Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!pro-sol.cts.com!mdavis From: mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com (Morgan Davis) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Apple //c & Proline Message-ID: <8910032347.AA29046@trout.nosc.mil> Date: 3 Oct 89 22:58:39 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 46 Network Comment: to #11692 by gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!nyser!rodan!djhill@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu The IIc, one of Apple's worst incarnations of the Apple II, is not well suited to run as a ProLine system. ProLine requires that you have: o A clock that doesn't interfere with the serial port o A hard disk drive o A decent Hayes-compatible modem Everything you add to a IIc is a compromise, because the computer was never designed to handle any peripherals beyond what the ports on the backplane provided. For a long time you couldn't get a decent hard disk drive (the disk port, designed for floppy drives, has a terrible throughput rating). The serial port is difficult to work with because it deviates greatly from a design suitable for a BBS modem (to provide carrier loss detection, specifically). Until the No-Slot Clock (and clones), the IIc was clockless (the serial port clock design is a real loser). No easy method is provided for accessing the Day of Week (Sun...Sat) and seconds from the chip-based clocks, as ProDOS supports only date, month, year, hours and minutes. IIc owners who install enhancements into their machines also routinely have trouble using the latest Apple II system software releases, because so many of the enhancements require patches to ProDOS. They usually keep running old, buggy system software because they don't have access to the latest PRODOS with the patches they need. We cannot support ProLine adequately when used in obsolete operating system setups. The bottom line is that you *can* run ProLine on a IIc if you are a wizard with your machine, handy with a soldering iron and the IIc serial port pinouts, and your IIc is adequately equipped (as described above). The reason we do not advertise support for it is because we have run into trouble in the past when less-knowledgable IIc owners expected their computers to operate ProLine just as a II+, IIe, or IIGS does. It is far more difficult to get ProLine running on a IIc simply because of the hardware limitations. We just can't support the software in that environment for the majority of IIc owners. Thus, the IIc configuration is discouraged. --Morgan Davis President Morgan Davis Group UUCP: crash!pnet01!pro-sol!mdavis ProLine: mdavis@pro-sol ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-sol!mdavis@nosc.mil MCI Mail: 137-6036 INET: mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com America Online, BIX: mdavis