New csa2 FAQs: F002v5HIST (Part 2 of 2)

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

75/ One More Time?!

     After four years of minimal 'gs support, Apple's Consummate
Enlightened One has issued an inCider encyclical assuring II users of
the company's continued commitment. The letter mentioned such worthwhile
achievements as an improved operating system and the imminent II
Hypercard (but neglected to specify where the company had been committed
or how long the treatment is expected to last). Fine; but, why now?

     If letters, BB postings, etc. are any indication, many II partisans
believe the explanation is to be found in continued 'unstoppable' PC
market share advances. Supposedly, The Computer Company MUST play its
'II card' yet one more time or face extermination.

     In the best of all possible worlds, Big Green's new Macs would sell
like hotcakes; AND a portion of the capital generated would go into a
serious II-based assault on the home/school market. (As even PC devotees
will admit, the smugly confident PC universe could stand a good scare.) 
In the Real World, our experience has been that the level of attention
to II user concerns is inversely related to Mac success. Small wonder,
then, that The C.E.O.'s latest proclamation resembles less an assurance
of support than a trial balloon. (Basically: "Just in case things really
get bad; what will it take to jump-start your interest in Apple
products?")  Fair enough; and, it goes without saying, any trial balloon
from the First Apple Lord merits a response.


Dear C.E.O.:

     First comes THE upgrade; then, we can talk about hypercards, frame
grabbers, CD interfaces, Mac links, and other such embellishments. Our
needs are modest enough; say an 8 MHz '816 motherboard with 2 megs of
main RAM, 256K or so of sound RAM, and capabilities for 640 x 400
256-color graphics. By way of compensation, you are encouraged to rip
out the network of expensive, glitch-prone kluges designed to promote
IIe compatibility. (This should help with costs; and, you can always
market a IIe plug-in for old-II diehards.)  An in-ROM '816 BASIC would
be nice; but, for now, an empty socket and a promise will suffice.

     Price is very important. Not only must the individual IIgs owner be
convinced that the upgrade represents a good buy; he/she must also
believe that other IIgs owners will feel the same. So far, my polling
indicates a number somewhere around $300. Naturally, when we bring in
our machines to buy the new board, we shall wish to keep our old boards.
They're no good to you anyway, and will supply many experimenters with
endless hours of fun (to say nothing of generating countless interesting
articles for Apple user publications).

     A tad costly? No doubt. Stll, a few hundred mil to reinvigorate
your IIgs base and attract new buyers is a bargain. (Like, it sure beats
losing the whole ball of wax!)  In return, we'll buy your products,
enlist recruits, kick stock prices up ten or twenty points, and save
dear old Apple-- one more time.


Your pal,
Jeff



79/ Home Again

Change-over

     Last fall the lone remaining advertiser-supported Apple II-only
monthly announced the intention to "include Mac coverage". At the time,
there seemed little reason for comment. Unlike, say, a TI-99 bulletin
board I've called, a computer magazine can not be content with
discussions of summer vacations and fishing trips. If a publication
can't find enough II products 'action' to pay the bills, it has to find
something else to talk about.


Re-discovery

     My reason for mentioning the II-to-Mac shift now is that inCider's
move is symptomatic of maneuvering we must expect and be wary of in the
post-Computer Wars I world. Regular viewers of the weekly PBS
computer-stuff show "Computer Chronicles" have already heard the new
'party line'. Basically, it goes like this: "For years the home
computing market has been in the doldrums. Recently, however, Apple and
IBM have re-discovered the individual user! They are coming to the
rescue with powerful, low-priced products like the Mac LC and PS/1."

     Okay, so what is the pay-off in being "re-discovered"? First, the
PS/1: It is a compact, attractive, AT-compatible '286 machine which
requires an optional box to accommodate standard PC/AT peripheral cards.
At $2000 for the basic color version, PS/1 is priced near the limit of
what most home buyers seem to be willing to 'go for' in an initial
purchase. It is also priced above faster '386 no-name (a.k.a. "grud")
AT's with more RAM and larger hard disks and far above equivalent grud
'286 systems.

     Mac LC is an attractive, compact, Mac-compatible 68020 machine
which, with the addition of a low-cost IIe card, can run IIe software.
At, roughly, $3000 for the basic color version it is priced far beyond
the typical home buyer's initial investment limit. However, as inCider
noted in it's "Meet the Mac LC" face-off with an equivalent hard disk II
system, the IIgs can end up costing as much as the base 'LC plus IIe
card (assuming the IIgs purchaser makes a series of remarkably poor
buying decisions).  Same-price grud competition includes a new crop of
much faster '486 AT's with more RAM and much larger hard disks.

     It was, I believe, Abraham Lincoln who once observed: "You can
re-discover some of the people all of the time and all of the people
some of the time... " At least "'Chronicles" avoided references to the
"little people" and "unwashed masses"; but the meaning is clear enough.
Technological trickle-down has proved out, we have been noticed by the
big name manufacturers! The "doldrums", of course, refers to THEIR home
markets-- understandable, when you consider that no major manufacturer
has paid any real attention to home users for the last five years. THE
home market has been flourishing since 1989, when home buyers began to
snap up no-name VGA+AdLib PC/AT's like they were going out of style.

     They were (going out of style). First came the '286 wave; and now,
as of spring '91, higher speed '386 systems are selling for well below
$2000. A good barometer of what's hot (and what's not) is the computer
advertising in your newspaper's Sunday "Business" section. This,
typically, is where all computer stuff advertisements (with prices!)
appear. I checked ours; and, believe it or not, in five or six pages
plastered with computer ads, neither the PS/1 nor the Mac LC were
listed. The word "Apple" did not appear even once! (Yes; I have, in the
past, found an 'LC ad. Prices were NOT listed.)

     Today's home programmer/ game-player/ composer/ author/ educator...
is learning to shop for speed, power, and upgradability (i.e. slots!)
regardless of brand name. Any suggestion that he or she is willing to
settle for PS/2-1's, "Low Cost" Macs, or other sub-business-class
machines is not merely off-target, it is the reverse of the actual
situation. Typical office applications have little need for quality
sound, large color palettes, or exceptional speed-- all areas under
continual pressure from designers of entertainment products. The home
computer MUST be a relatively 'hot', versatile performer; and, there are
all sorts of reasons why the home purchaser, in particular, aims for the
'most machine' he or she can reasonably afford.

     First, of course, he or she is buyer AND user. Shopping for five or
ten word processor/office machines someone else will use is one thing;
buying the one YOU and family members will be using is quite another
matter. Other home user motivators include an interest in a wide range
of steadily more demanding software, peer pressure, and concern that
younger family members truly have 'the power to be their best'.

     In the same broadcast, "'Chronicles" notes that home markets are
becoming more attractive because "business markets are becoming
saturated". Again, we are dealing with THEIR business markets. One can
expect to sell just so many $4000-$6000 name brand units when more
powerful machines are available at half the price. Eventually, buyers
for oil corporations, universities, etc. were bound to wise-up. (Does
anyone still blow $49.95 on a box of ten For-Sure-Certified diskettes?)

     I do not doubt that IBM, Commodore, Apple, Compaq, etc. WANT to
sell piles of machinery to home users. I do doubt that any of them knows
what this market looks like. If the big guys and their media placidly
presume home computists to be both less demanding AND less informed, it
does not augur well for their home market showdown with the gruds.


Where Are You?

     You are here! Should "here" mean "primarily a II+ (IIe, IIc, II
clone) user", then you are acutely aware of being out of the mainstream
of personal computing. (Either that, or you've been 'out' for so long
that you're starting to think you're 'in'!)  Not only is very little new
software coming from the major vendors; but nothing looks as good as the
super-res and VGA stuff you've seen on other machines. You CAN upgrade
the II, even to the point of adding a VGA display; but the biggest
problem isn't YOUR hardware. It's the thousands of other 'old II' users
who must be persuaded to make the same changes-- that is, if you wish to
create a recognizable 'super II' user base, develop and trade programs,
attract vendors, etc., etc..

Recommendations: Keep your II, use it, enjoy it; and, when opportunities
arise, improve it if the costs are not too steep. Hardware
experimentation is a valuable, time-honored II owner activity. Given the
rapid pace of microprocessor and component advances, there really is no
telling what you might be able to achieve. Should you decide to sample
the era of modern store-bought personal computing, go for the best, most
II-like machine you can afford. As of Spring '91, this probably means
either  1. take a risk on the IIgs  OR  2. grab a PC-owner friend and
shop the local grud establishments for a '386 PC/AT.


    "Here" may be the joyful realm of PC-ville. Your 'big problems' are
deciding whether to
     1. add another 2MB of RAM (to handle "Windows 3.0" stuff), and/or
     2. fill that little vertical panel slot with a 1.44MB 3.5" drive,
and/or
     3. swap out your old 40MB drive for a 120MB unit, and/or
     4. dump your old VGA card plus the non-multi-sync monitor and
replace
        with extended VGA equipment.

Recommendations: Yes, Yes, Maybe, Not yet. It may also be a good idea to
keep your weekends open and your car gassed-up, just in case someone
calls about doing some shopping.


     If "here" is IIgs-ville then you already know the 'old place' isn't
what it used to be. I've lost track of the number of IIgs projects
"cancelled for lack of market interest", deceased hardware suppliers,
and major vendor PR persons who (politely) barely refrain from laughing
when I ask about "availability in IIgs format". As to
national/international publications which actually devote hundreds of
column inches to II coverage on a monthly basis...; suffice it to say
you won't need base ten numerals to count them.

     A sampling of local bulletin board listings pretty well sums up
what has happened. In a printout from 1986, of 70 boards, 17 (24.3%) are
listed as "Apple" BB systems, which ties with PC for the lead. By
December 1990, of 298 boards, 8 (2.7%) are "Apple" BB's. Amiga and Atari
shares are even smaller; C-64/128 (4.4%) and Mac (3%) come in a bit
higher. PC's share is 81.5%.

     You (we) were entirely justified in expecting Apple to make a major
II series effort long before now-- if only to prevent nearly complete
dominance of unit sales, peripherals development, and software releases
by a platform with which no Apple product is compatible. Think back to
the late '80's and you can see that the threat of a strong, improving
IIgs was the last barrier to a no-name PC/AT sweep. When, by mid-'89,
the "threat" evaporated, Amiga, Atari, Mac, and even IBM each had good
reason to be very very concerned. If they weren't then, you can bet they
are now. Mac's big watchword used to be "Friendliness"; today it's
"Connectivity". IBM, who used to believe IT decided PC standards, dares
not market the PS/1 without offering an optional expansion box to hold
AT-compatible cards!

     So much for spilt milk. As they say in the beer commercials: "Well,
Pard, (slurp) it don't get no worsen this!" 'It' could; but, evidently,
it won't. Several bright spots on the horizon point to, if anything, the
beginnings of a IIgs upturn. First, there's the Mac LC. Last Fall,
according to "industry watchers", 'LC was destined to displace IIgs and,
thus, signal the inevitable demise of the II series. Instead, as we now
know, 'LC positions color Macs, more or less permanently, OUT of IIgs
territory. Big Green's Mac cards are on the table. When Apple makes a
serious low-end market play, it will be the 'IIgs card'.

     Every IIgs user is aware that most major software vendors are not
releasing 'all of that great PC stuff' in IIgs format. Too little
attention is given to the continuing strong support from sources like
Beagle Bros, Roger Wagner, Byte Works, and MECC. Nibble and SoftDisk-GS
regularly release quality software and individual programmers continue
to produce useful, innovative shareware.

     Two recent product releases are especially encouraging. Apple's
GS/OS 5.04 may come on as "just another revision of old, familiar GS/OS"
to IIgs owners preoccupied with hardware needs. No problem; the 'Rule
Book' says that if you use a machine, you're supposed to carp about the
operating system. Meanwhile, PC/AT users are falling all over themselves
in glee at the thought that they may soon have something like GS/OS.

     The other release is "Platinum Paint" from Beagle Bros. It's the
kind of product that could have "mainstream users" wondering where the
mainstream is. If the IIgs is dead, at least it's attracting some very
classy flies. If it's not, what might we look forward to when the upturn
REALLY gathers steam?!

     Though inCider's "Meet the Mac LC'" piece made no recommendations
and was hardly enthusiastic-- well, actually, it reads like something
one might come up with in a Mac prisoner of war camp-- even so, Roger
Wagner responded with a full-page rebuttal. One comment was especially
thought provoking: "The IIgs is the best platform with which to enter
the '90's."

     My first reaction was something along the lines of "Poor RW. He's
finally blown a 'higher functions' LSI chip. How can IIgs be the 'best
platform' if it's not supported?" But that, of course is RW's point.
Viewed 'in itself', instead of "Will it be around next year?", "Is it
smart buy?", etc. the IIgs has remarkable potential. For starters, it is
the ONLY platform to offer both an abundance of expansion slots AND
sophisticated firmware. It is also a compact machine widely regarded as
the best looking computer ever produced by anyone. (Well, it never hurts
to be good looking.)

     Granting that IIgs is in the "Best Platform" running; what's the
problem? Why isn't the Best Platform doing BP-type stuff? This one's
easy. Just imagine that you've switched-in a bigger power supply and
crammed a 1MB model IIgs with the best available performance enhancers.
What is missing? Exactly! Until we can either swap-out motherboards or
plug in a card to obtain 'state of the world' graphics capabilities, non
of the other add-ons will be enough to spark a full-scale IIgs swarming.
Conversely, once super graphics ARE in place, all of the other add-ons
and the IIgs itself will immediately become vastly more attractive.

Recommendations: Keep, use, enjoy, and learn about your IIgs. It could
wind up as one of the big winners in Computer Wars II. Speed-up, math
co-processor, and similar enhancements are worth a serious look, so long
as you are willing to accept the risks (i.e. future compatibility) that
come with 'leading the pack'.

     As to user hardware experimentation, why not? Your Apple club's
IIgs VGA card project could be THE way to crack the graphics logjam.
("What about the CRT monitor and 'old IIgs' super-res?" Easy. We buy
multi-syncs, plug them into your new super IIgs VGA card and
'standardize' IIgs as a dual color monitor machine! Now, what sort of
programming, flight-sim, CAD, and adventure game software do you suppose
THAT would attract!!)



82/ II to Two

     By now it should be clear that, for the active computer user,
access to a PC/AT machine is a 'given'. Along with your radio, TV, and
telephone, it has become 'standard equipment'. Interestingly, it has
not attracted much experimenter interest nor anything like a fanatic
user group following. Today's generic PC/AT IS a good, solid machine
and, by far, the best price/performance personal computing value--
besides which, it continues to absorb an overwhelming portion of major
software vendor attention. It has not, however, replaced the Apple II.

     Why? Many reasons; but, to keep it short: you can't and/or won't
do "Apple II" stuff on your PC. This especially applies to
experimentation and one's willingness to try out enhancement products
from a growing list of new 'garage shop' suppliers. Ironically, when a
II user moves from II-only to "two"-- i.e. adds a PC-- there is more
enthusiasm for enhancements and, after a brief dip, time spent using
the older machine actually increases! For whatever reason, the
"endless Apple II" does seem to be on the rebound. Two computers
really are better than one.

____________________________



Following is a Steve Wozniak interview which
appeared in the Summer 1997 issue of II Alive.

 

Looking Back: Woz Tells: "How I Did It!"

Charles T. Turley, interviewer


     The recent flurry of speculations surrounding Apple Inc.'s future
seems to have stirred up questions concerning birth of the Apple II.
Some writers have reported that coding of the first II ROMs was a fairly
simple affair since, "of course", Steve Wozniak had access to an
assembler and terminal. Similar "obvious" and "easy" comments have
surfaced about the decisions to use dynamic RAM and include a BASIC
interpreter. I decided to ask Woz for all the facts.


C.T.: You've seen the report; how much is accurate?

Woz: The author of the report I received from you is wrong when he says
no ROM of large size was assembled by hand. I could never afford an
assembler for the 6502 which I bought for $20.

     First, I connected the 6502 to Static RAM and a video terminal of
my own design. I then wrote a short "monitor" program to watch the
keyboard and display characters, both under interrupt and polled. We
didn't have 256 byte PROMS, just 256x4 PROMS at that time. I used two of
the ones we burned for calculator development at HP. The first hardware
bringup had a few frustrating hours but I got it working with polled
keyboard that night.

     I then wrote a 256 byte "Monitor" program which watched the
keyboard for hex data entry (address:data data data) and hex display and
program initiation ("Run"). I got very good at typing in hex and very
very good at checking data entry carefully, character by character. I
still can't read a credit card number without a high expectation of
mistake, but I have good habits to this day.


C.T.: Even Commodore's Vic20, which appeared years later, uses
easy-to-design-for static memory IC's. What was behind the decision to
use dynamic RAM?

Woz: I switched to dynamic RAMs when someone at our club sold some for a
couple of bucks each. After all, in 1975 these were the first RAMS
cheaper than core memory, the 4K dynamics. I bought some 22 pin AMI
ones, there were three vendors.

     Virtually none of the other hobby computers around that time used
dynamic RAMs, I decided it was because of the hobbyist technician sense
of most fans I met, they weren't true engineers. Also, they were
familiar with low-cost routes like surplus stores where the favorite RAM
was the 2102 static. But for me, designing for the dynamic RAM was a
piece of cake and I had fun at that which I excelled, combining MSI
chips in clever ways.

     Steve Jobs asked what did I think of the Intel dynamic RAMs. I told
him I felt they were the best. Although they required more driving
circuitry for Row and Column addressing (not just a wire from the CPU
for each address line) they were in a smaller package. I had for some
time measured the worth of my IC designs in terms of how little board
space they took, not how few chips. So these 16-pin Intel chips, plus
some row/column multiplexers and timing signals, actually took less
board space than the 22-pin AMI RAMS. And saved some transistor clock
drivers as well.

     I felt we could never afford any Intel chip, having heard how the
8080 was $370. But Steve got a rep to give us 16 samples. So the Apple I
started with the best possible RAM choice, even before it was certain
how things would go with RAMs. When the 16K dynamics appeared in the
Intel compatible format we were luckily on the right track.


C.T.: How did BASIC come to be part of the first Apple computer?

Woz: The book "101 BASIC Games" made me think that the right higher
level language for these low cost computers was BASIC, even though I'd
never used it. I referred to an HP BASIC manual to develop my syntax
diagrams. Hoping to be noted as the first with a 6502 BASIC, I left out
floating point. But what I wanted was games, logic simulations, puzzle
solving, etc. and integers are fine. Most of my college programming was
numerics done with integer only operations for large accuracy.

     I wrote the entire BASIC by hand with no assembler. I kept
thousands of pages of my hand-done work from day 1. The final Apple II
Rom code was entirely done by hand and is in a notebook. The Apple II
was the first product to ship with 2K Roms from Synertek. 4K total of
code. I built in a disassembler and wrote a mini-assembler (no symbols,
only absolute hex or decimal addresses and constants) which shipped
either in the Apple II or in a later Rom addition.


C.T.: What about peripherals like the printer interface, cassette, and
disk? I guess these were all coded using an assembler; right?

Woz: By the time the Printer card was done with it's 256 byte ROM I may
still have been coding by hand or we might have gotten our first
assembler. It's unusual to this day that you plugged in a printer and it
attached itself to the op-sys by means of a driver in ROM on the printer
card. True plug'n play. Possible to this day but rarely done (I've heard
of some Newton exception).

     The ROM op-sys of the Apple II could direct output and input to any
of 7 slots. Mass media was read and write an entire cassette file at
once.

     The floppy brought a very tight hardware design, coupled very
tightly to the lowest level access subroutines which I wrote without an
assembler. Randy Wiggington wrote the "Read Write Tractor Sector"
routines, a step higher. Randy and I began a full op-sys but we farmed
it out to Shepardson associates. Needless to say, none of that was done
by hand!

____________________________



The First Apple II Advertisement?

From: Jason Aubrey Wells <jaw016@engr.latech.edu>

Related FAQs Resources: R001A2AD.HTM (html text)
                        R002A2ADPIC.JPG (JPEG picture of ad)
                        R003A2ADPIC.GIF (GIF picture of ad)

Below is the text of the Apple II advertisement which appeared in the
September 1977 issue of Scientific American.



  The home computer that's ready to work, play and grow with you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clear the kitchen table. Bring in the color T.V. Plug in your new Apple
II*, and connect any standard cassette recorder/player. Now you're ready
for an evening of discovery in the new world of personal computers.

Only Apple II makes it that easy. It's a complete, ready to use
computer--not in a kit. At $1298, it includes features you won't find on
other personal computers costing twice as much. Features such as video
graphics in 15 colors. And a built in memory capacity of 8K bytes ROM
and 4K bytes RAM--with room for lots more. But you don't even need to
know a RAM from a ROM to use and enjoy Apple II. It's the first personal
computer with a fast version of BASIC--the English-like programming
language--permanently built in. That means you can begin running your
Apple II the first evening, entering your own instructions and watching
them work, even if you've had no previous computer experience.

The familiar typewriter-style keyboard makes communication easy. And
your programs and data can be stored on (and retrieved from) audio
cassettes, using the built-in cassette interface, so you can swap with
other Apple II users. This and other peripherals--other equipment on
most personal computers, at hundreds of dollars extra cost--are built
into Apple II. And it's designed to keep up with changing technology, to
expand easily whenever you need it to.

As an educational tool, Apple II is a sound investment. You can program
it to tutor your children in most any subject, such as spelling,
history, or math. But the biggest benefit--no matter how you use Apple
II--is that you and your family increase familiarity with the computer
itself. The more you experiment with it, the more you discover about its
potential.

Start by playing PONG. Then invent your own games using the input
keyboard, game paddles and built-in speaker. As you experiment you'll
acquire new programming skills which will open up new ways to use your
Apple II. You'll learn to "paint" dazzling color displays using the
unique color graphics commands in Apple BASIC, and write programs to
create beautiful kaleidoscopic designs. As you master Apple BASIC,
you'll be able to organize, index, and store data on household finances,
income tax, recipes, and record collections. You can learn to chart your
biorythms, balance your checking account, even control your home
environment. Apple II will go as far as you imagination can take it.

Best of all, Apple II is designed to grow with you. As your skill and
experience with computing increase, you may want to add new Apple
peripherals. For example, a refined, more sophisticated BASIC language
is being developed for advanced scientific and mathematical
applications. And in addition to the built-in audio, video and game
interfaces, there's room for eight plug-in options such as a prototyping
board for experimenting with interfaces to others equipment; a serial
board for connecting a teletype, printer and other terminals; a parallel
interface for communicating with a printer or another computer; an EPROM
board for storing programs permanently; and a modem board communications
interface. A floppy disk interface with software and complete operating
systems will be available at the end of 1977. And there are many more
options to come, because Apple II was designed from the beginning to
accommodate increased power and capability as your requirements change.

If you'd like to see for yourself how easy it is to use and enjoy Apple
II, visit your local dealer for a demonstration and a copy of our
detailed brochure. Or write Apple Computer Inc., 20863 Stevens Creek
Blvd., Cupertino, California 95014.

Apple II is a completely self-contained computer system with BASIC in
ROM, color graphics, ASCII keyboard, light-weight, efficient switching
power supply and molded case. It is supplied with BASIC in ROM, up to
48K bytes of RAM, and with cassette tape, video, and game I/O interfaces
built-in. Also included are two games paddles and a demonstration
cassette.


SPECIFICATIONS

   * Microprocessor: 6502 (1 MHz).
   * Video Display: Memory mapped, 5 modes--all Software-selectable:
        o Text--40 chars/line, 24 lines upper case.
        o Color graphics--40h x 48v, 15 colors
        o High-resolution graphics--280h x 192v; black, white, violet,
          green (16K RAM minimum required)
        o Both graphics modes can be selected to include 4 lines of text
at
          the bottom of the display area.
        o Completely transparent memory access. All color generation
done
          digitally.
   * Memory: up to 48K bytes on-board RAM (4K supplied)
        o Uses either 4K or new 16K dynamic memory chips
        o Up to 12K rom (8K supplied)
   * Software
        o Fast extended Integer BASIC in ROM with color graphics
commands
        o Extensive monitor in ROM
   * I/O
        o 1500 bps cassette interface
        o 8-slot motherboard
        o Apple game I/O connector
        o ASCII keyboard port
        o Speaker
        o Composite video output

Apple II is also available in board-only form for the do-it-yourself
hobbyist. Has all of the features of the Apple II system, but does not
include case, keyboard, power supple or game paddles. $598.


PONG is a trademark of Atari Inc.

*Apple II plugs into any standard TV using an inexpensive modulator (not
supplied).