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From: davisp@skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu (Palmer Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: The HP 48 Programmer's ToolKit (review, long)
Summary: Consider the case of the Macintosh....
Keywords: Macintosh, hp48sx, green fuzzy bananas
Message-ID: <1990Sep27.223119.3068@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
Date: 27 Sep 90 22:31:19 GMT
References: <57750@microsoft.UUCP> <1990Sep26.181705.20455@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <6527@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU>
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I'll do everyone a favor by not quoting the rather large volume of material
in the thread up to now.  To briefly summarize, the Programmer's ToolKit got
flamed for using magic system hacks but not revealing how they worked.  A
reply then defended HP's reticence about documenting 48sx internals by 
comparing the 48sx to the early IBM PC and postulating that HP would have
clone trouble if the 48sx were more open.  (If I've misunderstood anybody's
points, please correct me now....)

Has anybody here ever worked on a Macintosh?  Nobody would accuse Apple of 
being "open" with Macintosh internals, yet there's an enormous volume of
documentation (Inside Macintosh, et al.) available that gives programmers
enough information to intelligently design non-trivial software.  There are
no Macintosh clones on the market today, even though a group of disgruntled
Apple employees gave away commented ROM sources.  (Yes, I know about machines
like the Colby; they don't really count as clones since Apple gets royalties
from them.)  The 48sx has not only proprietary ROMs but a proprietary
processor as well; nobody's going to be able to even attempt to clone it
without getting mobbed by a swarm of angry lawyers.  That's not likely to
change because HP decides to publish the instruction timings or a memory map.
For an even better example, look at the Franklin Ace... and remember that the
Apple II came with a circuit diagram!

-- PTD --


--
Palmer T. Davis                 |  davisp@scl.cwru.edu  -OR-  ptd2@po.cwru.edu
Case Western Reserve University | {att,sun,decvax,uunet}!cwjcc!skybridge!davisp
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Wake up and smell the cat food in your bank account.  |     Life is short.