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From: jayg@wpi.wpi.edu (Jay Giurleo)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Apple says "Mac will emulate a II"
Keywords: emulation Apple2 Mac
Message-ID: <12520@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 2 May 90 16:50:28 GMT
References: <1990Apr25.130246.26514@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> <1990Apr26.163725.8518@eng.umd.edu> <12290@wpi.wpi.edu> <12754@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Reply-To: jayg@wpi.wpi.edu (Jay Giurleo)
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester ,MA
Lines: 63

In article <12754@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) writes:


>There are some assumptions that should be challenged here.  The first is
>that "age" is relevant.  The human race has been drinking water for
>millions of years; isn't it about time we moved on to a more modern
>liquid platform?  See how silly the argument sounds when applied to
>other areas of endeavor?

  First of all, if you can devise a more modern liquid platform that could
fulfill the human-race's need for water, I'll buy the first 1000 gallons.
Secondly, if you can find me a computer that every person needs to survive, 
I'll buy the first one off the line.


>a future Apple II model could support just the ADB, SCSI, and serial ports
>and be quite successful, while it could also support just the 16-bit mode
>of the 65816 if there was any advantage to that.  It's clear that the IIGS
>simply HAD to support these 8-bit Apple II features for compatibility
>purposes, but I would consider continued support for these features to be
>negotiable, depending on what the tradeoffs were.

As far as I see it, the GS line certainly has its merits.  It can do a number
of things that make it desireable, however it is severely crippled by a
processor that is much too slow.  A graphical interface that the GS strives 
for can't survive on such a slow clock rate.  If a faster processor came
around, as I know some are being developed, then the GS would become a more
worthwhile investment.  However, even with a faster processor, I don't see
my GS doing what the other personal computers that are available today do.
For example, any type of mathematic applications might as well be fed to the
dog...  unless a math coprocessor was integrated.  Add one of those and I'd
be happy.  Add a built in SCSI like you suggested, and I'd be ecstatic.

>  I won't think personal computers have arrived
>until the day that as a routine matter of course the typical citizen has
>to check his computer for messages when he arrives home, has his bills
>paid automatically with transaction records immediately available on
>request, has his meals cooked on schedule, his social calendar maintained,
>his home entertainment center (including reading material) controlled,
>etc. etc. all through his home computer.  While a few hobbyists have
>managed some of this for themselves, the rest of the world is not geared
>up to interface with such systems.
	
    To be honest, I don't see this happening in my lifetime.  The population 
simply isn't ready, and won't be for some time.  But this really doesn't have
anything to do with the topic at hand...

>  (There are a few tentative steps
>toward it, by IRS, Postal Service, AT&T Mail, some banks, and so on.)
>Note that most of the things that need to occur to make this a reality
>have little to do with the "age" of computer system architectures.

 Well, no it doesn't have to do with the age of it, but rather how
functional the architecture is.  Besides, for a system like that,
the computer must only "know" how to do one set of instructions. For
a home computer, we're talking about a variety of things, from games 
to telecommunications.  

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peer's Law: The solution to the problem changes the problem.

---------- Jay Giurleo ------ jayg@wpi.wpi.edu -----jayg@wpi.bitnet ------