Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucselx!ucsd!nosc!crash!crash!pro-sol.cts.com!mdavis
From: mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com (Morgan Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Apple System 7 (Mac system7)
Message-ID: <1991May18.055609.2229@crash.cts.com>
Date: 18 May 91 05:56:09 GMT
Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA
Lines: 47

In-Reply-To: message from ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com

} I don't think any of the features of System7 hold any
} relevance to Apple II users, not even TrueType at this time, certainly not
} IAC, balloon help or 32-bit clean ROMs.
} I'll chill out it a few minutes, but damn if this doesn't peeve me!

Whoa, cool off.

You're right about 90% of System 7 not having much impact on IIGS users,
except you left out the 10% that does: File Sharing.

If you have a Mac nearby running System 7, your IIGS can access its files as
if the Mac were just an external hard disk attached to your IIGS.  Your IIGS
can store and retrieve all types of files on the Mac's drive.  Sure, you
could do this before System 7, but it required a dedicated Macintosh to act
as an AppleShare file server.  Now, any standalone Mac can be used to do Mac
things while doing file serving for a IIGS in the background.

This has a tremendous advantage for Apple II developers who have grown tired
of less-than-adequate native development tools, and who have discovered how
incredibly powerful a Mac with MPW can be for creating Apple II and IIGS
software.  Before, you could build your application on the Mac, and then
transfer it over to a ProDOS 3.5" disk, to be placed into your IIGS to test
the code.  But with File Sharing under System 7, you can build the application
on the Mac and run it from the IIGS right off the Mac's drive.  No floppy
shuffle involved.

This may have benefit for non-developers as well.  Using a Mac's drive to
share files with a IIGS or IIe means that you can use a decent hard
disk backup program on the Mac to backup your Apple II files -- in
the background, too.

So what's a Mac got to do with Apple II computing?  Everyday, I'm reminded
that it is an integral part of my Apple II software development -- much in
the sense that a good programmer's calculator (i.e., HP-16C) has been a great
help to me in writing Apple II assembly.  Good tools come in all sizes, and
the Mac is turning out to be one of the best software development platforms
you'll find anywhere.  This makes it easier for us to create GREAT Apple II
products.  The better our tools get (e.g., the Coming Of Seven), the better
the results of our work.

Don't knock it.

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