pruss@ria.ccs.uwo.ca (Alex Pruss) (10/04/90)
Having found a September 1984 QuadLink board here (Apple II+ emulator for IBM PCs), I tried to get it to run. Unfortunately according to the manual two programs are needed: QuadLink Master Disk and The Filer by Central Point Software. I have the QuadLink Master Disk, but over the last six years The Filer has disappeared... Now first I want to know whether I really need it. The startup instructions for the QuadLink are: 1. Boot IBM system with QuadLink board. 2. Insert QL Master Disk. Type A:QUADLINK 3. Exchange QL Master Disk for The Filer. Press any key. 4. Hit CTRL-ALT-A to enter Apple mode. 5. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to boot Apple. Now, since I do not have The Filer, I tried putting in an AppleDOS 3.3 boot disk. Unfortunately at Step 3 QuadLink recognized it had been cheated and and refused to take it. I tried ProDOS, some games, etc., with the same result. Then I patched the QUADLINK.EXE support program to quit checking whether the disk is The Filer. I executed steps 1-4 and got the nice QuadLink screen: QuadLink Ready Press CTR-ALT-DEL to boot Unfortunately hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL merely changed the screen into a set of @ signs. Didn't even whirr the disk. My hypothesis is that the boot data is loaded from The Filer by direct low level access from the IBM into the QuadLink-Apple memory, without even looking at the disk catalog. Thus for the primary boot one needs The Filer, September 1984 version. How do I get that beast? My other hypothesis is that on The Filer disk they have also inserted the `ROM's for QuadLink... This would be nasty--I would have to not only get Sept 1984 Filer but the QuadLink Sept 1984 Filer... Anyways, does anyone have a QuadLink board for the IBM with working software? If you do, please contact me. Alex Pruss pruss@uwo.ca assistant network manager for Applied Mathematics