Re: New Apple II....

[rubywand@aol.com (RUBYWAND)]

In article <dp78045@pro-palmtree.cts.com>, nkelly@pro-palmtree.cts.com
(Nicholas Kelly) writes:

>
>What I don't understand with all this debate about Apple II GS-X, etc. is
>why the machine would need to have all these extras. 
>

    GS-X is supposed to be the machine that delivers high-performance
computing to Apple II users. It makes Apple II a serious competitor with
PC. Aside from saving Apple, Inc. from collapse, it will carve out a
sizable slice of the home computing market which, in turn, will guarantee
support by major entertainment, utility, and telecom software producers.  


>Isn't the whole point of using some of this stuff simply the fact that
you
>don't need a million mhz or thousands of colors to type a letter or
balance
>your checkbook?

     You are talking about the challenge of getting the most from a,
supposedly, obsolete computer. Sure, it is a lot of fun.

     I've put in plenty of hours designing and building music machines,
printer interfaces, PROM burners, ... plus doing motherboard mods and
writing souped-up ROM code,-- all, mostly, aimed at making our II+ do
amazing, neat things. Possibly, this kind of thing is more fun than any
other part of computing.

     However, that was when lots of other II+ users were 'in the game' and
Apple II boasted the largest number of users. It is still interesting to
play around with IIgs mods; but, unfortunately, far fewer users care very
much. Another important factor is that, unlike II+ and IIe in the early
'80's, IIgs is nowhere close to competing with today's typical computer.

     GS-X aims to re-expand the base of Apple II users. Actually, backed
by Apple, it would restart the Computer Wars.

     In a very direct way it also addresses the interest of II users in
experimentation. It will, for example, be much easier to program GS-X;
and, GS-X Slots give designers and experimenters a much better connection
to the machine.      

>
>Apple came out with the IIe card for the LC that was essentially one chip
>if I remember. How much harder could it be to bring the originally
complex
>IIGS down to a similar scale. 
>
>The point really should be, if they offered most of the current setups on
>here, IIGS accelerated, 3.5 inch floppy and a medium sized HD with about
4
>megs or RAM for say $200. Wouldn't it sell like hotcakes?
>
>To me it would be the perfect "second" computer. Much like a second car
for
>the family. It could be mostly for the kids, you want lots of cheap
>educational software, games and a few other things. ....
>

     Just today we were talking about such a "Student Computer" at the
University of Houston. A school district would issue one to each student
along with books. To come close your $200 number, SC would need to be
produced in large quantities. 


Rubywand