Re: IIe enhancement kits?

[scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter)]

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In article <1147282527.700116.52750@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
josephoswaldgg@hotmail.com <josephoswald@gmail.com> wrote:
>Don Bruder wrote:
>> In article <1147267566.259995.225150@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>,
>>  "BLuRry" <brendan.robert@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > WTF is up with this description?!   FASTER PROCESSING?  Really?
>> > Support of interrupts? Faster graphics?  Was this really in the apple
>> > dealer literature or is this person smoking crack?
>> >
>> > ---snip---
>> >  The Apple IIe Enhancement Kit gives the Apple IIe many advanced
>> > features, including faster processing, MouseText character display, and
>> > support of interrupts for applications such as networking.  The Apple
>...
>>
>> Interrupts? Not without a card to generate 'em, and the slots properly
>> filled to capacity so that the interrupt line is unbroken from one end
>> to the other.
>
>Yes, but I believe the enhanced ROM monitor code also had more robust
>saving/usage of critical zero page memory locations (and memory
>softswitches?) on interrupts, which, combined with Prodos's similar
>improvements, allowed for better support of interrupt-driven hardware.

Back when I was dialing into terminal servers to do my homework, one big
improvement the enhanced ROMs brought was improved 80-column firmware that
didn't mask interrupts for so long.  Even at 2400 bps, the original firmware
would start dropping characters while the screen was scrolling.  Enhanced
firmware fixed this, so any comm program that used the 80-column firmware to
manage the screen (that would be most of the text-based programs) will run
much better on an enhanced IIe.  At the faster speeds we use now, the
enhanced ROMs would be even more important.

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