I just hit the IIGS jackpot!

[ecschwarz]

Yeah, I was so excited to get something like this, mainly because the IIgs is a nice unit all around... plus the fact it has tons of games and programs.

Only problem is...

.....I have no clue how to use it. All I know is I can stick the System Disk in and boot to finder or run a few games from the disks when turning it on.

Same thing with my IIe, I can boot into games, and play them, but that's about it.

Any links to some good sites that show general commands like how to boot disks and such? I am totally dumb when it comes to the older systems like that. I have MS-DOS down pat, but this.... no.

There really isn't a command prompt, like on MS-DOS or UNIX…instead you either boot from the disk you want to use (whether it be a game productivity suite, etc.) or run an application from the Finder. Most 5.25" floppies either used ProDOS or DOS 3.3 (the older of the two) and were designed for anything from the Apple ][+ to the //c.

As for IIgs-specific applications, you'd boot into the Finder, pick one on the disk and it loads in a very Mac-like way.

As for disks, find an old Mac and that can act as an in-between (the IIgs's 3.5" disks are 800k, so I think you'll need an older Mac to read them)…Most USB floppy drives are PC-style and can't handle the 800k formatting on Macs or Apple IIs. You could always set up the old Mac as an AppleShare server and connect the two via a serial cable.

I don't have my IIgs with me (it's in storage with a few older Macs), but I'm happy to help from memory (it was my first Apple product)

Good luck!

 

[joshandstacy]

I was at a classic computer and gaming show and they had the IIGS systems for sale for $40 but I passed because they didn't have any monitors to sell. Of course a week later I got a color monitor for $10 and a powerbook 5300 for $30. Can I run Apple IIGS games on the powerbook?

 

[dmr727]

Can I run Apple IIGS games on the powerbook?

I did some searching, and it looks like Bernie ][ The Rescue is a good bet, although it doesn't appear the author's website is up anymore. Here's a link to a download site, however:

http://www.zophar.net/macintosh/apple2/bernie-%5D%5B-the-rescue.html

I can't seem to figure out the exact system or OS requirements, but some of the documentation discusses emulator optimization techniques for PowerPC machines slower than 200MHz, so perhaps it'll work on your 5300.