154-471: The Apple IIc Plus is the sixth and final model in the Apple II series of personal computers , produced by Apple Computer . The " Plus " in the name was a reference to the additional features it offered over the original portable Apple IIc , such as greater storage capacity (a built-in 3.5-inch floppy drive replacing the classic 5.25-inch drive), increased processing speed, and a general standardization of
308-596: A hard drive . Some design features from the unsuccessful Apple III lived on in the Apple IIGS, such as GS/OS borrowing elements from SOS (including, by way of ProDOS, the SOS file system ), a unique keyboard feature for dual-speed arrow keys, and colorized ASCII text. As part of a commemorative celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the Apple II series' development, as well as Apple Computer itself celebrating
462-507: A 16-bit 65C816 microprocessor, direct access to megabytes of random-access memory , and bundled mouse . It is the first computer from Apple with a color graphical user interface (color was introduced on the Macintosh II six months later) and Apple Desktop Bus interface for keyboards, mice, and other input devices. It is the first personal computer with a wavetable synthesis chip, using technology from Ensoniq . After releasing
616-555: A DOS, and with Wozniak inexperienced in operating system design, Jobs approached Shepardson Microsystems with the project. On April 10, 1978, Apple signed a contract for $ 13,000 with Shepardson to develop the DOS. Even after disk drives made the cassette tape interfaces obsolete they were still used by enthusiasts as simple one-bit audio input-output ports. Ham radio operators used the cassette input to receive slow scan TV (single frame images). A commercial speech recognition Blackjack program
770-729: A Finder file manager application very similar to the Macintosh's, which allows the user to manipulate files and launch applications. By default, the Finder is displayed when the computer starts up and whenever the user quits an application that is started from it, although the startup application can be changed by the user. Software companies complained that Apple did not provide technical information and development tools to create IIGS-specific software. In 1988 Compute! reported that both Cinemaware and Intergalactic Development had to write their own tools to maximize their use of IIGS audio, with
924-460: A IIGS available for purchase. This followed an Apple practice of making logic board upgrades available that dated from the earliest days of the Apple II until Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1997. The IIe-to-IIGS upgrade replaced the IIe motherboard with a 16-bit IIGS motherboard. Users would take their Apple IIe machines into an authorized Apple dealership, where the IIe motherboard and lower baseboard of
1078-579: A IIGS package costing $ 2,500 was comparable to a $ 1,500 Atari ST configuration. He concluded with a "qualified approval" of the computer: "It was necessary to prevent the Apple II line from dying off during the next year or so. However, Apple didn't go far enough." A BYTE review in April 1987 concluded that the IIGS "has the potential to be a powerful computer" but needed a faster CPU and more addressable memory. The magazine advised potential customers to compare
1232-470: A Zip Chip. It favorably cited the improved keyboard, internal power supply, and Macintosh/IIGS-compatible serial port, but said that the computer "isn't everything it could be", criticizing the lack of change from the IIc's memory capacity ("128K doesn't quite cut it") and difficulty in adding more. The magazine concluded, "It's disappointing that a company as technologically sophisticated as Apple couldn't have gone
1386-536: A battery source. This, in turn, eroded the portability aspect of the IIc series–a main selling point even despite its lack of a built-in screen, rooting it further to a desktop-only environment. The removal of the audio-out jack used for headphones or a speaker was another feature users missed. inCider in November 1988 found that the Apple IIc Plus was faster than a IIGS, Laser 128EX/2, or Apple IIe with
1540-517: A breakout cable which connected to the back of the card, the user could attach up to two UniDisk or Apple 5.25 Drives , up to one UniDisk 3.5 drive , and a DE-9 Apple II joystick. Many of the LC's built-in Macintosh peripherals could also be "borrowed" by the card when in Apple II mode, including extra RAM, the Mac's internal 3.5-inch floppy drives, AppleTalk networking, any ProDOS-formatted hard disk partitions,
1694-501: A built-in BASIC programming language. The motherboard holds eight expansion slots and an array of random access memory (RAM) sockets that can hold up to 48 kilobytes . Over the course of the Apple II series' life, an enormous amount of first- and third-party hardware was made available to extend the capabilities of the machine. The IIc was designed as a compact, portable unit, not intended to be disassembled, and cannot use most of
SECTION 10
#17327729327891848-514: A built-in disk controller that could control external drives, composite video (NTSC or PAL), serial interfaces for modem and printer, and a port usable by either a joystick or mouse. Unlike previous Apple II models, the IIc had no internal expansion slots at all. Two different monochrome LC displays were sold for use with the IIc's video expansion port, although both were short-lived due to high cost and poor legibility. The IIc had an external power supply that converted AC power to 15 V DC, though
2002-446: A built-in music synthesizer that far exceeded any other home computer. The Apple II GS evolved the platform while still maintaining near-complete backward compatibility. Its Mega II chip contains the functional equivalent of an entire Apple IIe computer (sans processor). This, combined with the 65816's ability to execute 65C02 code directly, provides full support for legacy software, while also supporting 16-bit software running under
2156-439: A card. A variety of other cards were also produced, including ones allowing new technologies such as 10BASE-T Ethernet and CompactFlash cards to be used on the IIGS. One such CompactFlash card expansion is ReActiveMicro ’s MicroDrive/Turbo , presenting a DMA -enabled, notably fast solid-state storage alternative for the majority of the Apple II series, including the Apple II, II+, IIe, and IIGS. Another new expansion card
2310-421: A lack of development or support. The Apple II line carried on until October 1993, when the IIe was discontinued. Apple II Apple II ("apple two ") is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The first Apple II model , that gave the series its name, was designed by Steve Wozniak , and was first sold on June 10, 1977. Its success led to it being followed by
2464-532: A multitude of programs developed under the CP/M operating system, including the dBase II database and the WordStar word processor. There was also a third-party 6809 card that would allow OS-9 Level One to be run. Third-party sound cards greatly improved audio capabilities, allowing simple music synthesis and text-to-speech functions. Eventually, Apple II accelerator cards were created to double or quadruple
2618-843: A new OS. The OS eventually included a Macintosh-like graphical Finder for managing disks and files and opening documents and applications, along with desk accessories . Later, the II GS gained the ability to read and write Macintosh disks and, through third-party software, a multitasking Unix-like shell and TrueType font support. The GS includes a 32-voice Ensoniq 5503 DOC sample-based sound synthesizer chip with 64 KB dedicated RAM, 256 KB (or later 1.125 MB) of standard RAM, built-in peripheral ports (switchable between IIe-style card slots and IIc-style onboard controllers for disk drives, mouse, RGB video, and serial devices) and, built-in AppleTalk networking. The final Apple II model
2772-542: A personal letter from Wozniak himself (both machine-reproduced). Because the difference between standard and Limited Edition machines was purely cosmetic, many owners of new were able to "convert" to the Limited Edition by merely swapping the case lid from an older (and likely nonfunctional) machine. Upon its release in September 1986, Apple announced it would be making a kit that would upgrade an Apple IIe to
2926-428: A pixel's color to the right along the same scan line—until a different color pixel is reached. Each row of the display can independently select either 320 or 640 pixels, fill mode (320 pixels only), and any of the 16 palettes. These settings provide many possibilities: The Apple IIGS's sound is provided by an Ensoniq 5503 DOC (Digital Oscillator Chip) wavetable synthesis chip designed by Bob Yannes , creator of
3080-454: A relatively short product lifespan, produced for only two years (it was officially discontinued in November 1990). Though for many years it was believed that there had been no changes or revisions made to the machine, in 2008 hobbyists discovered the existence of two versions of the motherboard. While the revised board contained several minor differences (mainly different ASIC manufacturers and markings), there were no updates or bug fixes seen in
3234-461: A special key press, making it inconvenient for users to repeatedly lower the clock speed manually (for example, booting games on different floppy diskettes). Another unpopular change was the removal of the voltage converter . While the built-in power supply made the IIc Plus a more integrated one-piece unit for desktop use, the negative aspect was the loss of the ability to operate the machine from
SECTION 20
#17327729327893388-416: A step further ... The IIc Plus is a nice system, but it's too little, too late". A separate editorial in the issue began "What if you announced a new computer and nobody cared? Apple Computer could be facing such a dilemma". Even with an accompanying price increase for the IIGS, the magazine stated that "unless you really want a small, easily transportable computer, there's little reason to buy the IIc Plus over
3542-627: A time from a palette of 4,096 colors. By changing the palette on each scanline , it is possible to display up to 256 colors or more per screen. With clever programming, it is possible to make the IIGS display as many as 3,200 colors at once. Audio is generated by a built-in Ensoniq 5503 digital synthesizer chip, which has its own dedicated RAM and 32 channels of sound. These channels can be paired to produce 15 voices in stereo. The IIGS supports both 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch floppy disks and has seven general-purpose expansion slots compatible with those on
3696-453: A time, by turning them over and notching a hole for the write protect sensor. The first disk operating systems for the Apple II were DOS 3.1 and DOS 3.2, which stored 113.75 KB on each disk, organized into 35 tracks of 13 256-byte sectors each. After about two years, DOS 3.3 was introduced, storing 140 KB thanks to a minor firmware change on the disk controller that allowed it to store 16 sectors per track. (This upgrade
3850-536: Is a QWERTY / DVORAK keyboard toggle for all countries, much like that of the Apple IIc. Outside North America, the Apple IIGS shipped with a different 220 V clip-in power supply, making this and the plastic keycaps the only physical differences (and also very modular, in the sense of converting a non-localized machine to a local one). Apple designed the Apple IIe Card to transit Apple IIe customers to
4004-538: Is accelerator cards, such as Applied Engineering 's TransWarp GS, replacing the computer's original processor with a faster one. A more recent expansion option, the AppleSqueezer GS , combines an accelerator with adjustable speeds up to 14MHz, 14MB RAM (240MB with drivers), and HDMI output all in a single package. Applied Engineering developed the PC Transporter , which is essentially an IBM-PC/XT on
4158-601: Is added. Along the same lines of breaking with standards, most 8-bit Apple II software (particularly games) had been designed to run at 'normal' 1.024 MHz operation, but the IIc Plus ran natively at 4 MHz. While user adjustable, the IIc Plus had no automated method to lock-down or "remember" the CPU speed (e.g. a physical turbo button or software-based Control Panel), meaning it would always default back to 'fast' 4 MHz operation if power cycled, reset or simply warm-booted. Acceleration could only be temporarily disabled with
4312-520: Is also compatible with nearly all 8-bit software running on those systems. Like the Apple II+, IIe, and IIc, the IIGS also includes Applesoft BASIC and a machine-language monitor (which can be used for very simple assembly language programming) in ROM, so they can be used even with no operating system loaded from disk. The 8-bit software runs twice as fast unless the user turns down the processor speed in
4466-496: Is also the first Apple product to bear the new brand-unifying color scheme, a warm gray color Apple dubbed "Platinum". This color would remain the Apple standard used on the vast majority of products for the next decade. The IIGS is also the second major computer design, after the Apple IIc, where Apple worked with Hartmut Esslinger 's team at Frog Design . The consistent use of the new corporate color and matching peripherals ushered in
4620-442: Is an incredibly fine computer, arguably the finest assemblage of chips and resistors ever soldered together ... Ladies and gentlemen of Apple, on behalf of the Apple II user community, you have earned our gratitude and admiration." Compute! described the IIGS in November 1986 as "two machines in one—a product that bridges the gap between the Macintosh and Apple IIe , and in so doing poses what may be serious competition for
4774-402: Is maintained by a built-in battery (initially a non-replaceable 3.6-volt lithium battery ; removable in a later-revision motherboard). The IIGS also supports booting from an AppleShare server, via the AppleTalk protocol , over LocalTalk cabling. This was over a decade before NetBoot offered the same capability to computers running Mac OS 8 and beyond. In addition to supporting all
Apple IIc Plus - Misplaced Pages Continue
4928-481: Is not a coincidence that the Apple IIc Plus is very similar in design to the Laser 128EX/2 model, released shortly before the Apple IIc Plus. As it was fully backwards-compatible, the Apple IIc Plus replaced the Apple IIc. Codenames for the machine while under development included: Raisin, Pizza, and Adam Ant . The Apple IIc Plus had comprised three new features compared to the IIc. The first and most noticeable feature
5082-587: Is the Uthernet II , an Ethernet device for the Apple II series. The primary uses of the Uthernet II are data transfers (often over ADTPro ) and BBS access. It can also be used for extremely basic web-browsing and other networking purposes. Steve Wozniak said in January 1985 that Apple was investigating the 65816, and that an 8 MHz version would "beat the pants off a 68000 in most applications", but any product using it would have to be compatible with
5236-470: Is the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family. It is compatible with earlier Apple II models, but has a Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST . The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound", referring to its enhanced multimedia hardware, especially its state-of-the-art audio. The microcomputer is a radical departure from the Apple II line, with
5390-436: Is the way it imitates the pace of a zombie . You'd think 16-bit software had died and voodoo-transformed into a shuffling, stumbling imitation of real computer applications." It reported that year that after increases in September, a IIGS with color monitor, two disk drives, and ImageWriter II cost more than $ 3,000 , a price the magazine called "staggering". inCider also criticized the price increase, warning that it "opens
5544-467: The 8-bit processors used in the earlier Apple II models. The 65C816 allows the IIGS to address considerably more RAM . The 2.8 MHz clock was a deliberate decision to limit the IIGS's performance to less than that of the Macintosh . This decision had a critical effect on the IIGS's success; the original 65C816 processor used in the IIGS was certified to run at up to 4 MHz . Faster versions of
5698-578: The Apple Desktop Bus keyboard. Some cards designed for the GS did not fit in the Apple IIe's slanted case. In the end, most users found that the upgrade did not save them much money once they purchased a 3.5-inch floppy drive, analog RGB monitor, and mouse. Software that runs on the Apple IIGS can be divided into two major categories: 8-bit software compatible with earlier Apple II systems such as
5852-629: The Apple II GS , was added in 1986. It remained compatible with earlier Apple II models, but the II GS has more in common with mid-1980s systems like the Atari ST , Amiga , and Acorn Archimedes . Despite the introduction of the Motorola 68000 -based Macintosh in 1984, the Apple II series still reportedly accounted for 85% of the company's hardware sales in the first quarter of fiscal 1985. Apple continued to sell Apple II systems alongside
6006-402: The Apple II , II+ , and IIe. It also has a memory expansion slot for up to 8 MB of RAM. The IIGS has ports for external floppy disk drives, two serial ports for devices such as printers and modems (which can also be used to connect to a LocalTalk network), an Apple Desktop Bus port to connect the keyboard and mouse , and composite and RGB video ports. A real-time clock
6160-550: The Apple II J-Plus (Japan). In these models, Apple made the necessary hardware, software and firmware changes in order to comply to standards outside of the US. The Apple II Plus was followed in 1983 by the Apple IIe, a cost-reduced yet more powerful machine that used newer chips to reduce the component count and add new features, such as the display of upper and lowercase letters and a standard 64 KB of RAM. The IIe RAM
6314-538: The Apple II Plus , Apple IIe , Apple IIc , and Apple IIc Plus , with the 1983 IIe being the most popular. The name is trademarked with square brackets as Apple ][ , then, beginning with the IIe, as Apple // . The Apple II was a major advancement over its predecessor, the Apple I , in terms of ease of use, features, and expandability. It became one of several recognizable and successful computers during
Apple IIc Plus - Misplaced Pages Continue
6468-467: The Macintosh , Amiga , or Atari ST , and predicted that many vendors would "enhance existing products for the [classic] Apple II instead of writing new software" that fully exploited the IIGS's power. inCider , which in September had warned that the next Apple II "needs (at least) ... a megabyte of RAM ... That's what the market wants", indeed reported in November that "Rather than risk investing time and money in programs that work only on
6622-473: The Macintosh LC , particularly schools who had a large investment in Apple II software. While Apple discussed creating an LC plug-in IIGS card, they felt that the cost of selling it would be as much as an entire LC and abandoned it. However, the educational community had a substantial investment in the IIGS software as well, which made upgrading to a Macintosh a less attractive proposition than had been for
6776-568: The SID synthesizer chip used in the Commodore 64 . The ES5503 DOC is the same chip used in Ensoniq Mirage and Ensoniq ESQ-1 professional-grade synthesizers . The chip has 32 oscillators, which allows for a maximum of 32 voices (with limited capabilities when all used independently), though Apple's firmware pairs them for 16 voices, to produce fuller and more flexible sound, as do most of
6930-487: The Snow White design language , which was used exclusively for the next five years and made the Apple product line instantly recognizable around the world. The inclusion of a professional-grade sound chip in the Apple IIGS was hailed by both developers and users, and hopes were high that it would be added to the Macintosh; however, it drew another lawsuit from Apple Corps . As part of an earlier trademark dispute with
7084-404: The 1979 release of the popular VisiCalc spreadsheet , made the computer especially popular with business users and families. The Apple II computers are based on the 6502 8-bit processor and can display text and two resolutions of color graphics. A software-controlled speaker provides one channel of low-fidelity audio. A model with more advanced graphics and sound and a 16-bit processor,
7238-455: The 1980s and early 1990s, although this was mainly limited to the US. It was aggressively marketed through volume discounts and manufacturing arrangements to educational institutions, which made it the first computer in widespread use in American secondary schools, displacing the early leader Commodore PET . The effort to develop educational and business software for the Apple II, including
7392-455: The 65816 were also problematic. These problems led to the cancellation of the IIx project, but later, a new project was formed to produce an updated Apple II. This project, which led to the released IIGS, was known by various codenames while the new system was being developed, including "Phoenix", " Rambo ", " Gumby ", and "Cortland". There were rumors of several vastly enhanced prototypes built over
7546-441: The 65C816 processor were readily available, with speeds of between 5 and 14 MHz, but Apple kept the machine at 2.8 MHz throughout its production run. Its graphical capabilities are superior to the rest of the Apple II series, with higher resolution video modes and more color. These include a 640×200-pixel mode with 2-bit color and a 320×200 mode with 4-bit color, both of which can select 4 or 16 colors (respectively) at
7700-499: The Apple II GS was introduced (mainly boasting more RAM and improved firmware ) rather than any of the desperately needed hardware changes required to keep the machine viable. Prototypes of more advanced Apple II models (namely in the form of a new II GS ) were delayed and eventually cancelled as the company decided what to do with its Apple II product line. The end result was to allow it to slowly fade out into obscurity due to
7854-425: The Apple II could boot into the CP/M operating system and run WordStar , dBase II , and other CP/M software. With the release of MousePaint in 1984 and the Apple II GS in 1986, the platform took on the look of the Macintosh user interface, including a mouse. Much commercial Apple II software shipped on self-booting disks and does not use standard DOS disk formats. This discouraged the copying or modifying of
SECTION 50
#17327729327898008-638: The Apple II series looked similar, featuring much clean white space and showing the Apple rainbow logo prominently. For several years up until the late 1980s, Apple used the Motter Tektura font for packaging, until changing to the Apple Garamond font. Apple ran the first advertisement for the Apple II, a two-page spread ad titled "Introducing Apple II", in BYTE in July 1977. The first brochure,
8162-401: The Apple II was milked for financial gain as much as possible, while at the same time a cap was placed on its evolution and advancement so it wouldn't overshadow and compete with the Macintosh, the company's then-new focus and chosen future. Further proof of this was that, a year after the release of the oddly out-of-place and retro-designed Apple IIc Plus, only a minor maintenance release of
8316-431: The Apple II. Rumors spread about his work on an "Apple IIx". The IIx was said to have a 16-bit CPU, one megabyte of RAM, and better graphics and sound. "IIx" was the code name for Apple's first internal project to develop a next-generation Apple II based on the 65816. The IIx project, though, became bogged down when it attempted to include various coprocessors allowing it to emulate other computer systems. Early samples of
8470-440: The Apple IIGS, a number of software developers have simply upgraded old Apple II programs", and that the "most interesting program available specifically for the IIGS at this time is LearningWays' Explore-a-Story, which was released simultaneously for the good old 128K Apple IIe and IIc". The magazine concluded, "The moral is simple: Good hardware, even innovative hardware, won't give birth to good, new software overnight." Nibble
8624-490: The Apple IIe. As a result, Apple software designers Dave Lyons and Andy Nicholas spearheaded a program to develop a IIGS software emulator they called Gus in their spare time, which would run on the Power Macintosh only. Apple did not officially support the project. Nevertheless, seeing the need to help switch their educational customers to the Macintosh (as well as sell Power Macs), Apple unofficially distributed
8778-642: The Apple logo on the casing was represented using rainbow stripes, which remained a part of Apple's corporate logo until early 1998. The earliest Apple IIs were assembled in Silicon Valley , and later in Texas; printed circuit boards were manufactured in Ireland and Singapore . An external 5 + 1 ⁄ 4 -inch floppy disk drive, the Disk II , attached via a controller card that plugged into one of
8932-689: The Canadian IIGS keyboard such as "à", "é", "ç", etc., or the British Pound "£" symbol on the UK IIGS keyboard). Unlike previous Apple II models, however, the layout and shape of keys were the same standard for all countries, and the ROMs inside the computer were also the same for all countries, including support for all the different international keyboards. In order to access the local character set layout and display, users would change settings in
9086-581: The Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST series". It described the IIGS's graphics "as different as night and day" from the earlier Apple IIs and the audio as "in a class by themselves ... [it] justifies the price of the IIGS to many music fans and fanatics". The magazine reported that "well over one hundred outside developers were actively engaged in creating software for the IIGS", and predicted that "as new products are developed to take advantage of
9240-524: The Disk II became available in 1978, tape-based Apple II software essentially disappeared from the market. The initial price of the Disk II drive and controller was US$ 595, although a $ 100 off coupon was available through the Apple newsletter "Contact". The controller could handle two drives and a second drive (without controller) retailed for $ 495. The Disk II single-sided floppy drive used 5.25-inch floppy disks ; double-sided disks could be used, one side at
9394-575: The Ensoniq and virtually all native software produces stereo audio. The Ensoniq can drive 16 speaker output channels, but the Molex expansion connector Apple provided only allows 8. There is 64 KB of dedicated memory (DOC-RAM) on the IIGS motherboard, separate from system memory, for the Ensoniq chip to store its sampled wavetable instruments. To exploit the IIGS's audio capabilities, during its introduction, Apple sold Bose Roommate amplified speakers for
SECTION 60
#17327729327899548-415: The IIGS ... the improvements over the IIc simply aren't that significant". Regarding the 3.5-inch drive the magazine stated, "there are thousands of good, affordable programs that won't be released in 3 1/2-inch format ... bargain hunters will want access to classic educational and entertainment programs that are available only on 5 1/4-inch disks". While praising Apple for continuing to support Apple II owners
9702-536: The IIGS control panel. The Apple IIGS System Software utilizes a graphical user interface (GUI) very similar to that of the Macintosh and somewhat like GEM for PCs and the operating systems of contemporary Atari and Amiga computers. Early versions of the System Software are based on the ProDOS 16 operating system, which is based on the original ProDOS operating system for 8-bit Apple II computers. Although it
9856-518: The IIGS, Apple chose to focus on the Mac and no new Apple IIGS models were released. Apple ceased IIGS production on December 4, 1992. The Apple IIGS made significant improvements over the Apple IIe and Apple IIc . It emulates its predecessors via a custom chip called the Mega II and uses the then-new WDC 65C816 16-bit microprocessor . The processor runs at 2.8 MHz , which is faster than
10010-531: The IIGS, people will move away from the pure Apple II and toward the newer titles with their improved performance". Compute!'s Apple Applications in December 1987 reported, however, that "Many publishers have canceled or postponed their plans for Apple IIGS software and instead are cautiously introducing programs for the Apple IIc and IIe", while "many of the products for the Apple IIGS are simply versions of" older Apple II software "that incorporate color and use
10164-425: The IIc Plus; instead of the all-in-one tall chip design, Apple engineers broke out the design into its core components and integrated them into the motherboard (a 4 MHz CPU, 8 KB of combined static RAM cache, and logic). Apple stated its performance as three times faster (3.3 times according to benchmarks) than any other 8-bit Apple II. The CPU acceleration was a last-minute feature addition, which in turn made
10318-658: The IIc itself will accept between 12 V and 17 V DC, allowing third parties to offer battery packs and automobile power adapters that connected in place of the supplied AC adapter. The Apple II GS , released on September 15, 1986, is the penultimate and most advanced model in the Apple II series, and a radical departure from prior models. It uses a 16-bit microprocessor, the 65C816 operating at 2.8 MHz with 24-bit addressing, allowing expansion up to 8 MB of RAM. The graphics are significantly improved, with 4096 colors and new modes with resolutions of 320×200 and 640×400. The audio capabilities are vastly improved, with
10472-528: The IIc remained, with the one exception being the floppy port. Whereas the previous IIc could only support one external 5.25-inch floppy drive and (in later models) "intelligent" storage devices such as the UniDisk 3.5 , the Apple IIc Plus offered backwards port compatibility and more. Support for the external Apple 3.5 Drive used by the Apple II GS and Macintosh was now present, and up to two external 5.25-inch floppy drives could be added as well. Internally,
10626-428: The IIe power supply and keyboard present, although only about half of those produced have the physical plug connectors factory-presoldered in, which were mostly reserved for the upgrade kits. The upgrade cost US$ 500, plus the trade-in of the user's existing Apple IIe motherboard. It did not include a mouse, and the keyboard, although functional, lacked a numeric keypad and did not mimic all the features and functions of
10780-467: The IIe and IIc, and 16-bit IIGS software, which takes advantage of its advanced features, including a near-clone of the Macintosh graphical user interface . Apple claimed that the IIGS was 95% compatible with contemporary Apple II software. One reviewer, for example, successfully ran demo programs that came on cassette with his 1977 Apple II. The IIGS can run all of Apple's earlier Apple II operating systems : Apple DOS , ProDOS 8, and Apple Pascal . It
10934-516: The IIx project, but said that the company should have done so "a few years ago". The IIGS is an excellent replacement for the [earlier models from the] Apple II line, but it's awfully late in coming. The technology is more trailing-edge than leading-edge in many areas", with speed and graphics inferior to that of the Amiga and Atari ST. The other computers, he wrote, have both larger software libraries that use their power and lower prices; Webster found that
11088-496: The Macintosh until terminating the II GS in December 1992 and the IIe in November 1993. The last II-series Apple in production, the IIe card for Macintoshes , was discontinued on October 15, 1993; having been one of the longest running mass-produced home computer series, the total Apple II sales of all of its models during its 16-year production run were about 6 million units (including about 1.25 million Apple II GS models) with
11242-417: The Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari ST's more powerful 68000 CPU with the IIGS's greater expandability and large Apple II software library. Compute! in 1988 urged Apple to make the computer faster, stating that "no matter which way you cut it, the IIGS is slow" and that IIGS-specific programs could not keep up with user actions. In 1989 the magazine stated "One of the biggest complaints of IIGS-specific software
11396-492: The Macintosh, the IIGS System Software provides a mouse -driven graphical user interface using concepts such as windows , menus, and icons. This was implemented by a "toolbox" of code, some of which resides in the computer's ROM and some of which is loaded from disk. Only one major application can run at a time, although other, smaller programs, known as Desk Accessories , can be used simultaneously. The IIGS has
11550-594: The Platinum IIe and II GS . Unlike the IIe IIc and II GS , the IIc Plus came only in one version (American) and was not officially sold anywhere outside the US. The Apple IIc Plus ceased production in 1990, with its two-year production run being the shortest of all the Apple II computers. Although not an extension of the Apple II line, in 1990 the Apple IIe Card, an expansion card for the Macintosh LC ,
11704-604: The RAM Disk, added some new features for programmers, and reported the ROM version and copyright information on the startup splash screen. In March 1988, Apple began shipping IIGS units with 512 KB of RAM as standard. This was done by preinstalling the Apple IIGS Memory Expansion Card (that was once sold separately) in the memory expansion slot—the card had 256 KB of RAM on board with empty sockets for further expansion. The built-in memory on
11858-592: The System 5.x toolsets. The newer toolsets increased the performance of the machine by up to 10%, due to the fact that less had to be loaded from disk, tool ROM read access being faster than RAM, and their highly-optimized routines compared to the older toolsets (pre-GS/OS-based). In addition to several bug fixes, also added were more programmer assistance commands and features, a cleaned-up control panel with improved mouse control and RAM Disk functionality, more flexible Appletalk support and slot-mapping. In terms of hardware,
12012-454: The built-in software-based control panel, which also provides a method of toggling between 50/60 Hz video screen refresh. The composite video output is NTSC-only on all IIGS systems; users in PAL countries are expected to use an RGB monitor or TVs which featured RGB SCART . This selectable internationalization makes it quick and simple to localize any given machine. Also present in the settings
12166-462: The business arm of The Beatles , Apple Computer had agreed not to release music-related products. Apple Corps considered the inclusion of the Ensoniq chip in the IIGS a violation of that agreement. John Carmack , co-founder of id Software , started his career by writing commercial software for the Apple IIGS, working with John Romero and Tom Hall . Wolfenstein 3D , based on the 1981 Apple II game Castle Wolfenstein , came full-circle when it
12320-408: The case were swapped for an Apple IIGS motherboard with a new baseboard (with matching cut-outs for the new built-in ports). New metal sticker ID badges replaced those on the front of the IIe, rebranding the machine. Retained were the upper half of the IIe case, the keyboard, speaker, and power supply. Original IIGS motherboards (those produced between 1986 and mid-1989) have electrical connections for
12474-549: The computer (matching its platinum color and with custom Bose/Apple logo grille covers). Like other Apple II machines before it, the IIGS is highly expandable. The expansion slots can be used for a variety of purposes, greatly increasing the computer's capabilities. SCSI host adapters can be used to connect external SCSI devices such as hard drives and CD-ROM drives . Other mass-storage devices such as adapters supporting more recent internal 2.5-inch IDE hard drives can also be used. Another common class of Apple IIGS expansion cards
12628-568: The computer's expansion slots (usually slot 6), was used for data storage and retrieval to replace cassettes. The Disk II interface, created by Steve Wozniak , was regarded as an engineering masterpiece for its economy of electronic components. Rather than having a dedicated sound-synthesis chip, the Apple II had a toggle circuit that could only emit a click through a built-in speaker; all other sounds (including two, three and, eventually, four-voice music and playback of audio samples and speech synthesis) were generated entirely by software that clicked
12782-716: The computer's speed. Rod Holt designed the Apple II's power supply. He employed a switched-mode power supply design, which was far smaller and generated less unwanted heat than the linear power supply some other home computers used. The original Apple II was discontinued at the start of 1981, superseded by the Apple II+ . The Apple II Plus, introduced in June 1979, included the Applesoft BASIC programming language in ROM. This Microsoft -authored dialect of BASIC, which
12936-595: The computer, BYTE stated in October 1986 that "The Apple IIGS designers' achievements are remarkable, but the burden of the classic Apple II architecture, now as venerable (and outdated) as COBOL and batch processing , may have weighed them down and denied them any technological leaps beyond an exercise in miniaturization." The magazine added that "hog-tied by [classic] Apple II compatibility, [the IIGS] approaches but does not match or exceed current computer capabilities" of
13090-402: The door further to low-cost MS-DOS computers ". While in production between September 1986 and December 1992, the Apple IIGS remained relatively unchanged from its inception. During those years, however, Apple did produce some maintenance updates to the system which mainly comprised two new ROM-based updates and a revamped motherboard. It is rumored that several prototypes that greatly enhanced
13244-498: The editorial criticized the company for announcing "a new product that uses old technology" at a price higher than that of the Laser 128 EX/2 or an inexpensive PC clone , comparing the IIc Plus to the unsuccessful IBM PCjr . It concluded that "the IIc Plus simply clouds the Apple II picture". *effectively 140×192 in color, due to pixel placement restrictions ¹Text can be mixed with graphic modes, replacing either bottom 8 or 32 lines, depending on video mode The Apple IIc Plus had
13398-504: The end of the rail – and read and execute code from sector 0. The code contained in there would then pull in the rest of the operating system. DOS stored the disk's directory on track 17, smack in the middle of the 35-track disks, in order to reduce the average seek time to the frequently used directory track. The directory was fixed in size and could hold a maximum of 105 files. Subdirectories were not supported. Most game publishers did not include DOS on their floppy disks, since they needed
13552-419: The expansion hardware sold for the other machines in the series. The original Apple II has the operating system in ROM along with a BASIC variant called Integer BASIC . Apple eventually released Applesoft BASIC , a more advanced variant of the language which users can run instead of Integer BASIC. The Apple II series eventually supported over 1,500 software programs. When the Disk II floppy disk drive
13706-457: The fact that the built-in RAM Disk can't be set larger than 4 MB (even if more RAM is present) and the firmware contains the very early System 1.x toolsets. It became incompatible with most native Apple IIGS software written from late-1987 onward, and OS support only lasted up to System 3. The startup splash screen of the original ROM only displays the words "Apple IIgs" at the top center of
13860-571: The features of the later model Apple IIc ) and the Apple IIe Platinum (a modernized case color to match other Apple products of the era, along with the addition of a numeric keypad ). Some of the feature of the IIe were carried over from the less successful Apple III , among them the ProDOS operating system. The Apple IIc was released in April 1984, billed as a portable Apple II because it could be easily carried due to its size and carrying handle, which could be flipped down to prop
14014-410: The firmware (which was still identified as ROM version '5'). There were also no international versions of the Apple IIc Plus produced, so the keyboard, unlike the original IIc, was only manufactured with American English printed keycaps and the 'Keyboard' switch was utilized solely for changing between QWERTY and Dvorak layout (rather than localized keyboard layouts). Consequently, the Apple IIc Plus
14168-428: The firmware only worked in this motherboard and no new firmware updates were ever issued, users commonly referred to this version of the IIGS as the "ROM 3". Like the Apple IIe and Apple IIc built-in keyboards before it, the detached IIGS keyboard differs depending on what region of the world it was sold in, with extra local language characters and symbols printed on certain keycaps (e.g. French accented characters on
14322-464: The gaps of characters and pixels. Most users noticed this when using AppleWorks classic or the Mousedesk application that was a part of System 1 and 2. Apple resolved the issue by offering a free chip-swap upgrade to affected owners. In August 1987, Apple released an updated ROM that was included in all new machines and was made available as a free upgrade to all existing owners. The main feature of
14476-468: The go-ahead with such a project; the idea was rejected. When the project started the original plan was to just replace the 5.25-inch floppy drive with a 3.5-inch, without modifying the IIc design. Other features, consequently, were added as the project progressed. It is believed the Apple IIc Plus design, and its existence at all, was influenced by a third-party Apple IIc-compatible known as the Laser 128 . It
14630-421: The keyboard, the rarely used "40/80" switch was replaced by a sliding volume control (gone was the left side volume-control dial, and as a cost-cutting measure, the audio headphone jack disappeared with it). The case housing and keyboard had been changed to the light-grey Apple platinum color, creating a seamless blend between keyboard and case, making them appear almost as one. The machine, a half pound lighter than
14784-442: The latter stating that "these sorts of problems … are becoming well-known throughout the industry". The IIGS System Software can be extended through various mechanisms. New Desk Accessories are small programs ranging from a calculator to simple word processors that can be used while running any standard desktop application. Classic Desk Accessories also serve as small programs available while running other applications, but they use
14938-571: The lines of the Commodore Datasette was never produced; Apple recommended using the Panasonic RQ309 in some of its early printed documentation. The uses of common consumer cassette recorders and a standard video monitor or television set (with a third-party RF modulator ) made the total cost of owning an Apple II less expensive and helped contribute to the Apple II's success. Cassette storage may have been inexpensive, but it
15092-401: The machine continued to ship with only 128 KB of memory. The most criticized aspect of the Apple IIc Plus, even among collectors today, is the lack of an internal 5.25-inch drive. The reason for this is the vast majority of software for the 8-bit Apple II series shipped on 5.25-inch disks (often hardcoded for the medium) making the machine of limited use unless an external 5.25-inch drive
15246-432: The machine up into a typing position. Unlike modern portables , it lacked a built-in display and battery. It was the first of three Apple II models to be made in the Snow White design language , and the only one that used its unique creamy off-white color. The Apple IIc was the first Apple II to use the 65C02 low-power variant of the 6502 processor, and featured a built-in 5.25-inch floppy drive and 128 KB RAM, with
15400-416: The machine's features and capabilities were designed and even built, though only one has ever been publicly exposed (i.e. the "Mark Twain"). Outlined below are only those revisions and updates officially released by Apple. During the entire first year of the machine's production, an early, almost beta-like, firmware version shipped with the machine and was notably bug-ridden. Some limitations of this include
15554-425: The memory it occupied more than its capabilities; instead, they often wrote their own boot loaders and read-only file systems. This also served to discourage "crackers" from snooping around in the game's copy-protection code, since the data on the disk was not in files that could be accessed easily. Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II GS ) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer . It
15708-567: The motherboard along with a dedicated 2 KB static RAM buffer (the MIG chip is the only exception to there being no new technological developments present in the machine). The second most important feature was a faster 65C02 processor. Running at 4 MHz, it made the computer faster than any other Apple II, including the IIGS. Apple licensed the Zip Chip Apple II accelerator from third-party developer Zip Technologies and added to
15862-428: The motherboard remained at 256 KB and existing users were not offered this upgrade. In August 1989, Apple increased the standard amount of RAM shipped in the IIGS to 1.125 MB. This time the additional memory was built-in on the motherboard, which required a layout change and allowed for other minor improvements as well. This update introduced both a new motherboard and a new ROM firmware update; however, neither
16016-524: The mouse interface". So little IIGS software was available, it said, that "the hottest product ... is AppleWorks . No mouse interface, no color, no graphics. Just AppleWorks from the IIe and IIc world". The magazine stated that many customers either chose the slightly more expensive Macintosh Plus or kept their inexpensive IIc or IIe which ran AppleWorks well, with the IIGS "in a strange position" in between. BYTE ' s Bruce Webster in January 1987 praised Apple for permitting Wozniak to finish
16170-454: The new ROM was the presence of the System 2.x toolsets and several bug fixes. The upgrade was vital, as software developers, including Apple, ceased support of the original ROM upon its release (most native Apple IIGS software written from late 1987 onwards would not run unless ROM 01 or higher was present, and this included the GS/OS operating system). This update also allows up to 8 MB for
16324-410: The new model offered. Before the official release of the machine, it had been rumored to be a slotless version of the Apple II GS squeezed into the portable case of the Apple IIc. Apple employee John Arkley, one of the engineers working on the Apple IIc Plus project, had devised rudimentary plans for an enhanced Apple II GS motherboard that would fit in the IIc case, and petitioned management for
16478-434: The new motherboard is a cleaner design that drew less power and resolved audio noise issues that interfered with the Ensoniq synthesizer in the original motherboard. Over four times more RAM is built-in, with double the ROM size, and an enhanced Apple Desktop Bus microcontroller provides native support for sticky keys, mouse emulation, and keyboard LED support (available on extended keyboards). Hardware shadowing of Text Page 2
16632-403: The new motherboard sported a pin connector for an internal modem; however no products ever utilized it. The same memory expansion socket introduced on late-model IIc's was present, although it was not compatible with memory cards designed for the previous system. The ROM firmware (now labeled revision "5", following in the sequence from the original IIc) remained the same size, as did RAM, meaning
16786-629: The original II in terms of electronic functionality. There were small differences in the physical appearance and keyboard. RAM prices fell during 1980–81 and all II+ machines came from the factory with a full 48 KB of memory already installed. After the success of the first Apple II in the United States, Apple expanded its market to include Europe, Australia and the Far East in 1979, with the Apple II Europlus (Europe, Australia) and
16940-470: The original IIc, weighed in at 7 pounds (3.2 kg). In the rear of the machine the most obvious change was a three-prong AC plug connector and power switch where the voltage converter had once been, a Kensington security slot at the top left corner, and the standardization of the serial port connectors (changed from DIN-5 to mini DIN-8, but still providing an identical signal). All the same built-in Apple II peripheral equivalents and port functionality of
17094-404: The peak occurring in 1983 when 1 million were sold. Unlike preceding home microcomputers, the Apple II was sold as a finished consumer appliance rather than as a kit (unassembled or preassembled). Apple marketed the Apple II as a durable product, including a 1981 ad in which an Apple II survived a fire started when a cat belonging to one early user knocked over a lamp. All the machines in
17248-464: The rounded "a" of the logotype echoed the "bite" in the logo. This logo was developed simultaneously with an advertisement and a brochure; the latter being produced for distribution initially at the first West Coast Computer Faire . Since the original Apple II, Apple has paid high attention to its quality of packaging, partly because of Steve Jobs ' personal preferences and opinions on packaging and final product appearance. All of Apple's packaging for
17402-473: The same anniversary, a special limited edition was introduced at product launch. The first 50,000 Apple IIGSs manufactured had a reproduced copy of Wozniak's signature ("Woz") at the front right corner of the case, with a dotted line and the phrase "Limited Edition" printed just below it. Owners of the Limited Edition, after mailing in their Apple registration card, were mailed back a certificate of authenticity signed by Wozniak and 12 key Apple engineers, as well as
17556-419: The screen, in the same fashion that previous Apple II models identify themselves. Very early production runs of the machine had a faulty video graphics controller (VGC) chip that produced strange cosmetic glitches in emulated (IIe/IIc) video modes. Specifically, the 80-column text display and monochrome double-high-resolution graphics had a symptom wherein small flickering or static pink bits would appear between
17710-407: The screen, with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a TV monitor, or on a regular TV set by way of a separate RF modulator . The original retail price of the computer was US$ 1,298 (equivalent to $ 6,500 in 2023) (with 4 KB of RAM) and US$ 2,638 (equivalent to $ 13,300 in 2023) (with the maximum 48 KB of RAM). To reflect the computer's color graphics capability,
17864-526: The serial ports, mouse, and real-time clock. The IIe card could not, however, run software intended for the 16-bit Apple II GS . Mike Markkula , a retired Intel marketing manager, provided the early critical funding for Apple Computer. From 1977 to 1981, Apple used the Regis McKenna agency for its advertisements and marketing. In 1981, Chiat-Day acquired Regis McKenna's advertising operations and Apple used Chiat-Day. At Regis McKenna Advertising,
18018-437: The series, except the IIc, share similar overall design elements. The plastic case was designed to look more like a home appliance than a piece of electronic equipment, and the case can be opened without the use of tools. All models in the Apple II series have a built-in keyboard, with the exception of the II GS which has a separate keyboard. Apple IIs have color and high-resolution graphics modes , sound capabilities and
18172-402: The software for free to schools and other institutions that signed a non-disclosure agreement. It was never offered for public sale, but is now readily available on the internet, along with many third-party classic Apple II emulators. Gus represents one of the few software emulators developed within Apple (officially or otherwise), including MacWorks and Mac OS X Classic environment . The app
18326-641: The software on the disks, and improved loading speed. The first Apple II computers went on sale on June 10, 1977 with a MOS Technology 6502 (later Synertek ) microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz , 4 KB of RAM , an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs . The video controller displayed 40 columns by 24 lines of monochrome, upper-case-only (the original character set matches ASCII characters 0x20 to 0x5F) text on
18480-530: The speaker at just the right times. The Apple II's multiple expansion slots permitted a wide variety of third-party devices, including Apple II peripheral cards such as serial controllers , display controllers, memory boards, hard disks, networking components, and real-time clocks . There were plug-in expansion cards – such as the Z-80 SoftCard – that permitted the Apple to use the Z80 processor and run
18634-519: The specialized circuitry for the use of a 3.5-inch drive unnecessary at full CPU speed as the machine was now fast enough to handle the data flow; that circuitry was left in place and put into operation nonetheless to support 1 MHz mode. By default the machine ran at 4 MHz, but holding down the 'ESC' key during a cold or warm boot disabled the acceleration so it could run at a standard 1 MHz operation — necessary for older software that depended on timing, especially games. The third major change
18788-492: The standard tools of the operating system (the Apple MIDISynth toolset goes even a step further for richer sound, grouping four oscillators per voice, for a limit of seven-voice audio). The IIGS is often referred to as a 15-voice system, because one voice, or "sound generator" consisting of two oscillators, is always reserved as a dedicated clock for the sound chip's timing interrupt generator. Software that does not use
18942-439: The system components. In a notable change of direction, the Apple IIc Plus, for the most part, did not introduce new technology or any further evolutionary contributions to the Apple II series, instead merely integrating existing peripherals into the original Apple IIc design. The development of the 8-bit machine was criticized by quarters more interested in the significantly more advanced 16-bit Apple II GS . The Apple IIc Plus
19096-411: The system firmware, or uses custom-programmed tools (certain games, demos, and music software), can access the chip directly and take advantage of all 32 voices. A standard 1 ⁄ 8 -inch headphone jack is on the back of the case, and standard stereo computer speakers can be attached there. This jack provides only monaural sound and a third-party adapter card is required for stereo; despite that,
19250-521: The system's designers, such as a TCP/IP stack known as "Marinetti". A third party UNIX -like multitasking kernel was produced, called GNO/ME , which runs under the GUI and provides preemptive multitasking. In addition, a system called The Manager can be used to make the Finder more like the one on the Macintosh, allowing major software (other than just the "accessory" programs) to run simultaneously through cooperative multitasking . After previewing
19404-462: The team assigned to launch the Apple II consisted of Rob Janoff , art director, Chip Schafer, copywriter and Bill Kelley, account executive. Janoff came up with the Apple logo with a bite out of it. The design was originally an olive green with matching company logotype all in lowercase. Steve Jobs insisted on promoting the color capability of the Apple II by putting rainbow stripes on the Apple logo. In its letterhead and business card implementation,
19558-555: The text and bitmapped Apple II graphics modes of earlier models, the Apple IIGS's Video Graphics Chip (VGC) introduced a new "Super-High Resolution" mode with a vastly wider color palette and no color bleeding and fringing . Super-High-Resolution supports 200 lines, in either 320 or 640 pixels horizontally. Both modes use a 12-bit palette for a total of 4,096 possible colors. There can be between 4 and 3,200 colors onscreen at once, with no more than 16 per row. A fill mode setting allowing fast solid-fill graphics by automatically repeating
19712-487: The text screen and can be accessed even from non-desktop applications. Control Panels and initialization files are other mechanisms that allow various functions to be added to the system. Finder Extras permits new capabilities to be added to the Finder, drivers can be used to support new hardware devices, and users can also add "tools" that provide various functions that other programs can utilize easily. These features can be used to provide features that were never planned for by
19866-477: The years at Apple but none were ever released. Only one, the " Mark Twain ", has been revealed so far. The Mark Twain prototype (named for Twain 's famous quote "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated") was expected to have the "ROM 04" revision (although prototypes that have been discovered do not contain any new ROM code) and featured an 8 MHz 65C816, built-in SuperDrive , 2 MB of RAM, and
20020-509: Was also slow and unreliable. The Apple II's lack of a disk drive was "a glaring weakness" in what was otherwise intended to be a polished, professional product. Recognizing that the II needed a disk drive to be taken seriously, Apple set out to develop a disk drive and a DOS to run it. Wozniak spent the 1977 Christmas holidays designing a disk controller that reduced the number of chips used by a factor of 10 compared to existing controllers. Still lacking
20174-508: Was available, after some user-specific voice training it would recognize simple commands (Hit, stand). Bob Bishop's "Music Kaleidoscope" was a simple program that monitored the cassette input port and based on zero-crossings created color patterns on the screen, a predecessor to current audio visualization plug-ins for media players. Music Kaleidoscope was especially popular on projection TV sets in dance halls. Apple and many third-party developers made software available on tape at first, but after
20328-431: Was configured as if it were a 48 KB Apple II Plus with a language card. The machine had no slot 0, but instead had an auxiliary slot that could accept a 1 KB memory card to enable the 80-column display. This card contained only RAM; the hardware and firmware for the 80-column display was built into the Apple IIe. An "extended 80-column card" with more memory increased the machine's RAM to 128 KB. The Apple IIe
20482-434: Was entitled "Simplicity" and the copy in both the ad and brochure pioneered "demystifying" language intended to make the new idea of a home computer more "personal." The Apple II introduction ad was later run in the September 1977 issue of Scientific American . Apple later aired eight television commercials for the Apple II GS , emphasizing its benefits to education and students, along with some print ads. The Apple II
20636-527: Was frequently cloned, both in the United States and abroad, in a similar way to the IBM PC. According to some sources (see below), more than 190 different models of Apple II clones were manufactured. Most could not be legally imported into the United States. Apple sued and sought criminal charges against clone makers in more than a dozen countries. Originally the Apple II used Compact Cassette tapes for program and data storage. A dedicated tape recorder along
20790-576: Was introduced on September 16, 1988, at the AppleFest conference in San Francisco, with less fanfare than the Apple IIc had received four years earlier. Described as little more than a "turbocharged version of the IIc with a high-capacity 3½ disk drive" by one magazine review of the time, some users were disappointed. Many IIc users already had add-ons giving them something rather close to what
20944-503: Was introduced, improving compatibility and performance with the classic Apple II video mode. The clock battery is now user-serviceable, being placed in a removable socket, and a jumper location was added to lock out the text-based control panel (mainly useful in school environments). Support for the Apple-IIe-to-IIGS upgrade was removed, and some cost-cutting measures had some chips soldered in place rather than being socketed. As
21098-423: Was modified so that 16-bit Apple IIGS software can run on it, ProDOS 16 was written largely in 8-bit code and does not take full advantage of the IIGS's capabilities. Later System Software versions (starting with version 4.0) replaced ProDOS 16 with a new 16-bit operating system known as GS/OS . It makes better use of the unique capabilities of the IIGS and includes many valuable new features. The IIGS System Software
21252-406: Was more positive, calling the price "fantastic" for "Steve Wozniak's dream machine". It praised the IIGS's "incredible" legacy Apple II compatibility, graphics, and sound, stated that only its slower speed made the computer significantly inferior to the Macintosh, and expected that Apple would soon introduce new products to better distinguish the two product lines. The magazine concluded that "The IIGS
21406-439: Was offered to existing owners—even as an upgrade option (the new ROM, now two chips, is incompatible with the original single-socket motherboard). Apple had cited the reason an upgrade was not being offered was that most of the features of the new machine could be obtained in existing machines by installing System 5 and a fully populated Apple IIGS Memory Expansion Card. The new ROM firmware was expanded to 256 KB and contained
21560-424: Was only sold in the U.S. — not even Canadian Apple dealers were authorized to distribute or sell it. Although it wasn't intended to be, fate would have it that the Apple IIc Plus would be the last new Apple II model. But even back in 1988, before this was known, the Apple IIc Plus could be seen as signaling the beginning of the end for the Apple II series, or at the very least, a hint at the direction Apple Computer
21714-473: Was possible for software developers to create a DOS 3.2 disk which would also boot on a system with DOS 3.3 firmware. Later, double-sided drives, with heads to read both sides of the disk, became available from third-party companies. (Apple only produced double-sided 5.25-inch disks for the Lisa 1 computer). On a DOS 3.x disk, tracks 0, 1, and most of track 2 were reserved to store the operating system. (It
21868-420: Was possible, with a special utility, to reclaim most of this space for data if a disk did not need to be bootable.) A short ROM program on the disk controller had the ability to seek to track zero – which it did without regard for the read/write head's current position, resulting in the characteristic "chattering" sound of a Disk II boot, which was the read/write head hitting the rubber stop block at
22022-453: Was previously available as an upgrade, supported floating-point arithmetic, and became the standard BASIC dialect on the Apple II series (though it ran at a noticeably slower speed than Steve Wozniak's Integer BASIC). Except for improved graphics and disk-booting support in the ROM, and the removal of the 2k 6502 assembler to make room for the floating point BASIC, the II+ was otherwise identical to
22176-559: Was publicly demonstrated in Rhapsody's Blue Box at WWDC 1997. The Apple Desktop Bus, which for a long time was the standard for most input peripherals for the Macintosh, first appeared on the IIGS. In addition, the other standardized ports and addition of SCSI set a benchmark which allowed Apple, for the first time, to consolidate their peripheral offerings across both the Apple II and Macintosh product lines, permitting one device to be compatible with multiple, disparate computers. The IIGS
22330-417: Was released in 1978, a new operating system, Apple DOS , was commissioned from Shepardson Microsystems and developed by Paul Laughton, adding support for the disk drive. The final and most popular version of this software was Apple DOS 3.3. Apple DOS was superseded by ProDOS , which supported a hierarchical file-system and larger storage devices. With an optional third-party Z80 -based expansion card ,
22484-477: Was released. Essentially a miniaturized Apple IIe computer on a card (using the Mega II chip from the Apple II GS ), it allowed the Macintosh to run 8-bit Apple IIe software through hardware emulation , with an option to run at roughly double the speed of the original IIe (about 1.8 MHz). However, the video output was emulated in software, and, depending on how much of the screen the currently running program
22638-416: Was substantially enhanced and expanded over the years during which it was developed, culminating in its final official version, System 6.0.1, which was released in 1993. In July 2015, members of a computer group from France released a new, though unofficial, version of that System Software, dubbed "System 6.0.2" (and later followed by System 6.0.3 and 6.0.4), that primarily fixed some bugs. Similar to that of
22792-491: Was taking with the line. In releasing the IIc Plus, Apple management essentially made a statement that the Apple II GS was no longer considered a top priority, and if anything, gave it a back seat when it was the only possible future for the evolution and continued success of the Apple II line. That, in turn, signified that the Apple II line as a whole, despite its promise and potential, was no longer considered important at Apple headquarters. Consequently, from this point forward,
22946-427: Was the Apple IIc Plus introduced in 1988. It was the same size and shape as the IIc that came before it, but the 5.25-inch floppy drive had been replaced with a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -inch drive, the power supply was moved inside the case, and the processor was a fast 4 MHz 65C02 processor that actually ran 8-bit Apple II software faster than the II GS . The IIc Plus also featured a new keyboard layout that matched
23100-451: Was the internalization of the power supply into the Apple IIc Plus's case, utilizing a new miniature design from Sony and replacing the previous "brick on a leash" external supply design. Cosmetic changes were apparent as well. The keyboard layout and style now mirrored that of the Apple II GS and Macintosh , including an enlarged "Return" key and updated modifier keys (Open and Solid Apple being replaced by "Command" and "Option"). Above
23254-486: Was the most popular machine in the Apple II series. It has the distinction of being the longest-lived Apple computer of all time—it was manufactured and sold with only minor changes for nearly 11 years. The IIe was the last Apple II model to be sold, and was discontinued in November 1993. During its lifespan two variations were introduced: the Apple IIe Enhanced (four replacement chips to give it some of
23408-417: Was the replacement of the 5.25-inch floppy drive with the new 3.5-inch drive. Besides offering nearly six times the storage capacity (800 KB), the new drive had a much faster seek time (three times faster) and button-activated motorized ejection. To accommodate the increased data flow of the new drive, specialized chip circuitry called the MIG, an acronym for "Magic Interface Glue", was designed and added to
23562-524: Was trying to update in a single frame, performance could be much slower compared to a real IIe. This is due to the fact that writes from the 65C02 on the IIe Card to video memory were caught by the additional hardware on the card, so the video emulation software running on the Macintosh side could process that write and update the video display. But, while the Macintosh was processing video updates, execution of Apple II code would be temporarily halted. With
23716-470: Was user-installable as two PROMs on older controllers.) After the release of DOS 3.3, the user community discontinued use of DOS 3.2 except for running legacy software. Programs that required DOS 3.2 were fairly rare; however, as DOS 3.3 was not a major architectural change aside from the number of sectors per track, a program called MUFFIN was provided with DOS 3.3 to allow users to copy files from DOS 3.2 disks to DOS 3.3 disks. It
#788211