EWING@TRINCC.BITNET.UUCP (02/26/87)
As a student consultant in college for Apple Co., I feel that some
of Colin Jenkins comments on the worth of the IIgs upgrade are incorrect.
1) Yes the upgrade does not include a new keyboard, mouse (a mistake in
my own personal opinion), keypad or 3.5 inch disk drive. But the as
for the main piece of hardware (the 3.5" drive), this is not included
with the purchase of the CPU and would set you back the extra funds
anyway. And since the CPU goes for $999 retail, the price difference
decreases dramatically.
2) Its true that you might as well chuck your old auxillary RAM cards
down the toilet (keep the RAM chips of course). But this was done
so that most IIgs owners wouldn't be saddled with old hardware that
the 65816 couldn't address directly. Not to mention of the various
proprietary ways to address the RAM card that Applied Engineering,
Checkmate Tech, Legend Systems, and God knows who else have developed
over the years. So it was best for everyone to wipe the slate clean
a start anew. Also, some kinds of cards just weren't meant to run
in this baby at all. Accelerators, phamtom slot multifunction cards,
cracking cards and others which capatilized on weird or unusual aspects
of the Apple bus just weren't meant to work on the new machine. There
is only SO MUCH compatability that any system can endure in a major
upgrade (as Amiga owners are finding out now), and such is life. We
should be thankful for the cards that we can retain.
3) One extra reason to keep my //e cabinet around is the miniscule size
of the Frogdesigned IIgs case. Its too small for my CP/M card, and
I suspect that there will be no place to put my AppleCat 212 board
that now resides happily on my //e power supply.
4) I take great offense to the statement "They [Apple] are ripping us off
incredibly". Apple is certainly not in the bargain-basement computer
business and shall probably always try to steer clear of this, but by
the same token, cannot offord to price gouge the very customers who
built the company. There is a reason for everything in Apple's strategy.
Take for example, the recall of the //e motherboards once the IIGS
board is installed. This is done purely for the reason that we don't
want the //e ROMS to magically start showing up in clones, sold by
some unscruplelous dealer. Some of the reasoning behind all of what
Apple does may be hazy for some of us, but it does make sense in the
long run, really. I personally, can't wait for my IIgs upgrade kit
to arrive.
Richard Ewing
Apple Student Consultant
Trinity College
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