stevep@pnet07.cts.com (Steve Palmore) (12/16/90)
IMPRESSIONS OF THE APPLEFEST
Having owned and very actively used APPLE II computers of one
model or another since 1979, I have always been a staunch supporter
of the device and all of it's mystic. I've been actively involved in
San Diego's Apple II users groups ever since t here were none. I
attended the Applefest as an individual user, not from the
educational standpoint. And I did like what I saw.
What I saw at the Long Beach Applefest this last weekend did not
let me down in my beliefs even though things have seemed to slow down
a bit. There was still the electric excitement of the exploration of
the unknown limits of this machine. Sti ll the knowledge that the
only real limit to the capabilities of the Apple II was the
individuals imagination (and a few bucks). This has shown in the
past to reveal really amazing effects that people would remark that
"you can't do that on that lit tle machine" or " it wasn't designed
to do that". I saw products at the 'fest such as NEW CONCEPTS
"VISION PLUS" real time video digitizer operating with a software
package called "Alison" capable of capturing true color renditions of
live video wit h out the usual "hold it, this will take six seconds
to scan". I saw healthy competitive action with both ZIP TECHNOLOGY
and APPLIED ENGINEERING booths talking about their respective speed
up devices. I don't think that I will make any comments here about
my preferences there. There's plenty of others that will be happy to
offer their opinions.
Apple's seemingly lack of interest in the home market and
somewhat lackluster treatment of anything dealing with advancement of
the APPLE II line in general does bother many people who want more
and newer models of the machine. I for one believ e that one stable
machine will allow more inventive programers and design engineers to
explore the depths of that machine and not be so concerned about the
'new versions coming out every two or three months'. How many MACS
are there now and what is t he overall compatibility? A good machine
I'm sure but more than I need or want to spend.
I was quite surprised at what I thought was an obvious absence
of the producers of various storage media. In that I refer to Hard
Drives, CD Drives, although AE did have their exciting new 3.5 1600k
replacement for Apples rather expensive 3.5" drive. Even though AE's
big little drive could be quite useful for hard drive back up use,
you won't find any software in the 1600k format. I know that when one
of my drives gives up the ghost that the only choice will be the AE
version should they still be in business when that happens. I did
wander to the "OTHER" side of the house (MAC), just to see what the
competition was up to. I saw little evidence of new hard drive
technology there either. I did see a lot of hard drives in use but
little for sale from venders. There was a company showing off a CD
rom on the Apple II side that was quite interesting and a portable
unit as well, (Digital Data Express) with a price that was fairly
attractive. But it was still more than I could afford. I'm still
waiting for the day when you can purchase CD device that will allow
both read and write and hold several gigabytes and have removabl e
media and all for under $100.00. I guess that I'm just a dreamer.
Oh well, three or four more years and it should be available. By
that time both ZIP and AE will have 25 MHz processors for my OLD
IIgs, And someone will figure out how to get thr ee dimensional video
arcade games to work on the standard Apple monitor. What's that you
say?? Next year? Wow!! Steve Palmore
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