The Microsoft Softcard-Findings

[mark@pokey.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Manning)]

This is for the person I was talking to about the Microsoft Softcard
and the problems he was having with it.


After doing extensive tests with the softcard and monitoring it as
I did so, I found the following things:

1. The Softcard does heat up more in the //gs than it does in the //e.
   It never failed on me though, no matter how long or how hot the
   card got.  Nevertheless, it is a strong possibility that this was
   the reason for the majority of the problems you encountered.  By
   providing ample ventilation (like leaving the cover off of the //gs)
   the card never over heated and never gave me any problems outside
   of running a program.

2. When I ran any kind of a program NOT written by Microsoft (such as
   CP/M WordStar, CP/M Dbase II, etc....  I consistently ran into such
   problems as the dropping of letters, not reading the keyboard, slow
   response, and the indicator light on the board definitely never seemed
   to go off.  This indicator light signifies that the CP/M card is
   in operation and the Apple's motherboard is not.  I can only guess
   that the //gs has enough of a difference between its speed and the
   speed of the //e that the CP/M card is checking the keyboard and returning
   before a key can be depressed.  If I held the key down I would finally
   be allowed to type the key.

3. Programs written BY Microsoft (such as GWBasic) ran fine with no
   problem.  I have to assume though that interpreted basic just runs
   slower and that _that_ is the reason why they ran without problems
   and not because they were written by Microsoft.  (Not that I want
   to knock Microsoft or any of the other companies.)

4. Anomolies between the //gs and the //e were such things as:
   A. Not being able to use the mouse.
   B. Not being able to use the /ram5 AE card.  The AE ram software
      I have did not recognize the /ram5 card.
   C. Not being able to always print properly.  Sometimes it would go
      haywire.
   D. A higher failure rate on the diskettes (ie:the diskette would not
      read but gave the BDOS error on the //gs but would read normally
      on the //e).

Conclusions: The Softcard from Microsoft was originally built to work to
the ][+'s specifications.  Some people had problems with running the
Softcard on the //e when it appeared.  This was due to the timing differences
between the ][+ and the //e (Checked through my old Nibble magazines and
H.A.A.U.G magazines and my Call A.P.P.L.E. magazines for articles and such.
Found a few talking about this, but not a lot of information.).  With the
advent of the //gs, these timing considerations become even more exaggerated.
The problems found when moving from the ][+ to the //e were fairly similar
to those which I have found on my system.  Programs would run and then
seem to lock up, mis-reads of diskettes, and so on.  The answers to these
problems were always the same:The card is old technology - upgrade.  I am
sure that someplace though, there has to be an upgrade the the CP/M
operating system which allows for the changes to the kind of system on
which the Softcard is located.  Where this might be, I have no idea.  But
with as many people as there are still using CP/M, there is probably someone
somewhere who would have such a modification.

At any rate - these are my findings. :)