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Re: PBS show
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Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:35:16 -0800
To: [email protected] (Timothy C. May), [email protected]
From: jim bell <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: PBS show
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Jim Bell wrote:
>But the Apple II WAS a toy! Non-detached keyboard, poor placement of reset
>key, upper-case only, 40-character wide display, odd microprocessor, VERY
>SMALL capacity floppies (which were very slow as well), as well as a hostile
>legal situation regarding the building of clones. Hell, they even objected
>to other companies building boards which plugged into the bus!
The reason for the 40 column screen was quite simple - many customers
did not want to shell out a few hundred dollars for a monitor, and
instead installed a cheap RF modulator and used an old TV for a
screen. The resolution of a TV is inadequate for 80 coumn text (think
about the smallest easily readable text you've seen on braodcast or
cable).
The Apple ][ did not include the RF modulator because it wasn't FCC
certified with one - but every dealer also sold $20 modulators tailored for
the machine. With the unshielded plastic case, I could wipe out any other
TV within 30 feet - a significant distance for a NYC apartment dweller,
which I was at the time.
While it was not the first machine I programmed (the PDP-8e has that dubious
honor, circa 1971), I learned a lot from my Apple ][. Among other feats, I
added lower case support to Apple Kermit, and implemented Life in
6502 assembler using HIRES graphics.
Peter Trei
[email protected]
Peter Trei
Senior Software Engineer
Purveyor Development Team
Process Software Corporation
http://www.process.com
[email protected]