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Re: How will the Apple II survive?
Exegete wrote:
From what I've read, Woz wasn't too thrilled with the //e, though he
seemed to have really liked the IIgs. I've read that he hated the Aux slot.
To put the discussion in another context, I'm running a older Compaq -
Athlon 1700. It doesn't have 8 or 16 bit ISA slots, most of what one put
into a PC or PC XT it already has on it's motherboard (and more!), and
yet, I can boot an old version of DOS, and run old DOS software
(WordStar anyone?) just like I could have in 1981. Yet, it's still a PC,
with hard/software legacy that goes back over 20 years. The genius of
it's design is still there, even if it's been extended and expanded to
the point that I can't put an ISA serial card into the machine.
In a similar fashion, G5s running OSX are still Macs, though they are
perhaps less connected to their roots than current PCs.
Woz did some amazing stuff in his design, but, of course, try
programming the video in assembler - it will make your eyes cross!
What the IIgs did was to build and expand on his design. I, like others,
would love to see that tradition continue. I would love to see a 32 bit
version of the IIgs with modern video and sound. And it would still be a
"II". It won't happen, I know. But one can dream.
BTW - "purists" would hate making a hotrod out of a Model T, but
hotrodding a "T" is fully in keeping with American ingenuity. Ditto for
computers. I have "pure" IIs, and IIs that are hotrods - I love them both.
I'm all for "rodding".
I have mused sometimes about creating a 32-bit extension of the '816,
adding it, plus VGA/SVGA support, plus an enhanced multitasking
backwards-compatible-to-GS/OS-and-able-to-run-ProDOS-8-tasks-in-a-window
OS to the IIgs, that would be the ideal machine for me! (Especially if
it were given the tools to connect to the 'modern' Internet, i.e.,
ADSL/cable modem dialers, Web browser, e-mail/news, IRC, ... - and the
ProDOS 8 in a window functionality would be nice for proggies like
AppleWorks.
Pipe dream to be sure, but I'd love to see it.
-uso.