Eric wrote:
On Sep 13, 12:01 am, David Schmenk <dschm...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:The II had a purpose and focus. It was the computer Woz wanted for himself to explore what it meant to be a microcomputer. It came out of the box ready to explore.I wish there were something like this today. Today's young people are discouraged from getting under the hood to the low-level assembler. Many of them really don't understand what is going on. Their high level software APIs wrap all the cool stuff we really enjoyed :-(
And this unfortunate state of affairs applies to almost all the high-tech devices we use. You can't learn much about electronics by taking a "single chip" device apart! Our modern devices have shrunk to the level of opacity for the curious non-professional. I worry about where the next generation of engineers will come from (and I don't just mean country of origin ;-). -michael NadaPong: Network game demo for Apple II computers! Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ "The wastebasket is our most important design tool--and it's seriously underused."