Re: The Apple ][ was crap

["Mike Yetsko" <joe@user.com>]

Hey, the 9918 was really a neat chip!  I had a board
for my Model II that had it on it.  But the software
was a pain.  Nothing other than what I wrote myself.

Mike

Roy Miller <millers@iliveinnetnebr.com> wrote in message
3B492AA2.AE31F9E7@iliveinnetnebr.com">news:3B492AA2.AE31F9E7@iliveinnetnebr.com...
> John Oyler wrote:
>
> > "Roy Miller" <millers@iliveinnetnebr.com> wrote in message
> > 3B48CBE3.B8A28D95@iliveinnetnebr.com">news:3B48CBE3.B8A28D95@iliveinnetnebr.com...
> >
> > > I know this is nothing but Troll Bait, but I'll bite anyway. First,
your
> > history
> > > is all wet. The Apple II came out in 1977, what color computer did
> > Commodore or
> > > Radio Shack sell then? You guessed it... NONE. The Apple II's colors
were
> > a
> > > quantum leap forward over those two. Did the C-64 have better colors?
> > Slightly,
> > > however, it didn't appear until what? 1983? Surely they could have
done
> > much
> > > better in the intervening 6 years.
> >
> > Roy,
> >     You forgot the fact that the Apple II series, for the most part, was
> > completely expandable. 7 slots is alot, even by today's standards.
>
> No John, I didn't forget that. I was simply dealing with the issue that he
> raised - color.
>
> As someone else pointed out, the II went head to head with the TRS-80
Model 1
> and the Commodore Pet. These machines had crude, monochrome graphics (IF
they
> even had graphics - and I don't count "graphical characters" as graphics),
while
> the II had 6 colors in BASIC, and, with dithering and other tricks, could
have
> many more. True, by the mid 80s there were computers that had better color
(like
> my old Coleco ADAM), BUT, if you were starting from scratch, and wanted to
> compete with a computer that already existed, you'd better have better
color
> and/or resolution! The fact that the C-64 did only means that they knew
that
> they had to be better in color graphics than machine that had been on the
market
> for more than 5 years.
>
> But, to return to your pointing out the slots, it is nearly forgotten that
there
> was a video board for the Apple II that used the 9918/28 video chip,
giving the
> II 16 colors and 16 sprites, with 32 "layers" so that sprites could pass
"over"
> items drawn on a lower "layer."
>
> I think it interesting that in the 1986 Whole Earth Software Catalog, they
> referred to the C-64 as the "bic lighter of computers" - Disposable. While
the
> II e/c were considered the premier choice for the home that had kids.
>
> Roy
>
> > Commodore
> > wouldn't have a comparable computer, until the Amiga 2000 was released,
and
> > even afterward, they continued to make unexpandable systems such as the
500,
> > 600 and 1200. And as far as that goes, they can hardly claim credit for
much
> > of this, it was a bought company. Throughout the history of all this, we
> > mostly have companies that are trying to close the box, make it so that
you
> > can't add anything to the system, for whatever reason. The Apple II
seems to
> > have taken the exact opposite approach, perhaps something that is only
> > possible when you have a person like Steve Wozniak designing it. Didn't
they
> > even offer schematics at one point, so that the ambitious hobbyist could
> > build his own?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John
> >
> > PS I think he might be referring to the Vic-20, which also had color
earlier
> > than 1983. Even so, this is hardly a comparable machine to the Apple,
and
> > still several years too late (1981 I think).
>