Re: Have we forgotten this newsgroup is about the _Apple2_ ????

[jimn8@netcom.com (Jim Nitchals)]

irsman@iastate.edu (Ian Schmidt) writes:

>I'll agree that hardwarewise, the worst parts of the GS are those concessions
>to backwards compatibility (kinda like the Intel machines).  The GS Done Right
>would look like this:
[feature set deleted]

How about this?  An Ensoniq DOC and Apple II slot adapter for the
PowerPC, and an emulator that runs much faster than the real
65816?

Seriously, the Ensoniq DOC is the only feature missing fromt he
Power Macintosh, aside also from actual Apple II slots, that
would prevent your dream machine from becoming reality.

And I haven't looked at the DOC closely enough in recent years
to be sure it couldn't be emulated too.  Certainly an emulation
that only supports a few voices wouldn't be too hard on the CPU.

Keep in mind that the Power Macintosh is emulating a 68EC040.
It could emulate a 65816 too, given any market incentive to
do it right.

Heck.  If a PowerPC can emulate a 68EC040 emulating an
Apple II+ at 1 MHz, it ought to be able to emulate an '816
directly a whole lot faster.

How fast?  I can't be sure without writing it.  Chances are
it could run as fast as 8-16 MHz if written using a design like
the Mac emulation.  I understand the underlying code in the
Mac emulator, and have helped write 6502 emulation code for
the 68k, so this isn't just wild speculation.

There might be some performance hits if color cycling is
used heavily in super hires mode, but it's not likely it'll
ever become a concern for me :)

The rest of the feature set you suggested already exists,
although the "DSP" feature is really part of the PowerPC
architecture due to its fast multiply/accumulate in floating
point, and high performance.

- Jim Nitchals
(expressing a personal opinion, not Apple's, today.)

>Okay, now go ahead and tear this apart, since it's just what I'd like :)

>-- 
>Ian Schmidt / irsman@iastate.edu / irsman@cs.iastate.edu
>"Though we know that time has wings, we're the ones that have to fly" -Peart
-- 
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