lbotez@pro-sol.cts.com (Lynda Botez) (08/01/90)
Here's some info I gleaned off of Genie about the Duet card that will allow GS users to run Macintosh programs on their Gee-es... Category 24, Topic 5 Message 86 Sat Jul 28, 1990 D.GRIMES2 at 00:34 EDT My understanding is that Cirtech has developed the ability to use the GS tools, along with a custom ROM and not use MAC ROM at all. It's supposed to be blazedly fast, too>>>>>> Donnie G. ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 87 Sat Jul 28, 1990 UNCLE-DOS [ Tom W ] at 16:51 EDT Duet doesn't require you to have copies of the Mac ROMs and it doesn't copy them itself. I'm not at liberty to say at the moment just how all these things can be true at the same time, but Cirtech's plan looks very feasible to me. There will be no reason for Apple to take legal action against Cirtech; Cirtech will not be violating any of Apple's copyrights. Even Apple's lawyers will agree. At the same time, Duet will run any Mac software that follows the rules. It's an exciting product, to say the least. ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 88 Sat Jul 28, 1990 E.MERRILL [Graphic Guru] at 17:31 EDT > Duet doesn't require you to have copies of the Mac ROMs and it doesn't > copy them itself. > At the same time, Duet will run any Mac software that follows the rules. Hmmm... Sounds to me like this means the features of the ROM routines have been duplicated. Any idea just how many software packages follow the rules _exactly_? Even if they assumed where _one_ very minute routine would be, the program would fail, right? Eric ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 91 Sun Jul 29, 1990 J.L.COFFEY at 15:06 EDT What sort of screen resolution will the duet have? ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 92 Mon Jul 30, 1990 UNCLE-DOS [ Tom W ] at 16:59 EDT Duet's screen output will appear on the IIgs screen, so the horizontal resolution will be more than a standard Mac--enough for 80 columns!--but the vertical resolution will be about half that of the standard Mac. This shouldn't be a problem since the Mac's screen size is definable as part of the operating system and their are tools available to create "virtual screens" that are bigger than the monitor and to scroll around them. ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 94 Tue Jul 31, 1990 L.BRUCE [Lunatic] at 01:48 PDT _ /-\ny idea if the Duet has been tested with the PC Transporter, and if so, how much? Jay Jones (J.JONES101) mentioned using them together, and I'm sure many others would anticipate doing the same. If their compatibility hasn't been tested, though, who knows what will happen? ][s there any information available on how the Duet card will work with the host's disk drives? I'm sure it will be able to read MFS and HFS 400K and 800K disks directly, but how will it handle ProDOS formatted diskettes and hard drives? I'd hate to see it have to use Apple File Exchange every time you wish to get data off a ProDOS volume. - Lunatic (: ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 95 Tue Jul 31, 1990 STEVE.HIRSCH [[64180]] at 20:42 EDT A2! Put me down for one of these beasties! I think I know exactly what they are doing for Toolbox support. I suspect that with a little bit of thought, any and all Mac toolbox calls could be translated to interface with the //gs toolbox. The finite amount of calls that do _not_ directly map to the GS, well, that's what "clean-room" coding is all about, eh? I hope that they will include a SCSI port on the Duet itself, as anyone who owns a PCT can testify what happens to throughput when the host is relied upon for I/O. If it's under $750 it ought to sell well. There was a time when AE would have picked up the ball with a product like this, but those days are long past. With the addition of a Duet, I will have a native //gs, 9.2 mhz. CP/M coprocessor, MS-DOS and Mac available - all from one machine. I love it! - steve ****** Genie's a good place to get the latest info on the latest hardware and software. Lynda