Re: USB input devices?

[Mike Kent <Mkent01@voyager.cris.com>]

Jeff Blakeney <CUTjefbla@bconnex.net> wrote:
> On 22 Jan 1999 22:50:34 PST, Mike Kent <Mkent01@galileo.cris.com>
> wrote:

>>After all, the almost-support that 6.0.1 has
>>for it will be much easier to turn into a useful product than the no
>>support that System 6.0.1 has for USB.

> If I recall correctly, when Apple killed the Ethernet card they also
> delayed release of the new version of GS/OS so that they could remove
> all the Ethernet support software.

Yes, that is my recollection as well.  I was merely making a suggestion
as to my opinion of priorities for any potential hardware developers out
there.

> I'm still wondering why people would want USB on their Apple IIs.
> Personally, I'd rather see a SCSI-2 or SCSI-3 card, an Ethernet card,
> a better SVGA card or lots of other things.  I could live without USB
> all together.

I'm in complete agreement here.  With ADB being the Macintosh standard for
ten years, there will be plenty of ADB accessories on the market for many
years to come.  USB just isn't a near-term priority.

I think the priority for add-on boards should be 1) a 15-20 MHz
accelerator, 2) A SCSI-3 card, 3) an Ethernet card.  4) A better graphics
card.

Of course, what we really need is software.  We've come a long way in the
last year (Marinetti 2.0, Spectrum 2.2, Telnet, gsAIM, WebWorks GS, GSoft
BASIC) and 1999 should allow us to round out the internet apps (SIS 1.1,
ftp, POP3/SMTP mail, a newsreader).  Beyond that OS support is urgently
needed: new drivers for all the new hardware coming out, a read/write
MS-DOS FST w/ support for high-capacity devices, and tool patches to
support a high-resolution desktop on the Second Sight.

Heck, I can't think of *any* hardware I'd rather have than that software
list above.

Mike