CDTAXW@IRISHMVS.BITNET (10/16/86)
Expect to see Applied Engineering bring out an MS-DOS card which will basically "give you an MS-DOS compatible (clone) machine". They expect to have it out within a few months at a very reasonable cost, and it is expected to run all the software that works on other compatibles (Zenith, Compaq, etc) Mark
ee161abt@sdcc18.ucsd.EDU (Grobbins) (10/17/86)
In article <8610161420.AA15953@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> CDTAXW@IRISHMVS.BITNET writes: >Expect to see Applied Engineering bring out an MS-DOS card which >will basically "give you an MS-DOS compatible (clone) machine". >They expect to have it out within a few months at a very reasonable >cost, and it is expected to run all the software that works >on other compatibles (Zenith, Compaq, etc) > >Mark Many attempts have been made at giving II's MS-DOS compatibility, most notably the Rana MS-DOS drive that Apple helped design. (I don't know if it ever hit the market, but it was announced.) Getting a II to run MS-DOS software involves attaching what is virtually an IBM PC clone to a II, and that is generally going to be more expensive than just buying a whole new IBM clone machine & sitting it down next to the Apple & connecting them by a cable for data transfer. To me, the most dubious part of Mark's posting is the "very reasonable price." Rule of thumb: never by a computer, short of a true clone, for compatibility with another machine. Somewhere, some time, when you least expect it, you're going to be let down hard. Grobbins.
binder@asd.DEC.COM ("Exit, pursued by a bear") (10/17/86)
> Rule of thumb: never by a computer, short of a true clone, for > compatibility with another machine. Somewhere, some time, when you > least expect it, you're going to be let down hard. > > Grobbins. The only absolutely true clone is a twin made by the original company - all the clones seem to fall down when you least expect it. The best PC-AT clone I know of is the VAXmate, from DEC. It's been given the "functionally compatible" rating (the highest possible) by a company that rates clones, and it even runs the Flight Simulator. But as good as it is, and it *is* nice, I've played with one, and with as much as comes built in (1 meg, Ethernet port, serial port, etc.), $4000 is a lot of bucks for a private individual to cough up for a *personal* computer without a hard disk. (That's $1600 more.) Cheers, Dick Binder (The Stainless Steel Rat) DEC Enet: ASD::BINDER UUCP: { decvax, allegra, ucbvax... }!decwrl!asd.dec.com!binder ARPA: binder%asd.DEC@decwrl.ARPA Disclaimer: I don't usually stick a disclaimer here, but because I work for DEC it must be understood that the opinions expressed in this message may or may not reflect any official or unofficial position of my employer.
hestenes@sdics.UUCP (Eric Hestenes) (10/20/86)
In article <554@sdcc18.ucsd.EDU>, ee161abt@sdcc18.ucsd.EDU (Grobbins) writes: > In article <8610161420.AA15953@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> CDTAXW@IRISHMVS.BITNET writes: > >Expect to see Applied Engineering bring out an MS-DOS card which > >will basically "give you an MS-DOS compatible (clone) machine". > >Mark > Getting a II to run MS-DOS software involves attaching what is > virtually an IBM PC clone to a II, and that is generally going to be > more expensive than just buying a whole new IBM clone machine & > sitting it down next to the Apple & connecting them by a cable for data > transfer. To me, the most dubious part of Mark's posting is the > "very reasonable price." > Grobbins. This is a bit naive. The factors that made the apple ][+,e difficult to 'compatiblize' have been fixed with the ][gs. The biggest stumbling block is the lame screen mapping on the old apples. The linear screen area on the new apple with eliminate a major problem. Other problems like memory management have also been repaired with the new hardware. It should, therefore, be significantly more simple to create a PC clone card for the gs than it was for the ][+,e. This, in turn will drop the price of the card. The "very reasonable price" should be possible because now they *won't* have to create a whole PC clone on the card, just a 8088 processor and bus interface. Previously, one had to add memory and graphics hardware, as well as deal with incompatible file formats and other problems. eric
ranger@ecsvax.UUCP (Rick N. Fincher) (10/20/86)
> > Many attempts have been made at giving II's MS-DOS compatibility, > most notably the Rana MS-DOS drive that Apple helped design. (I > don't know if it ever hit the market, but it was announced.) > Getting a II to run MS-DOS software involves attaching what is > virtually an IBM PC clone to a II, and that is generally going to be > more expensive than just buying a whole new IBM clone machine & > sitting it down next to the Apple & connecting them by a cable for data > transfer. To me, the most dubious part of Mark's posting is the > "very reasonable price." > > Rule of thumb: never by a computer, short of a true clone, for > compatibility with another machine. Somewhere, some time, when you > least expect it, you're going to be let down hard. > The biggest problem with the ranaRana system was providing IBM compatible video in the Apple. Since the //gs has 640X200 capability and keyboard interrupt, the problems should be much easier to solve. I guess we will have to wait and see. Rick > > Grobbins.