Re: Disk Images, IIe card, &c.

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

Mitchell Spector <spec@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote:

:>The IIe card is a real //e; calling it an emulator is a misnomer. If you 
:>connect up a 5.25, it works exactly like a 5.25 equipped //e. So you handle
:>image files as well as any other files the same as on a more typical //e.

:     Well the IIe card is (mostly) a hardware based IIe, but there 
: is some software emulation going on which causes some speed hits 
: and incompatibilities. First off there is no ROM firmware on the
: card, it has to load an image of the "CF-ROM" off the Macintosh's 
: hardrive. Next, there is no hardware video support--it all has to
: be emulated using QuickDraw on the Mac side (even at 2 MHz, text
: scrolling is going to be slower than a real Apple IIe). I recall
: some copy protected software not liking the IIe card either.

Even if the Mac does some of the work, there's still a real 6502, IWM, ports
for //e peripherals, and dedicated memory in there. And as for the speed, 
read my article elsewhere about how swapping an LC520 logic board into my
Color Classic improved the IIe card's performance. It runs software nearly 
as fast as an unaccelerated IIgs by my estimate, whereas on the CC logic 
board the card could barely keep up with a //e.

:     The Apple IIgs also has to emulate the Apple IIe, but this is 
: all done through hardware  (65C816, Mega II, VGC, Slow RAM bank, 
: etc). Ditto for the Apple III for emulating a stock Apple II Plus,
: except like the IIe card, it too has to load an image of the ROM
: firmware from software.

Well no one claims that there's a whole Apple II in a Mac with IIe card,
or Apple III for that matter. 

:     Still I agree, it is more or less a real Apple IIe. You can
: boot off a *real* Apple 5.25 drive, not too mention use any DB9
: Apple II joysticks (try that with any software emulator). :)

Yepper
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