Re: Apple ][gs VGA Card

[skadesh@mv.us.adobe.com (Seth Kadesh)]

In article <Cwvu24.J4H@research.canon.oz.au> dominic@miles.research.canon.oz.au (Dominic Cioccarelli) writes:
>You are missing the point. What I ment was that you will need a fast GS if  
>you are going to use the card with any serious applications (like CAD,  
>DTP, etc.) and Rom 1 GS's can't be accelerated past about 8Mhz.

For the moment, I will ignore the question of Rom 1 machines having a speed
limit.

I don't know the first thing about CAD software (actually, that's not quite
true, but it's irrelevant).  I do know a lot about DTP software (I'm
currently developing a DTP product for the GS).  What's really important,
however, is that developers take the time time to do the product well.

Look at Microsoft Word 6 (I'd rather not).  This is a perfect example of
developers losing sight of their product.  I don't know what applications
you're thinking of when you say, "you will need a fast GS if you are going to
use the card with any serious applications (like CAD, DTP, etc.)," but I
sincerely hope it's not something like Word 6.

Now, some things are simply not possible.  We don't have the hardware to do
gnifty things for GNO (memory protection, vm, etc.)  Most machines don't
have floating point co-processors, so anything that depends heavily on FP
math can be painfully slow.  But the majority of decent, serious applications
(and non-serious too - games are important!) are within the reach of any
decent programmer.

>It seems that I have sturred up a bit of a hornets nest here. Let me put  
>my comments in context. I have been an Apple II supporter since about  
>1984. I currently have 3 Apple II's, (A IIe, II+ and a GS will all options  
>including 120Mb fast SCSI hard drive, 4meg simm ram, etc.). Thus, I am not  
>your average Apple II critic. I have tried in the past (when Apples had a  
>stronger following than they do now) to develop products for Apple II's  
>with limited success due to the small market. All that I was trying to do  
>is pass my experience on and make sure that you realized the commercial  

Whether you intended it or not, you come off sounding very bitter, Apple II
supporter or not.  This tends to make people look like they're blowing hot
air.  (As an aside - the number of machines you posses says little or nothing
about your level of support.  How many of those machines do you use?  How
many do you develop on?)

>realities. If you have worked everything out, then fine, go for it. But I  
>wont be forking out US$180 until I see some software support. Now, before  

This is a respectable decision.  Personally, I can't wait to get one so I
can do all sorts of gnifty stuff with it.

>I get flamed, I know this is the chicken and egg problem, but I have spent  
>nearly $4000 on my GS system and the state of the Apple II market now  
>means that I can't even get 1/4 of that if I wanted to sell it. Thus, I  
>have to consider carefully before I pour more money into a black hole that  
>I know it will never reappear from.

(He's definitely bitter.)  Hey Dom - you missed the point.  Computers aren't
monetary investments (look at how rapidly prices change on new equipment).
Computers are investments in productivity, fun, and learning (not necessarily
in that order, and that's far from a complete list).

If you don't have the money to buy this card, then just say so.  But don't
talk about how much you've already spent.

Damn.  I must save this stuff up or something....

-seth
skadesh@adobe.com