SCSI2SD and Apple IIGS?

[agent_js03]

I have a SCSI2SD card which I am currently using in my LC III.

A coworker of mine has given me a complete Apple IIGS system complete with printer and a buttload of software. It has a SCSI card installed but the hard drive it came with does not work. According to the codesrc website:

http://www.codesrc.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=SCSI2SD

the SCSI2SD should work in the Apple IIGS with my SCSI interface card. When I google about it, I have found many people who have photos of their IIgs booting GS/OS from their SCSI2SD. But none of them go into detail on how they managed to set up the disk in the first place. There is a lot more info on the macintosh. I know one guy said he transferred hard disk images to it via ADTPro, but that doesn't explain how he set up the partitioning in the first place.

I am wondering what I need to do to get the partitions right and get format/initialize the sd card for my Apple IIGS (rom 01). Anyone  have any good links? I have a Copy II plus disk and some other disk utilities. Maybe those will help.

Thanks in advance

 

[NJRoadfan]

Which SCSI card is installed? The RamFAST has a ROM based setup/formatter you can use.

 

[agent_js03]

I am pretty sure it is the Apple II high-speed scsi card. I will check when I get home. It looks like the picture anyways.

 

[Johnnya101]

Theres the site What is the IIGS? Which has full blown hard drive images. Im guessing just put that in?

 

[agent_js03]

Theres the site What is the IIGS? Which has full blown hard drive images. Im guessing just put that in?

So then is it just a matter of writing the image directly to the SD card? I don't have to worry about initialization or partitioning?

 

[olePigeon]

I believe you need to partition and initialize the card, then install the GS OS software.

 

[Johnnya101]

Hmmm... When I got my Floppy emu (I know, different) it did not need to be initialized. Just name it like smart0 or something. I know, different!

I guess you can always try not doing anything?

 

[Johnnya101]

Oh wait hold on. Any way to connect it from your card, and boot into GSOS from a floppy? That ways you can format the disk then do what you need to.

 

[NJRoadfan]

GS/OS includes a drive partitioning tool for use with the HS SCSI card. All of Apple's SCSI cards use Apple Partition Map, so one could even use a Macintosh to prep the drive. Just remember that ProDOS partitions are limited to 32MB in size.

 

[agent_js03]

GS/OS includes a drive partitioning tool for use with the HS SCSI card. All of Apple's SCSI cards use Apple Partition Map, so one could even use a Macintosh to prep the drive. Just remember that ProDOS partitions are limited to 32MB in size.

Cool, so all I have to do is configure a few 32mb volumes, then initialize them from my LC III, and then I should be able to just format it in ProDos from my GS using Copy II plus right?

 

[Johnnya101]

Yup sounds right.

 

[olePigeon]

Cool, so all I have to do is configure a few 32mb volumes, then initialize them from my LC III, and then I should be able to just format it in ProDos from my GS using Copy II plus right?

Should work.

 

[theslownorris]

I am happy to report v5 works great.

I have a Rom1, apple scsi card (rev c clone), and I run a scsi2sd (v5) just fine, even bus-powered. Works great with my ROM 3 too!

scsi2sd v6 is another story. It formats fine but locks up when I try to write with scsi2 enabled. I will be experimenting more soon.

 

[NJRoadfan]

There is no point in running a SCSI-2 drive on an Apple II. Its simply too slow to take advantage of it (even with a DMA card like the RamFAST). The 8-bit bus runs at 1Mhz, and you aren't going to see close to the 1MB/sec theoretical transfer speed. I know the RamFAST had problems running with some SCSI-2 hard drives, but that card used a very non-standard implementation. The card itself doesn't assign itself a SCSI ID on the bus!

 

[agent_js03]

There is no point in running a SCSI-2 drive on an Apple II. Its simply too slow to take advantage of it (even with a DMA card like the RamFAST). The 8-bit bus runs at 1Mhz, and you aren't going to see close to the 1MB/sec theoretical transfer speed. I know the RamFAST had problems running with some SCSI-2 hard drives, but that card used a very non-standard implementation. The card itself doesn't assign itself a SCSI ID on the bus!

Is there a better solution for mass storage? That is all I am really after, mass storage. My floppy drives don't work that well. They won't eject.

As of right now I was able to format the SD card and even copy System 5.0.2 over to it and started booting from it. But for some reason the SCSI driver in System 5.0.2 does not work. I did install it, but it doesn't recognize the drive. So basically it doesn't boot all the way up.

I am tempted to move in the direction of the floppy emu from big mess o' wires, though I hate to spend that much. Maybe once I sell my Apple IIe then I will be able to justify such a purchase and will have enough from the sale to get it.

 

[Johnnya101]

The floppy drives most likely need to be cleaned and decreased and such if they won't eject.

You'll want those floppy drives for an IIgs! They are useful!

 

[NJRoadfan]

Fixing the floppy drives isn't that hard. They need to be cleaned and re-lubricated after 20+ years.

As for the SCSI card, you should be installing System 6.0.1 if you have the RAM, otherwise install 5.0.4. You can troubleshoot GS/OS booting by holding down 'space' on boot to get a verbose output of what is loading. GS/OS will load without a SCSI driver installed (SCSI.Manager, SCSIHD.Driver), although it won't be as fast at disk I/O (It relies on the ROM driver).

I would blast the SD card (format it on a PC or something), prep/format the drive using Advanced Disk Utility (On the System Tools 2 disk for System 6.0.1), and then install GS/OS.

 

[agent_js03]

The floppy drives most likely need to be cleaned and decreased and such if they won't eject.

You'll want those floppy drives for an IIgs! They are useful!

I took one of them apart and saw that the teeth had been broken off of the second gear on the eject mechanism. That particular one was apparently made of a more brittle plastic than the others.

I can still  use the floppy drives, it is just a pain because I have to stick a pin into it in order to manually eject. It kind of disrupts the functionality. Plus the floppies that were given to me with the IIGS are 30 years old and a lot of them are starting to fail.

 

[agent_js03]

Fixing the floppy drives isn't that hard. They need to be cleaned and re-lubricated after 20+ years.

As for the SCSI card, you should be installing System 6.0.1 if you have the RAM, otherwise install 5.0.4. You can troubleshoot GS/OS booting by holding down 'space' on boot to get a verbose output of what is loading. GS/OS will load without a SCSI driver installed (SCSI.Manager, SCSIHD.Driver), although it won't be as fast at disk I/O (It relies on the ROM driver).

I would blast the SD card (format it on a PC or something), prep/format the drive using Advanced Disk Utility (On the System Tools 2 disk for System 6.0.1), and then install GS/OS.

So the drivers for 5.0.2 and earlier won't work for that?

I do have plenty of RAM, but I would have to find some way of getting 6.0.1 on 800k prodos floppies... I don't have a cable for adtpro. I guess I could write them from my lc iii.