c64/Atari 800xl creamed it when it comes to graphics, sound and price.
What a terrible computer
All the clever Wozniak hacks are only neat from the hardware startup perspective. They were useful when Apple was launching, but made this computer pretty archaic and bad in 1984. Saving few cents for the price of no real floppy error correction (sum of all bytes instead of industry standard crc, trivial to miss errors) and cpu hogging (all the floppy decoding in software). Same for graphics, no sprites no scrolling, all the color modes with idiotic bit patterns/interleave and limitations (140x192 of real usable resolution and so on).
Its not like Apple was struggling, they were selling this pos at >$2000, they had HUGE profit margins. Whole Apple 2 line was what kept Apple alive for a long time (deep into Mac era). $50 million blown on failed Lisa alone is a testament of fat profits on Apple 2.
c64/Atari 800xl creamed it when it comes to graphics, sound and price. I wonder what could of been if Visicalc didnt start on Apple2.
c64/Atari 800xl creamed it when it comes to graphics, sound and price. I wonder what could of been if Visicalc didnt start on Apple2.
all the floppy decoding in software
The c64 disk drives had their own 6502 processor!
The fastloader were to overcome the fact that Commodore used a shitty software based serial bus implementation, due to a bug with the shift register on a CIA chip that was planned to run the bus...
The really strange machine was the update with a 3.5" floppy drive. Without backwards compatibility, it seemed to have no purpose at all.
The c64 disk drives had their own 6502 processor!I know!The fastloader were to overcome the fact that Commodore used a shitty software based serial bus implementation, due to a bug with the shift register on a CIA chip that was planned to run the bus...Did fastloader reduce CPU overhead? Did it transfer the data at full hardware speed using DMA?
That would mean that the C64 is not a well made computer :p
Not everybody wanted a computer to play games. Some people just wanted a compact machine with business-like software.
A C64/Atari kitted out with floppy disks, printer interface, etc, would have cost about the same as the Apple
all the floppy decoding in softwareUnlike the C64...
That's what floppy disk controller chips are for.
The Apple didn't have one, the C64 didn't have one and I'm fairly sure the Atari didn't one either (Atari floppy drives were on a proprietary serial bus just like the C64).
I want to know what the 555 timers are for...
Joystick port. One 555 for each axis. Charge up a capacitor, discharge it through the potentiometer in the joystick, and use the CPU to count how long it takes to discharge. There was a ROM routine (and a BASIC command) that did all of that for you, but you could write your own code if you wanted to measure resistance values beyond what would've been used in joysticks.
Other Apple IIs used a 558 to support two joysticks. I started with a IIe in 1985, which I upgraded to a IIGS (by way of a motherboard swap) around 1992 or '93. Still have it, as well as some more Apple IIs I've picked up cheap through the years. Never had a IIc, though.
Unfortunately, unlike the X68000 which have a lots of electronics inside, and is hard to teardown, the IIgs will show even less than the IIc.
Computers that could be nice to teardown are the SGI O2 and the Octane, they are quite complexe computer, but not cheap and especially heavy computer
Unfortunately, unlike the X68000 which have a lots of electronics inside, and is hard to teardown, the IIgs will show even less than the IIc.
Computers that could be nice to teardown are the SGI O2 and the Octane, they are quite complexe computer, but not cheap and especially heavy computer
I don't care just about the complexity of the design, but a proper explanation with proper details from a good EE.
Simple stuff could be beautiful because of it's simplify
There's also arcade boards in the 16/32 range with complex breadboards too.
I'll propose Dave or futon moderators a retrocomputing/retroconsoles section when having time. The rest of forums have retro users that most are even more electronics illiterate than me.
Unfortunately, unlike the X68000 which have a lots of electronics inside, and is hard to teardown, the IIgs will show even less than the IIc.
Computers that could be nice to teardown are the SGI O2 and the Octane, they are quite complexe computer, but not cheap and especially heavy computer
I don't care just about the complexity of the design, but a proper explanation with proper details from a good EE.
Simple stuff could be beautiful because of it's simplify
There's also arcade boards in the 16/32 range with complex breadboards too.
I'll propose Dave or futon moderators a retrocomputing/retroconsoles section when having time. The rest of forums have retro users that most are even more electronics illiterate than me.
I doubt there is really a lot of thing to explain, th IIgs is a really simple design if you compare it to the ][(e) or the //c
A "nude" IIgs contain only the power supply and the mainboard nothing more, and the mainboard is nearly empty, you will find the ROM, the VGC (Video Graphic Controller) the MegaII and that nearly all you can find.
I have some photo of the internal of my own IIgs I could put them here if you want