Re: //+ Video question

[gerome@teleport.com (Gerome Manufacturing)]

In <3511ra$frd@gap.cco.caltech.edu> toddpw@frappe.ugcs.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes:

>>There is little that I can't make these ibm boxes do these days.  Too bad
>>it's not quite as fun or inspiring as working with the II+ was...

>Yep, it's sad that current generations are being weaned on cushy GUI fluff
>that never gives you any clue as to how simple the raw machine concept is.
>Someday I bet they will resurrect the ][+ and use it as a example to teach
>computer fundamentals; it is simple enough to grasp yet contains enough
>tricks to impart an appreciation for the art or design. Nowadays computer
>hardware courses seem to be fixated on preparing people for the mess which
>is the PC/x86 architecture, with no real time spent on exposing people to
>what a _good_ design (given the available materials) looks like.

>Todd Whitesel
>toddpw @ ugcs.caltech.edu

	What a great idea!  A public domain appleII for education.  This
type of thing would start a whole new group creative 'keep it simple' type
of people.  Most of the early 8-bitters have real advantages over the apple
family of computers, but the openess of the apple just invited a person to
try things out.  When I train new users on the new machines, it's not really
the same.  They learn how the thing works dos windoze and the like, but they
don't have that gut level understanding of how the hardware interacts with
the software.  I really enjoy working in assembly with the early 8-bit
cpu's.  The best so far for me has been the 6809.  Very powerful and logical
instruction set.  I really never got the chance to explore the 65816.  Can
the 8bit version of this be put in to a plus?  (65802?)  

							( Doug >
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