Re: trying to get an Apple II GS going for fun...

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Randy Shackelford <shack@onyx.southwind.net> wrote:

>supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:
>
>:* In an interview with one of the major Apple II magazines in
>:the 1980s, Wozniak revealed that ProDOS for the IIe booted
>:into the low res 40 column text mode to make it look "less
>:business-like" because Steve Jobs didn't want it to compete
>:with his baby, the Apple III.  The III flopped.  Jobs then pushed
>
>And here I always thought it was because 80 columns was an option on //e's
>and Apple didn't support it on ][s and ][ pluses, which ProDOS was made to
>run on as well.

Apple shipped almost all their IIe units with 80 columns and 128k
of memory.  It is true that the earliest versions of ProDOS could
boot on a II+, but just because the II+ did not have a higher res
text mode does not mean ProDOS' BASIC.SYSTEM could not
differentiate.  MS-DOS (PC-DOS) booted to 40 column low res
on PC Jr., which could not do better on a TV, yet booted to the
regular 80 column high res text mode on other PCs.

I trust Woz's account.  He was obviously pushing for it to boot
to 80 columns on the IIe, but was undermined by Jobs' Apple III
faction.