Re: More GS ROM suggestions

[pubpc1@library.ucla.edu]

Brian Hammack wrote:
>  Scott outgassed these fumes:
> 
>  PUE| On another subject, I think there is a misunderstanding.  You
>     | are saying that an AppleTalked GS with 4MB is all that you need.
> 
> Dunno about the AppleTalk part.  The 4MB, however, is *wise*.

I agree. I was saying that this set-up may be all she needs, since
she has a Mac, but for the average joe GS user wanting to use
AWGS, Spectrum, GWIII, etc., 4MB+hard drive+preferably accelerator
are typically required for optimum GS usage.

> 
>     | I found the computer was deliberately crippled by Apple.
> 
> Okay, here's a few sheckles from this starry-eyed wonderer, starting
> with a reply to the scenario dealing with software then moving to the
> real thrust of the thread, hardware...  Stay tuned.  :)
> 
> What I'd like to see offhand is Publish It! 5, or let's call it Publish
> It! GS for clarity.  Works the same excellent DTP routine as previous
> issues, yet instead of being solely 8-bit it's made for System 6.0.1
> [since this thread has been about upgrading the computer we won't get
> into upgrading the system software here], and has the added bonuses of
> using Tools -- instead of a limit of 24 fonts with 4 fontnames user
> selectable (ever tweaked PI4 code with a sector editor?  the built-in
> font list is found in four separate places) it uses every bitmap and
> via Pointless every TrueType font you've got.  And Etcetera.

Great!  I would also like PCT System Software GS, to let the 80186
emulation access more than 640K and emulate EGA (VGA with the SS
card).  While we're at it, ProTERM GS would be nice.  :)

> 
> Okay, so now we have a program for the application you described, Scott,
> without the need to be a "power user."  What's missing from the picture?
> Hard drive optional for PI4 -- fits on a 5.25" -- and if done right
> *also* optional for PIGS [heh, that name] -- fits on a 3.5".  Speed of
> PI4 on a GS is pretty decent, so PIGS would probably also be on par with
> any 16-bit graphic-based word processor more or less.  The Mac doesn't
> seem so superior now with such a great application for the GS in gear.
> 
> I wish TimeWorks saw things as simple and viable as I do.  :)

True.  If such an application were possible, it would have been
cool.  Dunno that it was doable, though: System 6.0.1 takes up
an entire 800K floppy in its most basic config. and eats up a
meg of memory.

> 
> So I don't know about having a hard drive come with a GS as a game plan;
> do think there should be various sizes offered, much the same way PC's
> and Macs have different models with different sizes (note the 100MHz
> Pentiums come with a 1.2 gig and the 233MHz Pentiums come with an 8 gig,
> the seller making various assumptions about the buyers' needs).

Or like the Amiga.  Yes, choices would have been nice, but if that
happened, I suspect sales of the hard driveless 256K model would
dry up.  :)  Just like the A1000 was pretty unusable with 256K,
I mean, even the poky old IBM PC/XT required 640K to do anything
useful and it was an old computer when the GS was introduced.

> The big
> improvement we need to see is a faster CPU - 2.4MHz *is* crippling when
> what you are running pretty much requires speed (Spectrum/SIS, Wolf3d,
> PMPFax) and bothersome when what you are running could use the speed (in
> my case, jpeGS 1.1 on files sized greater than 400x400 :) ).

Agreed.

> 
> One thing we've overlooked, or I know I have until this moment, is PORT
> SPEED.  Get rid of the 19200 limit on the Control Panel's display.  Get
> the thing to go faster than 57600 since we now have modems that can
> *do* that clip -- what was ahead of its time in 1987 is now standard in
> 1997 and will be outmod[em]ed before the year 2000.

I agree.  Also agree than in 1987, this chip was one of the best
things going for the GS.  It is interesting how they made the
control panel say 19200 max.  Another thing that makes the Mac
look better, although I'm not sure this one was deliberate.

I'm also wondering there's a 57,600 limit.  Appletalk using
the same chips goes much faster.

> 
> The //c came with two monitor ports:  RGB and composite.  The //gs came
> with two monitor ports:  RGB and its own special color monitor.  How
> about the new model of GS hardware have *three* monitor options -- the
> third being a built-in SecondSight or (generically) SVGA ready port?
> As much as I love viewing 256 color GIFs and 14 million color palate
> JPGs in sixteen (out of 4096) colors or shades of grey on my GS, it'd be
> very nice for the system to "natively" do better than a Commodore 64. :)

The C64 can't display a 640 mode sharp on an RGB monitor out of the
box, can it?

> 
> Waiting for a 24MHz ROM05 (4 megs onboard) 128-or-256kbps SVGA //gs...

Cool.  This sounds much like the consensus on the "Modernizing GS"
thread.

:)

-Scott G.