LCD monitor for AIIc? What?!?!

[bluejay]

I mean, I don't get it. Why, just why?

I can't imagine it being compatible with existing software, or why anyone would buy it. Heck, I don't even get why Apple made it in the first place.

I don't even know what to ask. This is just way to messed up.

Was Apple expecting people to lug around an AIIc and an lcd that won't fold down like normal laptops, and also carry around a power supply and floppy disks? God, I though the Compaq luggables were bad.

Is there even enough screen resolution to run existing programs?

Did it have any supported software(if it was not compatible with existing software)?

I mean, I haven't a clue what I should ask next... Except for one question: WHY DID APPLE MAKE THIS GODDAMN THING? WHY?!?!?!?!?!

[The Usotsuki]

The Apple //c is about 98% compatible, and where it fails, it's usually firmware oddities.

[spacecadet]

If you're specifically talking about the LCD screen, I don't think it was really incompatible with most software - the software didn't even know you were using it. It just distorted the image to fit the aspect ratio.

 

Obviously it wasn't very successful, which is why it's such a rare thing and expensive if you find one on Ebay. But I remember wanting one at the time. I had a IIc and I remember there was an ad showing somebody using a IIc at the beach with the LCD screen and the battery they made for the IIc. That was pretty compelling; I mean this was before laptops really existed, but it was also still very much in the age of the Apple II. If you were invested in the Apple II ecosystem, as I was, this was your only option for a portable machine. I'm sure that was Apple's thinking at the time too. There never was a *more* portable Apple II machine than the IIc with the flat panel display.

[Aunty Entity]

I have no idea what they used as a monitot, probably just a regular.. But there was a group of Eye patched individuals here that turned up to UserGroup meetings with a IIc and an inverter and did their business out in the carpark much to the chagrin of Group officials... <chuckle>..

 

Back then this was pretty amazing stuff...

 

[bluejay]

I can't imagine the horrors of trying to play a game on the lcd...

[GameGeezer]

On 3/15/2020 at 9:58 PM, bluejay said:

I mean, I don't get it. Why, just why?

I can't imagine it being compatible with existing software, or why anyone would buy it. Heck, I don't even get why Apple made it in the first place.

I don't even know what to ask. This is just way to messed up.

Was Apple expecting people to lug around an AIIc and an lcd that won't fold down like normal laptops, and also carry around a power supply and floppy disks? God, I though the Compaq luggables were bad.

Is there even enough screen resolution to run existing programs?

Did it have any supported software(if it was not compatible with existing software)?

I mean, I haven't a clue what I should ask next... Except for one question: WHY DID APPLE MAKE THIS GODDAMN THING? WHY?!?!?!?!?!

 

I had the Apple //c LCD back when it was new. I used it on a //c with an external brick that could power it on a battery charge. 

 

The //c with the LCD and a battery brick, plus the normal PSU was far more compact than the Compaq systems; but I had one of those, too. 

 

The LCD compressed the image vertically. It did not cut off the display at all. Its only small issue was that it was reflective, not backlit, but that was common at the time, and it was a much better system IMO than the Macintosh Portable. 

 

 

When I later upgraded to a //c+, it was a very nice portable system, but I lost the ability to use that battery brick due to the //c+ using a fully-internal PSU. 

If you ever wondered why the //c used a separated PSU, the reason is that Apple intended to make their own external battery feed, but they abandoned that. Keep in mind that this display was available in 1984. There was as yet no other portable Apple computer, at all, and this was very futuristic technology, so much in fact, that it was featured in the film '2010'.

[KG7PFS]

I Have one, and I actually like it. If I'm going to use a monochrome display with a color computer, it should be something special. I guess semi-portable (or pseudo-portable?) is special enough. With the //c case Apple sold (oddly enough, they aren't so rare) it really is smaller than most other luggables at the time, and unlike most other luggables (Kaypro, Osborne, etc.) it could display color graphics. The idea was good, but as is often the case, the idea was marketed before the technology was ready.

 

I was into retrocomputing before it was cool, so I got mine at a second hand store in the late 90's for $15 in the original box.

[Asaki]

An Apple with Gameboy colors

That is kind of cool.

 

I always liked how those types of LCDs created shadows on the screen...gives the picture a little bit of a third dimension.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Asaki

[Keatah]

Many things were messed up back then. The industry was throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck. And hybrid marketing-engineering guys ruled the roost - coming up with ideas and concepts they were not yet capable of building in a practical manner. Let alone function in a practical manner. Other things that followed were the early GPS setups for laptops in cars. All so kludgy.

 

As far as lugging that crap around, why not? If they could make it look good in advertising, then sure. It got done. People lugged around those Kaypro and Osbourne suitcases. Remember those? People believed that that was the future and wanted to be a part of it. Real-world usefulness be damned.

 

As far as having enough resolution - I don't know. I don't know the specs for it. But the aspect ratio was far from the standard 4:3 CRTs everyone used. I can't imagine games having played too well though. They'd be stretched out. Same thing with text modes. And AND the response time would've been lousy. All smeary.

 

I'm also not aware of any software packages that auto-configured themselves to the weird dimensions of that display. Too niche. Not that any Apple II series software went beyond asking if you had a B/W or Color or 40/80 column display. And there were no firmware accommodations for it either. The //c can't know what display it's hooked up to. It's not like today's PC HDMI and Thunderbolt monitors which communicate back and forth.

 

The LCD + //c is featured in the opening scenes of 2010. Dr. Floyd is shown on the beach reading his mission briefing or something similar. Incidentally that passive/reflective LCDs would excel in direct sunlight.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Keatah