Re: //e

[Jeff Thomas <a2forever@usa.net>]

Luis de Santos wrote:

> Which //e is best to get, the platinum //e with the numeric keypad, or the
> classic //e without?  Are there ROM differences or something?

I have both of these systems.

For greatest compatibility with software, you'll be better off with Platinum
or 'enhanced' IIe. To tell the differences:

1983-85 Apple IIe came with 80-column card (in slot 3), and Apple II floppy
disk controller card (in slot 6). Later, becoming known as 'unenhanced' IIe.
To tell, look at the power light, if nothing is written there then your
looking at original IIe.

1985-87 Apple IIe 'enhanced'. The microprocessor was updated to 65C02 and the
newer ROM chips came with support for the 'mousetext' character set. An the
80-column card with 64Kb memory expansion onboard, came standard.
Near the power light at the bottom of the keyboard, is a message stating
either: "enhanced" or "65C02", then you've found one!

1987-93 Apple IIe (nicknamed: Platinum) was released. All changes were
cosmetic, addition of numeric keypad and distint grey colour rather then biege
as used by other the models. This computer has the lowest chip count,
incomparision to all previous models, meaning hopefully better realibility and
easier maintainance & repairing.

The improvements in the ROM chips over original 'unenhanced' IIe are quite
worth while having. The most criticial feature is the added 'mousetext'
characterset which is required to run any sort Apple II graphical user
interfaces (GUIs) like MouseDesk.
Also, embedded within programs that can be mouse driven like Multi-Scribe,
Publish It, MouseWorks series from Wagner Publishing, etc.

Be sure to get at least 128Kb of memory. AppleWorks would benefit from it,
giving you a larger workspace and the additional memory enables double high
resolution (hi-res) graphics used by newer games (post-1987) and
applications.

I hope that helps.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask.
Shall be checking into the newsgroup again on Friday.

Thanks,
Jeff.