Re: Building the Modern Apple IIGS

[Declan MacLeod <declan_macleoid@hotmail.com>]

In article <20030312010703.09624.00000206@mb-cf.aol.com>,
 supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:

> Declan MacLeod <declan_macleoid@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> >I tried several approaches to replying to this, but I'm finding it hard 
> >to put into words why it doesn't 'feel' right.  I think it boils down to 
> >the fact that in my mind the GS and Windows are diametrically opposed to 
> >one another, and nothing you can do to Windows makes it "in the spirit 
> >of the GS."  If you tuck your GS-cased PC out of sight, there's now way 
> >to tell that you're not running a run-of-the-mill PC -- the user 
> >experience will be the same.  I think user experience defines the 
> >computer, not form factor, and it sounds like the user experience on 
> >this will be 100% PC.
> >
> >I think that to retain the GS spirit the proposed box would _have_ to 
> >run Linux.  The Apple II was born out of experiment and hobby and a love 
> >of tinkering, exactly like Linux...  I think this to me would be the 
> >"spirit" of the GS.
> 
> Very well put.  I think the reason we don't see this the same way
> is because I am a hardware person.  Running the Microsoft OS
> does not bother me.  To me, there is nothing diametrically opposed
> about it.  Both are windowed GUI operating environments.  As a
> PC user I am as familiar with Windows as I was with GS/OS as
> a IIGS user.  So from the OS angle, both have become transparent
> to me.
> 
> So what else is left?  The hardware.  The nForce2 hardware with
> the AMD Athlon XP processor reminds me very much of the IIGS.
> Watching the 3DMark demo reminds me very much of the FTA.
> When I work on the hardware hands-on, it reminds me of working
> on my IIGS when its hardware was new.  PC hardware and
> even the processors, at least the AMD ones, are made to tinker
> with.  Unlocking a CPU's multipliers with a pencil or conductive
> ink to overclock.  Sound fun?  Reminds me of soldering the IIGS
> accelerator boards to increase speed.  There are many other
> examples I can think of.

I guess I can respect that.  Upon first reading it wasn't obvious to me 
that the emphasis on "building the modern Apple IIgs" was on "building" 
-- i.e. your interest is less in the finished product than in the 
creation thereof.

I've experienced the same thing myself when building cars.  When you 
bring a new project home, and get grease under nails, and grease in your 
hair, and grit in your eyes, and and aching back from leaning over the 
fender, and the stench of unburned hydrocarbons in your clothes when 
your first fire it up -- man, there's nothing like it!  But eventually 
you reach the point where there's nothing left to do but drive it.  It 
almost leaves a hole in your life -- you've got nothing to do.  So, even 
though you swore "No more projects!" you start casually scanning the 
classifieds.

So I guess I can see the the building would be in the spirit of the GS, 
even if to me the end product, paradoxically, is not.