Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!ohstpy!miavx1!jwwalden
From: jwwalden@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Darc Tangent)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: GS (What you want _requires_ moving closer to the Amiga...)
Message-ID: <1166.26066ca8@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu>
Date: 20 Mar 90 22:47:20 GMT
References: <90030820242943@masnet.uucp> <1990Mar9.205605.2836@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu> <1160.2600f4c1@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> <1990Mar17.122507.18534@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu> <1162.2603c187@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> <1990Mar19.114428.19230@spectre.ccsf.cal
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In article <1990Mar19.114428.19230@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu>, toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes:
> 
>>   By built-in I assume you mean in ROM?  Why?  ROM languages are difficult
>>to update and modify.  I prefer the vareity and choice of non-ROM programming
>>languages.
> 
> I'm talking about good ol' AppleSloth BASIC. More than adequate for many small
> projects and always there before you even boot a disk. I've written cheap
> BASIC hacks to do so many things that would be a pain to do with a real
> development system but the point is that I usually need the convenience far
> more than the power. The original success of the Apple had a lot to do with
> the built in BASIC, and until I used another machine I didn't realize how
> much I appreciate it.

    I felt that way at first when I first used another machine regularly after
using my Apple II+, but I hate BASIC so much and it's difficult to put a C
compiler in ROM (and certainly to keep it up to date - I want a C++ compiler!
(currently cannot afford one)).

> 
>>   What exactly do you mean by a hands-on machine language environment?  I
>>know you are referring to the monitor, but what exactly is it that you want
>>abou it.
> 
> The fact that it is there in ROM. The O/S could be blowing big chunks but I
> can always get into the monitor and mess around _before_ I reboot. Not that
> it's that handy, but I want the convenience that the monitor and the BASIC
> in ROM provide, and the feeling of CONTROL that I never get with any other
> machine, which can simply lock up and the only option is to power cycle it.
> 

   I do like the monitor, but don't really feel it to be a necessity if I
have another software tool that will do the same thing without the ability to
mess around before you reboot (it is nice though).

>>   Will the Apple IIf ever be built?
> 
> God, I hope so. It's Apple's only real hope of competing with the Amiga because
> the Low Cost Mac won't do it well enough or soon enough. There is a chance:
> I got a letter from Ed Birss (Senior VP, Product Engineering) and I quote,
> 
> "John Sculley asked me to reply to your letter. I appreciate your suggestion
> and have forwarded it to my engineering staff."
> 
> That's about all I can expect right now. With any luck they'll look past
> the fuzzy ideas in the video section (they have the second version which
> wasn't posted here to the net; it's on America Online under AHW New Files).
> I should look over the third version and try to perfect it, and then ship
> them a fourth version with justifications for each feature, too much of
> which was sketchy on the copy they have.
> 
> Ah well, it's spring break at Caltech so guess what I'll be doing.

   Building an Apple IIf in your garage?  :-)
  
> 
> Todd Whitesel
> toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu
-- 

   To expand the original topic, do you think the Apple IIGS would have been
better if it had been built with a 68000 procesor, with a 6502/AppleII
coprocessor board?  That is what I wanted with the GS - being free from prior
systems as much as possible helps greatly in how far you can go.

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[] Darc Tangent    d(arctan(u)) = du/(1+u^2)   jwwalden@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu []
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[] "I am made from the dust of the stars, the oceans flow in my veins."       []
[]                                    - RUSH, Presto                          []
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[] "Reading legal mush can turn your brain to guacamole!" - Amiga RKM         []
[] "Objective truth is a social disease." - Nietzsche                         []
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