BHUBER@ECLA.USC.EDU (12/17/87)
Because of wide interest in Applied Engineering's new PC Transporter for the
Apple II+/e/GS lines, I am forwarding below the (almost complete) text of a
letter I sent to Applied Engineering regarding their newly announced PC
Transporter. AE's response is interspersed in brackets.
===========================================================================
Bud Huber
...
November 24, 1987
Mr. Chuck Carpenter
Applied Engineering
P.O. Box 798
Carrollton, Texas 75006
Dear Mr. Carpenter:
Please answer the following specific questions about your recently announced PC
Transporter. All questions should be viewed from the perspective of my present
hardware configuration: an Apple II-GS with Imagewriter II (serial port 1),
Hayes 2400 Smartmodem (serial port 2), two Apple 3.5 Drives (Smartport 5),
Apple DuoDisk (Smartport 6), Apple SCSI (slot 7) driving two Apple HD20SC hard
disks, Apple RGB color monitor, AE 1.5 megabyte II-GS memory card.
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[Responses from Applied Engineering's 5 December 1987 four page letter are
provided below, enclosed in brackets. Chuck Carpenter signed the letter and
his title is listed as "Marketing Technical Support".]
----------
1. In which slot SHOULD the Transporter be installed?
[Answer: In the configuration you have indicated, I would put the PC
Transporter in slot 6 and give up the 5.25 Apple DuoDisks. You have indicated
in another question that you do not use 5.25 Apple drives much. This would
give you the most flexible drive options in your installation. Otherwise, you
will have to make a decision as to which other features you might want to give
up via IIGS control panel selection before, and only while, running the PC
Transporter.]
2. With all of the hardware mentioned above in my configuration, will there be
a power supply problem (include 8087-2 chip in Transporter)?
[Answer: Power supply problems in the IIGS are not likely to happen. The IIGS
power supply will easily handle the approximately 1.2 Amps that the PC
Transporter with 8087-2 installed will require. Note that Apple IIe power
supplies are rated at 2.5 Amps. IIGS power supplies are rated at 5 Amps.]
3. What is the purpose of the ColorSwitch, which is included in the IIGS
installation kit?
[Answer: ColorSwitch converts the digital video output of the PC Transporter
to analog input required by the IIGS color monitor. There is also a composite
video output on the ColorSwitch.]
4. Will ALL MS-DOS (specifically PC/XT compatible) software be compatible with
Transporter? Some communications software (Relay Gold is what I would use for
modem communications) is written in ways that "get to the metal" and could
preclude proper co-processor operation. It is not sufficient to say that PC/XT
software will be compatible; I need a firm commitment that Lotus 123, Multimate
Advantage II, Wordstar, Relay Gold, SuperProject Expert, and graphic
engineering software will work.
[Answer: Not ALL MS-DOS (PC-DOS) software will work. Applications requiring
more than 640K will not. Applications requiring a special card, i.e., other
than CGA adapters or serial/parallel card, will not. Relay 2.3 works and
SuperProject+ works. Relay Gold and SuperProject Expert were not tested. All
the other applications you mentioned were tested and work.]
5. How do you justify the statement that Transporter works 3 times faster than
IBM?
[Answer: PC Transporter has a Norton Utilities (4.0) rating of 3.7 compared to
the standard rating of 1 for a 4.77 MHz IBM. The PC Transporter uses an NEC
V30 running at 7.16 MHz. This combination gives PC Transporter its speed.
Many people who tried their own software on the PC Transporter at AppleFest
were quite surprised at how much faster it would run compared to other machines
they had used.]
6. What "utility" programs are included with Transporter?
[Answer: All the ProDOS files needed to activate the PC Transporter and
install drivers for devices found in the Apple during Auto Configuration.
MS-DOS files include a driver to use a ProDOS clock as the MS-DOS clock and a
TRANSFER program to transfer Apple text files to MS-DOS text files. The PC
Transporter manual describes these files in detail.]
7. How should I configure my disk drives, assuming I purchase a Single Drive
System IBM Format 360K disk?
[Answer: Assuming you will use some of the space on your hard drives for a
"hard drive" file for MS-DOS, you can configure the PC Transporter for the A:
drive to be the 5.25 drive and C: to be the hard drive. Note that the hard
drive is always a ProDOS file you choose on some Apple drive volume. It could
be one of your 3.5 drives, one of your 5.25 drives (not useful) or a RAM disk
on the GS-RAM card.]
8. Will my 1.5 MB memory card substitute for the memory on the Transporter?
[Answer: MS-DOS memory has to be on the PC Transporter card. You can use
memory on expansion cards as RAM drive volumes for storing MS-DOS files but not
as PC Transporter expansion memory.]
9. Will a 768K Transporter memory configuration work in conjunction with my AE
1.5 MB memory card to provide aggregate 2.25 MB while operating under ProDOS?
[Answer: The memory on the PC Transporter, as Apple memory, can be used as a
RAM disk after the PC Transporter is activated with the specially modified
version of ProDOS provided. An INSTALL program is provided so the user can
modify any version of ProDOS 8 for use with the PC Transporter.]
10. With an Apple RGB analog color monitor, what IBM terminology (CGA, EGA,
PGA, VGA, etc.) accurately describes software/hardware monitor configurations?
[Answer: Video output on the PC Transporter is CGA equivalent.]
11. Can I remove my DuoDisk and substitute your 5.25" IBM format 360K disk
drive for both IBM and ProDOS use? (I don't normally use 5.25" drives except
for initial software upload to the hard disks.)
[Answer: No. Apple disk drives are single sided and use an analog interface
card. The drives currently used for MS-DOS are dual sided and use a digital
interface.]
12. Why should it take 15 minutes to install Transporter if there is nothing
more to do than plug in a co-processor card? (Inference is that there is some
wiring or other special considerations.) Will I have to make ANY hardware
changes on my system?
[Answer: In the IIGS, PC Transporter installation requires mounting the
ColorSwitch and the disk drive cable on the back panel. These cables are then
plugged into the chosen slot. Our instructions include steps requiring removal
of other cards so you can install the various PC Transporter cables without
interference. Depending on the skill of the installer, this can take up to 15
minutes or possibly more.]
13. Is there any compatibility problem by operating ProDOS under the APW
development shell?
[Answer: PC Transporter is completely transparent to any ProDOS applications
unless the PC Transporter is activated with the specially modified ProDOS
supplied.]
14. How compatible are IBM copy protected programs? Do IBM copy protected
programs transfer easily to ProDOS hard disks, and without harm to existing
ProDOS data? What happens if protected IBM programs on a ProDOS hard disk
become shifted in physical disk location through the use of "MOVE" or "COPY"
commands?
[Answer: If the copy protected MS-DOS program can be copied to a hard disk on
any other MS-DOS work-a-like, then it will work on the PC Transporter hard
disk. If the copy protected program will not run on a work-a-like, it is not
likely to work on the PC Transporter. Because the hard disk is a ProDOS file
there is no existing situation that will cause harm to any other ProDOS files.
As far as ProDOS is concerned, the hard disk is a ProDOS file. As far as
MS-DOS is concerned, the hard disk is an MS-DOS hard disk. All file
manipulation programs respond accordingly. The custom drive controller chip on
the PC Transporter handles the various file requirements according to the
requirements of the operating system being used.]
15. Will there be any change in normal APW/ProDOS operation? (E.g., not being
able to boot off SCSI hard disk for either ProDOS or IBM mode?)
[Answer: With your SCSI hard disk in slot 7 as you have it, I expect you
normally boot into ProDOS this way. Once you have installed the PC Transporter
files in either the root directory or a subdirectory, you would activate PC
Transporter by selecting (clicking-on) the version of ProDOS provided on the
distribution disk. Subsequently, you can execute the file called AEPC.SYSTEM.
You could boot directly into MS-DOS by using this file as the first one in the
directory. The choice is yours; boot directly into ProDOS or MS-DOS.]
16. Will files (text or ASCII in particular) be transferable between the two
operating systems?
[Answer: ASCII files can be transferred between ProDOS and MS-DOS with a
provided file called TRANSFER. This file is included in the default hard drive
on the distribution disks.]
17. Can IBM mode be initiated after booting ProDOS from a hard disk? Can IBM
mode boot from a hard disk?
[Answer: I think I answered this one in 15 too. The choice is yours depending
on which operating system you want to be in first. PC Transporter is always
started from ProDOS so you can stop there at boot, or continue on into MS-DOS
as indicated in the answer to 15.]
18. Will Transporter support additional serial peripherals such as HP pen
plotters or bar code readers? If so, how are they connected to Transporter?
[Answer: There are no drivers to support peripherals other than the most
likely parallel and serial cards normally used with the Apple Computer. If the
device you are interested in can connect to these, then you can use it with PC
Transporter. Depending on interest level, there is considerable opportunity to
include drivers at a future date.]
19. Will Transporter ever support more than 640K in IBM mode?
[Answer: Support of more than 640K is another opportunity depending on
interest level.]
20. What do IBM disk files "look like" on a ProDOS disk? How do legal IBM
file name characters (such as $ or -) appear on a ProDOS disk when such are
illegal ProDOS path characters?
[Answer: The only file that is shared between the two systems is the hard disk
file. To ProDOS, the file looks like a special binary file type and to MS-DOS
it looks like an MS-DOS file. Under MS-DOS, whatever is legal is still legal.
Under ProDOS, you can't use it for anything so it doesn't matter. Otherwise,
the files and programs for either system are not accessible to the other and
would look like an unformatted disk if you tried to read one in the wrong
system.]
21. Is the Apple IIGS mouse functionally equivalent to an IBM mouse for
graphics design type programs? If not, can an IBM mouse operate with
Transporter? (What about the missing buttons on the Apple mouse?)
[Answer: The PC Transporter mouse drivers for use with MS-DOS can emulate
either the Microsoft Buss Mouse or the Mouse Systems Mouse. A combination of
the option and open-apple keys are used with the mouse button to provide dual
or triple button functions. MS-DOS drivers will be included on future
distribution disks for the Mouse Systems Mouse. Microsoft drivers are
available on most any Microsoft application disk. (We couldn't make a deal
with MS to use theirs.) ProDOS drivers to emulate these mice are provided.]
22. Does Transporter invalidate future Apple service of the IIGS?
[Answer: Installing a PC Transporter doesn't invalidate your warranty with
Apple any more than installing any other card.]
23. Why does your advertisement indicate "...PC Transporter acts like an Apple
3.5 Drive disk controller for IIGS, IIe, and II Plus users"? What
specifically does this mean? Why is there a 5 drive limit on disks? (In my
configuration, with a /RAM5/ disk, I already have 7 drives.)
[Answer: The 5-drive limit is a PC Transporter limit. Whatever you have
connected to the Apple II can remain connected. The control panel on the PC
Transporter will allow you to install 5 drives. Two 5.25 TransDrives as
supplied by AE, two Apple 3.5 drivers like the ones used on the IIGS, and a
ProDOS file used as the MS-DOS hard drive (which is really somewhere - your
choice - on one of the Apple drives you already have connected.). The MS-DOS
drives would then be, A:, B:, C:, D:, and E:. You can connect the two 3.5
drives directly to the PC Transporter and not use the 5.25 drives. Connected
to the PC Transporter, the 3.5 drives can be daisy chained to the 5.25
TransDrive or to the PC Transporter and each other. The 3.5 drives connected
directly to the PC Transporter will format at 720K like IBM 3.5 drives.
Because of the design on the controller chip on the PC Transporter (developed
in cooperation with Apple Computer and The Engineering Department), you can use
the drives connected to an activated PC Transporter as ProDOS storage too.
Before you exit from MS-DOS, if you change the PC Transporter control panel so
that the drives connected are ProDOS drives, you can use all of the disk drives
as ProDOS storage. You can run programs such as AppleWorks from these drives.
Copy protected programs will not work properly. Otherwise, properly formatted,
you can have 360K ProDOS storage using the 360K TransDrives and the usual 800K
with the 3.5 drives. Note that 360K ProDOS storage is only usable on an Apple
configured with PC Transporter.]
24. Why will Applied Engineering not sell Transporter documentation separately
from the entire system?
[Answer: The PC Transporter Users Manual is available for $50.00. Credit is
allowed, with proof of purchase, toward the cost of the PC Transporter.]
===========================================================================
End of letters. I called AE yesterday and ordered the documentation. The lady
who answered the phone indicated ".... but we don't sell just the
documentation." I quoted the letter, she put me on hold for less than a
minute, then politely said ".... what is the shipping address?" To me, it is
worth $50.00 'insurance' to understand as much as possible about a potential
large purchase.
I was very impressed with the timely, thorough, and professional manner in
which AE responded. Prior experience with AE should have told me to expect
nothing less.
Cheers, and have a nice holiday ...
Budlc@pbhyd.UUCP (Larry Colton) (12/18/87)
In article <[ECLA.USC.EDU]16-Dec-87.09:19:57.BHUBER> BHUBER@ECLA.USC.EDU writes: >Because of wide interest in Applied Engineering's new PC Transporter for the >Apple II+/e/GS lines, I am forwarding below the (almost complete) text of a > [much valuable information deleted] Just wanted to post a thank you to Bud. I am sure I am not alone when I say that your lengthy post about the Applied Engineering PC Transporter is one of the most informative to hit the net in some time. Recognizing that the supplied information is obviously biased, it still answers most questions that many of us have had. The time you spent to type it all into the system for us is appreciated Bud! (Now if we could get similar infromation from the makers of the yet to be seen ZIP chip!) --- Larry Colton {ihnp4,pyramid,qantel}!ptsfa!pbhyd!lc Pacific * Bell San Diego