Re: coolness of GS/OS (was Re: any fix for OS9 Trash problem?)

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

greg@apple2.com wrote:

>Jerry Kindall <kindall@mail.manual.com> wrote:
>
>>greg@apple2.com wrote:
>>
>>>Jerry Kindall <kindall@mail.manual.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Well, the IIGS also _lacked_ certain important features that the 
>>>> Mac had at the time, such as square pixels, a screen taller than 
>>>> 200 scan lines, more than 16 colors,

Square pixels could be achieved with the Video
Overlay Card.  To do so in color at the time
required 400 scan lines and a slow phosphor
monitor.  Otherwise, you get flicker.  The Amiga
did 640x400 at the time, but that mode was not
often used because of flickering.  So most
software used 640x200 and 320x200 on the
Amiga, which was why the IIGS designers went
with that.  VOC could provide the missing
interlaced mode.

>Wasn't the Mac II the first color Mac, and didn't it post-date the release
>of the Apple IIgs?

Yes.  The IIGS came out a year prior to the Mac II.
The Mac II also cost much more than the IIGS.
Closer to the original Lisa's price, actually.  IIGS also
had that spiffy sound chip that no other computer
had.  The sound was so much better.  Better than
Mac.  Better than PC at the time.  Better than
Amiga.  Better than Atari ST.  In fact, you could
connect the ST to some MIDI keyboards and STILL
not have sound equalling the IIGS.  Unless you
connected an Ensoniq professional keyboard, that
is.  ;-)

>And if color is an argument point, the Apple ][ had color long before the
>Lisa was even conceived.  (When was Lisa herself conceived?  Oh, um, I
>guess that's a piece of too-personal information.)
>
>Didn't the Apple I also do color graphics, or am I mistaken?

That's right.  So did the Amiga 1000 and the Atari
520ST.

>>> Um, only 16 colors per scanline, but 256 per screen easily, 3201 
>>> possible with more effort, and I'd say up to 3216 distinct colors 
>>> simultaneously is possible.  With stock hardware.  And there's the 
>>> Second Sight video card to consider as well, developed long after 
>>> Apple abandoned their flagship line.

Quite nice card if only it was released earlier...

I have one and seeing PICTs, JPEGs, and TIFs in
24-bit true color on a IIGS is amazing.  I don't see
the Mac Plus doing this.  ;-)

>>> Well, with 200 colors and 16 per scanline, you'd be hard pressed to get 
>>> 3216 or even 3201 colors simultaneously.  ;)
>>
>>200 scanlines, 16 per scanline, and scanline interrupts every 16 scanlines
>>to swap out the palettes for the next 16.  I've seen it done.  3201 from
>>also setting the border color, but it has been shown that one can also use
>>the scanline interrupts to change areas of the border with its fixed
>>palette, so... 3216 simultaneously displayed (if not simultaneously in
>>memory).
>>
>>And mixed mode.  Each scanline could have 320 or 640 pixels individually. 
>>There is also a fill mode which does reduce the colors per scanline to 15
>>but allows one to fill regions with color by storing only a few pixels.
>>
>> Of course, Mac OS X will support multiple file systems, and being based 
>> on Unix with a microkernel, I believe these will be extensible by third 
>> parties.  If you wanna claim that as a IIGS "innovation" I would point 
>> out that Unix had it long before the IIGS did.  ;)

Unix might have had it before the IIGS did, but the
GS/OS was the first Apple brand OS with the
integrated Apple (ie. "Mac") GUI that implemented
it.  The GS/OS FST concept is so modular and
clean.  Yes, it was borrowed from Unix, but it is
much much cleaner than what MacOS has done
with the PC Exchange thing.  File System
Translators (FST) are clean and logical.  Amiga,
which has an OS derived from Unix, has a similar
concept.  So does OS/2.  And yes, so does
Rhapsody (MacOS X).  But MacOS X is not "real"
MacOS, now, isn't it.  ;-)  It is Unix in Mac clothing.

MacOS had a lot of innovations and firsts and it
deserves to be recognized as such.  But so does
GS/OS and the Apple IIGS.

(Too bad this is a cross post since AOL readers
cannot cross post, this reply can only be seen in
csa2.)