Apple II software emulator for the Mac!

[nraymond@genesis.nred.ma.us]

My experiences with ][ in a Mac:
 
Hi!  I was an Apple //c user and shareware programmer for 8 years, and I
just got a new Mac IIvx 4/80 with a 13" color monitor at Apple's Boston
auction (great deal: $900!).  Naturally I was still interested in
completing my final projects on the Apple II before devoting myself
permanently to the Mac, and I remembered something a friend had on his
shelf, gathering dust: an Apple II software emulator for the Mac.  Since
he had no interest in it any more (was $150, circa 1987), he gave it to
me, manuals and all.
 
I really didn't expect something as old as that, originally written for
the Mac 512ke, to ever run on my IIvx with a big color screen and System
7.1.  But low and behold, it did!  (Albeit in black and white mode.)  I
started it up, and this is what I saw: a small, 40-column B&W simluated
screen in the upper left, a picture of an ImageWriter I in the upper
right, and below that: a modem, a clock, four 5.25" disk drives, a
joystick, and a picture of the Apple II keyboard layout.  It immediately
booted up to the ProDOS system disk that came with it (ProDOS 8 version
1.4), and I immediately began experimenting.  The emulator has some
fascinating features, as well as some dissapointments:
 
Plusses:
- It still runs (Copyright 1987)!
- Of the few Apple II programs I have on 3.5", they work (Including
AppleWorks 2.0)
- normal to faster than normal Apple II performance (manual says 40% the
speed on a 512ke)
- lets me use 3.5 inch Apple II disks
- lets me use Mac memory as Apple II memory
- lets me call 68000 subroutines from Apple II programs runnning inside ][
in a Mac
- copy and paste from screen, save screens as graphic or text Mac files
- 65C02 debugger built in
- neat to see an Apple II running inside a Mac!
 
Minuses:
- only runs in black and white
- sound feature doesn't work (I've only used it with Sound Manager 3.0
installed for the Mac)
- 80-column character set is not Apple II specific typeface (AppleWorks
cards look like coupons)
- 80-column mode is inverse (black on white) of 40-column mode (white on
black), and noticably slower
- Doesn't support Double-HiRes Graphics (that I have been able to elucidate)
- ProDOS 2.0.1 won't run (reports undefined 65C02 instruction at $215A
during startup)
- Memory beyond 128k not recognized by AppleWorks 2.0, supposed to emulate
RamWorks
-  Due to system software advances, you can't use the Mac's 3.5" drive as
a UniDisk without running Apple File Exchange in the background, just to
keep the Apple II disk in the drive (took me a while to solve that one!)
- It doesn't create 800k virtual Apple II disks on a Mac volume; only
135k, because it was intended to be run on a Mac 512ke, with a 400k Mac
drive as the lowest-common denominator
- No direct support of open apple, closed apple, or delete - must use odd
key combos
- Simluated Apple II keyboard doesn't constrain mouse properly; neither
does the program menu bar (has to do with running it on a 13" monitor,
covered in manual)
 
Note that I'm running this on a Mac with a 32Mhz 68030 with a 68882 math
coprocessor, 16Mhz system bus, off of a hard drive: although performance
is OK, I'd expect it to be better.  Insignia Solutions has really done it
with their IBM emulator SoftPC in comparison, but it is far more mature and
was probably written by a team of programmers, and ][ in Mac seems to have
been written by one guy!
 
The manual was partially updated for version 2.53: It mentions the Mac II
in the beginning, but ignores it and its features later.  The manual also
says it only emulates a 6502, but the software says it emulates a 65C02
when I run it (the 65C02 has ten additional instructions, expanded
operational codes, two new addressing modes, and different cycle times for
7 instructions).  The manual first introduces the software, covers
transferring Apple II software to and from the Mac, and then gives an
intro to BASIC programming.  There is also a shortened version of the
manual available from within the program: pretty handy!
 
I've only tested it with about 6 different Apple II programs (other than
the utilities that came with it) since I only have that many on 3.5"
disks, but as soon as I have access to a 3.5" drive (in a week) I'll
convert most of my software and development utilities, then I'll really
put it through its paces!
 
I'd also be interested in updating the program and re-releasing it (if I
could get my hands on the sources, I could add color support, make it
compatible, easier to use, etc.), possibly make a PowerPC version (which
I'll be upgrading to anyway).  I'm wondering...
Why didn't Apple do something like this instead of/as well as the LC card?
Where is the programmer (Randy Ubillos) and how can I contact him?
 
I first became intersting it way back in 1991, when the company was alive
and advertising this product in the back of MacWorld, so what I have may
not even be the latest (or last) version.  Here's all the info from the
manual (the company is probably out of business):
 
][ in a Mac version 2.53
(C) 1985, 1986,1987 by COMPUTER:applications, Inc.
12813 Lindley Drive
Raleigh, NC 27614
(919) 846-1411
Written by Randy Ubillos
 
If you have any questions, post them here or send me e-mail.