Re: WOLF3D fot A2 GS

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:

>In article supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) writes...
>
>>spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:
>>>    The thing though is there is acceptable speed for a game,
>>>and unacceptable speed for a game. When you have trouble
>>>playing a game or can't get enjoyment out of it due to a
>>>speed problem, that is when it becomes unacceptable. In the
>>>real world, Wolf 3D has a poor frame rate on my 15 MHz IIgs
>>>(lower than even a 25 MHz 386) BUT the game is still playable
>>
>>I don't have a 25Mhz 386 to compare, but that is also quite
>>irrelevant because the 386 was not the IIgs contemporary.
>
>    Bzzzt, wrong. The first 386 machines (i.e. the ALR Access
>386 and Compaq Deskpro 386) were introduced in September 1986,
>which coincidentally, is the very same month the Apple IIgs
>was announced.

But not a 25Mhz 386.  Nowhere NEAR 25Mhz.  ;-)

>    Granted 386's were quite expensive and not mainstream at
>this point in time, the very same was true of the Apple IIgs.
>So in fact the 386 *was* the IIgs contemporary--and dead on
>in terms of dates.

Well let me tell you something....I happen to remember the
time because I snooped around for a computer myself and
a Kaypro AT (286) was more expensive than an Apple IIGS
with a monitor and two disk drives.  The 386 was probably so
exotic that it was several times the cost of the IIGS and it
was not 25Mhz.  In fact, these early units were probably not
much faster than the 8Mhz AT I have.

>>I have two 1986 vintage IBM computers, one XT and one AT
>>(the 8Mhz model).  Even at the stock 2.8Mhz speed, the
>>IIgs unzips a file and converts a jpeg graphic FASTER than
>>my XT.  It does most things similar to my AT in speed....and
>>I'm talking about WITHOUT the accelerator.  Neither can run
>>Wolf 3D AT ALL.
>
>    Wrong again. Apogee's Wolfenstein 3D will run on an IBM AT
>at minimum (by "AT" I'm referring to a 286 class machine). It
>is recommended you use at least a 386 for enjoyable gameplay,
>just as Sheppy recommends you use an accelerated IIgs for the
>GS version to be playable.

So it would run on an IBM AT with a CGA card and 640k?
Somehow I doubt that.  Even with the 1MB expansion (640k
plus expanded up to 1MB) which was common much later
seems somewhat shallow for Wolf 3D.....I mean, it won't
run with that amount of memory on the GS!

>    Technically, the stock IIgs is more similar to the 286--
>which plays Wolfenstein 3D as well--but the first 286 class
>machines started shipping 2 years prior to the IIgs (so they
>are more comtemporary of the Apple IIc).

Sure, but there were TWO models of IBM AT.  One was 6Mhz
and one was 8Mhz.  I am saying that the stock IIGS at
2.6Mhz could stand up well to the 8Mhz model, which was
around during the 1986 year (and the model I have).

I guess it is true you can claim the Compaq 386 came out
as a contemporary to the IIGS, but the way I see it, Compaq
was not hot at the time.  In those days, you had to compare
Apples with IBMs and IBM produced the 8Mhz AT (most
comparable in performance to the IIGS) in 1986.  The slower
AT came out earlier, but that model was slower than a stock
IIGS (Every try running GEM on an AT?  Even in CGA it will
make Finder running on a stock 2.6Mhz IIGS look like a
speed demon!).