Re: //e card: IRQ Manager

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

"Rick Kerman" <rkerman@mail.bright.net> wrote:

>Tom Kruesel wrote:
>
>>have this in a new //e I bought.  By Berkley Softworks.  Could anyone 
>>tell me whatit is/does?
>
>It's a key which is required to run GEOS.
>This is part of their elaborate copy protection

This is NOT a copy protection scheme.  I used GEOS as a IIe
user and according to the manuals, this card only needed to
be installed if you did not have a IIe mouse.  It is an interrupt
generator.  If you had a IIe mouse, the AppleMouse II card
can generate the required interrupts.  You also didn't need
it if you had an Apple IIc/IIc+ or Apple IIGS.

When I first started using GEOS, I needed to install the
interrupt card because I used it with a joystick.  Then I
got a mouse for the IIe and took out the IRQ Manager.
When I upgraded to the IIGS, I needed no card at all
to use GEOS.

>scheme, which is the main reason this OS was
>a dismal failure in the Apple world.

GEOS failed because Apple II software, especially for
the IIGS but also products such as AppleWorks for the
IIe, were already so good and the operating systems so
comprehensive.

In the Commodore world, however, GEOS was a HUGE
improvement in capabilities for the C64 computer.  The
C64 was still using a ROM based operating system when
GEOS came along.  It offered a GUI and a modular OS.
Thus, GEOS came bundled with every C64/128.