Re: New Apple II (was Apple's next move ...)

[rubywand@aol.com (RUBYWAND)]

In article <4p7b2g$678@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, mhmccabe@aol.com (MH
McCabe) writes:

>....
>What I miss about the early 1980's is the dearth of entry-level computer
>systems with ANY capability for serious work.  In 1982, I bought a
>Commodore VIC-20 for about $299 (including cassette I/O).  Within a few
>weeks, I had ported all the BASIC and FORTRAN programs I'd been running
on
>a Univac mainframe (mostly computer science classwork.)  That cheap
little
>machine got me through school without ever again sitting in front of a
>keypunch!
>
>Three years later, I bought a real gee-whiz 128K Macintosh - I loved the
>Mac, but it wasn't practical to write the "quick and dirty"  programs I
>was used to.  It also cost about 16 times as much as the Vic-20.
>
>Right now, you can't buy a new  "off-the-shelf" general purpose computer
>for under $500 in either the PC or the Mac World.   How is some kid going
>to buy his dream machine with a paper-route or lawn mower?
>
>If you ressurect the Apple ][:
>
>1.  Keep it cheap.  Under $500 for the basic machine.
>
>2.  Document it.  Include the schematics, parts list, and ROM listings.
>
>3.  Don't surface mount anything.  Socket the chips.  Sell PARTS. 
>Hardware hackers tend to blow things up.
>
>4.  Ship it with BASIC for the casual users and a good machine-language
>monitor for purists.
>
>5.  Don't intentionally limit the machine (remember the PC jr.?)
>
>6.  Put some slots in it.  Keep the bus protocols (and speeds) within
>reason.  Don't use any fancy proprietary stuff.
>
>7.  Bright idea:  instead of letting Bill Gates write the operating
system
>(or programming language), call Ron Nicholson - maybe he can sell you a
>license for Chipmunk BASIC.  (By the way, I think Bill is an absolute
>genius.  He's just having too much of the pie.)


     Any new Apple II will have to compete with PC. Something like the
IIGSX is a very good prospect. It is difficult to believe that Apple can
produce and market a GSX system for much less than $1400. At least
initially, costs will be too high to permit a $500 price tag. (Besides,
$1400 is about the right price for a computer with GSX features.)

     One possible route to a good low-priced dream machine is to produce a
GSX compatible notebook computer. Once GSX establishes a significant user
base and vendors are producing software in quantity, a 'notebook' version
aimed at students would make sense. Like GSX, GSX-Notebook would come with
ample documentation. Speed and proprietary IC's are, probably,
unavoidable.


>
>.... I'm probably nuts, but I miss the
>variety we once had in microcomputers (remember TRS-DOS?).


     Ancient stuff, indeed. Computing really was more fun when we were
battling the '80, the Atari 800, the Commodore 64, ... .  A nice benefit
of GSX is that it should crack the boring grey grip of PC on home
computing.


Rubywand