Best way to get software to IIgs in 2021?

8 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 week ago
Joined: Feb 24 2021 - 21:24
Posts: 3
Best way to get software to IIgs in 2021?

I've just gotten my first Apple IIgs(and first Apple II in a long time, and I didn't having thing beyond floppies then), so I'm trying to map out the storage scene to get software from a modern computer(Windows/Mac/Linux) and see if there's anything missing in my research(a lot of info seems to be older, but maybe no out of date). The bare minimum of what I want to do is be able to create new disks from images, but something that emulates a hard drive. Looks like ADTPro and a cable fits that bare minimum requirement, and might be something I look into as a sort of a back up since it seems to be about the only cheap and DIY friendly approach. Looks like compared to the retro PCs, the Apple IIgs(and II in general) seems to have options similar to, but more expensive than, the XT-IDE cards and Gotek floppy emulator. 

From what I can tell the only two real options seem to be the MicroDrive Turbo and the FloppyEmu with other options being produced in such limited quality they're not worth considering. If there are other options, I'd be glad to hear about it. From what I've read, the Micro Drive seems to be fast and a good fit for the IIgs, but seems like it can be kind of clunky to work with. The FloppyEmu, according to what I've read, seems to be much slower due to using the floppy interface, but it much more widely compatble across the retro Apple landscape, which may be useful if I start getting some older Macs(right now my oldest Mac is a Powerbook 3400c, so wouldn't be useful outside of the IIgs for now). Am I missing any other good options in the IIgs storage space? Between the Microdrive and FloppyEmu what would you get to work best for a IIgs?

CheshireNoir's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 hours 43 min ago
Joined: Dec 28 2019 - 05:20
Posts: 181
Drive solutions

Hi CconfusedYeti,

As a IIgs owner myself (And I've only had mine for under a year) I went through the same questioning. I ended up biting the bullet and getting a FloppyEmu (Which I can also use to help me with my Mac Se/30) for floppy disk emulation and a Booti for HDD emulation.

The former works well as either a 5¼" drive or a 3½" drive, which helps a lot with the IIgs as, as far as I have been able to determine, all IIgs specific software was 3½" specific, yet almost all Apple II legacy software came on 5¼" disks. You can run images for both on the FloppyEmu.

The latter works well as a HDD emulator, allowing rapid changing between HDD images. I have 6 drive images currently that I swap between as needed. (You can even have more than one loaded at once). They're readily available and made here in Australia.

 

Make sure your IIgs has some expanded RAM. I didn't realise how dependent on more RAM most IIgs applications were. I simply couldn't run half the available apps until I got more RAM.

 

(Hehe. Timelord told me all these things back when I started playing around with the IIgs. Some things you have to work out the hard way I guess)

 

Chesh

 

 

Mr.Fix's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Mar 21 2005 - 22:52
Posts: 104
best place to start is the

booti, emu, or if you can find on ebay, cffa3000 will provide you software access.

best place to start is the website 'whatisappleiigs' and take a tour of its software specific library.

 

Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 week ago
Joined: Feb 24 2021 - 21:24
Posts: 3
Thanks for the info, I had

Thanks for the info, I had completely missed BOOTI. It looks like a good option at a good price only being slightly more than the retro PC options, though I notice it's currently out of stock, does anyone know how often these are in stock? I know the CFFA3000 is notoriously always out of stock to the point that I'm not even going to worry about it unless I happen to trip over one some day. If they're generally stocked, I may wait on a BOOTI and maybe hack together a cable for ADTPro and hobble along until the BOOTI is available. (EDIT: I now notice CheshireNoir said they're readily available, so I think I'll wait for it).

 

Also, I meant to ask in my original post, is if there's any kind of adapter like the x1541/Zoomfloppy that would allow the connection of Apple II drives(insteald of C64) drives to a PC? I see there used to be a Catweasel card, but those seem long out of production, and I don't see anything more current, but I'm hoping I'm missing it.

Offline
Last seen: 6 hours 57 min ago
Joined: Jun 6 2020 - 10:50
Posts: 407
AFAIK, the BOOTI is a bit

AFAIK, the BOOTI is a bit harder to get here in the states.  As I understand it, it's made in Australia and I believe that is where CheshireNoir is located.  So probably easier for him to acquire one, as I don't believe the creator sells then to the US individually.   I believe the US distributor gets batches of them and resells them.  But don't quote me on this, as i haven't looked that closely into it all.  Just what I recall reading at some point.  And the CFFA is not out of stock, its out of production.  And the ones that pop up on ebay are for insane amounts.

 

I have the FE and am a lifetime owner of //c and a 1 year owner of a IIgs.  So far it's met my needs.  but I'm a pretty casual user.  FE recently added dual 5.25" drive support for the non-IIgs software.  Maybe someday he can do the same for the 3.5" drive.  And it can also emulate hard drive images as well.  I believe you can have up to four 32MB drives mounted at once.  Although to mount/unmount them, you have to change the file name on the SD card, its not a menu option.  Not a major issue, but one difference compared to BOOTI.

 

The only option for connecting Apple drives to a PC that I'm aware of is Applesauce for 5.25" drives.  I think its also limited to only working with Macs too.  And it's main purpose is to make flux level images for the floppies.  Which is where the WOZ file format was born from.  Fully copy protected disk images can be run now in drive emulators thanks to the WOZ format and Applesauce.

 

 

CheshireNoir's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 hours 43 min ago
Joined: Dec 28 2019 - 05:20
Posts: 181
Wow!
Mr.Fix wrote:

booti, emu, or if you can find on ebay, cffa3000 will provide you software access.

best place to start is the website 'whatisappleiigs' and take a tour of its software specific library.

 

That is a good resource!

 

Thanks for that. Hadn't found that one.

 

Chesh 

freitz's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 months 1 week ago
Joined: Jun 11 2013 - 04:37
Posts: 74
You might be interested in my

You might be interested in my AppleIISd project. It is a bit more affordable than the other solutions and I still have a couple of boards left.

Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 week ago
Joined: Feb 24 2021 - 21:24
Posts: 3
ADTPro is much beter than just a stopgap

Pending being able to get an AppleIISd, I have to say that ADTPro is working out to be much better than just a stop gap solution, especially since I've got both a 3.5" drive and a 5.25" drive and plenty of blank(or reusable) disks for both. It worked much slicker than I had anticipated and I've been making disks all day, though I have a ROM 01 machine without a memory expansion(it's in the mail), so most native IIgs software is off limits for now and it's been mostly a plain old Apple II, which has still been great. Though I did notice my keyboard started cutting out intermittently and then finally stopping all together, but luckily that was just a broken solder joint on the connector on the keyboard, so a little flux and solder and I'm back up and running 5 minutes later.

Log in or register to post comments