Re: What are the best sound and video cards?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

"S M Trimble" <fate7@removespamswbell.net> wrote:

>Hello,
>Any opinions as to what the best sound and video cards for the IIGS are?  I
>get the impression from the FAQ that the Mockingboard Rev D is a good sound
>card... Are the video cards available for the IIGS currently for PC monitor
>compatibility?

Mockingboard would be a downgrade for the IIGS.  The
onboard sound is the best in the Apple II world, add-in
cards included.  The IIGS is like the nForce2 platform
from nVidia*, the top integrated motherboard of the
Apple II world.  If I remember correctly, the Mockingboard
had four, maybe six FM voices whereas the IIGS's
Ensoniq chip had 32 wavetable oscillators commonly
paired in 16 voices, one reserved for timing.

[*Note: I do not mean to say the IIGS is equivalent to
an nForce2 but that it occupied the same position in
the Apple II world during its day relative to the what
the nForce2 occupies today.]

There was only one add-in graphics card for the IIGS,
released near the end of the IIGS market's life.  It was
called the Second Sight.  You can connect an SVGA
monitor with it.  There was one game for it.  There was
a picture viewer (JPEG, etc.) which allowed you to
view the pictures same as on a PC.  But that was it.

I still have my card.  It works but the SVGA modes
were not well supported because a tool-patch was
never made to enable the modes to be taken advatage
of by existing IIGS software.

I would not have bought the card if I knew support
would dry up months after I bought it.  If the tool
patch had been completed, it would be a different
story.

>I currently have a old AE Sonic Blaster with a Roger Wagner HyperStudio and
>am using the basic RGB video port for video.

Stick with these.  I had a similar set up, minus
the stereo card.  This is really the best setup you
can hope for.