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The Apple II At 30
turnitover sends us to eWEEK for an appreciation of the Apple II on the 30th anniversary of its shipping. An overview of the history of the Apple II puts it in context. A nice tidbit: how important the floppy drive was to sales. The article quotes Sellam Ismail, the proprietor of VintageTech, which maintains archives of computers, documents, and software: "You could think of the Apple II's importance on two levels — the Woz level and the Steve Jobs level." The former refers to its allure to hackers, and the latter to its appliance-like polish, a first for its time, There is also an interview with Woz, who says, "[A]t the start there were no computers in the home — we had to make the word computer compatible with homes."
I got an Apple ][+ with 48k back in 1981. I had a chance to use a couple of computers before then, but this was the first one I spent any real time with. I taught myself to program on it and it sparked my life long interest in computer graphics and game development (which I attempt to do professionally today). I have the awesome manuals that came with it to thank. That's the way to do a computer right. And now it makes me feel very, very old. I wish I still had that particular computer, I should have never given it away. I still have an Apple IIe, two Apple //c's, and a Laser 128. What Woz did with Apple is the most inspiring and amazing thing. What an engineer!
+0 Meh
What's the big thing that seems to have changed at Apple over 30 years?
In 1977, Apple Computer included the schematics for all of the motherboard and CPU design for the Apple ][.
In 2006, Apple Ceased & Desisted a site for merely linking to a service manual.
Please come back Woz, we miss you.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
Some Apple II Crack Screens from days gone by:
http://artscene.textfiles.com/intros/APPLEII/
SJ gives a good overview of the original goals of the Apple ][ and later the Mac. He gives interesting details of the Apple ][... "we wanted people to be able to code themselves," and on Woz's implementation of Integer Basic and how broken it was (and that Woz knew he needed to fix it with something that supported floating point, but never got around to it). Was pretty neat.
There are some clips on the "All things Digital" conference site, and I believe on iTunes as well.
From TFA: "[Jobs] opposed the inclusion of expansion slots... Woz himself had to demand their inclusion, and the two compromised on having four."
Of course, the Apple ][ had seven (7) slots.
The BEST thing about starting with the Apple ][ was the manuals. They explained clearly and with examples how to use the computer and write BASIC programs. Nothing since has been as comprehensive, or easy to use.
There are so many layers and problems which todays desktop make difficult, and were easy back then. A much better introduction to computers couldn't be had.
But does it run Vista?
*duck*
As a freethinking Atheist I feel all religions should be banned globally. The quicker religions are banned, the quicker we will achieve peace globally.
As an atheist, I must ask by what means do you hope to achieve such a ban, let alone enforce it? Are you willing to be more tyrannical than Stalin?
The BEST thing about starting with the Apple ][ was the manuals. They explained clearly and with examples how to use the computer and write BASIC programs. Nothing since has been as comprehensive, or easy to use.
Totally agree. I actually keep a set of Apple ][c manuals around on my bookshelf, as an example/reminder of what good technical writing (and illustrating!) is.
The authors of those manuals managed to take a subject that was completely and utterly foreign to many of their readers, and make it comprehensible, un-intimidating, even a little fun to read. They didn't assume that the reader knew much going in, but they didn't treat them as a mental incompetent, either.
Modern computer manuals are burned toast to the early Apple manuals' filet mignon. They may serve the same essential function, but the old Apple ones did it so much more pleasantly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Zork, not Zonk. I'm assuming that's a braino, since the 'N' key is nowhere near the 'R' key.
... the graphics in your head.
All those text-only Infocom games had the best graphics
SLM
main() {1;}
The value of the floppy drive is best appreciated by those of us who spent hours typing in code only to entrust it to that gambling device which was the cassette tape drive, or to face the reality of having no storage device at all. I remember leaving my trusty Commodore 64 on for a few days straight before I got my tape drive.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
Like any geek 30+, I had an AppleII too (in fact, the computer's name was TK2000, a brazilian clone). And I must say that the world of computers were sooo funnier then... Obviously I'm takking from a romantic point of view, where typing 500 lines of BASIC code to save it in a K7 tape (after 3 hours debugging your mistypings) is real fun! I remember a book called "the black book of TK2000" that contained several hard-to-find informations that allowed me to really explore my machine, and the assembly programs that made it read even bugged tapes without errors. :-) And, last but not least, Karateka! :-)))
:-) IRQs, DMAs, conflicts, fun, fun, fun! :-) But since then, everything went downhill (or uphill). From 64Kb to 4Gb of RAM in 10 years...
After that, I had a MSX (I don't know if this japanese computer was famous in other countries, but here in brazil it was) with a single-sided drive, and some years later my first 386SX.
Today, you buy a computer, connect it to your 8Mb internet connection, download a 2Gb game in half an hour and play games that are almost real... You don't need to worry about tapes, typing, basic, anything. It's obviously better... But it's sad too. There's no fun anymore...
Yes, I know I'm getting old... But I really think that I was happy and I didn't knew...
--- Illogical Spock
Check out this fascinating time line for an overview of when each model was being produced, along with some computer industry milestones for context. The site has in depth history on the whole story.
Versions of the Apple II were still going strong when Linux and Windows 3.1 were released.
Retirement finally came shortly before Windows 95, but by that time software emulation had become more convenient.
SLM
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My first real computer (not to count my very dear hex-codes programmable calculator, though at that time I did not know it was hex codes, just some numbers and first couple letters, in 4th or 5th grade :) ) was a Bulgarian clone of Apple ][. Yes, with (equally pirated) p-code system written in that strange unknown place called UCSD, had something to do with mythical California... I still do not understand how did they fit p-code interpreter, compiler, libraries (including graphics), editor and file browser runnable on 32K and loadable from a 5" floppy (it was not 360K, more like 128K, right?)... Eat THAT, JVM! :)
;) ).
Moscow, 1984, I think... (Hmm, interesting year...
Paul B.
Sort of amazing that this was so long ago. I had an education version of the Apple II (Bell and Howell) with a floppy. If we want to emulate the possibilities of something like this, a real concerted effort at platform development needs to happen. The concept of print graphics (I'm a designer) is not long for the world, and frankly neither is the concept of a personal computer. The platform is the network (sorry Sun you missed it.).
Framing thought around computing is the future, and it is platform independent. Imagine if Google were untied from the server and existed in code or essentially tags. Processing would become a commodity. Processing would again become personal. This is the problem. In 1977 we thought of computing and programming as personal. Information a a personal responsibility. Today we outsource to platform vendors.
Tomorrow we define. Define content. Define a context. And, define a connection scenario.
Elite is certainly one of the great classic games, but in terms of 3D graphics the Apple II had already seen 1984's Stellar 7 (a clone of Atari's 1980 vector arcade game Battlezone) and even raycasting 3D (a la Wolfenstein 3D) in 1982's Wayout.
I'd have to say the most beautiful Apple II game was 1987's Airheart by Dan (Choplifter) Gorlin. This masterpiece was later ported to the Atari ST and Amiga as Typhoon Thompson. Airheart took 3 years to write, and probably defines the limit of what a standard 8-bit Apple II can do.
Note that currently no Apple II emulator emulates NTSC decoding, which is critical to authentic looking double hires graphics.
SLM
main() {1;}
I've read the book "On the Edge", about Commodore. The author (usually via quotes) bashes early Apple.
First, it claims that Apple greatly exaggerated sales figures. Apple was a distant 3rd in sales behind Commodore PET and TRS-80's until VisiCalc (first spreadsheet) arrived, which was written for Apple because the PET and TRS's were booked in the development shop. It was not chosen for technical reasons, but because it wasn't being used at the time.
Altough Apple beat PET on floppies, the floppy was so expensive that it didn't help Apple's sales volume much. Plus, PET had more stuff in ROM such that one didn't need external programs as much. Commodore was able to produce ROM much cheaper than Apple could get because they owned a major ROM company. (PET sold better in Europe than the US, so US'ers don't remember PETs as much. Still, it sold more than Apple until 1980 or 81.)
And, the Commodore-64 eventually beat the daylights out of Apple II as far as sales volume. It probably had far more impact on consumers than Apple. Apple exaggerates the power, influence, and abilities of the Apple II. The only thing that saved Apple as a company from the PC clones was they lucked into desktop publishing with the Mac. Had the Commodore Amiga captured that niche, Apple would perhaps be dead instead of Commodore now.
The book did give praise for Apple's clever marketers, but not its machines.
Table-ized A.I.
I brought my C-64 to school in 1988 and made all the Apple Machines look stupid. Now when I went to College I fell in love with the Mac but always though the Apple II line got too much attention.
Linux = Buddhism (Smaller userbase, approaching state of Nirvana)
Mac = Islam Looks like it's time again for:
Traeger's Law on Advocacy:
"1. Any form of advocacy will lead to an analogy (e.g. computer advocacy and car analogies). These analogies will usually suck.
2. There will be at least one reply a) claiming the opposite, b) offering a 'better' analogy, c) trying to further the analogy to all elements in the field, or d) taking the analogy into minute details. The resulting analogy will usually suck even more."
Examples:
1.
- Macs are like Mercedes, PCs like Fords.
- RISC is like a manual transmission...
2.
a) No, MACS are like Yugos... (note: not an exact opposite)
b) Actually, RISC is like a two-stroke...
- No, a Mac is like a lion, PCs are like fish, because...
c) SUNs... Compaqs... toaster-ovens...
d) The Mac's multitasking is like the Porsches brake-system...
Godwin's Law can be seen as a special case.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Seriously. Re-release it as a kit for kids to learn computers on. I remember getting a 'computer kit' from Radio shack as a kid that was basically a bunch of resistors and transistors and wires. (the 150 in 1 from here - http://musepat.club.fr/sfair.htm ) An Apple II would be a nice modern equivalent....
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
I call for a moratorium on Apple fluff pieces during finals week.
You think it's bad now, wait until you're in the workforce. EVERY week is finals week in the real world. *sigh*
call -151
Well, at the trade show where both the PET and the Apple II were anounced, what do you think got the most attention? A dull grey box that showed random data on the screen when turned on and then just a blinking prompt and had no functioning BASIC, or a futuristic nice-looking box with built-in monitor and tape-drive and a working BASIC that you could work with immediatly?
Apple was good at deceptive commercials, like saying that the Apple II was the best-selling computer of all time, when both Commodore and especially Tandberg (with the TRS/80) outsold them plenty. It wasn't until VisiCalc that the Apple II became really popular, and then mainly in business. In the term of number of sold units Commodore beat everyone, first with the VIC-20 and then with the C64.
/ The Arrow
"How lovely you are. So lovely in my straightjacket..." - Nny
The Apple II was the only of the three consumer computers that year that 1) supported color 2) had addressable pixels 3) could be programmed in machine language and 4) could be hooked up to your color TV.
Claim 3 is wrong. Claims 1, 2, and 4 amount to the same thing, and they don't make the Apple II "more advanced", they just make it different. The simple fact that the TRS-80 had a 16x64 display, a better keyboard, and a more powerful processor made it so much more useful for real-world applications.
Woz mentions in his book that he felt they were simply cheap knock offs of the Apple I which didn't bother him a whit since he had the Apple II up his sleeve
Well, of course: Apple knows how to make machines that sell well. That's not the same as making the technically most advanced machines. In fact, time and again, Apple has beaten technically superior systems.
Yes, the bit about being a mutant appeared in the Apple II Reference Manual. Other early Apple manuals had such gems (?) as "on a clear disk you can seek forever" and "EXCESS INEPT VERBIAGE DISQUALIFIES NAMES".
I'm not sure if the mutant bit appeared in the earlier manuals.
Claim 3 is wrong..
LOL. Claim is indisputably correct and the fact that you don't know this leads me to believe you weren't even born when the Apple II was released. Not only could one program the Apple II in machine language, but Woz built a debugger and disassembler into the ROM to make it easier to do so.
The TRS-80 was limited ito 4K and 8K DRAM configurations, and the Apple II could be expanded to 48K DRAM on the motherboard and even more via the expandable slots (which the TRS-80 and PET lacked).
And the only "real-world" application that mattered was VisiCalc which was only available for the Apple II.
Clearly you hate today's Apple, but don't confuse Woz's groundbreaking machine with today's company.