Path: news.weeg.uiowa.edu!news.uiowa.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!moe.ksu.ksu.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!sdd.hp.com!think.com!ames!data.nas.nasa.gov!taligent!apple!mumbo.apple.com!gallant.apple.com!daybreak.apple.com!user From: mday@apple.com (Mark Day) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: 1.AppleTalk 2.Fax/Modems Message-ID: Date: 29 Sep 92 18:04:45 GMT References: <92272.204549KCR103@psuvm.psu.edu> Sender: news@gallant.apple.com Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 43 In article <92272.204549KCR103@psuvm.psu.edu>, KCR103@psuvm.psu.edu wrote: > > Today I borrowed somebodys Imagewriter to do some printing and it had a > network card installed. I connected the printer to the printer port and > configured the GS for AppleTalk for slot one, but NOT slot seven. My GS > printed to the printer fine, so when can a GS use AppleTalk without setting > slot seven to AppleTalk. My hard drive is in slot seven, so the question > could be of future importance for when I use a Mac for a hard drive. > > Also, is there a Send / Receive Fax Modem available > for the GS. I need a fax machine, so I would rather kill two birds ... > > > Ken Since you're using a ROM 3, setting slot 7 to AppleTalk is only needed for compatibility with some older software, most notably the Apple IIGS Workstation Software (based on System 3.2) and Aristotle (Apple's classroom management/program selector product). Both of the above products used an obsolete (and not reliable) method of determining if AppleTalk is installed (by checking certain ID bytes in the slot firmware). There may be a small number of other third-party applications out there that use this same method of identifying AppleTalk; if so, you'd need to set slot 7 to AppleTalk in order to use those applications. By now, you're probably wondering why we didn't put those ID bytes in slots 1 and 2 since they contain the real AppleTalk firmware. On a ROM 3, the same firmware image is used for both AppleTalk and non-AppleTalk use of the serial ports, so the ID bytes would be present even if AppleTalk was turned off. Also, the presence of the ID bytes imply the existence of a few entry points at fixed offsets in the firmware; these entry points con- flicted with entry points in the serial firmware. Note: even if you have slot 7 set to AppleTalk on a ROM 3, you cannot print to a network printer by printing to slot 7 (like you would on ROM 1) because there are a lot of 0's (BRK's) at the beginning of that slot's firmware). --- Mark Day, Apple Computer, Inc. mday@apple.com