Re: A2 Users: Endanged Species? I think not.

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

phoenyx <phoenyx@texas.net> wrote:

>Supertimer wrote:
>
>> The thing about the IIGS' emulation is that it is an emulation plus an
>> evolution of physical hardware.  As such, the user has new hardware
>> to play with.  Like I said earlier, I like to feel the hardware in my
>> hands.
>>
>> Put it another way, the IIGS emulation is so transparent that the user
>> does not know most of the time.  If you can get emulation to that
>> level, then I would agree you would have captured most of the essense
>> of the machine.  The PowerMac emulating the 68k Mac to run Quadra
>> software is another example of this "total emulation."  But Bernie
>> emulating a IIGS leaves a little bit to be desired, don't you think?
>>
>> Perhaps you are not as diehard a IIGS user as I am.  I can put one
>> foot in the modern world (my Win 95 unit) and one foot in the classic
>> one (my IIGS unit) and I'm comfortable with that.  I don't have to give
>> up one for the other.  I don't have to try to "eat" my IIGS world with
>> my Win 95 one.  Why can't we just let the classics be the classics?
>> Why do we have to destroy the classics and render them to
>> emulation?
>
>Emulation has some uses. For instance. I can set up different HDV
>images to test software configurations. Something not easily done
>on the real thing unless you have several hard drives. This has come
>in handy a few times for testing software.

The RAMFast can do this.  You just need a couple of empty partitions
to set up your test volumes.  Then while booting up, hit the number of
the partition and it'll boot it.

One thing I dislike about the current breed of emulators is how UN-GS
they are.  They all seem to make certain assumptions.  For example,
I tried setting up XGS to mirror my real GS, so naturally I wanted 1GB
worth of HDVs.  Well, the ProDOS partitions were not a problem, but
when I tried to set up an HFS partition, I discovered that I could not
make one larger than 32MB.  HELLO!  HELLO!  Real GS users VERY
often have much larger partitions than 32MB.

When I first got my Win 95 unit, I had illusions of how it would run
all my GS software.  I thought...well, I'd just use emulators like how
PowerMac folks use their old 68k Mac software under emulation.
Well, I soon discovered that not all emulation was created equal.
While the PowerMac's motherboard was DESIGNED to transparently
emulate the 68k Mac (much like the IIGS motherboard was
DESIGNED to emulate the IIe transparently), XGS was anything
BUT transparent.  Not only was it painfully slow (especially to the
eyes of a TWGS user), but it crashed well over half the stuff I tried
to run on it and I can't even print from it or set up my HDVs to be
just like my real GS hard drive partitions!

The current emulators are novelty items.  They don't seem to be
designed for people who really do still want to boot up AppleWorks
GS or WordPerfect GS to do some work on the old programs.  I'm
such a user.  Just like a Win 95 user who occasionally wants to
do some work on a DOS program or a PowerMac user who wants
to do some work on a 68k Mac program sometimes, I do boot up
my IIGS regularly to use it for word processing and some page
layout, among other things.  Give me an emulator that can do what
my IIGS can do that I'm satisfied with and I'll switch.  That means
it has to be AT LEAST as good as SoftWindows for the PowerMac
can emulate a Pentium running Windows 98 (now Windows and
Pentium emulation on the PowerMac...THAT's an after market
emulation that can nearly match the designed for 68k Mac
emulation built into the PowerMac).

Dude, as a former user of the PC Transporter, even the PCT's IBM
XT emulation is more transparent than current IIGS emulators.
You could set up aliases of DOS programs on the IIGS Finder
desktop.  Double click on them and the PCT proceeds to run the
DOS program, almost as if it were an Apple II or IIGS program!
One thing I'd demand from a good IIGS emulator is the ability to
set up an icon of an application in the Windows Explorer desktop.
AppleWorks GS, for example.  Then I could just double click on
the icon, the emulator would kick in, and AWGS would be
launched.