info@pro-carolina.UUCP (Info Apple) (10/22/87)
The reason for the cheap price for Merlin 8/16 is that APW/ORCA is already the defacto standard development system for the Apple IIgs. Merlin 8/16 is basically a slightly modified version of Merlin Pro. It uses non-standard OP codes (like LDAL and STAL), does not have access to procedures written in Pascal or C, does not run under ProDOS 16, requires booting into ProDOS 16 to test ProDOS 16 programs, can not take advantage of public domain utilities that run under P16 shells, and basically doesn't take advantage of the IIgs environment. It will probably be ok for dabblers but for people who want to mix languages and operate under a real ProDOS 16 environment, Merlin 8/16 will probably be a disappointment. UUCP: [ ihnp4 sdcsvax nosc ] !crash!pnet01!pro-sol!pro-carolina!delton ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-sol!pro-carolina!delton@nosc.mil INET: delton@pro-sol.cts.com
wilhoit@artsvax.UUCP (Van Theip) (10/26/87)
I think it's worth pointing out some of the positive features of Merlin 8/16. Unlike any other 65816 assembler _I_ know of, Merlin 16 runs on and takes full advantage of an Apple //e or //c retrofitted witha 65802 or68516 chip. There may not be droves of owners of such machines, but I'm one of them, and Merlin 8/16 is the only way to go.....