More TrackStar Info

Rubywand, April 1999



What kinds disks can a TrackStar use? 

     TrackStar can use several kinds of disks and virtual disks (files on your PC that 
TrackStar treats like disks).  On most TrackStar setups, a user will be able to access ... 

o- regular Apple II 5.25" diskettes via an attached Apple II disk drive which can 
be set for Slot 6, Drive 1 or Slot 6, Drive 2 (using the tsutilit.com utility). 

o- at least one virtual hard disk (up to 10MB in size) created via tsutilit.com and 
assigned to Slot 7. The virtual hard disk will, typically have a name ending with ".hd1". 

o- virtual "trackstore" disks. These are actually 260k files with names ending 
in ".app", such as Startup1.app. TrackStar can access trackstore files as 140k DOS 3.3 
or ProDOS disks at Slot 6, Drive 1 and/or Slot 6, Drive 2. 

o- 5.25" diskettes in PC drives (requires special connector; not compatible with all 
PC drives) 

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How do I use trackstore 'disks'? 
  
     Here are some 'nice to know' things about trackstore "disks": 

o- The terms "disk" and "drive" become a bit mixed up when talking about 
trackstore disks. Actually, TrackStar generally treats a trackstore disk like a Disk ][ drive 
which has a 140k diskette inserted-- i.e. a drive + diskette. 

o- You can have any number of trackstore (.app) disk files. These can be created 
using tsutilit.com or you can duplicate an .app file by copying and renaming-- easy on 
your PC using a utility such as Xtree. 

o- All of your trackstore disks (.app files) should be in the same PC drive and folder as 
your other TrackStar files. Usually, this will be a folder named "TS", "TStar", etc. on 
you PC's C: hard drive. 

o- The TrackStar 'Help' menu accessed by pressing F1 followed by ESC, lets you 
freely swap in whatever trackstore disk you like as the Slot 6, Drive 1 or Slot 6, 
Drive 2 disk so long as the particular Slot 6 drive has already been set up (via 
tsutilit.com)  as a drive which uses trackstore disks. 

o- Tsutilit.com lets you set up your drives so that you can boot from a trackstore disk. 
This is very handy for getting a TrackStar system 'up' and going when little useful 
software is available on regular Apple II diskette. Trackstore disk files with good file 
handling utilities, etc. can be downloaded, unzipped and moved into your TrackStar stuff 
folder. These 'disks' can be booted or used to get programs onto your TrackStar's virtual 
hard disk (or moved to an actual Apple II diskette). 

o- To have a choice of trackstore disks to boot from after starting star.com, you must 
remove trackstore (.app) files named "startup1", etc.. from your TrackStar stuff folder 
or rename the files to some name besides "startup". 

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Where can I get ready-to-go trackstore 'disks'?

     There are some bootable trackstore disk files with ShrinkIt and other utilities 
available on the USA2WUG site in .zip file form at ... 

http://www.grin.net/~cturley/USA2WUG/TrackStar/TrackstoreImages/ 

To use a downloaded file, unzip it using WinZIP and move it to your TrackStar 
stuff folder. 

Note 1:  In general, it is best to use a right-click to select files for downloading.
Then, select Save Link As and pick the target folder on your PC hard disk.)

Note 2: Trackstore .app 'disk' files should be zipped (e.g. using WinZIP) before uploading 
to an ftp site. Uploading plain .app files results in corruption. 
 
 
     Before starting star.com, besure to remove or rename any .app files in your 
TrackStar stuff folder named "startup ...". One way or the other, these .app files must
be gone in oder to have a chance to select a trackstore disk to boot.

     Next, use tsutilit.com to set up Slot 6, Drive 1 as a  trackstore disk and Slot 6, Drive 2 
as your external Disk II drive. Set Slot 6, Drive 1 as your boot drive. (Having the external
Apple II drive set for Slot 6, Drive 2 makes it possible to copy from trackstore disks to
real Apple II diskettes after booting from a trackstore disk.)

     When you start star.com, select the option to boot from a trackstore
disk in Slot 6, Drive 1.  The names of the new 'disks' should be included in the
list of possible boot disks. Pick the pdutils disk to boot ProDOS or the
dosutils disk to boot DOS 3.3. 


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What is the status of TrackStar support software?

     The major TrackStar utilities are, still, the ones made available by
Emerald City Sales (870-743-3872; http://www.ahhz.com/ ) .

     One problem with the EC stuff is that the chief config utility,
tsutilit.com, is for the II+ version TrackStar. So far, this seems mainly
to affect getting color on a composite monitor and, perhaps, having a
second virtual hard disk.

     Otherwise, this tsutilit.com has worked fine for setting up drives,
creating trackstore disks, and other important tasks on the TrackStar E
boards everyone seems to be experimenting with. Star.com seems to
work fine, too.

     The startup1 trackstore disk you get from EC is, evidently, totally
empty.  (In fact, it is not even formatted.)

     The File Transfer utility is used for transferring files to-from
the PC part of your system and the Apple II part.  It seems to work
fine.