Re: Apple /// system disks?

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article mpearce@crl.com (Matthew Pearce) writes...
>
>The Apple /// Diskware Program disk I have has this message on the label :
> 
>Apple II Emulation
>Integer and Applesoft (tm) BASIC
>(c) Apple 1980, 1981    [part 682-0002-B]
> 
>I read somewhere that you could only run 48 K programs with this disk.

    That's correct. The Apple III (and I assume the III+ as well) had
hardware to prevent access to the advanced features of system when in
Apple II emulation mode. This limited emulation to a stock Apple II+,
meaning 48K, 40 columns uppercase text and 1 MHz operation.

>Other notes: A card was made for the /// that emulated a //e (I don't know
>if this supported 128K and DHR graphics-but I doubt it emulated an
>enhanced //e).

    Titan Technologies created a board called the Three-Plus-Two (///+//)
to address the problem. It gave you access to a full 64K RAM, a fully
compatible Game-port connector and the option to add more memory for a
RAM Disk under ProDOS. Reviews of the board made it sound a bit flakey
though.

    In later years, Titan came out with a Three-Plus-Two-E (///+//e)
which provided 80 columns text, lowercase characters and 128K. I think
it supported most IIe features, but certainly not the Enhanced IIe (though
you could swap the 6502 with a 65C02). I remember either one or both of 
these cards taking up two slots, though they're fairly rare in any case.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca