this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2026
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Who here knows how to boot an Apple ][ game in GSPLUS? (hexbear.net)
submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by ashinadash@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net
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GSPLUS seems pretty cool at first, and I can download a .hdv image of a hard drive and run lots of GS stuff, but I cannot run Wizardry: Proving Ground of the Mad Overlord. If you use the F4 menu to put it (BOOT.DSK, 143kb) in the appropriate slot (S6D1) the "check startup device" screen appears. (coincidentally the Wizardry manual does not contain any instructions that I see, there's no LOAD "*",8,1 or anything like that) I can also boot into PRODOS8 and try PREFIX,S6,D1 or whatever to no avail. No earlier version of PRODOS boots in this emulator either.

I know this is something I'm doing wrong because the same image boots just fine in AppleWin which I built in arch. I don't understand why this doesn't work; most internet resources confidently state that you can jam an Apple ][ game into a 5.25" drive on a IIGS and boot it happily. Not so with GSPLUS. Is it not at all capable of running Apple ][ games? Any help is appreciated.

EDIT: As a comedy bonus, if I take the same BOOT.DSK and fire it into the version of GSPLUS in Batocera, it boots the game fine there. Incredible stuff. As a bonus it won't get past the title screen, but that is probably a Batocera thing.

EDIT 2: No progress on standalone GSPLUS but both Mame (in r*troarch and standalone) as well as the libretro GSPLUS core will boot Wizardry if the disk is read-only, both in the computer's file system and in the emulator. Amazing.

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[–] Snort_Owl@hexbear.net 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

I have apple emulators for everything from system 7.0 to Mac OS X and however those were set up is lost to time and memory. I think it was probably the worst experience of setting up any emulation/virtualisation software ever in my entire life and cost me several hours with basically no real information anywhere at all? Mac OS 9 was my favourite as it was just some arcane combinations of settings and a sus boot disk of some random YouTube video.

I have no help to give just wanted to share in apple pain

[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Thank u for ur solidarity u_u OS9 sounds even less fun. Fwiw setting up GS/OS with a .hdv was pretty painless at least...

A lot of the emulators assume you already know how to operate the fuckass Motorola 6800 microcomputer, which imo is very silly.

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[–] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 3 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Oh wow, this takes me back. Is your Wizardry boot disk the Revision 2 version?

Never used GSPLUS but did have access to a very old //c growing up. I'm pretty sure the IIgs also runs 8-bit apple ][ software at like 3x speed so... Idk if that's the best emulator for running games.

[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Hm, no idea. It's the one you get off of this crusty place, I know there are different revisions but didn't think it would matter.

Yeah IIgs moment =) I am mostly trying to run the game via MAME now but that's on Batocera hooked up to a CRT, which is its own can of worms...

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[–] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

MAME is great. I seem to remember commodore64 emulators being quite good, as well.

[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 3 points 4 weeks ago

MAME is pretty cool but the accursed cowards at R*troarch have it set up to not take direct keyboard input!! catgirl-hiss The standalone version does it fine...

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[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago

Rev2.1 it says, which is what most online copies seem to be.

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[–] h0ll0w5p4c3@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I've yet to set up some of the early micros and Japanese computer systems due to to some of them being obtuse and time consuming. Running into the language barrier with some of the emulators can make setting them up slow with lot's of trial and error if they're not documented well.

[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Ohhhhhhh, Japanese PCs.... tfw ywn be a PC-98 toucher........

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[–] h0ll0w5p4c3@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (2 children)

Okay I decided to give apple2win a try and built it from source in linux. I could get it to load in apple ][ plus mode, that will remove the 80 column card (defaults Apple IIGS) which changes the font and generally looks better imo.

Make sure your boot dsk is set to read only when you start the game. If it isn't you'll get a hanging screen when you hit enter after the title screen.

[–] h0ll0w5p4c3@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago

You surprised the monsters!

sicko-hexbear-woke

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[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 2 points 4 weeks ago

This is true and you even have to set the read/write permissions in your file system on your real computer which is wild.

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[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 1 points 4 weeks ago

A great thing about this quest is that I now know that the Apple ][ is the worst computer ever made and my burning hatred of Apple is renewed.

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