Floppy Emu, LisaCompose?

[blusnowkitty]

Has anyone ever gotten a Floppy Emu to work with a 2/5? I've heard it works with a 2/10 but I can't get it to work with my 2/5. I have a Model C and while the Lisa recognizes that there's a disk inserted, it can't actually read the disk image and thinks it's a bad disk. Boot ROM, Office System, I think even under MacWorks it simply won't read disks. I have heard a few stray comments here and there that the differences between the 2/5's discreet Woz Machine and the 2/10's IWM may be to blame.


https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/lisacompose

Does anyone know what LisaCompose is? I can't seem to find any documentation on this, but I did find out that it's not an Office System tool; it might be an Environment? The disks are bootable but when I installed them in LisaEm the installer asked for disk 4 (there's only three disks) and then trashed my hard disk image.

[Lisa2]

I have a FloppyEMU that works with the 2/5.   I own two, a Model A setup for the 2/5 and a Model B setup for the 2/10.

The current Floppy EMU software has issues with the 2/5, you must use the older firmware.  Problem is that I don't know if the older firmware will work on the Model C.  I have a hunch that the older firmware is not compatible with the new display on the model C.

From the BMOW website:
Macintosh and Lisa firmware, for all Floppy Emu models: hd20-0.8E-F14
Lisa 2/5 compatibility firmware, for Floppy Emu Model B or A: lisa-emu-1.0S7-F11

You will have to email Steve at BMOW and ask him.


I don't know for sure but I think LisaCompose for driving a typesetting system, I don't think it will do you much good without the typesetting hardware that goes with it.

Rick

[nekonoko]

Those were my findings as well. I recently bought a Model C hoping to use it on my 2/5 and I couldn't get it to work with it at all. I happened to have an older Model B on my Apple IIs, so I tried that with the 2/5 compatibility firmware and it worked perfectly. Would be nice to have the color display on the Lisa but it is what it is - the Model C is now doing duty as my Apple II FloppyEMU.

[blusnowkitty]

Darn, I guess I'm going to have to find a Floppy Emu A or B. Thanks!

[8088mph]

Here's the manual for Compose:

http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/compugraphic/201035-001_Compugraphic_Cg_Compose_2_Personal_Composition_System_Mar85.pdf

[LisaGuide]

Thank you for posting this manual. I am the one who has uploaded this software online and I too was unable to find out anything about it. When I had received the VintageMicros software archive I was very excited to have a new application to use on LOS. To this day I have never been able to get it to work. I have attempted to repair the disk image however I fear that it is beyond repair. Has anyone been able to get this working?

I will amend my post on the various software archive websites with this manual. Is there any other known information on Compose?

[blusnowkitty]

Thank you for posting this manual. I am the one who has uploaded this software online and I too was unable to find out anything about it. When I had received the VintageMicros software archive I was very excited to have a new application to use on LOS. To this day I have never been able to get it to work. I have attempted to repair the disk image however I fear that it is beyond repair. Has anyone been able to get this working?

I will amend my post on the various software archive websites with this manual. Is there any other known information on Compose?

So I couldn't get it to install at all on LisaEm; it just kept corrupting my virtual Profile disk. On a real Lisa though - I copied the files from the Tool diskette to the Office System, then booted the other three install disks and now I have LisaCompose on my 2/5! I guess Lisa development must have really been difficult if the manual flat-out says "When prompted for Disk 4, click cancel because there is no Disk 4." It works though.

[rayarachelian]

So I couldn't get it to install at all on LisaEm; it just kept corrupting my virtual Profile disk. On a real Lisa though - I copied the files from the Tool diskette to the Office System, then booted the other three install disks and now I have LisaCompose on my 2/5! I guess Lisa development must have really been difficult if the manual flat-out says "When prompted for Disk 4, click cancel because there is no Disk 4." It works though.

Oh wow, thanks for finding this, I'll try to debug this.

[blusnowkitty]

Unrelated to LisaCompose (more accurately, CG Compose), the Floppy Emu Model C now supports 2/5s! I poked Steve about it a while ago and he sent me over some firmwares to try and I found one that worked on both my 2/5 and Macs. If anyone's got a 2/5 and a Model C, it's now all officially released over at: https://www.bigmessowires.com/2020/05/27/floppy-emu-update-favorites-lisa-fixes-and-more

[rayarachelian]

Unrelated to LisaCompose (more accurately, CG Compose), the Floppy Emu Model C now supports 2/5s! I poked Steve about it a while ago and he sent me over some firmwares to try and I found one that worked on both my 2/5 and Macs. If anyone's got a 2/5 and a Model C, it's now all officially released over at: https://www.bigmessowires.com/2020/05/27/floppy-emu-update-favorites-lisa-fixes-and-more

I recently (last two weeks) picked up a model C for use on a Mac SE, so that's goods news.
Thanks.