Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sm.unisys.com!csun!polyslo!dorourke
From: dorourke@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (David M. O'Rourke)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac 512 KE questions
Message-ID: <8674@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>
Date: 28 Feb 89 17:28:33 GMT
References: <46700105@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: dorourke@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (David M. O'Rourke)
Organization: Cal Poly State University -- San Luis Obispo
Lines: 62

In article <46700105@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu> thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>1. How can I tell if it's truly a 512 KE?  I checked its memory under
>  "About the Finder", and it showed 512K, but how do I know it's not a
>  "Fat Mac"?

  It might be a non Apple 512K, but I doubt it.  If it were non-Apple then
it would have never made it to being a 512Ke.   "Fat Mac" was slang for
the 512K.

>2. How can I tell if its drive is double-sided?  I put in a double-sided
>   disk, and ran a program from it, but is this guarantee that the disk

  If you put an 800K disk in the drive an ran a program from it then
it is a double sided Drive.  There is no way for an older Macintosh with
only 400K drives to use the newer 800K format.  So the answer to your
question is yes!!

>3. After some consideration, I told my sister a Mac 512 KE seemed to me
>   to be basically a Mac Plus with only half the memory.  Was I right,
>   or are there other differences?

  Almost, the 512Ke doesn't have a SCSI port, and it might/might-not have
the newer clock chip.  Either way if all you want to do is run some of
the smaller Mac programs this shouldn't present a Problem.  If you ever
do need a SCSI port dove offers a functional upgrade that seems to work
very well.

>4. What is the last version of System/Finder allowed on a 512 KE?  How can
>   I find out?  Is there a Switcher version for it?

  I believe it's system 3.2 and finder 5.3 {but I could be wrong}, most of
the systems after that start chewing up memory and Disk space like you
wouldn't believe.

>5. Will programs in general work?  Say, Word 3.x?  Or will it require
>   *really* old programs?  Does it have the new ROMS?  (will programs
>   which require those traps, but don't assume a System number, work?)

   Well it doesn't have the "new" ROMS, new ROMS being the 256K/512K roms
in Apple's new stuff.  But yes it does have the Macintosh + 128K roms which
are generally called the "new roms".  As far as software I don't really 
know.  Most of the stuff these days really does require either 6.0 or at
least 5.0, so where software is concerned you'll just have to try it.

>6. (relatively unrelated) Is there a way to hook up an Epson printer to
>   the Mac?  Does Epson make drivers?  Does anyone else?

  I would recommend the Grappler LS, this is a serial-->parrallel converter
that also does imageWriter--->Epson code conversions.  It works rather 
well and allows you to use the ImageWriter driver and the macintosh, and
makes all of the conversions at the printer in it's own hardware.  If you
look in any of the Macintosh Magazines under "orange micro" you'll find
their product.

>Thanks in advance,

  Hope this helps.
-- 
David M. O'Rourke                                  dorourke@polyslo.calpoly.edu

        It's only 1's & 0's, so how difficult can Computer Science be?
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