Re: AE FastMath card

[Roger Johnstone <rojaws@es.co.nz>]

In <20030225042705.10901.00001182@mb-dh.aol.com> Michael J. Mahon wrote:

<eBay auction for Applied Engineering Fast Math Coprocessor>
 
> I was watching it too, and got it.  ;-)
> 
> Does anyone have any further information on this card?  Pascal 
> libraries, SANE libraries, etc.?  Since it computes in IEEE floating-
> point formats, a SANE library replacement would be a natural, and 
> would make Appleworks spreadsheets recalculate quicker.  ;-)
>
> I suspect that very few were sold, and so very little software was 
> developed to take advantage of it...
>
> -michael

I know the Floating Point Engine, a competing card from Innovative 
Systems, came with a patch for the GS/OS and AppleWorks SANE libraries. 
I wold be surprised if AE hadn't released the same sort of patch.

I think the big problem with these cards was that while they could speed 
up some heavy maths operations like spreadsheet calculations by 5 or 10 
times, for the same price an accelerator card could speed up _all_ 
operations by several times. Of course, having both would make things 
really fly!

-- 
Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand

Apple II - FutureCop:LAPD - iMac Game Wizard
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rojaws/
________________________________________________________________________

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with
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     The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957