Re: Apple IIx

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Hank writes ...
>
 ....
> Unfortunately the one link I've been able to find
> went to a web page that used to contain a FAQ.
> That web page has since been replaced with a
> rather scathing review of the Apple II community.
 ....

     Yes. Well, you can't please everyone.

     The newsgroup FAQs, in Text and html form, is available on several sites.
See http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/A2FAQs1START.html .

 


 
> Just to make sure I've absorbed all of this
> right:
> 
> 1. The Apple IIx=Apple IIgs

     The dry spell in Apple II development which followed the IIe, led to
speculation about a New Apple II which would be based upon an enhanced 65xxx
series microprocessor. This unknown, hoped-for new machine was popularly
referred to as the "IIx" when users discussed its possibilities.

     By the summer of 1985, Apple's financial problems plus new super-res
machines from Atari and Commodore fueled the "IIx" rumors. One by-product of
the hot new 68xxx-based computers was a series of outright predictions by
"industry analysts" that the IIx would be 68xxx-based, too.

     Nevertheless, the December 1985 issue of II Computing published an article
which described the 65816 and explained why it would be the heart of the IIx.
The 65816-based IIgs arrived about ten months later.

     The "IIx" designation was not originated by Woz, although he did help
popularize it. Its useage arose over the years following the disappointing
continuation of the the II series represented by the IIe.

    "IIx" is the natural designation for the "next Apple II". "IIx" talk began
again in the late 1980's when II users saw the serious threat posed by low-cost
VGA PC clones. Apple delivered the ROM 3 IIgs, another disappointment. This
left the company with no way to block establishment of PC AT as _the_ standard
personal (and business) platform.

     You may have heard talk of a "IIx" since then. It arose in the early
1990's and, again, a few years ago just before the Microsoft bailout deal.
Whenever Apple is about to hit the skids, II users tend to speculate that 'this
time' the company will get it right and use a New Apple II to recapture a major
presence in the critical home market.

 

 ....

> 3. Outside of the possibility of a few sketches
>         etc., there has never been any research
>         done on an Apple IIgs successor
 ....

     It seems that a group of Apple II Group designers at Apple was attempting
to sell the idea of a new II series computer in the early 1990's. Evidently,
one of them, acting as an "Apple spokesman", told a users' group gathering
about the project; whereupon the fun ended and the "project" was quickly and
officially snuffed by the company.

     The supposed fruits of what was, apparently, a mini-revolution are a few
hacked and patched IIgs's which escaped Apple's dumpster and became known as
"Mark Twain" prototypes.

     Since not one of these machines-- they are all different-- addresses a
single major 1990's IIgs deficit (no improvement in speed, display, or max RAM
size), it is inconceivable that "Mark Twain" could have been part of any
serious Apple, Inc. project to deliver a New II competitor for PC. Rather, the
"'Twains" appear to be partially hacked prototypes for the original IIgs.


     None of which, of course, means that II users have given up on major
hardware improvements. If Apple does not 'rediscover' the II series and deliver
a 21st century upgrade, then, eventually, a group of users will produce the
necessary expansion.




Rubywand