Re: Help Identifying IIGS RAM Card

["sfahey" <sfahey@a2central.com.remove-72z-this>]

  To: Alex Lee
  Re: Re: Help Identifying IIGS RAM Card
  By: Alex Lee to comp.sys.apple2 on Sat Jan 09 2010 11:09 am

 > I wouldn't have thought the IIGS market was big enough to warrant
 > cloning, but it's been an interesting discovery for me. It could have
 > been that the Australian IIGS Users Group, or their 'GS Sales &
 > Exports' division, commissioned the manufacture of the cloned cards
 > when they had enough interested parties back in the day. I do remember
 > our family felt upgrading beyond the 1.25 meg we had was too expensive
 > until this cloned card was available.

Several companies (cloners among them) went after the "clingers-on" and
"beached" markets.

By the early 90's, even the most stalwart Apple II advocates could tell the
Apple II was in trouble. Apple was focused on the Mac and the major hardware
developers were struggling (and eventually disappearing).

But there was still a large installed base of IIe and IIGS computers out
there left in limbo. The die hards who still loved thier Apple II, the people
who couldn't afford to move to Mac or PC (until forced to) and cash-strapped
educational customers who had labs full of Apples.

These niche customers were still a fairly large marketplace for awhile.

I recall the predicament of a school computer lab admin -- she couldn't buy
new Apple II computers, and she wasn't allowed to buy anything else because
the district was standardized ...on Apple II computers. But she had a budget,
and if she didn't use it, it would get cut. Spend it or lose it... so, she
bought peripherals for her existing machines -- mostly RAM cards, serial
boards and the occasional hard drive.


Sean Fahey
www.a2central.com
bbs.a2central.com