steffen@merlin.bcm.tmc.edu (David Steffen) (12/07/90)
I am planning on buying a MacLC, and am considering the AppleII card. However, nothing I have read so far has given much in the way of details about it. I have a couple of specific questions, but am equally interested in anything else anyone knows about it. Questions: (1) Using this card, can you read/write 3.5" AppleII disks in the built-in Mac disk drive transparently? (e.g. without exiting AppleII emulation, using Apple file exchange, copying to the hard disk, etc.) (2) What does AppleII emulation do to the screen display? Does it make it as ugly as an AppleII (low resolution, restricted color combinations) or does it assume you have an AppleII with a really snazzy display? (3) Is it possible to somehow attach a 5.25" drive that can both function as an AppleII drive and as an MSDOS drive (e.g. under Apple File Exchange)? (4) Can you run AppleII processes at the same time as Mac processes, e.g. under Multifinder? (5) Is it possible (assuming the ability to program) to use this card in other inventive ways, e.g. as a coprocessor? (I guess I am asking if there will be any technical info available as to how it is accessed from the Mac.) Thanks! Please feel free to email to me, and I will summarize responses to the net, on the assumption that others may be as curious as I am. -- David Steffen Department of Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX 77030 Telephone = (713) 798-6655, FAX = (713) 790-0545 Internet = steffen@mbir.bcm.tmc.edu
gaynor@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Jim Gaynor) (12/11/90)
In article <3101@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu> steffen@merlin.bcm.tmc.edu (David Steffen) writes: >Questions about Apple II card for Macintosh LC: >(1) Using this card, can you read/write 3.5" AppleII disks in the >built-in Mac disk drive transparently? (e.g. without exiting AppleII >emulation, using Apple file exchange, copying to the hard disk, etc.) That, I don't know. One would think that this would be logical, and I saw a number of Apple 3.5" disks at a demo of the II card, but I never actually saw one put in the drive and loaded. <shrug> >(2) What does AppleII emulation do to the screen display? Does it >make it as ugly as an AppleII (low resolution, restricted color >combinations) or does it assume you have an AppleII with a really >snazzy display? The II card takes over the video. Acts just like a nice RGB monitor hooked up to an Apple IIc or the like. Apple II level video, with no new enhancements. >(3) Is it possible to somehow attach a 5.25" drive that can both >function as an AppleII drive and as an MSDOS drive (e.g. under Apple >File Exchange)? The Apple II Card has a port for hooking up a 5.25" Apple II external drive, which will function as <gasp!> an Apple II drive. MS-DOS, though, I doubt. <sigh> >(4) Can you run AppleII processes at the same time as Mac processes, >e.g. under Multifinder? Nope. The Apple II card completely takes over the LC. You aren't running Finder, or Multifinder, or anything. You're suddenly an Apple II. (I was hoping for a windowed process, too.) >(5) Is it possible (assuming the ability to program) to use this card >in other inventive ways, e.g. as a coprocessor? (I guess I am asking >if there will be any technical info available as to how it is accessed >from the Mac.) Considering how limited the card seems to be, I doubt it. Granted, this -is- a good Apple II card. Cheap, -full- compatibility all Apples but the IIgs. But it's a binary solution. Either you're a Mac or you're an Apple. No Macs running Apple processes in windows. -- Jim Gaynor - Systems Analyst 1 + "This is Serious. He is Lost. The Ohio State University ACS-FM-OCES | We must begin the Search at once." gaynor@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.ed | -Rabbit, from gaynor@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu + "The House at Pooh Corner"