Re: Why no Mosaic for Apple IIgs?

[nathan@cco.caltech.edu (Nathan Mates)]

In article <D4o8Mo.5CC@dorsai.org>,
James OReilly <joreilly@news.dorsai.org> wrote:
>I understand one can get www for Apple II by using lynx, but that Mosaic 
>is not available for Apple II.  Do I understand correctly that Mosaic is 
>the gui for www?  If the Apple IIgs is a graphics computer (gs stands for 
>graphics & sound), why can't it run Mosaic?

   Quick note: you can use an Apple II or any other vt100 capable
terminal to view the output of lynx running on a unix machine. Lynx is
not running on the Apple machine; it is merely being viewed.

   Here's some reasons why Mosaic has not been ported to the GS:

- Mosaic demands an internet connection, either in the form of an
Ethernet, SLIP, or PPP (any TCP/IP capable connection) connection.
The GS must therefore have the hardware (for ethernet) or software
(for SLIP) to support this connection. Only now has SLIP support been
added to the GS, for GNO. (It's still in beta, but it's working.
Don't ask to beta it)

- Mosaic is roughly 1MB in size, after being compiled. (AWGS is about
770K). It's written in C, and as anyone who's dealt with porting
software from Unix to the IIGS will tell you that it is not a fun task
at all.

- The resolution of the GS isn't quite good enough to display both the
screen and inlined graphics with any speed, colors or resolution. 
Anyone who's seen Mosaic or Netscape will tell you that a 256 color
monitor at 640x480 or better is required. I prefer 1280x1024, 24 bit 
color, and such, which is about as good as the Second Sight will get
up to.

- Speed of the IIGS isn't the greatest, and Mosaic's not the fastest
program on even fast computers.

   You want to prove any of these comments wrong, it's going to take a
lot of work. Not everyone's got the time or inclination to fix these
things.

Nathan Mates
-- 
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
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