B5U@PSUVMB.BITNET (10/21/86)
I have seen the future of color graphics - it is the Apple IIGS.
I have seen the future of computerized sound - it is the Apple IIGS.
All I can say is Wow. Totally stunned and destroyed. Awesome. Great, even.
First, the pictures I have seen in A+ and other magazines do not show the
computer's size to scale. It is substantially smaller than the //e, almost
the size of the //c. Tiny in comparison to say, an inferior IBM (ok, that is
redundant and repetitive; sorry :-)) ).Yet, still as expandable as a //e
(the IIGS I saw had a 1-meg expansion installed; Mac + owners BEWARE{I should
know, I am one}).
Next, the monitor. RGB monitor, slightly bigger than the //c monochrome.
Color, unbelievable. Amiga owners will be crying on their keyboards if they
see the demo I saw. The hi-res graphics were beautiful; the super hi-res are
simply something to bee seen. The red flower graphic that you can't believe in
A+ simply leaps off the screen. No blurs, no resolution gaps, no fill-in lines
(like all the complaints about the //e graphics). When you think it is just a
photograph in the magazines IS JUST A PHOTOGRAPH, BUT ON THE SCREEN !!
Anything else, you will just have to see (including the hi-res sax player).
Speaking of the sax player, lets not forget the S in IIGS. The computer we
were playing with (thanks to Mace Electronics, State College (yes, Nancy, this
means you)) had two BOSE 6" X 9" speakers (approved by Apple; it had their
logo on them) mounted on the dest in special clamps. The demo opened with a
sax/jass riff that blew me away! And at an astounding volume and clarity (ah,
digital sound). Later, when showing off educational programs, it said hello in
English, Spanish, Italian, and French, using different voices. When a magazine
said the IIGS could deliver Kennedy's inaugural IN HIS OWN VOICE, they meant
it !
Lastly, the set up. IIGS motherboard. NO SCREWS, everything pulls right out
(except for some chips),including the powerpack. 1-meg expansion card inside,
IIGS 3.5 drives in slots 5 and 6. You daisychain unidisk 5.25 or duodisk 5.25
into the 800k drives, but they must be the last in the chain. Prodos 8 (the
version on the demo) will support six drives; Prodos 16 may support more. The
new mouse isn't bad, but the button is flush-mounted and the slope is MUCH
different than the Mac; it will be up to personal taste. The new keyboard is
excellent; symmetric with a better fell than the //e or Mac, with enough of a
response by feel and sound to be confortable without the noise of a //c board
(or the mousetrap sound of a you-know-who keyboard). I want one to replace my
Mac + keyboard.
I really like the IIGS; it is a fine sucessor to the //e, and just what the
market needs (until they can put those graphics and sound into my Mac + { hint
hint, Apple, if the rumors on net.micro.mac saying that the color Mac is on
its way aren't true}).Any questions, comments, complaints, etc., use Email.
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George A. Brownfield
Aerospace Engineering '87
The Pennsylvania State University
Bitnet: GAB @PSUECL
UUCP: {akgua,allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4}!psuvax1!psuvmb.bitnet!b5u
"We don't get laid much, but we're building the future"
-Engineering majors, according to Robin Williams
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