What if we designed and built a "32bit" Apple II?

["Ranando King" <rk@magictouchcorp.com>]

Sure, in todays' market, it'd be little more than a novelty for collectors
to play with, having no intrinsic historical value whatsoever, but wouldn't
it be cool to see if we can do what many of us wish Apple Computers had done
instead of making the Lisa and Mac?

BEGIN: [*Rant and Reason*]

Apple Computers basically tried to squeeze the life out of the II series to
support it's new "better thing" computers, neither of which was anything
like what people had come to expect from the Apple brand name. Instead of
investing the capital from the II series sales into something compatible
with the II series, they shut down production, then sales, then support for
the line altogether, nearly killing the company just to push Macs on people.
Even the more flexible, albeit slower, IIgs was under-supported and
under-advertised when it arrived.

I'd really like to see what would have come (hardware-wise) of Apple
commissioning the design of the WD65SC832(not quite sure about that number)
which was supposed to be a 32bit 6502 compatible chip. But since HELL is
likely to freeze over, thaw out, and freeze again before Apple will do any
such thing.....

END: [*Rant and Reason*]

In truth, the only reason I switched to PC's was because at the time, Mac's
didn't come with any programming tools. It was all sewn up like the
proverbial black box with no user serviceable parts. At least PC's came with
basic. But I still long for the days of old when I could sit down over the
course of a few days and churn out software to make my computer flash and
tweet in ways I'd never seen before. I just don't get that from modern
programming anymore.

I know..... "Go buy an Apple II off eBay." Did that. Got it. Love it. WANT
MORE POWER!!!
..."Use an emulator and turn off the speed limiting." Done that too. Very
fun but not the same as what I crave.

I really just want to build a 32bit machine, compatible with the II series
hardware, and somehow manage to maintain the level of simplicity of the
hardware and software programming interfaces.  I'd just love it if I could
turn on a 32bit box with no special cards, no drives, and only a monitor and
keyboard, and be greeted by a BASIC prompt instead of the irritating "No
Operating System\nInsert boot disk and press any key."

So is this just a pipe dream?

R. King