User`s guide

From: Rubywand, David Empson, and Michael Gährken
001- What Operating System environments does the GS
support?
The GS can support several. Some of the more popular OS environments
include ...
DOS 3.3- usually Beagle's Prontodos or some other speeded version of the
original DOS 3.3. This is the 5.25" diskette-based disk operating system used
for years on earlier Apple II's. It's commands are designed for use from BASIC
programs or from the keyboard. Many old Apple II games and other wares are on
5.25" diskettes which boot DOS 3.3.
ProDOS 8- e.g. ProDOS v2.0.3. This is a disk operating system which supports a
variety of devices (e.g. 3.5" drives, hard drives, etc.) and allows sub-
directories. Commands are very similar to DOS 3.3 and are designed for use in
BASIC programs or from the keyboard. BASIC and 'system' programs can also
utilize direct CALLs to well-defined ProDOS Machine Language Interface routines.
Apple Pascal- This is an early 1980's implementation of UCSD Pascal which can
run on 40-column and 80-column Apple II's.
System- Originally called "ProDOS 16" and later "GS/OS", the collection of
'system stuff' (which includes GS/OS) is today called "System". The System
Finder utilizes Toolbox routines to supply a super-res desktop, Windows-like
environment. Both ProDOS 8 programs and 'GS Applications' (i.e. wares that need
GS/OS to run) can be started from the desktop.
The current System, v6.0.1, can run on ROM-01 and ROM 3 IIgs's with at least 1MB
of installed RAM. An earlier (smaller) System, v5.0.4, is sometimes chosen in
order to obtain more free memory to run applications. Many modern IIgs
applications expect to run under System 6.0.1 on a ROM-01 or ROM 3 machine with
4MB (or more) installed RAM.
______________________________
From: Dan DeMaggio and Rubywand
002- What GS programs are there for viewing/converting
graphics?
The Graphics Exchange converts between many formats of graphics.
816 Paint's File Utilities work well for converting hires or double-hires pics
to GS super-res.
Prizm v1.0 Converts .GIFs, Amiga IFFs, Raw Files, and some other types to
Greyscale (very fast), 16 colors, 256 colors, and 3200 colors!
SuperConvert (now at version 4) loads all GS formats, plus GIFS and other non-GS
specific formats and saves in all GS formats including Finder Icon files. It has
more dithering options than most of the other programs, but you may have to play
with it to find the best one.