[Apple ][]
> there was never comparable and it remained so for a LONG time. You can
> STILL use it today! I mean really use it, not just power up like you do
> with TRS-80s and Pets.
You can still use PETs for serious work - I fired one up the other day to
test an IEEE-488 interfaced instrument. The PET with its built-in Basic
was the quickest way to do that (rather than to say write some Pascal on
the PERQ, sort out the lack of secondary addressing in the system-supplied
routines, and get it all to run).
To try to defuse this Apple ][ flamefest....
I was worn out last night. I'd spent most of the weekend fixing a
laserprinter (an Apple, as it happens, but the problem was in the
Canon-designed engine - the Apple bits worked fine). So I probably said a
few things a bit more strongly than I should have done.
The Apple 2 is :
An historically significant machine. No question about it. As was said in
the bit that I deleted, Visicalc was the first (popular?) spreadsheet.
That alone makes it an important machine
An 'interesting' (even if I don't like it, I'll agree it's interesting)
design. Some of Woz's designs are, well, not what I would do, but I can
understand the motivation behind them. This doesn't mean I have to like
them.
Still useful 20 years after it was first produced. Mind you, that applies
to 99% of all classic computers :-)
A machine that belongs on this list. Don't think I am flaming anyone here
for talking about it.
And lots more besides.
One thing that is possibly relevant is that I don't have _any_ modern
computers. No Pentiums - my latest PC is a much-hacked PC/AT with the
original type 2 motherboard. If I want to do some computing I use one of
my older machines - the PC, the PERQ, the CoCo, the PDP8, the PDP11, etc.
So I like machines that are 100% reliable (and my Apples never have been -
maybe I should sort out what the heck is going on), and that have hardware
I can get amongst, modify, etc.
>
> Long live the Apple II
Agreed... I may not use my Apples for serious work any more, but I have no
intention of getting rid of them
>
> enrico
>
>
>
--
-tony
ard12_at_eng.cam.ac.uk
The gates in my computer are AND,OR and NOT, not Bill
Received on Mon Jun 23 1997 - 09:52:06 BST