AWCTTYPA@UIAMVS.BITNET ("David A. Lyons") (05/23/88)
Curt Nelson says: >I often hear about an enhanced //e. What is the difference between a standard >//e and an enhanced //e? First off, note that any //e you have bought (new) in the last several years is already "enhanced"; I don't have an exact date. There are 3 differences: The original //e used a 6502 processor; the enhanced //e has a 65C02 processor, which has a number of additional instructions available to machine language programs. (They don't let you do anything you couldn't already do, but they let you do it more efficiently. Programs written to take advantage of the 65C02 will not work on the original //e (or on a II or II+ with a 6502) unless they take special pains to check which processor is available and use a different part of the program depending on which one is available--I don't know of any software that does this. Difference 2: The enhanced //e has a revised ROM. The major differences are: Applesoft accepts lowercase letters in commands (they get converted to upper- case when you list your program back out--the reserved words and variables, I mean); (2) the 80-column routines were speeded up quite a bit (scrolling is faster & doesn't disable interrupts for nearly as long). Difference 3: The enhanced //e has a new character generator chip which provides 32 "MouseText" characters in text mode. These are little "Apple" symbols, arrows, edges of boxes, and other things handy for text-based window/menu/mouse programs. Note: To determine whether you have an enhanced //e or not, look at the top line of the screen when you power on or hit Apple-Ctrl-Reset. If it says "Apple ][" you have an UNenhanced (old) //e. If it says "Apple //e" you have an enhanced //e. I believe the upgrade to an enhanced //e is still available for $70 from your Apple dealer. Oh--there is also a mini-assembler and a two-byte search command available in the enhanced //e's monitor (the CALL-151 monitor for machine language addicts, not the video monitor ;-). --David A. Lyons a.k.a. DAL Systems PO Box 287 | North Liberty, IA 52317 BITNET: AWCTTYPA@UIAMVS CompuServe: 72177,3233 GEnie mail: D.LYONS2