Re: What if we designed and built a "32bit" Apple II?

["Jayson Smith" <nospamratguyspambegone@nospamplease.bellsouth.ihatespam.net>]

On a somewhat related subject to this post, I have a question...
What causes people to get interested in the Apple II?  I mean, I'm not
fighting the fact that they do, I think it's great!  But do you think it's
mostly, maybe somebody sees an IIe or IIgs in a thrift shop or on Ebay,
remembers when they were a kid at school and that was the computer in their
classroom and buys it to play with?  Or do some people get into Apples just
to have something interesting to do?
Jayson.

"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote in message
20040908202328.13199.00000292@mb-m28.aol.com">news:20040908202328.13199.00000292@mb-m28.aol.com...
> John Van Winkle wrote:
>
> >I think to expand on the Apple II series and yet preserve the HW lineage,
I
> >would like to see more of the Transwarp type products produced.  Since
the
> >CFFA cards replaced the Profile hard drives, these newer Transwarp type
> >cards could also "replace/upgrade" the 6502 and make them faster yet
> >preserve the hardware.  Since I don't have a Transwarp, that is what I
would
> >like to experience under the hood of my A2.
>
> There is no doubt that many would like an accelerator for their
> machines.  Today, the biggest problem would be the design
> investment, since dense programmable parts are avaialble for
> reasonable prices.
>
> What I don't understand is wholesale changes to the memory
> map or video interface, since, to the extent that it does not
> implement the standard Apple II, the machine is without software.
>
> That means that it would be years of dedicated software creation
> effort (yeah, sure) before anyone derived benefit from the "enhanced"
> machine except for its "Transwarp-like" (transparent) processor
> acceleration.
>
> We must all observe the fact that the Apple II line--in any style
> or configuration--no longer commands any significant software
> development effort.  By that I mean that there are less than a
> dozen major applications released per year, right?
>
> We are now, and have been for a decade, in the mode of enjoying
> what software exists, and the few snippets of code that enthusiasts
> make available on a somewhat random basis.  Ditto for the few
> hardware enhancements that make it to market.
>
> This is reality.  This is not going to improve significantly.
> Good grief!--get used to it!
>
> People will continue to "discover" the Apple II line at a low,
> relatively constant rate, and some will be drawn to its simple,
> graceful technology as a hobby, or even an artform.  But there
> is no coming resurgence in Apple II hardware or software, or,
> most crucially, interest.
>
> We, and a few who continue to join us, are _it_.
>
> I expect that the current "accretion" rate is pretty similar to
> the "depletion" rate of the community, so it would not surprise
> me to find that the number of Apple II enthusiasts is at equilibrium.
>
> -michael
>
> Check out parallel computing for 8-bit Apples on my
> Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/