F.Ewing.Apollo@YALE-CS.YALE.ARPA (05/11/84)
In the new Softalk Magazine issue (May 84), some Apple //c specs are explained (although not into incredible depth and I would just like to round up some of the points that Margot Comstock Tommervik wrote about in her copyrighted article. Hopefully, this will reduce speculation on the workings and the layout of the machine itself to the net. 1. When I said earlier that the Apple service rep that I knew said that the 'c' in the name Apple //c meant 65C02 and not 'compact', that was his opinion, not mine. And since he works repairing them anyway, I mearly reported it to the net, although I belive that 'c' means 'compact' also. It seems that he was wrong as most publications (including Softalk) are saying that 'c' means 'compact' so I guess he was wrong. Sorry Ron. 2. Basic Specs. The Apple //c is a full Apple//e smashed into a size of about 11" x 12" x 2". It contains 128K, double-hires capability, eighty-columns, a full //e confiquration keyboard (although the keys are smaller and not full- stroke, but managable and much better than the PCjr) and upper and lower case standard (even accepted by Applesoft!!). It weighs about seven pounds which is about a third of the weight of the PCjr and has a built in handle for transportability. The rumor around Appleland is that whoever was in charge to design the //c went into Sears and found the smallest briefcase that he could find and proceeded to build the //c to fit inside of it. 3. I/O. Being as small as it is, the //c obviosly dooesn't have any slots, but it does have 2 serial ports (RS-232), an extended video port for RF-modulator, RGB or liquid crystal display, a composite video port for regular monitors, an external disk drive port, and a mouse/joystick port. Earlier, it was posted to this bboard that the old Disk ][ drives could not fit the new port for the //c and they wondered if a second drive has been developed. Well, there is a second drive and it is a half-height design that looks very nice beside the //c as they have both the same basic external design. Just above the keyboard are a couple of thin, apparently heat-sensitive buttons which are a 80/40 column switch (pokes to the old soft-switches and PR#3 still work but this switch is for the user's sake) and a button marked "keyboard" which toggles the normal QWERTY set and the DVORAK standard. There are two lights on the right side above the keyboard, also thin which are for power and disk-in-use. The Reset Key has been moved to the left of the 80/40 column key in a slanted box shape. Presumably, it takes the same combination of Control-Reset to actually reset the machine. Although the alticle does not specify, I suspect that the two serial ports are logically in slots 1 and 2 as mosts if not all Apple users have their printer cards in slot 1 and their modem cards in slot 2. The mouse probably paralles some other slot that Apple has chosen to use (either slot 4 or slot 7, probably slot 7 for the eighty cloumn cards is logically in slot 3 and the old Apple Graphics tablet defaulted to slot 5. Maybe the mouse also needs the video signal (which is only available in slot 7 (PURE SPECULATION)). The disk drive controller is always in slot 6. I suspect that most users will not miss the absent slots as there will be two serial ports to use and the mouse option is there also, which means less cards to buy (another cost consideration and card compatibility lessens as a factor as software companies begin writing software to take full advantage of the //c (the serial ports shouldn't really have compatibilty problems anyway). The built-in disk drive is not a Sony 3.5 inch design like sopme people think (That would be a huge software compatability problem), but instead is a standard 5.25 inch half-height which fits in snugly into the design and has its opening on the right side of the machine. 4. Other ramblings. The //c does not have an internal power supply but instead an external one that weighs a pound and is about the size of a small brick. Not having an internal power supply makes the possibility of using the //c with a battery pack much more feasible and it (the power supply) costs about fourty bucks. No word on when a battery pack will be made or if it will be even made by Apple......The flat LCD screen that has been promised for September delivery weighs less than a pound and the carrying case that Apple sells for the //c already has a pocket for the monitor. It is standard LCD black and white flat screen and supports 80 x 40 clomns for text and 560 x 192 for double-hires graphics. It will work for everything although fast hires graphics will leave trails on screen. The only thing the article doesn't mention specifically is price although I've heard that it is somewhere in the $1200-1300 range ($1295?). That may make a $300 dollar C64 seem very inviting but when one adds its $600 disk drive and one takes into account the memory difference (which Commodore has been bombarding us with in its ad campaigns for some time about other machines--128K v. 64K), then the price doesn't seem too bad at all (although it could be a little less). Also, the disk drive PROM has been slightly changed so that if there is no disk in the drive upon boot or the drive door isn't closed, instead of spinning blinding into eternity, a message appears on the screen, "Check disk drive". And of course, the ProDOS operating system is standard. 5. For Apple purists. Apple is changing the way they make their machines. The color of the //c is NOT the traditional beige found on all their previous models but instaed is oan off-white oyster color with a beige keyboard. Also, the old keys with white plain lettering on ][s, ][+s, and early //es is gone replaced by thin black italicized lettering. This is a change for the better from the new //e keyboard lettering which looks borrowed from the IBM PC (small black lettering in the key's upper left hand corner). However, I still like the old ][+ keystyle. Oh well, progress I guess. That about rounds it up. It still runs about ninety percent of the old ][+ family software and just about all of the //e's software (that isn't protected by ROM checks, as there have been slight changes to a few rountines. Time will tell on how soon it blows the PCjr out of the market, but from indications of the PCjr's sales, it just might be doing that to itself already. Word is from the big blue that the PCjr will soon receive some improvements to memory (512K), a new keyboard, and other enhancements so I guess we can't count IBM out yet. "Beam me up, Mr. Scott" --Ricky-- EWING@YALE.ARPA soon leaving the net temporarily until school starts next semester. -------
gwyn@Brl-Vld.ARPA (05/12/84)
From: Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn@Brl-Vld.ARPA> The latest issue of A+ also covers the Apple //c. Some additional points beyond what you covered: - The power supply input is 12V with a wide tolerance, making the automotive electrical system a good power source. - The 80/40 col soft switches etc. are supposed to be improved over the //e, although there are indications that the same custom logic (MMU & I/O control) chips are used. I have to admit that the //e is tricky to use in 80-column mode. - Since the Apple Mouse II likes to live in slot 4 (this is what the available software defaults to), that would be my guess also for the Apple //c mouse slot. I have actually played with a //c for a while and the keyboard is satisfactory.
geller@rlgvax.UUCP (David Geller) (05/14/84)
I forget exactly who said it and when but the person was quite
sure that the IBM PCjr would be extremely popular with two or
three years. He continued to say that the PCjr would be one of
the most popular computers of all time.
Idle speculation about who is going to blow who out of the water
is silly. Apple is doing well, as is Commodore, IBM, etc.
David P. Geller
Computer Consoles, Inc.
{seismo}!rlgvax!geller Office Systems Group
11490 Commerce Park Drive
Reston, VA 22091
703-648-3483
(...of course these are my OWN views!)