Re: So, what do you think? real IIgs or emulated IIgs?

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Blake Patterson <blake@blakespot.com> wrote:

>       Thoguht VPC is quite a performer, it's not quite so swift that you'd
> likely have a meaningful experience in front of a flight simulator on
> the thing.  Not with today's processors, I believe.  I have a G3 400,
> which wihout AltiVec tuning is pretty similar in speed to an equally
> clocked G4 - and I've not had one game that I really considered playable
> run on that emulator.

[Excuse the off-topic diversion.]

I have an iMac DV Special Edition (also a 400 MHz G3), and I've run
Starcraft both natively and under Virtual PC 3.0.  The latter is quite
playable, though the graphics are a little sluggish compared to the
native version.

A few other games I've tried (Westwood's Dune 2000, C&C Gold and Red
Alert) are OK speedwise, but have a major problem: they don't seem to be
able to scroll right or down with the mouse, possibly because VPC isn't
letting the emulated mouse get right to the edge of the screen.  This
makes them unplayable.  (Interestingly the DOS version of C&C doesn't
have this problem.  I suspect it may be a VPC 3 issue, since I was able
to play Red Alert on a friend's iMac under VPC 2.x and didn't have this
problem.)  C&C Tiberian Sun is too slow to be usable, and also has the
scrolling problem.

[We now return you to your normal broadcast.]

I don't have Bernie running on the iMac yet, only my 7600 (which has all
the useful peripherals and ports anyway).  The main problem I've run
into is that the PowerMac's 3.5" drive doesn't handle 800K disks very
well, so I may be forced to create disk images on the IIgs and ship them
over LocalTalk, on a 1.44MB disk (I have a SuperDrive), or by moving a
spare hard drive between the machines.

There are two main reasons I'm using Bernie:

1. My use of the actual IIgs had dwindled to "almost never" (since I got
my first Mac, in 1996).  The only time the machine has been switched on
in the last couple of years is to check out the details of something for
a post to comp.sys.apple2.  Bernie is perfectly adequate for this, once
I have it set up with my usual software.

2. Since I got the iMac, I no longer have enough desk space for the real
IIgs.  At the moment I still have just enough room to squeeze it into
the corner, but I can't fit the monitor as well (all the disk drives are
stacked on top of the case).  All nearby space is occupied (IIe, SE/30,
printer).  This may have to change, since the machines are all packed
rather tightly, leaving me no general workspace.

I need to stop buying computers so that I can afford a house (with more
space than my flat).

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P O Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand