Mitch.Alland@f421.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Mitch Alland) (11/03/90)
I've heard on the CompuServe Unix forum that there's a company that makes a Mac cartridge (board?) for the Atari: " I'm the one who posted that earlier message. The company is Gadgets By Small, and the designer of the cartridge (called the SPECTRE GCR) is Dave Small. He went thru a semi-hell developing the whole concept so I wouldn't recommend that anyone start from scratch, but he may be interested in doing a NeXT version. If you think there would be enough of a demand, I could give him a call and pass along any interest. BTW, I showed the cart. to Neil Shapiro, the MAUG sysop and he said it was the BEST emulation he's ever seen. We tried it with a variety of software and he said that except for the lousy ATARI keyboard, he almost forgot he wasn't using a real MAC. I think BYTE awarded the product one of their BEST OF THE YEAR awards. Endquote Does anyone know where to contact Dave Small. Like many people who are about to bay a NeXT, I have lots of Mac software that I now run on the IIci and that I need to run while I wait until similar programs come out for the NeXT OR until I can afford to buy them. Right now I have to keep my Mac IIci if I get a NeXT. It would be great to be able to get a Mac cartridge and sell the IIci and all the tons of software I have. --Mitch -- Mitch Alland, Mitch.Alland@f421.n109.z1.fidonet.org via The Black Cat's Shack's FidoNet<->Usenet Gateway blkcat.fidonet.org and Fidonet 1:109/401
Maxwell.Spangler@f421.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Maxwell Spangler) (11/04/90)
First, it should be mentioned that the Macintosh emulator designed by Dave Small of Gadgets by Small comes in two parts: The Spectre GCR cartridge which plugs into the Atari, and Macintosh 128K Roms. (Of course I believe there is a bit of handling software on the side.) Dave has an agreement with Apple not to sell the two parts of the product together--you can buy the cartridge from Dave's company, but the ROMS must be found elsewere. These ROMS can be put on disk--but that is a major sin in apple's view since that code is their pride and joy. Also, I believe that the Specter GCR currently only supports 128K Roms, and the newer Macintosh computers seem to be moving away from this, into 256/512k+ Roms. (Don't know if this will have any bearing on thing.) I think my point in stating all that way to identify that a Mac emulator such as a port of the Specter GCR for the next, is possible, sure, but has a lot of hitches to it. The Atari, believe it or not, is a lot like the Macintosh hardware-wise. It is much more simliar to the Mac than the next, so porting the emulator over to the NeXT might prove to be re-inventing the wheel, this time knowing what the last wheel looked like. Next, you've got to make it a hardware+software emulator, since Apple will demand that such a product use ROMs, not disk-based Apple code. And the final hitch may be the fact that the Spectre GCR is in fact an emulator. For instance, when I last checked, the Spectre GCR could not handle printing that well because of the heavy reliance on PostScript. So, if a Spectre for the NeXT was to appear, it might just be a way of pulling up a Window and using that great WP you love so much, or a custom application written for your business, etc. Ps. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to see it come about. I've met Dave Small--he's a very nice guy, and with enough encouragement and $$ support he'd probably give it a try. (Unless he's ruled it out already!) Maxwell Spangler Macintosh Group BWCC, Inc. "In the world of Magic, ANYTHING's possible!" (301) 369-0466 --Doug Henning -- Maxwell Spangler, Maxwell.Spangler@f421.n109.z1.fidonet.org via The Black Cat's Shack's FidoNet<->Usenet Gateway blkcat.fidonet.org and Fidonet 1:109/401