contact inquiries@sequential.com. Seven Hills Solution Specialist (http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/ email: shss@nettally.com, 904-575-0566 phone, 904-575-2015 FAX, 1254 Ocala Road, Tallahassee, FL 32304) publishes the Spectrum Internet Suite (WWW browsing from a GS and dialup shell account), Graphic Writer III (GS Desktop Publishing), Independence (Black and White printer drivers for several printers from the GS) and Spectrum (GS Desktop Telecom program), among other programs. Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II (http://www.crl.com/~joko/ 166 Alpine Street, San Rafael, CA 94901-1008, joko@crl.com) publishes a bimonthly Apple II newsletter, the NAUG (National Appleworks User Group), the WestCode Software GS software (Pointless, HardPressed, etc) line, many older and newer games, several HyperStudio and HyperCard IIGS's 3.5" and CD-ROM collections, many freeware/shareware disks, and the Harmonie set of printer drivers originally published by Vitesse. Shreve Systems (http://www.shrevesystems.com/ has some Apple II parts, reconditioned, and other stuff. Smart Kids Software (http://www.smartkidssoftware.com/apple.htm email max@smartkidssoftware.com) has many Apple II software, specializing in educational titles. Software & More (http://members.aol.com/AppleSWHP/APPLE.html 7250 Auburn Blvd Citrus Heights CA 95610 (916) 725-0228, SWMoreTP@aol.com) carries a number of hardware and software items for the Apple II series. Sun Remarketing, http://www.sunrem.com/ (800-821-3221) also sells used Apples parts and books. Vitesse, authors of the Harmonie series of printer drivers, can be reached at 248 North Orange Ave. West Covina, CA 91790-2018 (818)813-1270 (818)813-1273 (FAX). Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II has taken over distribution of Harmonie; see above. Washington Apple Pi (http://www.wap.org/ 301/984-0300, BBS (301/984-4070 [12 lines, 9600 and up] and 984-4066 for the 2 line at 2400), info@tcs.wap.org) has an extremely active Apple /// Special Interest Group. They have 250 PD disks and have funded a new revision of the OS. Contact Dave Ottalini at 72457.2401@Compuserve.com or at the email address above. Westcode Software (http://www.westcodesoft.com/ ) has mostly moved on to the Mac world, but their Pointless, TypeWest, and HardPressed packages for the GS are still being sold by Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II. (see above). 10.3 Fun hardware add-ons ///SSH Systeme, http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/shh.html (Write to: SHH SYSTEME, Dipl. Ing. Joachim Lange, Bergstrasse 95, 82131 Stockdorf, Germany) is selling several cards for the Apple II, allowing you to connect IDE drive(s), PC Floppy drives, or expand a Transwarp GS's cache. Contact jlange@tasha.muc.de. Night Owl (913-362-9898) makes a slide-on battery for ROM 01 GS's. You need a replacement if the time and system settings go back to their defaults whenever you turn the computer off. Lightning Systems, (414) 363-4282 BBS, P.O. Box 4, Mukwonago, WI 53149-0004 sells a 'Turbo ASP' addon to the Super Serial Card which lets it communicate at up to 230,400bps. Various companies sell cables for the Apple //c; check out Atlaz Computer Supply (516-239-1854) or LYBEN Computer Systems at (800) 493-5777 Conversion Technology (801-364-4171) sells a drive that allows you to hook up cheap IBM 3.5" and 5.25" disk drives to you Apple II. Silicon Systems (714-731-7110) makes that 22 pin DIP DTMF decoder chip that Apple-Cat modem owners are always looking for. Part #: SSI 75T201 - Integrated DTMF Receiver. 10.4 Periodicals & Books The Apple Blossom is published by Steve Cavanaugh; see listing in section 10.2 above. Howard Katz publishes the 'Appleworks Gazette'. 1104 Lorlyn Circle # 2D Batavia, IL 60510. Adam Barr ( barr@railnet.nshore.org) and Cindy Field (former InCider/A+ editor) thought about starting a new (email) Apple II newsletter, but nothing apparently ever came of that. The Byte Works ( http://www.hypermall.com/byteworks/index.html, email mikew50@aol.com) is one of the few sources for Apple II books full of technical and programming information. A free monthly archive of postings, full of tips, tidbits, etc., called GenieLamp has been discontinued. Back archives of it are available at http://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/gelamp. For a while, the edition for programmers (the 'a2pro.*' files in the directory mentioned) ran at the same time. "The Lamp" is the replacement, and will be available shortly on the internet after an initial Delphi-only posting. Hyperstudio Network (609-446-3196) is a quarterly newsletter about HyperStudio. They put out an annual 'Best of HyperStudio' disk of stacks, and have discounts on HyperStudio accessories. They even do some teacher-oriented stuff. Juiced.GS is another Apple II newsletter started by Max Jones. As of 9/4/96, a 1-year's subscription is $14. For more information, email Max at m.jones145@genie.com, or write to him at Max Jones, Juiced.GS, 2217 Lakeview Drive, Sullivan IN 47882. Scantron Quality Computers (previously mentioned above) also publishes periodicals, such as II Alive Shareware Solutions II (166 Alpine Street, San Rafael, CA 94901) is a new Apple II magazine with the latest scoops, written by long time Apple II writer Joe Kohn. Mail joko@crl.com for details. You can also check out his WWW homepage at http://www.crl.com/~joko/ssii.html Softdisk and Softdisk GS (800-831-2694 or 318-221-8718) were monthly disk magazines containing a variety of software (PD/SW, clip art, reviews, etc). Softdisk and Softdisk GS are no longer published, but you may still be able to purchase back issues on 5.25" or 3.5" disks. Softdisk GS is available only on 3.5" disks. See http://www.softdisk.com Kingwood Micro Software publishes Texas II, a newsletter and disk for users of AppleWorks. 2503 Sherbrook Lane McKinney, Texas 75075. 10.5 Misc Resources If you need a IIc upgrade, it used to be free, but that has expired. Try a few Apple dealers or call Apple to seek help. The number is 1-800-767-2775 (SOS-APPL). Sequential Systems ( http://www.sequential.com, 800-759-4549 or 303-666-4549, 800-999-1717 tech, 303-666-7797 BBS) have taken over CVTech's products. Larry Beyer (312-735-9010) likes to fix InnerDrive hard drives. Apple has a toll-free customer assistance line for handling sales questions and user concerns. This toll-free line is not designed to be a technical support hotline, but instead is an extension to the comprehensive Apple customer relations effort. The Customer Assistance Center is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time by dialing 1-800-776-2333.
_________________________________________________________________
From: tdiaz-apple2-org (Tony Diaz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2,comp.answers,news.answers Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Followup-To: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: comp.sys.apple2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Part 1/4
Archive-name: apple2/faq/part1 Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: August 21 2007 Version: 5.1.38 URL: http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ
The next section is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting of the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tony Diaz (email: tdiaz-at-apple2-dot-org), all rights reserved. This document can be freely copied so long as 1) it is not sold, 2) any sections reposted elsewhere from it are credited back to this FAQ with the FAQ's copyright info and official WWW location ( http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ) left in place.
This may not be the latest version of this FAQ-- this is an archived copy. For that, drop by http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ
This FAQ may not be sold, bundled on disks or CD-ROMs, reprinted in magazines, books, periodicals, or the like without prior consent from the maintainer, Tony Diaz. Exceptions are explicitly granted for Juiced.GS and _The_Lamp. Email me for permission otherwise.
Big thanks to Nathan Mates, the previous maintainer of this comp.sys.apple2 FAQ, for allowing it to live on after his departure and anyone who took up that mantle before him.
--- Begin part 3 of 4
How do I get files off the net? 8/26/96
Quick summary: 1: Make sure you know how to download files from ftp sites 2: Make sure you have a Binscii decoder 3: Make sure you have a Shrinkit unpacker 4: Unpack with the programs And, in more detail, starting with a word of explanation: [There used to be details about older Apple II packing programs in the FAQ, but as they're pretty much never used anymore, the info on them has been relegated to the 'obsolete' section of the comp.sys.apple2 FAQ at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.old.html] 5.1 What are Binscii & Shrinkit, and why do I need them? 8/26/96 Shrinkit was written by Andy Nicholas to be able to take multiple files or disks and compress them into one file. This allows a authors to distribute programs, documentation, and anything else as one complete file. It is analogous to (but NOT the same as) Stuff-It or [PK]ZIP for Macs and IBMs. Shrinkit comes in many different forms, as is noted in the section on downloading it. Binscii is a method of turning Apple II files into pieces that can be safely transmitted by the internet, such as usenet and email, and restored to the Apple II file later. It is used for two major reasons: 1) Since it splits files up into manageable pieces, it lets huge files be transmitted without fear of being cut short. 2) Since it translates files to strictly printable characters, mediums that cannot safely send binary files (i.e. files put through Shrinkit) such as email and usenet can send binscii'd files. Binscii is similar to the unix 'uuencode' encoding, but it is not identical, and far superior. It allows Apple II filetype information to be restored when the file is unpacked. Secondly, binscii is usually not concerned about email or news headers (it ignores them when unpacking), and also can unpack the various pieces of a binscii'd file in any order, and the original file will be be intact as long as all the pieces were unpacked. Finally, you do not have to rejoin all the binscii pieces into one file before unpacking. Why these two programs are so necessary in downloading is the following: pretty much all Apple II programs are first compressed with Shrinkit, and if they are to be sent via email or to comp.binaries.apple2, the shrunk file is then binscii'd. To unpack, you will need to first un-binscii the file, if appropriate, and then un-Shrink it. Ok, fine. What do Binscii and Shrinkit files look like? If you are given a file, first look at the end of the filename. If it ends in ".BSC" or ".BSQ" (no quotes, and upper/lower case doesn't matter), you most likely have a binscii file. Shrinkit files tend to end in ".SHK", but ".BXY" is also used. If that isn't helpful, or you have a file without a name, then take a look at the first few lines of content. After any optional news or email header, a binscii file should look like this:
FiLeStArTfIlEsTaRt ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789() GSOMEFILE.SHK AQhmAAAAA8)4MIAI02DA9ARMQEDtAQhmAIVZ gYITA6u7xADA0MjM3YTNBlDOENkQwYURzITM2UDN5gzNDJUQGVERyEDM1QzM4cjN CFUOFR0QxAjR0MjM3YTNBlDOENkQwAQRzITM2UDN5gzNDJUQGVERyEDM1QzM4cjN
The first two lines are constant throughout all binscii files; the
third contains the filename ('SOMEFILE.SHK' here) and then the encoded
file.
On the other hand, a .SHK file cannot have any news or email header,
and has only about 6 characters at the start (not all viewable on a
normal screen, especially non-Apple IIs) that identify it. Thus,
trying to look at the first few lines is pointless.
Finally, you can always try to unpack the file, as the binscii and
Shrinkit programs will notify you if the file is not in the format
they can unpack. As files are always binscii'd last, you should thus
try and unbinscii an unknown file first, then try to unshrink it.
Enough technical discussions, now on to the specifics of where and how
to get binscii and shrinkit running on your system.
_________________________________________________________________
5.2 Where can I get Apple II software and info on the net? 3/2/97
If you're looking for an OS (operating system) for your Apple II, there's pretty much no way to download it and write it to an Apple II disk without an Apple II handy. However, there are other ways of getting it; see section 7.2 of this FAQ. [A quick note about URL notation: For those of you with full net access, you can run a web browser (like Lynx if you are dialed in from your Apple), which will understand URLs directly. Otherwise, ignore the 'http:' ones and see the next section on how to use the FTP ones.)
Hint:
ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ Hostname Directory
Major FTP sites and mirrors:
* ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2 Maintained by Dan Zimmerman,
this large and well organized Apple II Archive is the best place
to look for sofrware.
* ftp.apple.com, dts/aii Apple's main ftp site. Get Technical Info,
ProDOS 8 and GS System Software, etc. here.
*
ftp://mirror.apple.com/mirrors/Apple_SW_Updates/US/Apple_II/HyperCa
rd_IIGS_1.1/ Hypercard GS. This is also available at
ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple.Software.Updates
/US/Apple_II/HyperCard_IIGS_1.1/
* ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/appleII/eamon/guild/original/
Eamon (text-based RPG system for Apple IIs) adventures in DOS 3.3
or ProDOS format.
* ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2 We (The Apple II users of the
internet) paid a good chunk of money for this drive, so it's the
biggest, and may have the best selection, but the worst
organization and disregard of legality, due to blind association
with a pirate. The WWW interface at
http://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/ is almost always available.
* ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/archive/apple2 Another large Apple
II archive. Once again, the WWW interface at
http://www.umich.edu/~archive/apple2 can be less overloaded.
* ftp://ftp.hypermall.com/pub/gno or
http://www.gno.org/pub/apple2/gs.specific/gno/base204/ . GNO/ME
2.0.4 distribution.
* http://www.openix.com/~jac Archive of all postings to
comp.sources.apple2.
* ftp://names.wvu.edu/pub/apple3 - Apple III stuff
And for information, here's some of the major resources:
* http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html- Hypertext version of
this FAQ, and even more FAQs on all sorts of questions and
subjects
http://delphi.com, the best place for quality flamefree Apple II
people and discussions.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/asoft.html Applesoft Basic
reference FAQ.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/dos.html Apple II DOS & Commands
FAQ.
http://www.hypermall.com/History What is the history of the various
models in the Apple II series?
http://www.gno.org/~gno/FAQ.html comp.sys.apple2.gno FAQ [For the
GNO/ME multitasking environment for the Apple IIGS]
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/pinouts.html Pinouts for many
different Apple II connectors
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/snd.mus.html Apple IIGS sound and
music capabilities.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/sys6files.html Reference of GS/OS
System 6's filestructure, with notes as to which files are required,
etc.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/asoft.html Flopticals and Apple
IIs.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/asoft.html CDROMs and Apple IIs.
http://www.teraform.com/~lvirden/Misc/apple2-languages.txt Apple II
Programmmer's Catalog of Languages and Toolkits
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/zip.html Upgrading and modifying
Apple IIGS accelerators.
http://www.crl.com/~joko/ssii.html - ShareWare Solutions II Homepage
http://www.tals.dis.qut.edu.au/staff/willie/ Willie Yeo's verified
list of commercial Apple II products reclassified to be publically
distributable.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/index.html - Nathan Mates's Apple II
Links. Lots of 'em.
http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/bbs.html - Mike Shecket's BBS listing
Other FTP Sites:
* ftp://ftp.sheppyware.ml.org/Public-FTP/ Eric Shepherd's Apple II
software.
* ftp://ftp.ms.uky.edu/pub/appleII Mostly very old Apple II software
* ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/gifstuff/apple GIF viewing software for
Apple IIs only. (And outdated. Major sites listed above have
better selections)
* ftp://info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive
Looks like a umich mirror again
* ftp://syr.edu/software/kermit/appleII Kermit sources for the Apple
II.
* ftp://watsun.cc.columbia.edu/kermit/a Kermit stuff in forms that
look unusable to Apple II users.
Archives of C.S.A2 Newsgroups:
Dejanews, http://www.dejanews.com, is an excellent searchable archive
of pretty much all major usenet groups, including all of the Apple II
newsgroups. It's only good back to about March 1995 as of 8/31/96, but
they may be trying to extend that back.
Other, more limited archives:
===================
wuarchive.wustl.edu /usenet/comp.sources.apple2 (complete!)
/usenet/comp.binaries.apple2
?ftp.tohoku.ac.jp /pub/news/comp.binaries.apple2 hp4nl.nluug.nl /pub/newsarchive/comp/sources/apple2 (incomplete) mcsun.eu.net /pub/newsarchive/comp/sources/apple2 (incomplete) nic.funet.fi /pub/archive/comp.sources.apple2 (complete?) relay.cs.toronto.edu /pub/lists.1989 (1989 only)
If you have a Shell account, you can use 'archie' to find ftp sites
with a particular file.
_________________________________________________________________
5.3 How do you download files off the net?
This is important because once you're on the internet, most of the
files are available only on 'ftp' and www sites. ('ftp' stands for
File Transfer Protocol, and www stands for the World Wide Web, but all
you need to know is where to get Apple II files from. See the section
above for a list of ftp sites.)
1. (For ProLine users) Get files to your host
1. Dial up your host and log in.
2. I'm not familiar with ProLine, so I'll be vague here. Just go
into the files section and look... Anyone wanna clue me in?
2. (for those with a Shell account) Get files to your host
1. Choose an FTP site from the FAQ
2. At your UNIX prompt, type "ftp _____" (fill in hostname)
3. At the "Login:" prompt, type "anonymous" (or "ftp" if you are
a bad speller like me ;)
4. Type in your e-mail address when prompted for a password.
5. Type "bin" unless you are only getting text files
6. Type "cd ______" (directory) to move to the right directory.
7. type "ls" to see a list of files.
8. Locate each file (more "cd ___"'s and "ls"). Also, "cd .."
will move up a directory in the tree.)
9. use "get ______" (filename) to get it
10. When you are done using FTP, type "quit"
3. From a WWW browser, most browsers are not set up to download .SHK
files in binary, which will make them impossible to unpack. There
are some solutions to this. Dan Zimmerman has made the Apple II
archive at Caltech automatically send files in binary mode; go to
http://apple2.caltech.edu/a2archive.html
If you are using Lynx, when the cursor is on the file to download,
you can hit 'd' to download the file, which for most people forces
a binary download. [Lynx has too many versions with the same
version 'number' and possible configurations to be able to list
which ones will work.]
Using most WWW browsers under unix (Netscape, Mosaic, lynx, maybe
some others) you can try editing the file '.mime.types' (no 's) in
your home directory on most unix systems. (Contact your local
sysadmin or guru for help on unix editors). Add the following
lines to the file:
application/x-Shrinkit shk SHK sdk SDK application/x-BinaryII bny BNY bqy BQY bxy BXY
This will work for most files downloaded with lynx, netscape, and
mosaic. Non-unix browsers can do similar things, but you'll need
to read the documentation on them.
4. From email or comp.binaries.apple2, the files are pretty much
always in BINSCII format, so you do not need to worry about binary
downloading. Simply save the email or news articles to disk (most
things do have multiple parts, so be sure to get all of them), and
download that to your Apple II. You can keep the posts as separate
files, no need to paste them all together when saving or
downloading. For a multiple part binscii file, the order in which
you unpack them does not matter as long as you unpack every part.
5. Get files to your Apple II
See the next section on transfering Apple II files.
5.4 How do you transfer Apple files to/from other personal computers?
Normally, you cannot stick a 5.25" disk in a non-Apple II machine and
have it read it. This is because the disk writing formats are
different at a hardware level, and no software exists (or will exist)
to let a PC read an Apple II 5.25" drive. However, with rarer addon
hardware, you can bridge the gap. This has been an insolvable problem
for nearly 15 years; if it could be solved in software, such a thing
would exist.
That being said, here's a list of ways that do work:
5.5 How do I transfer DOS 3.3, Pascal, CP/M files?
Unless you have a null modem (see below) and a comm program for the OS
in question, you'll most likely have to use a real Apple II to
transfer the files to an OS that a lot more systems can read, such as
ProDOS.
The ProDOS system software, the DOS 3.3 FST (optional part of GS
System 6.0 and 6.0.1), and Copy ][+ can all read and convert files on
DOS 3.3 disks to ProDOS disks; all but the DOS 3.3 FST can write from
ProDOS to DOS 3.3 disks. All data files should translate fine, but any
program requiring a specific OS will probably not run under the wrong
OS.
For translating between ProDOS, CPM, Pascal and DOS 3.3, try the
program Chameleon. You have to use the 'force disk as ProDOS' option
to copy to/from your hard drive.
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/apple2/8bit/util/chameleon.bsq
Once the file is on a ProDOS disk, you generally have a lot more
transfer options available.
5.6 How do I transfer files by [null] modem?
This is probably the most accessible option; it can be done by an
Apple and any other computer as long as both have serial ports,
cable(s) to go between them, and communications software on both
sides.
Modems allow you to transfer computer data over phone lines; a null
modem essentially yanks the middleman of a phone. Null modem cables
(which are identical to serial printer cables) are essentially a cable
which plugs into the serial port of two computers, and is wired such
that when one computer sends, the other receives, and vice versa. With
a communications program that supports file transfer on both ends, you
can send files from one side to the other. There are a few companies
selling null modem cables and the like; see the appropriate section of
this FAQ- 10.2 for their info.
For those who haven't picked a program to download with, here are the
better Apple II programs listed alphabetically; for other systems,
you'll have to find a comparable program. All of the non-commercial
programs are available from FTP sites. If you don't have a comm
program already, your best bet is to have someone mail you one on a
disk or buy ProTerm. (See resources).
Program Comp Emulations Protocols Note
|----|---------------------------------------------------------------
ANSITerm GS$ color ANSI, PSE X,Y,Z-modem Editor, scrollback, etc. Agate E mono ANSI X,(Y,Z D/L only) Unpacks ZIP, buggy ColorTerm GS color ANSI X-modem Desktop based CommSys E none X-modem Works on ][+ FreeTerm GS none X-modem Desktop based GSVT GS VT-100 none Desktop GTerm GS color ANSI none Written in BASIC/ML GenComm GS none none Text, Shell Compat. Kermit-65 E VT-100 Kermit, X-modem Hard to use,Works on ][+ MegaTerm GS color ANSI none ProDOS 8 PTP E$, VT-100 X-Modem, (Y-mdm D/L) From Quality Computers ProTerm E$ PSE, VT-100 Kermit, X,Y,Z-modem From InSync SnowTerm GS VT-100 (+) none Desktop based Spectrum GS$ ANSI, VT100, PSE, Viewdata Kermit,X,Y,Z Modem GS Desktop Prog TIC E$ VT-100 (+) X-modem Small, Scripting. Telcom GS VT-100, PSE X, (Y D/L only) Shell compat Z-Link E VT-100 X-modem Good.
Key:---------
| Key: $ = A commercial program + = And other obscure ones | Computer: E = works on GS and //e, GS = only works on GS | D/L = Download from other computer ---
PTP = Point-To-Point. I don't think it's being sold anymore. Anyone
know? See the resources section for where to buy the commercial
programs.
Once you are set up with a comm program on both ends, with a modem,
here's how to send files:
1. Find out what file transfer protocols your Apple communications
package supports. (see below for a list)
2. On your local comm program, set your file transfer type to Text
(TXT) or Binary (BIN) depending on what type of file you are
downloading. If there is an option to "strip incoming linefeeds",
try turning it on.
3. Get your host to send you the file. I don't know about ProLine,
but UNIX users can use these commands:
For Z-Modem: "sz ___ ____ ____" (file names)
For X-Modem: "sx ____" (one at a time)
For Kermit: "kermit", then "put _____" (filename)
Z-Modem is by far the fastest of the three; if you are getting
random connection errors, you may need to do "sz -e ___ ____ ____"
to force a safer (but slower) xfer method.
4. If needed, tell your local communications program to Receive. You
must do this quickly, or the other host will give up trying to
send the file.
5. Write down the full pathname of the files you downloaded and where
you put them. There will be a quiz later. Pathnames look like
"/DISK/DIR/FILE.NAME"
Note: If something goes wrong, hit ESC, Ctrl-X or Ctrl-C 3 times.
If you can't get one protocol to work, try the next one down.
Z-modem is much faster than the others. You will want to find a
program that supports it.
With a null modem, it is similar. First, you need to tell both sides
that they are online. Reading the manual is strongly encouraged! This
is easy for some programs, where you can just start them or set an
option, and they're running. Other, like Windows 95's Hyperterminal,
are almost dead set on dialing a modem first. You'll also need to set
both sides to communicate at the same speed and connection parameters
(8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, aka '8N1' is customary). When you've
got that done successfully, you can type on either computer's keyboard
and have it appear on the other's screen.
Once the null modem connection is set up, you can transfer files. From
the receiving end, issue the command(s) to receive a file in some
protocol, such as Kermit, X-Modem, or Z-Modem. Then, from the sending
side, issue the command(s) to send a file in that same protocol. The
file should then be transferred. (As above, reading the manuals and/or
documentation for the software used is highly encouraged).
A very nice null modem is the CrossWorks product, which has been taken
over by Sequential Systems. It is a null modem cable as well as Apple
II and IBM PC software that lets you translate certain types of files
between both sides, such as Appleworks files, and keep the formatting
roughly intact. See the vendors lists below.
5.7 How do I read/write files from other platforms with an Apple II?
As noted above, Apple II drives write differently at a hardware level
than IBM PC drives; you will not be able to write to IBM PC 5.25"
disks or 720K 3.5" disks from Apple IIs unless you have special
hardware.
If you have an Apple //e, the Bluedisk from ///SHH systeme, which lets
you plug in IBM PC 3.5" and 5.25" drives to an Apple II; you should be
ablt to transfer files with standard file copy programs. Another
option is the AE PC Transporter card, which had PC disk drive support
for 5.25" and 3.5" drives, as well as the software to translate
between the two. You also get the ability to run a number of IBM PC
programs on your Apple.
If you have a 3.5" drive on your system capable of reading 800K or
1.44MB disks, you can read Mac (HFS) disks of the right size directly
with some pieces of software:
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu apple2/8bit/util/a2fx.8.bsq
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/apple2/8bit/util/hfslink.b3.bsq
Null modem's also an option if your Apple II has a serial port. Such a
port is built into the //c, IIc+ and IIGS; you will need to purchase a
card such as the Super Serial Card to add such functionality to a ][,
][+ or //e.
5.8 How do I read/write files from other platforms with an Apple IIGS?
With support for both 3.5" and 5.25" drives, the Apple IIGS is the
best all-round platform for transferring files between various setups.
First, all of the Apple II programs and methods are available to it;
see the section just above this for those.
With GS System 6.0 and 6.0.1, the GS gained the ability to read and
write Macintosh 800K and 1.44MB floppies from within all programs, not
just the dedicated transfer programs mentioned above for pre-GS
machines. (1.44MB disks require some additional hardware, such as the
Apple 1.44MB Superdrive and Superdrive controller, the Bluedisk, or
SCSI Floptical drives). Use the System 6 installer (select 'Custom'
install to get the list of addons) to install the HFS (Macintosh) FST
on your boot disk, then reboot to load it. It may be a bit of a
squeeze to fit the HFS FST and such on a 800K boot disk, and GS System
6.0/6.0.1 pretty much requires at least 1-1.25MB RAM to do stuff.
System 6.0.1's optional MS-DOS FST allowed read-only (not write)
access to MS-DOS formatted disks, though disks with Windows 95's VFAT
extended names will not have the long names displayed. The GS's normal
800K drives are not capable of reading MS-DOS 720K or 1.44MB disks
directly; you will need to get a 1.44MB capable drive, as listed in
the paragraph above.
For the ability to write to MS-DOS disks, you will need Peter Watson's
(email: paw@acslink.net.au) MSDOS utilities (latest version is 2.30),
which can read/write MS-DOS formatted disks, both FAT (pre-WIN95) and
VFAT (WIN95) disks, including Zip disks. It's not currently usable
from within the Finder or other programs, but you need a program shell
such as that included with The Byteworks' Orca series, Procyon's
GNO/ME, ProSEL-16's shell, or the minimal shell included in the
msdostools package.
ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple16/utils/MSDOS.util/MSDOS.TOOL
S.SHK
System 6.0 also added read-only support for Dos 3.3 and Pascal 140K
disks. The Pascal FST in System 6.0.1 (and probably 6.0 also) will not
recognize disks with legal punctuation in the disk name; Nathan
Mates's GUPP program fixes that. See the System 6.0 mini-FAQ in this
FAQ for details on where to download GUPP.
5.9 How do I read/write Apple II files from a Mac?
If you can read/write Apple II 3.5" disks, Macs can usually read/write
to them, but please note the many quirks noted below. Apart from the
Apple //e emulation card (see below), Macs never really had 140K 5.25"
support. Using a null modem is almost always an option; see above.
With Mac System 7.5 and up, the Control Panel 'PC Exchange' lets
inserted ProDOS and MS-DOS disks appear on the desktop and copy files
to and from them, making the procedure rather simple. Before 7.5
(starting somewhere in Mac System 5 or 6 series), the program 'Apple
File Exchange' was bundled on the system disks; it could manually (and
very slowly) copy individual files, but only from within Apple File
Exchange. Consult the system software disks for your Mac if you can't
find these programs.
Macs downloading to Apple II disks to be read by ProDOS 8 applications
is usually not an issue of directly dragging a downloaded file to the
destination disk. Despite the claims of 'compatability' or 'ease of
use', you're likely to need a special program to help to get a ProDOS
8 program such as BASIC.SYSTEM for Binscii, Shrinkit 3.4, Appleworks,
etc., to read the files. [GS/OS can deal fine with the additions to
the file, but if you're trying to get the ProDOS 8 version of binscii
running, that is no help.] The usual symptom of this problem is a
'FILE TYPE MISMATCH' error on trying to read the file.
It is reported that the Mac program 'ProTYPE' can be used as a helper
app to clean up the crud Macs add to files before copying them to an
Apple II. There was also another program to do the same, but it
disappeared recently from the net, which is apparently "normal" for
Mac ftp sites. ProTYPE is currently available online (at an Apple II
based site, so it hopefully won't disappear like the last rather
useful program) at
ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/Mac/ProTYPE.hqx
Consult the various Mac FAQs for information on how to download and
use Mac programs. See section 1.3 of this FAQ for references on
finding other FAQs.
Some have said that you can apparently change the type and creator to
'TEXT' and 'pdos', before copying it to the ProDOS disk-- that'll
prevent it from adding the resource fork when writing to a ProDOS
disk. Others claim that won't do the trick for them.
Once you have the ability to download .bsq files and unpack them,
there are some Apple II files to remove forks. [These files are packed
with Binscii. If you don't have binscii because it's got a resource
fork on it, you can't use these fork removers. Thus, you'll need to
deal with it on the Mac end at first.]
HFS.LINK, listed above can apparently read out the data from either
fork; there are also the programs ConvertForks 1.0 or ForkSplit 0.5.
Also, the Apple //e emulation card (available for a few models of
Macs-- see the section on it) allows you to plug in a real Apple II
5.25 drive, and read files off of it.
5.10 How do I read/write Apple II files from an IBM PC?
IBM PC drives operate differently from Apple II drives at a hardware
level; there is NO software to overcome that. The only way to bridge
the gap with only a PC or an Apple II is by using (rare) addon
hardware. [Technical details: PCs use MFM disk encoding; Apple IIs use
GCR. The disk controller card does the decoding of the bitstream, and
if it's in the wrong format, it'll mess up the bits before software
can get anywhere near it. Thus, a new disk controller card is a bare
minimum.]
If you have a Macintosh and access to an Apple II with 3.5" disks
(such as most GSs), you can copy the files to a ProDOS disk and let
the Mac read that disk. It can then copy them to a MS-DOS disk with
the same software that read the ProDOS disks; see above for Mac
specifics.
Null modem is probably the best method; as noted above, the Crossworks
product from Sequential Systems is a good product that lets you
transfer and translate certain Apple II and IBM PC file formats.
There's supposedly a program that reads 1.44MB ProDOS disks on a PC
(which the PC does support), but you need the ability to write such
disks from the Apple II side anyhow.
There are a few rare hardware boards that you can plug into a PC and
get it to access Apple II disks; the Trackstar Plus and Quadram boards
are reported to be usable in IBM PCs. (Quadram's Quadlink reportedly
only supports the IBM PC XT and older; the Trackstar Plus works well
in any PC with space for a very full-sized ISA board and VGA
capabilities) Neither is available new anymore, and can command a
premium now on the used market, as IBM PCers who sold off their Apple
IIs realize the follies of their ways. :)
5.11 How do I download and unpack binscii?
[If you'd rather skip this and most of the next step, Steve Cavanaugh
has a disk containing this, Shrinkit 3.4, and many other useful
programs. See the Resources section (10.2) below.]
1. Binscii has many programs that can unpack it, but if you have none
of them, you will need to first get 'BINSCII.TXT', the only
binscii program that can be transferred without any of the others
or Shrinkit. [Spectrum 2.1 and later can also unpack Binscii, so
if you have a GS and want to purchase this program for general
telecom use, that's an alternative.] After you have this binscii
program and Shrinkit, you can unpack other binscii decoders.
2. There are non-Apple II Binscii programs (sciibin is available in
source code form ready to be compiled on unix and other
platforms), should you desire, but to download and unpack
Shrinkit, you will almost certainly need a minimal Binscii decoder
on your Apple II. Thus, it's in your best interest to download a
binscii decoder.
3. Make sure you have a method of getting files to a ProDOS disk on
your Apple. That may include downloading with a communications
program, or copying to a disk from another computer. Please note
that Apple II and IBM PC 5.25" and 3.5" disk formats are different
at a hardware level, so without (rare) addon hardware on one or
both sides, you cannot use an IBM PC to download stuff to an Apple
II disk.
Macs running system 7 can write to ProDOS 3.5" 800K disks, but
please note that the Macintosh system software has the bad habit
of adding a "resource fork" to files. This makes them UNREADABLE
from most Apple IIs, unless you run a special program on them from
the Macintosh side. Please see the section on file transfer from
Macintosh to Apple II for where to get that program.
If you do not have ProDOS, please contact your local Apple II User
Group for a copy-- they can copy it free of charge. If you do not
have a modem program, but do have a modem or null modem to another
computer, Steve Cavanaugh's disk that was mentioned above has some
simple comm programs. Alternatively, the commercial program
ProTERM 3.1 by Intrec is by far the best general Apple II
communications program, so if you have at least a 128K Enhanced
Apple //e, a //c, IIc+, or Apple IIGS, it is worth it to invest in
this program. See the sections on dealers below for Intrec's
address and phone number.
The rest of this tutorial assumes that you have read the above
sections and have a basic clue as to how to navigate the internet
and download files.
4. Download the file 'BINSCII.TXT', written by Todd Whitesel to your
Apple II. A copy is linked in at Nathan Mates's Apple II Resources
WWW pages, http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/binscii.txt Or, check
the major Apple II ftp sites (see above), as well as
ftp.ugcs.caltech.edu, pub/nathan/binscii.txt
This is a text file. (Previous versions of it were named
'binscii.exe', which most people confused as being a MS-DOS
executable, which the program most definitely is not.) It must be
downloaded in text mode to your computer, or it will require some
work to get it working. Check the ftp and [z]modem transfer
options to make sure binary mode is off before downloading it to
your Apple II.
If you used a Macintosh to write the file to a ProDOS disk, be
warned that it'll sometimes add a 'resource fork' to the file,
rendering it unusable under ProDOS and Basic with a "FILE TYPE
MISMATCH" error on trying to access it. To avoid that, see the
section on file transfer from Macintosh to Apple II for a Mac
program to clean up after that problem.
5. See if you can unpack it. You will need to get to Applesoft Basic
under ProDOS to do this. [ProDOS identifies itself as such when
booting, and Basic is the ']' prompt available by running
'BASIC.SYSTEM' if you booted to the Finder]. From the prompt,
change to the disk/directory with the BINSCII.TXT file in it. [A
reference on Dos 3.3 and ProDOS commands is not part of this FAQ,
but is available at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/dos.html]
Next, verify that the file was transferred as a text file. From
the prompt, type the following:
PR#3 CATALOG
If the "PR#3" command causes your computer to crash, hang, or display
garbage, you do not have an 80-column card in the normal place.
[This is rare, and only happens on ][+s, or stock //es.] Reboot
your computer and try again without the PR#3 command. The catalog
should have a line like the following (though the date and time
will vary)
BINSCII.TXT TXT 12 20-AUG-96 20-AUG-96 3:14 5645
[If not in 80-column mode, that'll be wrapped to 2 lines.] Anyhow, the
number we wanted was the very last number, which should be 5645.
If that number is 5737, you downloaded in binary mode off an IBM
PC. That's fixable. If the number is 512, you disregarded the
warnings above about how the Macintosh will make an Apple II file
unreadable; see the section on file transfer from Macintosh to
Apple II for a Mac program to clean up after that problem.
Also, note the file type in the second column, which is 'TXT'
here. If it is already TXT, you can skip forward to step 5. Fixing
the filetype. First, note what it currently is. If it's not 'TXT',
common alternatives are 'BIN' or '$00', but almost anything is
possible. The second and fourth line of the following commands,
assume it's '$00', with file length 5645. Modify those two values
to match what you saw in the catalog listing above:
RENAME BINSCII.TXT,BINSCII.ORIG BLOAD BINSCII.ORIG,A$2000,T$00,L5645 CREATE BINSCII.TXT,TTXT BSAVE BINSCII.TXT,A$2000,TTXT,L5645
This first renames the old file, loads it up, creates a file of the
right length and then writes the new file.
6. Now that the file type is correct, trying to install binscii. Type
the following:
EXEC BINSCII.TXT
If you get a lot of ?SYNTAX ERRORs and beeps, then you most likely did
not download it in ascii mode. You should try again, making sure
of ascii mode, or try typing in this program. If the file size you
got from the CATALOG above is not 5645, change the 5645 in line 10
to whatever it is.
10 D$=CHR$(4): L=5645 20 PRINT D$"BLOAD BINSCII.TXT,A$2000,TTXT,L"L 30 FOR I=8192 TO 8192+L: IF PEEK(I)=10 THEN POKE I,13 40 NEXT: ONERR GOTO 60 50 PRINT D$"DELETE BINSCII2.TXT" 60 PRINT D$"CREATE BINSCII2.TXT,TTXT" 70 PRINT D$"BSAVE BINSCII2.TXT,A$2000,TTXT,L"L
Use the basic command 'RUN' (no 's) to run this program. After it is
done, you should have a better chance at being able to "EXEC
BINSCII2.TXT" and run it.
7. After all of this is done, you should have the 'BINSCII.SYSTEM'
program on the disk/directory you EXECd binscii from. To run it,
type
-BINSCII
That should start it. For now, with no files to decompress, just exit
it. Congratulations, you can now unpack BINSCII files.
8. There are fancier BINSCII decoders, but this one is the only that
can be easily transferred. If you have a GS, you might want to
consider downloading the gsciiplus program from some of the
following ftp sites:
apple2.archive.umich.edu, apple2/gs/archivers/gscii.bsc
apple2.caltech.edu pub/apple2/addons/nda/gscii231.shk
However, to unpack this, you will need a Shrinkit program
(detailed in the next section) to unpack them before you can use
them. Once unpacked, you will need to copy the 'gsciiplus' NDA to
the DESK.ACCS folder inside the SYSTEM folder on your boot GS/OS
disk.
5.12 How do I download and unpack a Shrinkit unpacker?
Ok, getting and downloading binscii is the hard part, promise. Because
binscii takes care of the worry of filetypes, end of lines and the
like, you don't really need to worry about those problems again.
Which Shrinkit program you should download depends on which model of
Apple II you have. These programs are listed in increasing order of
features and better user interfaces, so Unshrink ][+ will run on
pretty much anything that you got binscii running on, while
GS-Shrinkit 1.1 will only run Apple IIGSs. Apple IIGS programs can
have file formats known as 'forked files' which ProDOS 8 and regular
Shrinkit cannot unpack, so if you wish to download and unpack most GS
programs, GS-Shrinkit is required. (The exceptions are demos and the
like distributed as a shrunk copy of a disk)
At least an Apple ][+ with 64K running ProDOS:
Your only option is Unshrink ][+ and Autounshrink, available
via ftp from
apple2.caltech.edu, pub/apple2/ARCHIVERS/unshk2plus.bsc
apple2.caltech.edu, pub/apple2/ARCHIVERS/autounshk.bsq
At least an Enhanced Apple //e with 128K, or //c, IIc+, IIGS:
Although you can run Unshrink ][+, Shrinkit 3.4 is far better.
Get
apple2.caltech.edu, pub/apple2/ARCHIVERS/shrinkit34.bsc
At least an Apple IIGS with at least 1.5MB Ram, running GS/OS System
5.0.4 or later, hard drive recommended:
GS-Shrinkit is the best choice, though if you spend most of
your time in ProDOS 8, you may also want to get Shrinkit 3.4 as
well as detailed above. You can get GS-Shrinkit from
apple2.caltech.edu, pub/apple2/ARCHIVERS/gshk11.bsc
Download the appropriate file(s) to your computer, and unpack them
with the binscii decoder.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The gscii plus NDA (and related unpackers, like the
sscii command) can NOT correctly unpack the GS-Shrinkit 1.1 file. You
_MUST_ use the binscii program that was mentioned and downloaded in
stage 1, or wait for GS-Shrinkit 1.1A.
Run them Shrinkit program you just unpacked. GS-Shrinkit can be run by
double-clicking on its icon in the Finder or the equivalent for other
launchers. For the other programs, from the Basic ']' command in the
disk/directory where you unpacked the program type 'CAT' to get a list
of files. Find the filename of the program, and then '-FILENAME' to
run it. (Replace 'FILENAME' with the name you saw in the list)
5.13 How do I unpack a generic .SHK or .BSQ file?
Now that you have all the files you want on your Apple II, you will
first need to run the binscii program on any BINSCII'd files you
downloaded, and then the Shrinkit program on the results of the
un-binsciiing and/or any .SHK/.BXY files you downloaded. Once you're
done with that, it's up to you to play around with the files you
unpacked.
After unpacking the .BSQ files, you'll notice that .SHK files are
usually produced. You do not need to keep the .BSQ files around to
unpack the .SHK files; you may delete the .BSQ file(s) at your
convenience. Similarly, once the .SHK file is unpacked, you can delete
it if you do not expect to need to unpack it again anytime soon.
5.14 I can download .BSQ files fine, but .SHK files can't unpack. What's
wrong?
If these files are coming from a standard Apple II ftp site, such as
those listed in section 5.2, they should unpack fine as long as you
download the files in BINARY mode at every stage, which includes from
the ftp site to any intermediate machines along the way. Any single
text download will usually corrupt a .SHK file enough to make it
impossible to unpack. Make sure that you're downloading in binary at
each and every stage. Binscii (.BSQ) files contain enough extra
information so that they aren't affected by ascii downloads.
There are the occasional bad uploads to the ftp sites, but these tend
to be reported quickly and dealt with. If you're having a problem with
a file, and are very sure that the file is bad on the ftp server,
please email the administrator to resolve the problem. Administrators
should have tools to verify the integrity of any files on their sites,
and deal with any problems on their end. [Administrator's email
addresses are usually listed when you connect to a ftp site.]
5.15 Apple Archive Format (aaf)
Apple Archive Format was invented as a standard way to post source
code to comp.sources.apple2. The C and Basic source code to aaf
unpackers are available on the various FTP sites, in aaf format.
Fortunately, files in aaf format can be turned back into source code
with a simple text editor. Just break the file up into component files
and remove the first character of each line.
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu /apple2/unix
Alternative location, including dox: http://www.openix.com/~jac
_________________________________________________________________
Filetypes and dealing with files of various types
6.1 A quick note about ProDOS filetypes
ProDOS keeps some information about a file's type. Files can be text (TXT), binary (BIN), executable (SYS), fonts (FON), etc. Most other file systems do not have a place to store this information, so it may get 'lost' when you upload the file. Similarly, when you download a file, you may not know the file type. Most comm programs will use some default. For NuFX archives, this is not a big deal, since you can still unpack an archive if the filetype is wrong (and the archive protects the filetype of the files inside the archive). For other files, you may need to change the file's type. One utility that comes well recommended is File Attribute Zapper II.
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu /apple2/8bit/util/fazz.2.3.bsq
6.2 Net standard formats
There are several formats that are used widely on the Internet. The most common in FTP sites are tar (.tar) and compress (.Z). From a unix box, to undo a Tape Archive, type 'tar -xvf filename.tar', to undo a compress, type 'uncompress filename.Z'. Since tar does not make the file smaller, and compress can only compress 1 file, many times you will find files that are 'tarred an feathered'. They have a '.tar.Z' extension. Just run uncompress then un-tar the result. Other USENET groups will use uuencode (.uu) to send binaries. From a unix box, just type 'uudecode file.uu'. BinSCII is better than uuencode because 1) It stores the ProDOS filetype. 2) It splits the file into manageable 12K chunks. 3) It does a CRC checksum on each chunk.
Most of these 'Unix' standard formats are available on the Apple. See the table below.
Format Types
+-------------------------------------------------------+
|NuFX|Bin |uuen-|com- |.ZOO|Bin |LZH/| Stuff| ARC| Other|
Program | | |SCII|code |press| |Hex |LHA | -It | | |
|-|----|----|-----|-----|----|----|----|------|----|------|
Angel[1]|e| | | | X | X | | X | | X | .ZIP | BSC |c| | E | | | | | | | | | Balloon |g| X | | | | | | | | | | Binscii |e| | X | | | | | | | | | DeArc |e| | | | | | | | | D | | GSCII+ |g| | X | X | | | D | | | | .AAF | GShk |g| X | | | D | D | | | D | D | | LHext |x| | | | | | | D? | | | | Nulib |c| X | | | | | | | | | | PMPUnzip|x| | | | | | | | | | .ZIP | SciiBin |c| | D | | | | | | | | | Shrinkit|e| X | | | | | | | | | | Spectrum|g| | X | | | | X | | | | | sscii |x| | X | X | | | X | | | | | (Key: E = Encode only, D = Decode only, X = Encode and Decode) (Type: e = Apple //e, g = GS Only, x = GS EXE file, c = C Source code) [1] Angel is pretty Buggy, but it's worth a try.
Where to get those programs listed above
This FAQ already lists exactly where to get Binscii and GSCII+ as well as the Shrinkit programs, as well as the top level directories of several major ftp sites. To save some hunting around in the directory structures, Apple II versions of most archive programs are located at the following places:
Caltech's Apple II Archive: apple2.caltech.edu, pub/apple2/ARCHIVERS Ground: ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/Mirrors/caltech/ARCHIVERS _________________________________________________________________
6.3 What do the file extensions mean?
Many times, people put filename extensions (extra characters at the end of a filename) to denote what type of file it is. Please note that these are just accepted standards. If a file does not indicate it's type, you will probably have to guess. The following is a table of some common filename extensions. (Note that upper/lower case usually doesn't matter in extensions) See the previous section (on archivers) for programs that will deal with these files.
Extension What is it? (What program do I use?)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Text only files:
.html [TEXT] ASCII text file with (ascii) formatting codes. Used to
format documents on the World Wide Web, some other places.
.htm [TEXT] .html, but the extension got trimmed to 3 characters
.txt [TEXT] An ASCII text file: usually English text.
Archive files:
.aaf [TEXT] Apple Archive Format for source code (aaf.unpacker)
.ACU Applelink Conversion Utility (Shrinkit)
.ARC ARC Archive (IBM ARC, GS Shrinkit, //e Angel or DeArc2E)
.CPT Compactor Pro archive (Compactor Pro on a Mac only)
.BSC [TEXT] Binscii file. (Binscii)
.BSQ [TEXT] Binscii'd NuFX file. (Binscii--then Shrinkit)
.BXY NuFX archive with a Binary II header. (Shrinkit)
.BNY BLU archive. (Shrinkit)
.BQY NuFX or Binary II with BLU header. (Shrinkit)
.BNX NuFX with BLU header. (Shrinkit)
.dsk Disk image of 140K 5.25" Apple disk. No legitimate and copyrght-
enforcing Apple II sites use this format, so it is not covered in
this FAQ.
.exe [TEXT] Executioner file. May only work in DOS 3.3. See above.
Note: .EXE generally means IBM executable (binary) program.
.gz Gzipped file. No legal Apple II software distributed in this format.
.HQX [TEXT] Mac BinHex file. (BinHex on Mac or GSCII+ on GS)
.LZH LZH Archive (IBM/Amiga LZH program, //e Angel)
.LHA LHA Archive (IBM/Amiga LZH program, //e Angel)
.QQ BLU archive. (Shrinkit)
.SEA Self-extracting archive (Usually Mac, might be Shrinkit archive)
.SIT Mac StuffIt archive. (StuffIt on Mac (preferred) or GS ShrinkIt;
GS Shrinkit will only decode very old StuffIt files.
.SHK NuFX archive. (Shrinkit)
.SDK NuFX with a shrunk disk image. (Shrinkit)
.tar Unix Tape Archive (Unix 'tar -xvf', GS EXE tar)
.tgz Gzipped .tar file
.uu [TEXT] Unix uuencode file [TEXT] (//e uudecode, Unix uudecode)
.uue [TEXT] Unix uuencode file [TEXT] (//e uudecode, Unix uudecode)
.ZOO IBM Zoo Archive (GS Shrinkit or IBM ZOO program, //e Angel)
.ZIP IBM Zip Archive (GS EXE Unzip, IBM PKUNZIP, Unix unzip, //e Angel)
PMPUnzip
.Z Compressed file (GS Shrinkit, Unix uncompress, //e Angel)
Common graphics file extensions:
.AVI Windows Movie. No Apple II program can display this.
.BMP Windows and OS/2 Bitmap format.
.GIF Graphics Interchange Format: Compressed picture.
(IIGIF for //e, many programs for all other computers)
.JPG Newer graphics format. (GS viewers only)
.JPEG Newer graphics format. (GS viewers only)
.MOV Quicktime Movie. No Apple II program can display this.
.MPG Movie format. No Apple II program can display this.
.MPEG Movie format. No Apple II program can display this.
.TIFF Graphics format (GS SHR Convert and others)
Common sound file extensions:
.AU Sun (unix) audio format. rSounder 3 can read, AudioZap 2.0 can
read/write.
.MOD Amiga Music file. Some GS programs can read & play these.
.WAV Windows file. rSounder 3 can read 8-bit WAVs, AudioZap 2.0 for GS
can read/write, other programs can guess at reading
All 'text only files' files can usually be opened directly in any word processor, assuming they were downloaded in ascii mode. (Downloading a text file in binary mode from a non-Apple (Apple II or Macintosh) machine will probably be formatted incorrectly.)
All of these types, except the ones marked [TEXT] are BINARY files. Binary files cannot be sent over e-mail, posted to the newsgroups or FTP'd in text mode. You must FTP them in binary mode (see the section on FTP). You can download either with kermit, X-,Y- or Z-Modem.
See the next few sections for how to use transfer text, pictures, general graphics, and sound/music files.
Generally, anything labeled as 'Archive' above can and do contain multiple files, and even subdirectories. Most archivers (except for tar) also compress the files so that they take less disk space and time needed to download them.
Sometimes you will find multiple filename extensions. Simply take the filename extensions apart one at a time starting with the rightmost and you should be able to reconstruct the original file. (i.e. somefile.bsq.tar.Z would mean: uncompress, untar, unbinscii, then unShrink to get the original file!)
6.4 How do I USE stuff I have transferred to/from an IBM/Mac?
A:If you get a 'File Type Mismatch' error on when trying to read a file you transferred via a mac, then you will need to remove the resource fork from the file. See the section on file transfer from Macintosh to Apple II for where to get that program.
In general, only certain types of files can be usefully transferred back-and-forth between computers. One thing that you CANNOT do is run programs designed for another type of computer. But often you can transfer data files between similar programs (Spreadsheets) on different platforms. Here are some pointers:
6.5 How do I use text files from other computers?
One helpful hint is that all computers can read text files. Most word processors can save your file as text and import as text. But with text files, you will loose all your formatting (font type, centering and so-forth). For spreadsheets, saving as DIF will make conversion a breeze. Databases can be saved as tab-delimited records. (Note that in AppleWorks, you have to go to Print to save in these formats). Look for options like "Import" or "Export" (or "Save As" in the Mac world).
If you want to do better, there are several options available. A commercial program called MacLinkPlus can do some conversions. Some Claris programs do conversions automatically. Also, AFE can convert between some kinds of documents (For example AppleWorks Word Processor to MsWorks) if you have the right translator.
ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/util/afe-appleworks-msworks.hqx
For IBM folks, The CrossWorks program can convert between many Apple and IBM formats, and even comes with a universal null modem cable. Alternately, If you use AppleWorks a lot, you can get SuperWorks for the IBM, a clone of AppleWorks. It can import AppleWorks files directly. For graphics, SuperConvert can convert between all Apple-specific graphics formats and many Mac, Amiga and IBM specific formats. It can also save as GIF, which is a universal standard.
6.6 How do I view picture files from other platforms?
A: There are quite a few programs available, each capable of reading different file formats:
GIF, BMP, other lossless compressed formats:
* IIGIF is a freeware GIF converter for any Apple II (but there is a
patch needed for the Apple //c). It reads in GIF and saves as
hires or double-hires.
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/apple2/8bit/graphics/iigif.bsc
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/apple2/8bit/graphics/iic.patch.for.
iigif
* MACDOWN is also freeware and lets you do the same with MacPaint
pics.
* A ProDOS 8 version of The Graphics Exchange from Roger Wagner
Publishing.
[The following software only work on an Apple IIGS]
* Convert 3200 is one of the best programs still being sold for
graphics conversion on the GS. A short list of file formats it
handles is: Apple Preferred Format (GS) and PaintWorks Gold
format, various 3200 color GS formats, as well as Windows-OS/2
BMP, Compuserve GIF, Amiga .IFF/ PC .LBM, Paintbrush PCX, Binary
PC and several varieties of TIFF files. It can save in a number of
those: Apple Preferred, Windows BMP, Paintbrush PCX, TIFF, Binary
PC and Print Shop GS.
For more information, please see
http://www.crl.com/~joko/convert.html.
* The Graphics Exchange converts between many formats of graphics;
the 16-bit version is also available from Roger Wagner Publishing.
* Prizm v1.0 Converts .GIFs, Amiga IFFs, Raw Files, and some other
types to Grayscale (very fast), 16 colors, 256 colors, and 3200
colors! Size of picture limited by availabe RAM (Not sure where
it's available from anymore either; it was commercial.)
* SuperConvert (commercial program, published by Seven Hills
Software) 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.
It can also save in TIFF and GIF formats if you want to move Apple
II graphics to other machines. Version 4.0 of this program is
faster and adds support for JPEG files.
* SHRConvert is the earlier, shareware, predecessor to SuperConvert.
It does a pretty good job on the types of graphics it supports.
SHRConvert used to be available for download at
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/apple2/gs/graphics/shrconvert.2.1.b
sq, but it appears to be pulled off ftp sites at the author's
request when SuperConvert was published.
* 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! Platinum Paint was
sold by Scantron Quality Computers.
* The Byte Works has a TIFF Viewer/Converter that'll read in TIFF
files on the GS.
* Animasia is reported to have some sort of .DXF (3D format used by
CAD programs among others) importer; it runs only on the GS.
* ShowPic 6 is a shareware NDA that can display most GS formats. You
can also save the resulting graphic as a IIGS SHR painting.
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/apple2/gs/gsos/nda/showpic.6.0.bsq
* DreamGrafix supports all 3200 color picture types and also 16
color and 256 color pictures. This is a very impressive commercial
paint program with its 3200 color support. EGO Systems (now since
out of business) has teken over distribution of this; see the
dealers section of this FAQ for their address.
Note: 'All GS formats' includes Superhires (type $C1 and $C0), hires, double-hires and PrintShop/PrintShop GS.
JPEG and other lossy formats:
As far as I know, JPEG viewers are only available for the Apple IIGS, no other Apple II machines. Seven Hills Software's commercial program SuperConvert (version 4.0 or later) can view and convert them. A number of free viewers are available at ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/graphics/viewers. Check them out if you're interested.
6.7 How do I use Icons/Fonts/etc from other platforms?
A: For reading Mac icons and such, try "Resource Spy"
ftp://apple2.archive.umich.edu/pub/apple2/gs/util/resource.spy.bsq
Note that Mac TrueType fonts will require you to purchase the 'Pointless' program by Westcode software before you can actually use them on a GS. Once you have that installed, you can copy Mac TrueType fonts off a Macintosh disk and use them without any conversion through Resource Spy. IBM Truetype fonts are in a different and unspported file format. Conversion programs exist for the Macintosh (and possibly IBMs as well), but no GS converters exist.
No Truetype readers exist for non-GS Apple IIs to my knowledge; Postscript fonts are not displayable by any Apple II programs to my knowledge. EGO Systems' LaserBeam 1.1 can download PostScript fonts to an attached Laserwriter.
6.8 How do I listen to sounds/music from other platforms?
Ian Schmidt has put together an Apple II Sound & Music FAQ which has much more detail on this subject. It is available online at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/snd.mus.html.
For non-GS Apple IIs, there are two programs available. Michael Mahon's Sound Editor 2.2 is supposed to have very good playback. It is available from http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/sound22.shk
'IISound' is also available for regular Apple IIs; it can play back many sorts of sounds, and is reported to use the same playback routines as Mahon's program above. You can get it from: ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/Zocalo/pub/apple2/8bit/music.and.sound/iisoun dv4.2.shk.
With the expanded sound circuitry of the GS, the number of sound programs is dramatically increased. On the GS, the program 'MacSoundGrabber' can read Mac sounds out of Mac files, and save them in a GS format; you can get it from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/sound/macsoundgrab.shk. Alternatively, you can use the 'rMover' addon for Hypercard.
Also, programs such as rSounder 3 and AudioZAP for the GS can read/play WAV files and lots of other formats. rSounder can also save converted files (8-bit input only) as GS Resource-based sounds, suitable for the System 6 Sound control panel.
With most 8-bit mono sounds, you can simply import the file as binary and use the editor to strip off any header and Zero (0) bytes, which cause the sound to stop prematurely on playback due to the way the GS's Ensoniq chip handles samples. 16-bit formats (a number of WAVs, possibly also .AUs) will sound like garbage; only rSounder 3 and AudioZAP 2.0 (available only after paying the $20 shareware fee for AudioZAP 1.x) can deal nicely with those. ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/sound/rsounder3.shk. ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/sound/audiozap.shk.
About the only non-Apple II music format which is readily playable is the Amiga .MOD format. Many players exist, from fairly lousy to ones doing a pretty good job. Recommended ones are MODZap, Beatbox, Shellplay/Deskplay; most of those are available from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/music/modplayers.
6.9 How do I transfer Hypercard/Hyperstudio files?
Apple bundled a 'rMover' program with Hypercard GS that facilitated the transfer of files that didn't require custom XCMDs. It can transfer in both directions. I've never used it, but the necessary files should be available with the rest of Hypercard at ftp.support.apple.com, pub/apple_sw_updates/US/Apple_II/HyperCard_IIGS . These files are unfortunately only unpackable on Macs. The .bxy files (despite the filetype extension) are not readable on Apple IIs unless you manually strip off the 512 byte header
Apparently the Mac version of HyperStudio will run GS HyperStudio stacks without conversion.
_________________________________________________________________
There are a lot more questions with answers not included directly in this FAQ; please see http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ for more of them.
Copyright 2007 by Tony Diaz
--- End Part 4 of 4