On Thu, 4 Apr 2024, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
Well, The SoftCard and the Language Card (why did they call it that?)
both go for $100 a piece. The one is a IIe, not a \\e.
Was that "IIe", "][e", or "//e"?
There are
some on eBay now for more than $2000. I wouldn't expect that but I
do find it interesting that all the stuff I have is worthless unless
someone else is selling it. :-)
Speculation:
The "Language Card" could be populated with a fancy BASIC (what Kurtz and
Kemeny called "street BASIC"), OR COULD BE, at least in theory, populated
with other languages, hence the name "Language Card". I am not aware of
any successful examples of it ever being populated with anything other
than BASIC.
The "Soft Card" was Microsoft's first significant venture into hardware.
It was incredibly successful, and Microsoft's largest revenue source in
1980. At one point, somebody at Apple said that 20% of AppleII owners had
one.
"The SoftCard was Paul Allen's idea.[5] Its original purpose was to
simplify porting Microsoft's computer-language products to the Apple
II.[6] The SoftCard was developed by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer
Products (SCP). SCP built prototypes,[7] Don Burtis of Burtronix
redesigned the card, and California Computer Systems manufactured it for
Microsoft.[8] Unsure whether the card would sell, Microsoft first
demonstrated it publicly at the West Coast Computer Faire in March
1980.[2][" - Wikipedia
It had a Z80, and a copy of CP/M. I suspect that the name "Soft Card"
might be due to its intent to open the Apple to CP/M SOFTware,
particularly software that Micorsoft had originally written in 8080/Z80.
There were rumors that an IBM person had one in a personal Apple, and that
that caused IBM, when they went to Microsoft for BASIC, to assume that
they could get CP/M (CP/M-86) through Microsoft. When Microsoft sent them
to DRI for CP/M, IBM and DRI had a "culture clash" and IBM went back to
Microsoft (long story, with some disagreements about details)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
