Golden Orchard Questions and Answers
Digisoft
Copyright (c) 1995 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
Q: What is Golden Orchard?
A: Golden Orchard is the largest Apple II CD-ROM made to date. It contains over 600 megabytes of files useful to Apple II owners, including tons of freeware, shareware, utilities, games, graphics, sounds, music, source code, and much more, all in uncompressed, easy-to-navigate form.
It is primarily targeted at the Apple IIGS owner, and can be fully accessed on a Mac or Apple IIGS equipped with CD-ROM drive. (Apple IIe owners can access the ProDOS partition only.)
Q: Will the CD be readable on a PC?
A: No. The ISO 9660 file system (needed for the CD to be PC readable) is just too restrictive and thus not very feasible for our needs. Instead the CD has ProDOS and HFS partitions.
Q: Will the CD be readable on a Mac?
A: Yes. The CD has five HFS partitions (this was due to bugs in the HFS FST, but it also allowed us to fit a LOT more on the CD since it reduced HFS overhead considerably) and one ProDOS partition, all of which are capable of being mounted on a Mac. However, you will need Mac CD drivers that will recognize multiple HFS partitions and ProDOS partitions. The only driver we know of that will do this is FWB's CD-ROM Toolkit. It will mount the 5 HFS partitions, and if you have the ProDOS File System extension (part of the Apple IIe card software for the Mac) it will also mount the ProDOS partition as well.
Almost all files should fit on an 800k disk so you could read them on a Mac with CD-ROM drive and transfer them to the GS manually. 800k disk images are one exception, but you can convert them into their original disk format on the Mac or the IIGS using included programs, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Q: Will the CD be useful to an Apple IIe owner?
A: Somewhat. The ProDOS partition is around 18MB. It contains lots of AppleWorks files, ProDOS 8 utilities and programs, BASIC programs, and other items of interest to Apple IIe owners. However the definite focus of this disc is the IIGS.
Q: What is the current status of the project? When will the CD be shipping?
A: We expect it to REALLY be shipping the first week of April (1995), if not sooner! Right now the CD is being replicated by the CD manufacturing company.
Q: What will Golden Orchard cost me?
A: Golden Orchard will be priced at $65. We will be offering a special introductory offer of $60 around the time the CD is first released (plus $2 shipping on handling.) More ordering details will be posted at that time. This is about 10 cents per megabyte!!! There is a ton of data here.
Q: Where can I get more information?
A: If you have specific questions, or would like to receive a printed order form/flyer in the mail, please contact: jagaroth@leland.stanford.edu
If you have access to the World Wide Web, check out our new site, which contains full up-to-date information on Golden Orchard as well as other DigiSoft information. You can reach it at: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~jagaroth/digisoft/
The specific Golden Orchard page can be reached at: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~jagaroth/digisoft/orchard.html
If you would like to receive electronic ordering information when the
CD is shipping, please send your email address to: jagaroth@leland.stanford.edu

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