Re: OS For IIGS

[shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford)]

Mitchell Spector (spec@vax2.concordia.ca) wrote:

:     Although not so similar in that you could "exit" that user interface
: and drop into ProDOS 8, or for that matter, a text-based shell like GNO
: that ran on top of GS/OS. The Macintosh has no character generator (no
: matter how fast your machine, it is not faster than pure text. I want to

If you're hard core, you could always run MPW, or get Machten unix, and
Linux is even supposed to be floating around.

: continue writing my Apple IIgs FAQ on my PC because its screen is easier
: on my eyes. If I do that it will be in a text editor, not a graphical
: one) and there is no such thing as really getting into the system, like
: dropping into system Monitor.

Looks like you've never pressed the interrupt button and dropped into the 
debugger.

:     If the Apple IIgs could only boot into System 6.0.1 and made a 'sad
: face' icon if there was no boot disk or hardrive connected, I would have
: never bought one. The thought of a computer being forever _stuck_ in the
: Finder makes me bored just thinking about it. :P Its like being trapped 
: in a room without any doors or windows.

Mine gives a sliding Apple when you do that, kinda like the sad Mac

:     Not too mention its superior sound and music abilities through add
: on cards. I was thrilled to pieces about the Ensoniq 5503 synthesizer
: when I bought my GS and for years I had a ball experimenting with music
: synthesis. I'm having equally as much fun with the Roland SCC-1 board
: I have in my Pentium now. I also find the type of free style programming
: similar to the Apple II, there are no rules and people just use their
: imagine to push the limits of the machine. On the Macintosh Apple has
: very strict guidelines about the "Apple Human Interface", use of the
: toolbox, etc, which all must run under the same Finder program.

Is that to say that Windows has no guidelines? And you can break Apple's,
as MS did in Word 6 to mutilate the Mac interface to resemble that of Windows.
Hence, Mac users hate Word 6.

:     The PC is also similar in all the variety out there for add-on
: hardware, there are thousands of _interface cards_ that do everything
: imaginable (ISA cards being akin to classic 8-bit Apple IIe/IIc boards,
: PCI being akin to IIGS specific boards). Macintosh users' claim all
: they could every want is built-in to their machine, so often the only
: things being added to Macs are external devices like modems, SCSI
: hardrives, printers and scanners. I'm inside my PC as much as I was
: inside my Apple II Plus and Apple IIgs, I _like_ getting close to
: the hardware and knowing what each and ever parts does and what goes
: where. In that respect, the Macintosh is about as exciting as my VCR
: or Microwave oven in terms of tinkering.

Um, Macs have as many as six nubus slots and five PCI slots. Can we lay this
"no expansion" bunk to rest?

:     Well, to be truthful, the similarity between the Apple IIgs and
: Macintosh begins and ends with the look and feel of the GUI (sure
: they also share the same keyboards, mice and floppy drives, but
: that hardly makes them very closely related). Anyone switching
: to the Macintosh in hopes of an Apple II-like path will be very
: disappointed (and I say that as someone who's used _both_ systems
: intensively for many, many years). I suppose the Mac is also kind
: of the same as the GS in the late 80's or early 90's, back when
: software support started to disappear in favour of other systems.
: If you like experiencing that kind of thing (all over again) then
: the Macintosh may be appealing.

I think they're quite alike. They both boast plug 'n play, they are interoper-
able i.e. they can network and share files and printers, and plenty more
ways. I personally can't figure out how anyone used to the way Apple stuff
works would want to use anything else.

:     OTOH, if someone has a fondness for the Macintosh that is okay.
: People are entitled to different tastes and I respect that as
: long as it is not harmful to me or others (and choosing one brand
: of computer over another is not detrimental last time I checked,
: except maybe to your wallet ;). It's the same as anything else,
: for example some people love the Trinitron CRT in monitors, I
: personally cannot stand it after finding better alternatives.
: Some like chocolate ice-cream, others like vanilla, etc. 

I'll go along with this paragraph aside from the Trinitron part. All the
high end DEC and Sun monitors at work use 'em, and of course Apple's high
end monitors too. I have a 16" on my desk and a pair of 13 inchers as well.
--
Offsite mail to this host gets nuked.