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Re: Why more people don't develop for the GS, wasRe: Developers!Developers! Developers!

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Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> wrote:
>> rich12345 wrote:
>>> On Oct 17, 2:56�pm, dog_...@macgui.com (D Finnigan) wrote:
>>>> You need a bookshelf just to
>>>> use the toolbox and everything else properly. Most of the compilers and
>>>> other tools are still commercial.
>>> 
>>> The sellers of the documentation and tools should give incentive to
>>> buy the products.  IE, release some cool freeware, get docs and
>>> tools for free or discount.
>>> 
>> 
>> I happen to have a very old (inherited) copy of ORCA/M, still in its
>> original maroon slipcase with 3-ring binder, and I've been considering
>> purchasing the ORCA/C compiler plus some documentation to get started on
>> the
>> IIgs.
>> 
>> Might point is that the cost of tools + docs introduces a barrier to
>> entry
>> that (largely) doesn't exist on the 8-bit Apples.
> 
> It's not so much the cost in $$ as it is the considerable cost in time
> required to master the complexity of the IIgs and its GSOS environment. 
> 
> That complexity is reflected directly in the sheer number of pages/pounds
> of documentation to provide a (still incomplete) description of the
system.
> 
> I've said before (and probably will again ;-) that the (8-bit) Apple II
was
> the last personal computer for which all the documentation needed to
> completely understand the hardware and the software weighed less than the
> computer--and you could easily pick that up. 
> 
> -michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon
>

I've been spending the past few evenings programming the speaker on the
Apple IIe in assembly. I'm using Big Mac, and so far, the only reference
manuals I've used are the 1981 Apple II Reference Manual (white), and I took
a peek at the sound routine in the red manual too.

(Ok, ok... sometimes I got bored and coded other silly little routines too
which used Monitor subroutines)

Mr. Mahon, there's a great post of yours from awhile back... let me find
it...

<http://macgui.com/usenet/?group=1&id=200482>

Here:

> In my opinion, computer hardware is personally interesting in proportion
to
> how understandable and manipulable it is.  Practically every personal
computer
> since the Apple ][+ (including even the //e, with its increased
integration,
> and
> the IIgs, with its overlayed kludges) has been less transparent and,
therefore,
> less interesting to me.
>
> This is a general problem in the electronics field, since higher levels of
> integration have made most equipment unknowable and unmodifiable.
> I learned electronics by taking apart old radios and TVs and making new
> circuits out of the components.  The complexity barrier has virtually
closed
> that path to today's kids.  ;-(
>
> And what is true in hardware is even more true in software.  The Mac used
> to boast that the manuals required to understand it and its software
weighed
> less than the computer.  While this is certainly true for the 8-bit
Apples,
> both
> the IIgs and the Mac fail the test pretty badly.

-- 
]DF$
Mac GUI Vault - A source for retro Apple II and
Macintosh computing.
http://macgui.com/vault/

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Developers! Developers! Developers! Alex Lee <alelee@mac.com> - 2011-10-17 23:38 +0100
  Why more people don't develop for the GS, wasRe: Developers! Developers! Developers! dog_cow@macgui.com (D Finnigan) - 2011-10-17 22:56 +0000
    Re: Why more people don't develop for the GS, wasRe: Developers! Developers! Developers! rich12345 <aiiadict@gmail.com> - 2011-10-17 16:52 -0700
      Re: Why more people don't develop for the GS, wasRe: Developers!Developers! Developers! dog_cow@macgui.com (D Finnigan) - 2011-10-18 00:06 +0000
        Re: Why more people don't develop for the GS, wasRe: Developers!Developers! Developers! Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> - 2011-10-17 19:25 -0500
          Re: Why more people don't develop for the GS, wasRe: Developers!Developers! Developers! dog_cow@macgui.com (D Finnigan) - 2011-10-18 00:37 +0000
  Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! Mike Westerfield <MikeW50@aol.com> - 2011-10-17 16:46 -0700
    Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! Alex Lee <alelee@mac.com> - 2011-10-18 12:49 +0100
    Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! IUnknown <stevementzer@gmail.com> - 2011-10-18 09:06 -0700
      Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! wholly@whollymindless.com (Wholly Mindless) - 2011-10-18 19:24 +0000
        Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! Mike Westerfield <MikeW50@aol.com> - 2011-10-19 06:00 -0700
          Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! wholly@whollymindless.com (Wholly Mindless) - 2011-10-19 14:52 +0000
  Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! magnusfalkirk <dean.phares@gmail.com> - 2011-10-17 18:16 -0700
    Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! PZ <skierpaul@yahoo.com> - 2011-10-17 21:07 -0700
    Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! Alex Lee <alelee@mac.com> - 2011-10-18 12:51 +0100
      Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! PZ <skierpaul@yahoo.com> - 2011-10-18 08:54 -0700
  Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! Egan Ford <datajerk@gmail.com> - 2011-10-18 09:03 -0700
    Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! Alex Lee <alelee@mac.com> - 2011-10-18 21:22 +0100
      Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! Egan Ford <datajerk@gmail.com> - 2011-10-18 13:52 -0700
      Re: Developers! Developers! Developers! spectrumdaddy@nospam.com (Ewen) - 2011-10-20 08:17 +0100

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