Re: IIc+ accelerator

[a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

 sirarlias@webtv.net wrote:

>Those who have accelerated 8-bit Apples, enlighten me: Do you find an
>accelerator to be that useful? Are there 8-bit games that will take
>advantage without tweaking out? 

    My own view is an accelerator on an 8-bit Apple II is a luxury,
while on the Apple IIgs it's an absolute necessity (to be honest,
I would have retired my IIgs to the closet long ago without one).

>I could see using one with applications like Appleworks, Beaglewrite, 
>etc.; but once these load onto a memory expansion card, they are 
>already quite fast on 1MHZ.

    Accelerating an 8-bit Apple II is nice for productivity software,
but what's interesting is caching accelerators (like the Zip Chip
inside the IIc Plus) don't always speed things up. I remember
MouseDesk running no differently at 1 MHz or 4 MHz on the
IIc Plus, but nicely accelerated on a stock IIgs and with my 
Titan Accelerator II running in a IIe. Caching is hit or miss, 
and sometimes it misses.

    For games, most 8-bit titles ran fine at 1 MHz, though Origin's
Space Rogue (the real-time 3D of your ship) and Ultima V (just
walking around the map) benefitted nicely from some small
acceleration boost. Bilestoad as well come to think of it, though
most other games just became unplayable with acceleration
since they were so well optimized (or just not that complex,
though Prince of Persia was certainly the exception!).

Mitchell Spector
a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca