Re: Help with PrintShop

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article ljsilicon@aol.com (LJSILICON) writes...

>Nothin Copulates (Ever) spewed the following chunks....
>
>> Print Shop GS is a ProDOS 8 program. Thus, and time you want to use
>>it, the system will switch to ProDOS 8 if not already in it. Any
>>ProDOS 16 version of PSGS never happened-- probably likely as Apple
>>forgot to sell GSs with enough RAM when the GS first came out for
>>developers to be able to really use ProDOS 16 effectively.
>>
>
>Nothin is correct in that PrintShop GS was a ProDOS 8 application, however 
>the interface was modified to take advantage of the GS graphic modes.
>
>As for Nothin's comments on Apple selling enough RAM for the GS, as usual,
>"The Lord Almighty Nothin" is wron again. When the GS was released there 
>was enough RAM to run the system and other available software.

    I don't want to step in the middle of these petty and childish
disputes, but to comment here from a purely technical stand point,
it is your statement that is false.

    The Apple IIgs shipped with 256K of memory in the beginning and
that clearly was *not* enough to run *native* software (although it
was more than plenty for running 8-bit software in emulation mode).
Granted System Software versions 1.0 through 2.0 would start up on
a stock 256K machine, you were left with no more memory to launch
any native programs. Furthermore, keep in mind the actual "Finder"
then was an 8-bit application that used Double-Hi-Res graphics for
the display (MouseDesk, then later called Apple II Desktop -- they
ran quite nicely on a 128K Apple IIe or IIc system with 5.25 drive).

    There were a handful of very early games that ran in that memory
space, as well as an odd application or two, but they were quite
basic and to some point, even hybrid 8/16-bit software (e.g. Reader
Rabbit GS used digitized speech, yet Double-Hi-Res graphics. Or look
at Gauntlet and Paperboy GS that used speaker toggling for sound
effects, not to mention looked identical to the Apple IIe/IIc ports
of the game).

>As the System evolved the need for additional RAM became evident.

    False. At absolute minimum you required 512K just to simply load
99% of the GS-specific games and programs out there, and many even
required 768K. If you wanted to launch the program and have room to
do more once it loaded, a full 1 megabyte was recommended. As time
went on, it was clear 1 MB was the standard needed to write programs
that could take advantage of the system. Apple made a terrible 
mistake supplying so little memory, and were at fault when they
took so many years to address this serious problem.

>RAM cards were available for the GS from day 1. One of the main reasons for
>th eneed for additional RAM was the less than compact code that is released
>by programmers whos attitude is "let them buy more RAM!"

    Eh? Sounds like your confusing the Mac/PC world with the the
Apple IIgs one. Most programmers tried their best to squeeze all
those applications to run in (what become the standard) 1 MB, or
sometimes even half that as that was what many had (by March 1988
Apple decided to ship GSes with 512K, by including their memory
card as standard at no extra cost). The system and its features
dictated the need for 512K-1MB memory, not the programmers.

>If you wanted to see a mchine that was short on RAM look at the early Macs!
>Or, how about the wonderful original MSDOS machines that tried to run Windows!

    It is a plain and simple fact that Apple shipped the GS with an
inadequate amount of memory. It really should have been sold with
1 MB out of the box from 1986, especially since they were able to
equip the Macintosh Plus with that much 9 months earlier. It took
them until 1989 to do that, and by that time it should have been
double the amount (in the 90's, a need for 2-4 MB memory grew).

    The truth is, the GS was a computer _bursting_ with potential
just screaming to be unlocked. Apple unfortunately shipped the
machine in a crippled state from the start to finish (a lack of
memory, speed and storage--the three most obvious omissions) and
left it up to 3rd parties to come out with add-ons to unleash
the potential locked up inside. The way Apple sold it, you got
a fancy Apple IIe compatible out of the box.

    Considering how much the Apple IIgs cost as _stock_ (I paid
close to $4,000 Cdn for my 768K system in late 1987) few people
were willing to go out and spend double that to get what Apple
left out to have a complete system. You'd think you were paying
for priceless works of art the way Apple charged ($500 Cdn for
a double-density 3.5" floppy drive? Even 10 years ago, there was
something very wrong with that price). There was no excuse for
leaving out badly needed memory at that price. Most people
completely ignored the IIgs simply because of its outragious
price tag that had no justification.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca