Re: Laser 128

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Bryan Villados wrote:

> But to twist the subject a bit... I lack quite a bit of information
> about the legal matters of the Laser 128. I was wondering why the Laser
> 128 was able to be manufactured in the early 90's when Franklin was
> shot down quickly for doing the same thing in the early 80's, that is
> manufacturer an Apple II clone?

The first Franklin copied the Apple II ROM and chunks of DOS 3.3. Laser "clean
roomed" the Apple ROM and (with the Laser that I bought second hand) had Apple
ProDOS - I suppose they may have also created a clone of ProDOS, but I've never
seen a copy. Franklin did the same after they reorganized from bankruptcy.
Except, I know that they offered a clone of ProDOS, I have a copy of that version
of Franklin DOS with my Franklin 500.

The legal Franklins were the 500, and the 2X00 series. The Franklin 1X00 series
were illegal (I own two 1200s, a 1000, and a 1000 Plus, which seems to have been
rare - perhaps they released it just prior to the judgment coming against them.
One of the nasty things about the court case, as I recall reading about it, was
that Franklin was prohibited from selling or supporting the illegal clones, so
people who bought Franklin's had good reasons to not like Franklin, or Apple for
that matter.

Roy

Roy

> Did the people who made the Laser 128
> approach the box differently than that of Franklin?