Re: GS Questions:

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

mlafranc@home.com (Michael Richard LaFrance) wrote:

>What is a "ZipGS", Why would I want one, Where would I get one, Would
>it negatively effect old IIe game playing

ZipGS is an accelerator card for the Apple IIGS.  Imagine a
card which contains the caching and variable clocking
features present in modern PCs but missing in the IIGS.
With these features, the IIGS' speed can be varied and
increased at will with the availability of faster processors.

Since the current processors are rated some 5 to 7 times
faster than the original IIGS CPU chip, you can see why
it is a valuable card.

You can only get it used.  It will make your IIGS GUI feel
like your Windows or Mac environment in terms of the
speed of opening and closing windows and scrolling around
in Finder and other GUI programs.  It will, however, cost
you.  The cards are relatively scarce and when they do
show up they usually end up selling for over $100.  The
ones that have been user upgraded with the fastest CPU
speed sell for higher prices.

>What is a "System Saver", Why would I want one, Where would I get one,

System Saver is an external fan unit for cooling the IIGS.
You can get it used and it is well worth the $20 people
ask for it.  It cools the IIGS and extends its life.

>Would it negatively effect old IIe game playing

The System Saver?  No.  The ZipGS?  It might speed up
old games so much that the human player is defeated
and GAME OVER is displayed before the human player
even has a chance to move the joystick.  The ZipGS can,
however, be user disabled from the keyboard before such
games are played.  You can also vary the speed of game
play.  Dropping ZipGS acceleration down to 25%, for
example, may leave an old IIe game playable but add
new challenge to it.