Re: RamDoubler on LC

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

In article chrisw@eagle.ais.net (Chris Wicklein) writes...

>: In article John_L._Graham@adbbs.antioch.edu writes... [???] *
> 
>: 	That's not quite true, especially in the case of the Apple IIgs.
>: In terms of hardware they share a number of things in common: The 
>: Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), Zilog 8530 SCC, mini DIN8 port connectors, 
>: IWM or SWIM, Apple 3.5 or SuperDrive floppy drives, built-in AppleTalk,
>: a Toolbox in ROM based on the Macintosh. Not too mention System 6.0.1 
>: (GS/OS, Finder) shares a great deal with Macintosh System Software, in 
>: fact they've both borrowed ideas and concepts from one another. 
> 
>	I've always taken the point of view that Apple used the IIGS to 
>experiment with many of those hardware improvements as well as color 
>QuickDraw before implementing them on the Macintosh.

[Note: Please be careful when quoting, the above was written by me
originally, not John Graham!] *

	Yes, that would seem to have been the case. The Apple Desktop 
Bus, for example, was first implemented on the Apple IIgs. Only later
was it ported over to the Macintosh SE and Macintosh II some 6 months
afterwards (where it's been standard on all Macs ever since). The Apple 
IIgs was also the first computer to use the Apple GUI interface in color. 
It was also the first system at Apple to use a non-fixed color palette and
make use of analog RGB (The Macintosh and Lisa were strictly B&W while
the Apple II and III had no more than 16 colors in total). It was even
the first machine at Apple Computer to use the platinum/grey color
scheme for the CPU box and accessories.

>: or a cousin to the Amiga which Apple Computer designed. I'm certainly
> 
>	Could you provide a note of explanation here?  I've only heard of 
>Apple to swipe system designs, not do them for others.

	I just felt the Amiga had an influence on the Apple IIgs design.
The main features of the machine were graphics and sound (thus the "GS")
which were also the main attraction with the Amiga. They both had very 
similar graphic modes (4096 colors, 320 and 640 modes) and the IIgs even 
went a step further in terms of music/sound. Apple had nothing to do with
the Amiga's design, you misread what I wrote (it would be clearer if you
hadn't clipped the upper half of my text). I said the IIgs _appears_ to be
a cousin to the Amiga, yet Apple Computer alone designed and built it
(the GS), not Commodore. Commodore didn't actually design the Amiga either, 
it was bought from a European company called "Amiga" I believe. The Amiga 
was released in 1985, a year before the IIgs, so there was time for Apple
to take notice before finishing the Courtland/Gumby/Apple IIx project. :)

>Christopher Wicklein (chrisw@ais.net)
><A HREF="http://www.cl.ais.net/chrisw";>Chris's homepage</A>
>Apple IIGS - AMIGA 1200  "You'd be molten."  "$FC58 on a train..."

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca