tomj@pro-pac.cts.COM (Tom Jenkins) (06/28/88)
Comments regarding Apple IIgs, CMS Hard drives and PC Transporters...
There has recently been some questions regarding the Apple line and hard
drives. Additionally, some talk has surfaced about the Applied Engineering PC
Transporter IBM card. I just thought I would put in my two cents worth.
My system consists of:
Apple IIgs with Apple's 1Mb Ram card
Slot 1 - (Printer Port) - ImageWriter II
Slot 2 - (Modem Port) - Practical Peripherals P2400SA (2400B modem)
(My card) - AST Vision Plus Video Digitizer
Slot 3 - (Built in Text Display)
Slot 4 - (Mouse Port) - Mouse
Slot 5 - (Smart Port) - Apple 3.5 disk
Slot 6 - (Smart Port) - Apple 5.25 disk
(My Card) - AE PC Transporter
Slot 7 - (My Card) - CMS SCSI Hard Drive Interface Card
CMS 60 MegaByte Hard Drive (two 30Mb partitions) with SCSI controller
ImageWriter Printer with Orange ImageBuffer (128K)
PC Transporter with 640K of RAM and two IBM type Transporter Drives
AST Vision Plus Digitizer Card
System Saver GS (Kensington)
Apple RGB Monitor
You may ask yourself, just how does this all work? Well, much to my
amazement,
everthing just fit together over a period of time. I had virtually no
problems
assembling all the hardware. A couple of comments though...
I bought my Apple IIgs in March of 1987, and have not had a single problem
with
the cpu or other peripherals (minus the hard-drive, more on than later). I
have the free upgrade (ROM and video chip). The PC Transporter is three
months
old, and the hard drive is a month old.
I use Apple's Program Launcher because the Finder is slow. The loss of Icon
"mousing" is no big deal to me. I find the launcher to fill my needs.
When I want to digitize, I simply go into the control panel, disable the modem
and enable slot two (digitizer). No problems here as I can't see using the
digitizer and modem at the same time!
When I want to use the PC Transporter, I set the control panel for slot 6 to
be
"my card". This disables the five and quarter inch drive, but then, during
and
after PC bootup, I don't use this drive anyway. The PC Transporter is booted
from the ProDOS software to it's own PC IBM type 5 1/4 inch drive over to
(auto-exec batch file) the hard-drive (C:). Sure is nice to see IBM programs
running off the ProDOS hard-drive. No doubt one could purchase a separate IBM
or clone, but my desk is rather small, and I enjoy an "all in one" system.
Besides, the colors on the Apple RGB is really brighter than IBM! And the
7Mhz
cpu clock speed helps the IBM access time alot.
The original CMS hard drive did not work. On booting up, sometimes I would
get
into the launcher/finder, and other times it would hang. After removing ALL
my
cards and trying every possible situation, I decided that in fact it was
probably the SCSI drive controller. I purchased the unit from a very
reputable
dealer who, after hearing my problem, ordered a brand new drive and
controller.
The new drive arrived three days later. Since the new drive, I have not had
one single bit of problem with it. It boots up fine, every time. Of course,
I
have to wait 18-20 seconds for the drive to come up to speed before I turn on
the cpu. Small price to pay yes? I have not owned any other hard-drive, but
the quality (I open up everything I put hard-earned money into) is
outstanding!
CMS should be commended for their workmanship.
Although a ProDOS limitation, the 16Mbyte file size is more than adequate for
the IBM partition on the hard-drive. Actually, my partition is 15mb, and I
don't feel this is a liability as I have maybe three to four mb filled up with
IBM type programs. The transfer utility that comes with the PC Transporter is
(in my opinion) worth it's weight in gold. I can transfer text files back and
forth from work to home (IBM to ProDOS) and this makes my job all the more
easier. Applied Engineering gives you the option of pre-partitioning the
hard-drive (which I did) or not partitioning. This means that the IBM type
Prodos file will "grow" in size as you use it.
BTW, the Kensington System Saver is just what the name says it is. Before I
bought it, I used to take off the lid of the cpu after a hour or two to let it
cool as I ran it. Now I routinely have the gs on for four and five hours at a
time and the power supply is only slightly warm. I would HIGHLY recommend a
similar fan arrangement to anyone who has more than a couple of internal
cards.
I am more than satisfied with my setup, and will go out of my way to answer
any
questions anyone might have regarding any of the above. Just drop me a line at
ProPac...
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| Tom Jenkins (808) 422-6224 |
| "What, me worry?" |
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