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Apple IIgs - should i buy?

M

Mike Chambers

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there's a local electronic parts store here with an apple IIgs with keyboard and mouse for $15... no monitor, but it has a composite out so i can use a television.

i have a question for the apple experts though(i am NOT one! i've never had any apple product before). i didnt see any floppy drives on it... can i transfer files to it via serial cable or something else i can connect to a PC?
 
If I we're you, I would get It.:D
But to transfer things, you will probably have to get a card that takes the new flash drive's. (you can buy them on eBay for around $100-$190.)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll250055773911&rd
 
Last edited:
apple2fan said:
If I we're you, I would get It.:D
But to transfer things, you will probably have to get a card that takes the new flash drive's. (you can buy them on eBay for around $100-$190.)
Click to expand...

i think i might run up tonight or tomorrow and snatch it up. damn though, i can't afford to spend that much on the flash card adapter :(
 
so, i noticed it has a couple serial ports on the back of it when i checked it out. what exactly can i do with them? is there terminal software on that thing or something? what are the serial ports usually used for on there?
 
Hi,

Comp.sys.apple2 has been very helpful to me with my IIgs.

And that does sound like a good price. Be advised that it will look pretty bad though a TV...if you have a video capture card you can run it though on your PC monitor I'd do that.

A IIgs works really well partnered with a 68K, System 7.5 Mac. (I have a IIci) You can read and write PC disk and Apple II DS/DD floppies on the Mac, and even make a Prodos partition and link it to the IIgs using Appletalk (built in--you use either the serial or printer port).

Regards,

Dave
 
daflory said:
Hi,

Comp.sys.apple2 has been very helpful to me with my IIgs.

And that does sound like a good price. Be advised that it will look pretty bad though a TV...if you have a video capture card you can run it though on your PC monitor I'd do that.

A IIgs works really well partnered with a 68K, System 7.5 Mac. (I have a IIci) You can read and write PC disk and Apple II DS/DD floppies on the Mac, and even make a Prodos partition and link it to the IIgs using Appletalk (built in--you use either the serial or printer port).

Regards,

Dave
Click to expand...

ahh... are there any PC programs i can use to transfer files that support the appletalk protocol? that would be perfect.
 
Mike Chambers said:
so, i noticed it has a couple serial ports on the back of it when i checked it out. what exactly can i do with them? is there terminal software on that thing or something? what are the serial ports usually used for on there?
Click to expand...

The serial ports are usually used for modems and printers, although they can be adapted to do other things.
 
btw, i know debian linux comes with the appletalk protocol by default, but i believe that's only for an actual network connection. i wonder if there is some way to configure that app to use /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 instead of LAN.
 
Not a great price, but ok. What does it have inside? Any extra cards? You will need a drive or two or three, to do anything unless it has an inturnal HD. That would be a little rare and would be worth the $15.00. You can not veiw 80col very well unless you mono color monitor. 40col no problem with a color composite.

Rom01 256k on the mother board, and more memory on Ram card. If you have a HD drive you will need a bit more than the standard ram Card which has a full meg on it.

Rom 03 has a full meg one the mother board.

There is a self test for the CPU. Takes about 40 seconds to run. Has a Scale of acending notes when done if is ok. You can do this without a monitor. Forgot which 3 keys in sequnce have to be held down on.

You will need some programs as well like.
CopyII+
Proterm,
GS/OS
Shrink-itGS
ProDos system disk
Dos 3.3 system disk

Took get things off the ground.

Take Care
 
Mike,

If it does have a SCSI card, you have a real find. Used SCSI IIgs cards seem to go for around ~75$ on ebay...sometimes more. They are fairly rare.

An alternative is to use Appletalk with a mac of appropriate vintage (see earlier post), which is usually cheaper.

You do need at least two floppies, and one should be 3.5".

Be aware that 1.44 floppies with stickers over the HD tab WILL NOT WORK reliably. I learned this the hard way. You need to find some old stock 720kb to use with the IIGS.

The 5 1/4" drives are single sided (you flip them to get the other 180KB!), so to use them with IBM DS/DD disks you need to (carefully) punch out a new write protect tab on the opposite side of the disk (I always used a handheld hole-punch with another disk as a template).

You also need a way to get bootable disks, either originals or images made with a mac or another apple.

BTW: You might want to check the ROM revision. (It shows up on boot.) ROM0 should be avoided. Later versions are fine. ROM3 indicates a revised mb with improved sound and 1MB onboard memory, as GEO3 mentioned. The serial numbers for ROM3 machines seem to have a /A at the end. They are generally the most desireable. You can probably find exact serial number-to-ROM listings, as well as GEO3's audio test if you search a bit.

You don't need a loaded IIGS unless you want to run the last edition of GEO-OS (a graphical mac-like OS), which I think requires an RGB monitor. Most IIGS users use their computers as Apple IIe's on steroids to run the massive stock of Apple II software "on the real thing" and for that any IIgs will work great.

Best of luck,

Dave
 
Exactly what was changed in the sound from a ROM 1 to 3?

An original (slow) Apple SCSI card can be found for $50 if you look long enough (you need rev c ROM for gs/os use), that is what I have. The highspeed Apple card will give you an error if you want to turn the SCSI drives off to boot from floppy for games (plus they are super expensive).

If you are in the US you still might be able to snag a complete IIgs system from a poorer school district what is just getting rid of them (if you do not mind the schools name etched in the plastic).

All you realy need is 3.5" and 5.25" floppies, the IIgs monitor, keyboard, mouse, and the 1MB RAM card to play any of the games. Having an SCSI card just makes life easier transfering images to real floppies to play.
 
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