Re: A matter of History & questions

[gkomatsu@Hawaii.Edu (Galen Tatsuo Komatsu)]

In article <ley-1408961731470001@redlands-ppp5.discover.net>, Ley Cash <ley@discover.net> wrote:
>I have just inventoried the Apple Lab at my school. I have Apple// +,c,e,
>and gs. Can anyone tell me which came when in developmental order and what
>the strengths and weaknesses of each are?


     //    the original!
     //+   don't have one, hopefully someone else can fill this in.

     //e   The one you'll want to use as your primary machines, full
        keyboard, lower case (entry) capability, 64k standard, Applesoft
BASIC in ROM (the Integer BASIC in the earlier machines may be a bit
restrictive if not unfriendly to the kids)  however given enough memory,
the earlier machines can be set up to run Applesoft.

     //c   makes steak fajitas

     //gs  enhanced graphic & sound capabilities (thus the naming),
         16-bit, 2.8 times faster, and one of it's greatest assets,
99% compatable with all earlier Apple // software.

>Is there any reading matter on the Apple // other than the manuals?
>I have a pile of manuals 20" high to try to wade thru!

	A long shot, but seek out the book "Kids and the Apple", great
book, loved it as a kid.  Kinda regret not picking up a copy when the
bookstore I work for had a _pile_ of them in our 99 cent clearance stock.
Check the public or college libraries, they likely have a number of good
Apple // books on their shelves.  (and seek out "The Big Tip Book" to see
all the fun of these machines. =^)


>And what does the little "enhanced" button on the keyboard mean? 

	Press it and the computer breaks... it's not a button. =^)

	What it means is it has the enhancement kit installed.  A what?
There's basically 2 varieties of the //e (well, 4 or more if you get
into things) enhanced, and unenhanced.  The unenhanced is the original
(well duh), the enhanced //e has a 65C02 processor (adds a couple
commands and consumes less power than the 6502), interrupt capability,
and updated video ROMs (can display those little graphic Mousetext
characters)

	Other //e CPUs to be aware of.  Platnum, detectable by the
built in numeric keypad, for the most part, runs the same as your
Enhanced //e.  Early //e's, noticable by the big white letterings
on the keys, should work the same, though check the back end of the
motherboard, there's a big number ending with an A or B, if it's "A"
then you won't be able to run "Double High Res" software.

>I have been reading the yey and nay sayers in this newsgroup and I'd like
>to say,(as a total Mac Addict and Apple // newbie) that I am excited about
>learning about the Apple //. As an educator I deal with kids all day long.
>The kids at my school include the whole ecomonic spectrum. They love the
>Apple // machines.

	ah, yes, the country's future is in good hands. =^)

>Yes, some are quick to point out what their machines at
>home can do. But most kids do NOT have computors at home. They aren't as
>impressed with fancy statistics about RAM and Mhz and so forth as we
>adults think they are. At least my elementary kids aren't. They just want
>a chance to be turned loose with the machine. They want to go exploring.
>Most don't need the latest and greatest machine to be happy. I think we
>adult children are sometimes more gimme orintated than the little kids
>are. I think the important thing is that the kids are growing up using
>computors. The "life in the fast lane" will come later.

	Depending on what you want them to do, that Pentium 10000000000
can be overkill.  Programming?  The kids will be done typing their
programs before that Win95 even gets to its desktop.  (hell, my //e
is booted and dialing in before my friend's PC is done checking memory.)

>These Apple //s
>may be outdated to some people but they are still making learning fun for
>kids 10-12 years after they built. Sure I love my PowerMac, but I'm
>enjoying getting to know these Apple //s. 

	The //e is a great computer (though that gs is even greater =^)
My computer geekiness grew up on it (was originally given birth by the
school's TI99/4A, but we got 3 //e's the following year)  I had a second
hand 386 for a year or so but it died and I never got around to replacing
it, so I'm still using the //e (does everything I did with the 386 except
Japanese text, and um, let's just say "pictures" =^)

>And thanks all you friendly folks who sent answers to earlier question.


...ok, the //c is basically a //e in a compact self contained unit.



	I left a lot of holes in this post, someone please fill them in.
-- 
gkomatsu@hawaii.edu                                     feynman lives!
..waiting for my 2 CDs from RAS...