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Wozniak's Original System Description of the Apple ][

Posted by Soulskill on from the no-you-don't-eat-it-listen-to-me dept.

CowboyRobot writes "Opening with the line, 'To me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use and inexpensive,' Steve Wozniak gave his system description of the Apple-II in the May, 1977 issue of BYTE. It's instructive to read what was worth bragging about back then (PDF), such as integral graphics: 'A key part of the Apple-II design is an integral video display generator which directly accesses the system's programmable memory. Screen formatting and cursor controls are realized in my design in the form of about 200 bytes of read only memory.' And it shows what the limitations were in those days, 'While writing Apple BASIC, I ran into the problem of manipulating the 16 bit pointer data and its arithmetic in an 8 bit machine. My solution to this problem of handling 16 bit data, notably pointers, with an 8 bit microprocessor was to implement a nonexistent 16 bit processor in software, interpreter fashion.'"

5 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Almost, Apple... by jmerlin · · Score: 4, Funny

    To me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use and inexpensive,

    Small, check.
    Reliable, check.
    Convenient to use, check.
    Inexpensive... whoops.

    1. Re:Almost, Apple... by Ihmhi · · Score: 3, Funny

      He's referring to modern Apple hardware, which some might call "overpriced."

      While others might call it "rape."

      Come on now, be fair. How could you "rape" someone with Apple hardware? Let's compare an iPhone to, say, a vibrator.

      A vibrator is sleek, metallic, vibrates, and can be shoved up your ass. That's completely different from an iPhone which is sleek, metallic, vibrates, and can be-

      Mother of god.

      --
      Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
  2. Re:6502 was awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    You evil S.O.B. Gimme my $35.

  3. Re:Mistake by bryan1945 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm just sick and tired of the continuous hype for technologists when the people who actually invented math are forgotten. :D

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  4. Re:6502 was awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    No way. You pirate, you would probably sell my personal information :)