[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Yay! Finally got myself a IIgs!

mdj wrote:

Michael J. Mahon wrote:



Unfortunately, it meant we didn't see the Apple IIe until 1983, when
really, it could've been delivered substantially earlier, even 1980.
Had they just built the /// as a IIe back then, it would've been a much
smart decision.
But yes, I suppose the engineering work done on the /// paved the way
for most of the enhancements in the IIe, with the exception of the
accelerated processor (which they could have done in the IIe as well).
Ah well, what might have been.....


I guess I don't see the resemblance much.  Did the /// do 80-column and
DHGR graphics the same way?  And ASICs were the *big* difference in the
//e (which would have been a problem earlier).



It shares the same basic video generation technique as the II, being
the 560x192 not quite NTSC raster, and has a 560x192 b/w mode, which is
equivalent to DHR. I'd imagine the memory arrangement is much different


Yes, the /// had 16-bit-wide memory reads, apparently not organized like
the main/AUX bank reads on the II line, which are as much a backward-
compatibility strategy as anything else.


The RGB port on the /// also generated its 'DHR' video pretty much the
same as the IIe RGB adaptors.


This seems to be the only approach to composite-to-RGB conversion ever
employed by Apple!


To me it's resemblance in featureset rather than technical design - the
IIe adds the really needed capabilities to the Apple II, which are also
present in the ///. Once the enhanced firmware appeared in the IIc and
migrated to the IIe, the machines were to me quite similiar in terms of
capabilities.


I agree.  The /// designers clearly recognized the deficiencies of the
II in a business environment--in fact the third-party hardware add-on
manufacturers had already demonstrated that by their market success--and
they set out to remedy them.  Now, if only the mechanical design had
been done by mechanical designers in concert with the electronic folks..


You're right that ASICs are a big difference - certainly solved the
heat problem ;-)


Not to mention the cost problem.  ;-)

-michael

Parallel computing for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."