Re: Apple 2C Question

[shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford)]

Edhel Iaur, Esq. (edhel@LOSETHECAPITALWORDSbigfoot.com) wrote:

: >Having never owned a //c I need to ask.  Does the //c enable the 80
: >column firmware on startup?  I was under the assumption that it worked
: >the same as all the other Apple II models and it didn't enable the 80
: >column firmware until you specifically told it to do so by typing
: >PR#3.

: Yes.  Or, if you're in BASIC,

: Esc, Apple-8

Where does this apple-8 thing come from? on a //c or IIgs, which both have
80 column hardware built in, the ESC-8 shortcut saves you from typing PR#3. 
It doesn't work on a //e since you can run that box without an 80 column card.
The 80 column firmware isn't on by default, as the checkerboard cursor tells
you.

: >The ESC-4 and ESC-8 keypresses only work when the 80 column firmware
: >is active, if I remember correctly.  (For those who don't know, if you
: >have a checkerbox cursor then the 80 column firmware is disabled or
: >inactive, if you have a solid box cursor then the 80 column firmware
: >is enable or active.)

: For some odd reason, the //c has better 80-column support--you can hit
: Esc, Apple-4 when you're in the regular 40-column mode, and you will
: be shoved into the "sepcial" 40-column mode, as provided by the
: 80-column firmware.  Also, on a //c, the double-low resolution (80 x
: 40 x 16 colors) mode is supported in BASIC.  I was quite confused when
: my //c-made double-low resolution programs didn't work on my school's
: //e's...But don't even get me started about the //c's 80/40 column
: switch!  How many programs supported it?  Two?  The only programs that
: I can get to use that switch are System Utilities and Copy ][+!
: Otherwise, that switch is totally useless.

Again, ESC-4 works on a //c (and IIgs) because the firmware can safely assume
that 80 column hardware is present. Ditto double low res support.

As for the 80/40 column switch, it's just another example of software authors'
ignoring Apple guidelines. The //c was intended to be usable with old TVs 
which couldn't display 80 columns. For apps which took the trouble to support
it, this would allow such a TV to be usable as a monitor. As you mentioned,
practically no software supported it, and the switch vanished when the //c 
plus came out.
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