Got my AppleSqueezer GS today!

[matthe...@gmail.com]

My IIgs is a rom 1 motherboard. The Squeezer worked on first boot! Came right up. The installation was quite easy. Before getting it, looking at photos, I wondered if such a big chunk would be hard to line up the pins, but no such worries. Looking from the back, just line it up and it snuggles in well. Firm. No worries about bending pins. Acceleration fantastic! It's amazing!

This may sound like a weird use-case, but the first thing I was really interested to try was using the IIgs in 8-bit mode with the Squeezer installed. Reason being is that my IIe currently has power supply issues. I'll fix that, but in the meantime I wanted to use the IIe image on the IIgs. I did that with a CFFA3000 and a card with my main IIe image as boot. On the IIe, the image launches into A2 Desktop and includes everything IIe as you might imagine.

Well, on the IIgs Squeezer, A2 Desktop pops right up. It's fast. However, I am not quite certain that it's any faster than just running an 8-bit image with a stock chip 65C816. Also, AppleWorks (8-bit) hangs at the launch screen every time. I used OA-CTRL-ESC to choose slow (normal) IIgs mode and Apple Works still hangs.

So I tried a test. Pulled the Squeezer and installed a standard 65C816. Booted in "fast" mode and performance seemed pretty similar in A2 Desktop to the Squeezer. Surprisingly, Apple Works still hangs in fast mode. Switched to slow mode and Apple Works now works fine with the stock chip.

Did a bit of back and forth, and I conclude that the Squeezer really isn't for 8-bit mode. That's not any problem at all, since it wasn't advertised that way anyway. The Squeezer (I think) cannot run slow mode for 8-bit usage. Most things are fine, but Apple Works (8-bit) cannot access the drives. Computer hangs.

None of this is a rip on the Squeezer. It works wonderfully for IIgs things. 8-bit compatibility, however, might not quite be there.

Just a review that no one asked for! Thanks for reading!

[Wizard1969]

Thanks for the review, I have been holding back on ordering one because
of the lack of proper 8 bit support.

[magnusfalkirk]

On Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 2:15:06 AM UTC-5, Wizard1969 wrote:
> Thanks for the review, I have been holding back on ordering one because
> of the lack of proper 8 bit support.

I second the thanks for the review of the Apple SqueezerGS. I oredered one and should have it in by next week, at the latest. I'm not worried about it not working in 8 bit mode as I have an Apple //c+, with a FloppyEMU, that I'll run 8 bit software on.

magnus

[Niek van Suchtelen]

Hi Matthew,

Thank you for the review, and nice to hear your feedback! I'm glad the installation was easy for you and everything fit well, and that you're enjoying the acceleration :)

As for the 8-bit AppleWorks, I will see what I can do about this! In general, 8-bit software should work ok, but I have focused most of my testing on GS-specific software such as GS/OS and software that runs on that, as well as 16 bit games. So it's entirely possible that some 8-bit compatibility can be improved, and I will look into this more when I have time! For the time being I'm still spending time on producing more AppleSqueezers for all the pre-orders, but once those are out of the way, I can focus on more in-depth stuff like this. For the time being, you may be able to try to disable acceleration in the AppleSqueezer control panel and see if this makes any difference. Not ideal of course, but more so that you can still use the software you want to use until there's a better fix. At least the AppleSqueezer is updatable, so if and when I fix it, you can update it.

Let me know if you have any more questions or other feedback!

Kind regards,
Niek

[matthe...@gmail.com]

If anyone is interested to read, I did some more experimentation with the Apple Squeezer. In my haste before my last post, I hadn't downloaded the control panel app nor the update to Core 4. I got through that bit (via Ciderpress) and followed the very useful readme included in the download from the creator's website.

I discovered that adjusting acceleration and additional memory of the Squeezer needs to be accomplished with a IIgs image and the new control panel app once installed. Sorry, I always get confused with the terms CDA, NDA, CDEV, etc... so I will refrain from using them.

I updated the Squeezer, and in the IIgs image (I used the 6.0.4 from What is the Apple IIgs) I disabled Acceleration, Ignore System Memory, and the final choice Add 13mb RAM. Did a power-off reboot, and the 6.0.4 booted just fine. Incredibly slowly, hahah! But from within 6.0.4 I was able to launch 8-bit AppleWorks 5 and use it without issue. This worked in both Normal and Accelerated from the OA-Ctrl-Esc menu.

I then tried using the Control Panel app to add in the other selections. Appleworks 8-bit still works fine with Accelerated and the 13mb added, but not with the Ignore System Memory option. One caveat, however, is that I had to reboot after closing AW5.

I went back to my original curiosity, the IIe image. Now, with the Squeezer having the Ignore System Memory turned off via the IIgs Control panel app prior, the IIe image works perfectly. Boot up a very vast IIe A2 Desktop, launch AW5, close it, return to A2 Desktop, do other stuff, etc... I don't know why, but turning off the Ignore System Memory option makes a big difference in my particular case. Just for clarity, my IIgs has a GGLabs 4mb card installed.

Since I was switching things around so much, I was curious to see if the Squeezer runs particularly hot. I'd have to say no. I didn't bother with a laser thermometer or anything, I just used my hand. The Squeezer gets warm, but not so much that I'd have to start thinking about adding fans or anything.

All in all, I am very happy with the Apple Squeezer. It works quite well. I have found that all accelerators for IIe and IIgs are quirky. Learning the quirks is quite fun, and when you find the sweet spot of functionality for these nearly 40-year-old machines... well that's the magic. I just read the daily news on my Squeezer IIgs by visiting 68k.news. Wow!

Thanks for reading!

[matthe...@gmail.com]

Typo: "very vast A2 Desktop" should have read "very fast A2 Desktop". Not sure how to edit original post. Bye!

[magnusfalkirk]

I got my AppleSqueezer in the mail today! I've been running around doing other things, like picking up a new pair of glasses, so won't get around to installing it until tomorrow but am excited to have it! It took just a little over three weeks from the day Niek mailed it to it getting here, which isn't bad at all. Before I install it I'm going to remove the 4 MB memory card, since the Squeezer has 256MB built in. I know we can't use all of that but I'll be able to bump the memory up to 14MB. I'm also going to install a DarkSound stereo sound card that I recently bought. I've got a CFFA3K card in there already, got it in the first or second batch that Rich Dreher did, so no worries about hooking up external drives. With the addition of the Squeezer and the DarkSound I think I have my GS as tricked out as I want it.

magnus