I'm Not Moving to GS/OS!

Eric Schwarz - 2002.04.01

Everyone is talking about how great the GS/OS is for the Apple IIGS. Sure, it looks good, and it's rock solid, but I think I'm going to stick with ProDOS for a few reasons.

Sure, It Looks Good...

The GS/OS has a GUI much like that newfangled computer called the Mac Plus, but it's better. Not only does it have beautiful colors, but it supports all kinds of new innovations, including AppleTalk, 3.5" disks, and huge hard drives. These new innovations require hefty system hardware, so users of Apple ][, ][+, //e, //c, and other non-GS Apple IIs can't run it. Even users with GSes can't run it if they don't have a lot of memory.

Files Everywhere

The GS/OS scatters files all around your disk, mostly in this folder called 'System.' Within it, there are folders called 'FSTs', 'CDEVs', 'Drivers', 'Fonts', 'System.Setup', and 'Tools'. Within these folders are tons of indistinguishable files. Really, you don't want to mess with this folder at all, otherwise, you could mess up your IIGS.

Installation

The GS/OS comes with an installer that is also used to update your computer, as well as install some third-party programs. This makes installing/updating/removing things very intuitive.

Older Apps Still Run - Sorta

Your older Apple II programs run in an environment that actually starts up the old ProDOS familiar to most Apple II users. However, some programs do not like running in this environment and crash.

Old Formats Gone

The older DOS 3.3 format is now unsupported by GS/OS, so any older disks you have can't be used. This makes for many inconveniences.

Conclusion

Apps written to run natively in the GS/OS will be impressive, offering color graphics at high resolutions, sound, and more. However with older app support being spotty, and GS/OS requiring a whopping 1 MB of RAM and at least 600K disk space, it's not for everyone.

New technologies are sure to leave people behind, but this means that most will have to buy a new computer. 

Eric Schwarz has been using Macs and other computers for a few years. His personal website - dealing with Macs (of course) - is at <http://schwarztech.macweekly.com/>. You can learn more about his current computer setup in Eric Schwarz's iBook.

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