Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!think!whitney
From: whitney@think.uucp (David Whitney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Handholding needed on a new GS
Message-ID: <5103@think.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 7-Jun-87 10:53:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: think.5103
Posted: Sun Jun  7 10:53:32 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 11-Jun-87 01:06:12 EDT
References: <374@sdics.ucsd.EDU>
Sender: news@think.UUCP
Reply-To: whitney@godot.think.com.UUCP (David Whitney)
Distribution: world
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 80
Keywords: GS slots hard disk 5.25 inch drives swystem installation

In article <374@sdics.ucsd.EDU> norman@sdics.UUCP (Donald A. Norman) writes:
>PROBLEMS:
>
>1. Failure to get 5.25 inch drive to work.  I took the card out of my
>apple II+, plugged it into slot 6 of the GS (opened up a hole in the
>rear to pass the cables through).  As far as I can tell, the drive
>isn't visible to the system.  System utilities won't catalog or verify
>it.  Local store assured me the II+ card would work: will it?

Yes. You have to go into the control panel, select SLOTS, and then tell it
that slot six contains "Your card".

>	Is it realy true that normal II  applications won't just boot on a 5.25
>	in drive, but have to have special system software?

No. They'll boot just fine - as long as the "Slots" setting for slot 6 is ok.

>2. Failure to get the hard disk going.  I can't format it.  I can't
>figure out how/where to plug it in.  (I installed a SCSI card with the
>appropriate cables.  But it is damn hard to figure out from the
>manuals which slot to plug it into.  I have it in slot 5, with its
>priority set to 6 (as it says to do in the manual?) but whenever I try
>to format slot 5 drive 1, it thinks this is the 3.5 inch floppy (which
>is plugged into the back of the GS, not into an internal slot).

I think you have to plug the SCSI card in slot 7. No control panel work needed
here. Slot seven defaults to "Your card". Aside from that, I don't know how to
use the hard disk.

>Main questions.   
>
>A. Will the Apple II+ card work in the GS.  If so, in which slot do I
>plug its card?

Slot 6, and set the control panel "Slots", slot 6 to "Your card"

>B. In which slot do I plug the Hard Disk?  What priority do I set its
>little switch to?  When I format it, how do I specify the hard disk?
>Once I get it formatted, am I going to ened to know some seceret trick
>to make the GS boot automatically from the hard disk? 

Put the card in slot seven. I don't know what to do about the switch. Format
the drive at slot 7, drive 1. To make it boot from the hard unconditionally,
set the "Startup Device" under the "Slots" menu in the control panel to
either "Scan" or "Slot 7". "Scan" will look down the line of devices, using the
first one that seems to have a startup disk in it. Note that the hard disk
"doesn't have a disk in it" if the drive isn't up to speed yet, or the disk
hasn't been formatted. If you say "Slot 7", then the computer will ONLY check
slot 7 for a drive. If the drive isn't up to speed, the computer will bomb,
saying "Check startup device!" and give you a sliding apple.

>C. How do I boot normal, standard II-series applications?

Turn on the computer, let it go for about two seconds, and then press control-
reset. You'll get the Applesoft prompt. (If you don't wait, the computer will
just re-boot. Old Apple //s didn't have this "feature") You have to wait
because (I think) the computer doesn't fix the POWERUP byte until it has found
a suitable startup device, or you get a sliding apple. Once you have the Apple-
soft prompt, type PR#6 to boot the Disk II.

>D.  What other helpful hints do I need to know.  Any special settings
>in the control panel?

Apple makes periodic updates to the system software. In fact, ProDOS 16 vers
2.0 has been recently released. There seems to be no way of knowing about these
updates except by chance (I read about the update in the latest A+), or by
hounding your local Apple dealer. The dealer will give no end to the red tape
for getting updates or other things. Just persist, and he'll give you what
you want for free or close to free (The system software update is $10, or
rather that's what they want ME to pay THEM. As for you and YOUR dealer,
well...)

>I guess you should replay by personal mail.  No sense boring the rst
>of you with solutions to my mundane problems.

Not very mundane problems. I'm sure there are a lot of people who just can't
get their friendly dealers to talk.


	Dave Whitney