Re: Building the Modern Apple IIGS

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Marsha <menacechgo@aol.com> wrote:

>supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:
>
>> Many people in this thread expressed bewilderment at
>> my project.  Others dug up PC bashing from a Mac
>> users' perspective.
>> 
>> Basically I am doing this for the same reason that car
>> fans like to hot-rod their cars.  Because they can and
>> it is fun.
>>
>> I have also built a second IIGS using a
>> ROM 01 motherboard in a PC Tower case. 
>
>Did you call that a retro-PC, or a GS in a PC Tower case?

I call it a PowerGS actually.  ;-)  I see your point though.

>I'm not confused by your project, just that it was called the "Mdern Apple 
>IIgs", when it is really a PC in the case of a GS.

You have to understand where I'm coming from.  I have
always loved the hardware aspect of the IIGS more than
the software aspect.  At a time when the Mac was a
closed box, the IIGS was a joy to use.  With integrated
graphics, powerful integrated sound, and integrated
peripherals yet slots for expansion, the IIGS begged to
be expanded.  I had a great time doing things like
ordering a faster 65C816 from WDC, soldering sockets
and replacing oscillators.  The IIGS was so modular
from the system assembler's point of view it was a
marvel of expandability.

I took all those skills with me to the PC.  My first PC
was a Socket 7.  Being a IIGS user when Socket 7
started to die I refused to let go until it was fully
expanded.  I searched high and low until I found the
4 bank low density SDRAM DIMMs to expand my
old motherboard to an unheard of 128MB and got a
rare adapter and a rare CPU to push the speed to
600Mhz where few Socket 7 chips go.

Now I come across the nForce2 platform.  Like the
IIGS, it has a lot of built in peripheral ports.  Like
the IIGS, it also supports slots.  Like the IIGS it has
integrated graphics and a very very powerful sound
subsystem for this era (like the IIGS had for its era).
To me, the beauty of this platform is akin to the
beauty of the IIGS hardware.  And the CPUs it use
are from the rebel company.

If Apple had continued evolving the IIGS, I would
very much have liked to see it evolve into one
with something similar to an nForce2 chipset.  To
me, I that is why this is building the modern IIGS.