douglas davis wrote:
> Is the Apple IIGS the "Top Dog" work horse of the group,
> or is the Apple III deserving of high honors???
First of all, nobody will lagh at you, so don't fear :-) . Everybody has
to start learning sometime.
Maybe this feature table will help you judge:
Apple IIe Apple IIgs Apple III
Launched 1983 1986 1980
Dropped 1993 1990 1984
Processor 6502 65816 6502
8 bit, 1 Mhz 16 bit, 2.8 Mhz 8 bit, 2 Mhz
Memory 64k to 128k* 256k to 8m* 128k to 256k
Video 560x192x16 640x200x16 560x192x16
280x192x6 320x200x3200 280x192x6
Sound 1 bit, 1 voice 8 bit, 16 vcs. 1 bit, 1 voice
O.S. ProDOS (just a GS/OS (graphic SOS (complete
disk operating OS a la MacOS) OS, including
system) console/device
IO, installable
drivers and memory
management)
Compatibility II+ II+, IIe II+ (limited)
(I'm sure of most of the data; however, I may be wrong in some points
related to the Apple III)
The cyphers marked with * are the maximum memory values supported by
Apple. In fact, both the IIe and the IIgs could be expanded well beyond
their cupported limits, the IIe to 1 Mb and the IIgs to 12 Mb, with
third party cards. The IIe and IIgs were very easily expandable machines
with their seven several-purpose slots, and thus could be greatly
expanded beyond these specs. There were 8 Mhz accelerators for both the
IIe and IIgs, 65816 processor boards to enable the IIe to run 16 bit
software (not GS/OS compatible!), sound cards that allowed stereo FM
sound for the IIe and stereo PCM out for the IIgs, SCSI cards to connect
hard drives, tape units, CD-ROMs and ZIPs, and even a video card for the
IIe (the Video Overlay Card) that used 32 kb of memory to emulate all
the advanced video modes of the IIgs.
As you see, the IIe, even when its basic configuration falls very behind
the III, is a lot more powerfull and current machine. The difference is
that the III was designed as a bussines machine (thus being a powerfull,
expensive computer departing from the hacker machine the II were at that
time), and the IIe as a refurbishment of the II+, the best-selling home
and education computer (also used in bussiness, of course). The IIgs is
a horse of different color: its graphical interface, advanced graphics
modes and greather power (both in processor speed and memory size) make
it a 19-year-old that is capable of doing current tasks, as browsing the
web or editing complex documents.
Oh, and btw, while many people thinks of the IIgs as the "next step" of
the IIe, many others (me included) think that there are two different
Apple II lines, the 8-bit (II, II+, IIe, IIc) and the 16-bit (the
different revisions of the IIgs). The Apple III, even if it has an Apple
II+ emulation mode, is not an Apple II.
> Or is one of the earlier models able to do more with
> available software ie utilities, education, and
> entertainment?
The Apple III is a bussiness machine (so, out of office packages, few
software were made), and it sold poorly due to its high price and
reliability problems in the very first series, so, as you may expect,
there is few interesting software. And a machine is as usuable as the
software it can run.
The Apple IIe and IIgs, on the other hand, are machines that have a
extensive software library of all kinds, maybe the greatest for a
machine of their age, and even now, many people continue to create new
programs for them. You can get fresh software on eBay easily. And, as
many of the companies that made the Apple II series' software back in
the 80s don't exist anymore, there are large online archives of Apple II
software, holding gigabytes of tiny "disk images" (about 50-100 kb
each). It isn't truely legal to download and use these images if you
don't have the original disk and the company hasn't released the
copyright, but as I say, almost all of these software isn't sold
anymore, so IMHO you won't harm anybody.
> Last but not least are there any online or mail order
> sources for hardware, software, and accessories???
This mailing list is a very great source for all your needs. Just ask.
Another place where you can look is eBay (http://www.ebay.com/). I have
greatly expanded my IIe until all seven slots are filled of usefull
stuff purchasing on eBay. From time to time, Sun Remarketing
(http://www.sunrem.com/) comes with hardware offers at reasonable
prices, but they are often way in the expensive side of things :-( .
Other people may direct you to other forums and classified ad sites
focused on the Apple II - I can't tell you of these by hearth.
Greetings,
Antonio Rodríguez (Grijan)
<ftp://grijan.cjb.net:21000/>
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