Re: WANTED: Apple III info

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

In article dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) writes...
>
>OK, my mistake.  I was going by the description in the user guide.  I
>expect the built-in monitor is simlar to the Mac's built-in monitor: a
>dead simple program that doesn't do much more than hex dumps, hex
>entry and "go address".  I doubt it can do disassembly.

	That would make sense. Although I haven't had a chance to
fully explore what functions are available in this "III-Monitor", it
is more or less what you describe.

>I assume there is no difference in function between "Alpha Lock" and
>"Caps Lock"?  At least it wasn't "Shift Lock" (like the BBC model B).

	None, other than the unfamillar labeling of the key. The Apple
keys (Opened/Solid) are placed beside the Alpha-Lock key as they are on
the IIgs, expect the order is ALPHA/OA/SA; the GS is CAPS/OPTION/COMMAND
or in IIe emulation mode 'CAPS/SA/OA'.

	The arrow keys (arranged in an "L" shape, rotated counter-clockwise
a 1/4 turn) are pressure sensitive for two levels. A unique design, I don't
think any other computers produced by Apple followed this design which
allow you to scroll text faster.

>It is probably limited to the main 96 characters, requiring 768 bytes
>(18.75% of the ROM).  It may be copied into RAM (I'm not sure exactly
>how the III's character generator operates).

	You can actually see as disk-based fonts are loaded into memory.
If a program does, the SOS splash screen (simular to ProDOS 8 screen)
will have it's text fonts change shape or size while it's loading.

>Yes - there are two bytes per character.  One contains the ASCII code,
>the other contains two four bit fields for the foreground and
>background colours.  There are no restrictions about colour usage or
>placement.

	I'm curious, why wasn't the Apple IIgs designed to be less 
limited with text foreground/background color? Or was this another
case of of usual absolutely-no-reason-for-such-and-such-a-feature-not-
being-present? (ie, 64k DOC RAM, lack of extra DMA pin, mono-out jack, 
16 colors per scanline, etc, etc :|).

>Not surprising - the III is intended to work with a Digital RGB
>monitor, and is supposed to have a resistor network to produce analogue
>weighting for an Analog RGB montior.

	Does this mean it's _safe_ to connect an Analog RGB monitor to
the Apple III's video port? My spare AppleColor RGB monitor seemed to be 
working fine when connected during the summer, but I'm not sure if 
some of it's glitches were present before or after connecting it.

>I assume the driver handles the card by itself, and doesn't use the
>ROM on the card.  A driver would be needed for the Grappler as well.

	Yes, SOS requires that you have a specific device driver
installed. It requires the III System Utilities disk to add/remove 
drivers to your main SOS boot disk or device. I suppose it's rather
like GS/OS's device list (.console) or Driver folder in function.

>An excellent plan.  I must keep my eyes peeled.  Of course, I'd also
>want as much software and documentation as possible.  At the moment, I
>have the owner's guide, standard device drivers manual and ProFile
>documentation.  All I need is an Apple III, the standard SOS boot disk,
>Pascal with documentation, and Business Basic, and I should be able to
>take the rest from there...

	You may want to search for one in New Zealand, shipping an 
Apple III overseas would probably cost a small fortune (it weighs 
over 26 pounds, though I've no idea what a III+ weighs). It is worth 
examining though, I believe the III contributed more to current day
Apple IIs than most know. It is a part of it's history I suppose.. :)	

>David Empson
>dempson@actrix.gen.nz
>Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand

Mitchell Spector
m_spect@pavo.concordia.ca / spector@vax2.concordia.ca