Apple //e potential issue with disks

[jsarchibald]

Hi all,

I have just acquired an Apple //e (read all about it in Conquests) and when I go to play some of the games, they load up but don't go any further. I tried Carmen Sandiego this morning (my first time with a computer was a //e in Grade 2 when I played this very game on a Green Phosphor screen), which loads up fine, but when I exit the demo to start a game by pressing any button, the Unidisk drive turns off and the screen stays blank.

Is this a problem with the software, considering it's age? I don't think it is hardware because it loads up every time, with no hiccups. It is only when I want to continue into the game that it seems to have an issue. I played an F1 game last night, and it played fine. There is a lot less complexity to the game in comparison to Carmen, but it highlights that you can actually play a game on the machine.

Help would be appreciated!

 

[david__schmidt]

How does the game behave in an emulator? Maybe the disk image(s) you are working from is/are bad?

 

[jsarchibald]

No idea, I haven't got an emulator. What is the process? Do you run the emulator on another Mac so you can use the SCSI connection?

 

[Gorgonops]

Do you run the emulator on another Mac so you can use the SCSI connection?

If by "SCSI Connection" you're referring to that 25 pin port on the back of your new Apple II... unless you *know* that is a SCSI card that is almost certainly a serial port.

And if it is a serial port You need this software and a suitable cable, now.

 

[jsarchibald]

Need my morning coffee! Not SCSI, of course I mean Serial. D'oh!

Can I run this on my Power Mac G3? I think it has a Serial port, and I have internet on it, so would this be my best option?

 

[Dog Cow]

Take a look at his IIe, guys. That IIe has only a 5.25" disk port (provided by a card), and a joystick port (built-in).

SCSI and serial ports require an add-on card each.

 

[jsarchibald]

Well, there you go. I am only new to the pre-Mac computers, so it will take some time to get used to this older technology.

I would never have guessed it wasn't a Serial port, that's why I joined to get informed info. So, I don't think I want to get emulators and all of that stuff, I honestly wouldn't be able to find the time. I just want to build my collection up and play with whichever computer I feel like playing.

 

[Osgeld]

well you can still do ADT transfers over the audio jacks but its really slow if you want to beef up your software

when you get some down time I would try and download a copy of Carmen to a "fresh" floppy and see if it works

 

[barana]

IIrc the unidisk had some small complatibility issues, i wonder if this is the case with u, check rubywand's FAQ on the net to see if im right....

 

[Dog Cow]

IIrc the unidisk had some small complatibility issues, i wonder if this is the case with u, check rubywand's FAQ on the net to see if im right....

You might be thinking of the DuoDisk, which requires a capacitor to be snipped out in order to avoid an issue which would cause it to trash disks.
My recommendation is to buy a Super Serial Card from an Apple II user. You should be able to get one for less than $10, and maybe even less than that. They are super-common. You could post a WTB on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace and have one by next week.

 

[david__schmidt]

No idea, I haven't got an emulator. What is the process?

Depending on your modern computer, download and install and emulator:

PC:

http://applewin.berlios.de/

Mac:

http://www.virtualii.com/

http://www.sheppyware.net/software-mac/sweet16/

then you can basically double-click on the .DSK image you have downloaded and see how it behaves.

 

[jsarchibald]

The problem I have, being in Australia, is that these items never come up with the frequency that they do elsewhere in the world. In the past 3 months, I've seen 2 //e systems come up for sale, that's it. They just don't come up very often. And forget about spare parts!

I was just hoping that someone else may have had the same problem as I have and knew what to do to fix it. Thanks for the replies!

 

[jsarchibald]

Tonight, I've been using Appleworks, with all 3 disks working well, as well as Magic Slate. These all seem to work fine.

Would disks of this age start to cause the issues I've described? I have two //c's, but neither has a power supply, so there goes my other way of checking the disks!

 

[Gorgonops]

The problem I have, being in Australia, is that these items never come up with the frequency that they do elsewhere in the world. In the past 3 months, I've seen 2 //e systems come up for sale, that's it. They just don't come up very often. And forget about spare parts!

Even if you don't have the serial card you still will probably want a copy of ADTpro. It won't work great through the cassette port but it will work, and it provides an avenue for recreating from emulator images software disks you have that may be damaged.

As to the symptoms you're describing, well, I remember back from school Apple II's running various "booter"-style software (Particularly Broderbund's products) sometimes just wandering off into the weeds like you describe. It probably is either a bad disk or a dirty or misaligned disk drive. (Or some combination of the above.) If you get ADTpro working you could re-image the programs in question from an emulator image and try with that. Other than that there's not much hope of fixing or meaningfully diagnosing it without having other components and disks to swap in and out.

 

[H3NRY]

Since your other disks seem to be working OK, my guess is your Carmen Sandiego disk is partly bad. I don't know if CS is copy-protected. If so, that sometimes causes games to be picky about the drives and hardware they will run on. Since you have a real Apple //e, your main use of an emulator would be transferring software found on the internet to your //e, and for that you will want a Super Serial card for the //e, a DB25-to-8-pin null modem (printer) cable, and a USB to serial adapter for your Mac, so the two can communicate.