Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!mephisto!rutgers!umn-d-ub!cs.umn.edu!sialis!gorf!rms
From: rms@gorf.UUCP (Roger M. Shimada)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Hardware idea (was: Proposed Amiga killer)
Summary: Wanna make it big in K-12?
Keywords: Education, Apple //, Apple II
Message-ID: <112@gorf.UUCP>
Date: 23 Mar 90 13:40:49 GMT
References: <35090@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: rms@gorf.mn.org (Roger M. Shimada)
Organization: Programmers Against Bureaucratic Incompetence
Lines: 59

In article <35090@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> mitchell@janus.Berkeley.EDU (Evan Mitchell) writes:
>I asked this guy to e-mail me his paper on what he describes over in
>comp.sys.apple as his "Amiga 500 killer."  It looks interesting, but would
>you buy one?  I think he really wants an Amiga, but doesn't want to admit
>it! :-).  Anyway, I was just curious because he kept hyping this up as
>an amiga killer...

>[ Apple // pipe dream deleted]

Funny you should mention this.  I agree, the fellow seems to want an
Amiga.  But it would have to run his existing Apple // software.

I've been thinking recently of posting an idea to the net just to see
how the response would be.  Here goes....

If anyone wants to break into the educational computing K-12 market,
their machine has to have Apple //e compatibility.  That's it.  No
excuses.  (I would give a dissertation on why, but let it rest at
that the Apple // dominates that market.)

So, the idea is: could someone build an //e compatible SOTS box for
the 500 with ethernet as an option?  It would be ideal if it could
work like the Bridgecards do.  (I.e., works in parallel with the
Amiga, not have to take over the machine.)  Why ethernet?  Well, most
Apple //s in schools these days are found in labs.  (Besides, the
better Amiga applications are bound to be big!  :-)

I'm talking long term potential here.  But time might be running out;
Apple recently started shipping their DMA SCSI cards for the Apple //.
(This is hardly a radical idea to those who are Amiga literate, but
this move does indicate some interest from Apple about taking the
Apple // more seriously.)  The Apple //gs is hardly an impressive
machine, and if Commodore would give an Apple // SOTS box some
thought, they would actually have a chance of getting the K-12 market.
Then there are always rumors of the low-cost Mac, but if it won't
run Apple // software, educators won't buy many of them.  This is a
project with a high initial cost but I think it would have a good
chance of doing well.

My idea stems from an article which I believe was in the February
issue of Electronic Learning.  They had a sidebar which described the
computer educators would like to have.  Highlights were:

	Cost: $900 - $1400 (I assume a base system price)

	Apple // software compatibilty

	Color graphics

	Ability to run some type of Hypercard-type software

	etc.,

Which to me sounded like an Amiga 500 with an Apple // emulation box.

All comments are welcome.

--
Roger M. Shimada	{amdahl|hpda}!bungia!gorf!rms		rms@gorf.mn.org