todd@islenet.UUCP (05/02/84)
It takes a while for new items to hit Hawaii so if this is old news for all
of you, PLEASE NO FLAMES!.
I had a chance to play with the new Apple //c for about an hour today. Here
are some facts and impressions. This is over and above what has already been
discussed previously in net.micro.apple
I/O ports
Composite video out (RCA type jack)
RGB video out (DB-15)
External disk drive DB jack
Two DIN type serial ports (one assigned to SLOT 1 the other to SLOT 2)
speeds up to 19.2K baud supported
Joystick/Mouse port (DB-9)...Apparently interrupts are supported on
this joystick port unlike the II+ and //e
Earphone (miniplug) with volume control (speaker output also controlled
by the volume control)
The keyboard layout is the same as the //e. However, the keys are flatter
(not chiclet though) and have what might be called "half-travel." A switch
on the case can flip the keyboard state between QWERTY mode and DVORAK mode
(nice touch!).
The CPU is the CMOS 65C02. In addition to being a low power device, the
65C02 has more instructions available than the 6502. Among them are some I
have long waited for:
PHX ;push X reg to stack
PHY ;push Y reg to stack
PLX ;pull off stack to X reg
PLY
and also additional bit field commands.
The soft switching from 80 column mode to 40 column mode is much much cleaner
than the //e soft switch in that direction. No funny business like on the
//e. And yes, PR#0 and PR#3 will switch the modes just like before.
The disk drive seems a little noisy during zero track seeking but is quiet at
other times. The unit seems to run fairly cool. Although the main unit is
small and light at approx 7 lbs., the power transformer is a heavy 5 lb box
with a think cable connecting it to the //c bringing it to 12 lbs.
The flat screen display is supposed to be available soon for around $150
which brings the //c w/ display price to $1445 + tax (if any where you live).
If no major defects turn up in the initial weeks, I plan to get my //c
sometime in July or August. More then.....Anyone brave enough to be the
first on the block and report more on this machine?....todd
Todd Ogasawara -- University of Hawaii -- Dept. of Psychology
{ dual,vortex,uhpgvax }!islenet!todd