PBS show

[Peter Trei]

Received: from toad.com [140.174.2.1] by alcor.process.com
           with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 13 Jun 1996 14:15 -0400
Received: (from majordom at localhost) by toad.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) id JAA03979 for cypherpunks-outgoing; Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:36:36 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail.pacifier.com (root at mail.pacifier.com [199.2.117.164]) by toad.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id JAA03971 for <cypherpunks at toad.com>; Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:36:30 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from ip9.van1.pacifier.com (ip9.van1.pacifier.com [206.163.4.9]) by mail.pacifier.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id JAA22527; Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:36:13 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <199606131636.JAA22527 at mail.pacifier.com>
X-Sender: jimbell at mail.pacifier.com
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:35:16 -0800
To: tcmay at got.net (Timothy C. May), cypherpunks at toad.com
From: jim bell <jimbell at pacifier.com>
Subject: Re: PBS show
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at toad.com
Precedence: bulk

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
trei at process.com

Peter Trei
Senior Software Engineer
Purveyor Development Team                                
Process Software Corporation
http://www.process.com
trei at process.com