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

[Randy Shackelford <shack@onyx.southwind.net>]

Supertimer <supertimer@aol.com> 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.

Hello, ProDOS up to version 1.9 ran on a ][ plus. That covers the vast majority
of the life cycle. They dropped support for ][ pluses when they utilized 65C02
code to save space. That nixed unenhanced //e's as well as ][ pluses. Early
versions (1.0 through 1.0.2) were made to run on a 48K system too.

Also I'd give Wozniak credit for knowing that BASIC is but one app that runs
on the ProDOS kernel. Complaining how that one app doesn't come up in 80 
columns (which a single line Applesoft startup program can cure) doesn't seem
like much support for some sinister Apple II undermining conspiracy on the
part of Jobs to my thinking. That's neglecting for the moment that you don't
assume optional features are there or waste hard to come by code space to
support them when it might not even be desireable. I for one prefer BASIC
to come up in 40 columns, and have my IIgs text display set that way too.

: 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.

If the article was in inCider, that makes it suspect to me. That rag had more
inaccuracies in it than you could hope to undo.
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