Re: Apple IIe TCP-IP w/ LANceGS Card

["Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill" <byron@desnoyers.org>]

On Wed, 24 Dec 2003, Rob Steinmetz wrote:
> > the IIe provided fewer distractions.  This is a sentiment I
> > have seen expressed by others.
>
> In what way? Is is the less cluttered, simple interface? or the
> fact that you don't have any games for your IIe? I could achieve
> a similar interface very easily on most computers simply by
> using the command line interface, and use one frequently.

It depends upon the person.  Quite often, people are more productive
after removing the games from their computer -- or having somebody
remove the games for them.

Your point about command line environments is an interesting one,
but there are many differences between them.  The modern Unix shell
provides many more features than "comparable" environments on the
Apple II, such as GNO or Orca shell.  This implies that modern Unix
environments are more distracting.  Alternatively, GS/OS and earlier
versions of Mac OS provide fewer distractions since feature bloat
was not as much of an issue back then.

I've also found that the lack of multitasking provides an excellent
token barrier.  I'm more likely to remain focused if switching tasks
will create more work!

Yes, this is a self-discipline issue.  I think that Gareth Jones
summed it up nicely in the context of writing:

    I'm sure that we all know people who never complete a writing
    project because they may write a paragraph, sentence, or word,
    look at it, replace it, look at it again ... People like this
    need the discipline of actually completing the writing before
    they go back to improve it.

Even though self-discipline is a great concept, I would rather have
tools which don't provide temptation.  (BTW, Gareth Jones' website
has lots of Apple II stuff :-)

> I think fun is one of the reasons I still play with my apples,
> and want to do new things with them.

Yes, and fun is a *practical* reason to keep an Apple II.

> I'm glad you still find a IIe useful and productive.

I'm still trying to figure out the useful bit.  It was very useful
prior to graduating because my University provided a free shell
account.  Now I know that I can use GS/OS and a dialup ISP, but it
is more expensive than ADSL (which is shared with my roommates).

Byron.