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Does the IIgs qualify as an Apple II?


bluejay

Does the IIgs qualify as an Apple II?  

55 members have voted

  1. 1. Does the IIgs qualify as an Apple II?

    • Yes, it is an Apple II.
      52
    • No, Apple should have called it the Macintosh Color.
      3

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I really think the IIgs ought to have been part of the Macintosh line, sorry Woz, but it really would have sold better. Apple shouldn't've limited the IIgs's CPU, but make it a Macintosh, but in color, so they could sell it for more money, and people would be interested, and less rich people could buy the B&W Mac.

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Well, it wasn't based on a 68000, so it'd have been tough calling it a Mac and running Mac software on it :)

 

It's a fitting swan song for the Apple //.  They took that machine to the next level with the GS, and it's still impressive in retrospect even today.

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Technically it's part of the Apple II line, but to me it was neither fish nor fowl.  It wasn't an Apple II even though it could run Apple II software, but it certainly wasn't a Mac.  It was it's own thing, Apple's answer to the ST and Amiga.  

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It's a bastardized hybrid that's confusing and kludged together. The machine can't get out of its own way. It has some of the essence of a II, but certainly not enough to call it a II at heart.

 

The "gs" in IIgs doesn't even apply to the II portion of the machine. It's its own separate underpowered system.

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5 hours ago, Keatah said:

It's a bastardized hybrid that's confusing and kludged together. The machine can't get out of its own way. It has some of the essence of a II, but certainly not enough to call it a II at heart.

 

The "gs" in IIgs doesn't even apply to the II portion of the machine. It's its own separate underpowered system.

Exactly. 

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Of course it's a II.  It's the best II, and would have been the future of the II line.  It was designed to run at 14 MHz, but Jobs forced it to be hobbled to 2MHz during his stupid power grab with the Macintosh (which was originally supposed to be a cheap underpowered machine).  If it had been brought to fruition properly, it would have blown the Mac of the time out of the water, as well as being backwards compatible with all the previous II software.  A wonderful design.

 

The classic Mac UI, the Mac ROM toolkit, etc etc, were all stolen from the vastly superior IIgs design, which was then cast aside for political reasons.

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35 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Thing is the II side can't really access any of the gs stuff.

I don't know what that means. Are you saying because previous II's aren't *forward* compatible, that makes the IIGS something other than an Apple II?

 

That's like saying the PlayStation 4 isn't really a PlayStation because the PS3 can't play PS4 games, or hell, the Mac Pro isn't really a Macintosh because PowerPC and 68030 Macs can't run Intel software.

 

Not to be blunt, but this is one of the more ridiculous topics I've seen on this site.

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Software programed around the original Apple II roms & firmware & memory map can't use any of the enhanced hardware like 3200 colors or the 16-bit mode or the Ensoniq hardware.

 

For that you have to switch over to the "gs" side of things. And from there you can't access stuff like Applesoft Basic ROM and the vast library of II, II+, and //e software.

 

2 computers in one, with significantly different capabilities.

 

And any company can call any product by any name if they want to.

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No.  Because it is a 16 bit processor machine.  The Apple II has always been the 8 bit 6502.  Apple could have released a very inexpensive, ($400 - $500)  Apple II system in 1986 but instead they threw in a new CPU and never took advantage of it.  The Apple IIgs is a machine that looks more interesting and appealing in hindsight, than it actually did back in the day.

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7 hours ago, Keatah said:

Software programed around the original Apple II roms & firmware & memory map can't use any of the enhanced hardware like 3200 colors or the 16-bit mode or the Ensoniq hardware.

 

For that you have to switch over to the "gs" side of things. And from there you can't access stuff like Applesoft Basic ROM and the vast library of II, II+, and //e software.

 

2 computers in one, with significantly different capabilities.

 

And any company can call any product by any name if they want to.

Not sure why software older than the Apple IIgs should support any of the enhanced hardware of a computer that came after it...

The exact implementation details seem irrelevant to this.

 

Bonus points for including the "s" in IIgs in the "underpowered" statement ?

Edited by 01tracker
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8 hours ago, Keatah said:

Software programed around the original Apple II roms & firmware & memory map can't use any of the enhanced hardware like 3200 colors or the 16-bit mode or the Ensoniq hardware.

 

For that you have to switch over to the "gs" side of things. And from there you can't access stuff like Applesoft Basic ROM and the vast library of II, II+, and //e software.

 

2 computers in one, with significantly different capabilities.

But wasn't the Commodore 128 also basically "2 computers in one".   It was a thing companies were doing with their 8-bit lines at the time to give them some 16-bit capabilities, but keep it closer to 8-bit prices.

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2 hours ago, airsoftmodels said:

The Apple IIgs is a machine that looks more interesting and appealing in hindsight, than it actually did back in the day.

Actually for me, the IIgs always held a certain mystique back then.   On paper, it looked like a cross between an ST and an Amiga, with the bonus of Apple II backwards compatibility.   But I never got to actually use one.

 

But then a couple of years ago I decided to finally try it out under emulation, and I realized how much weaker than both the ST and Amiga it was, and it was awkward to use too.

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Now that I think about it, yeah, the IIgs is definately not a Mac(what was I thinking when I first posted this?) but I still think it has nothing to do with an Apple II. It's just a computer that happens to be able emulate the Apple II, but it doesn't have a 6502(rather a cpu that emulates it) nor most components that made the original II tick.

It's kinda like calling a modern computer an Apple II because it can emulate it and run its software. Apple could modify a modern Mac to be compatible with original accessories and some extra hardware, install an emulator, and call it an Apple II, and I think it would be pretty much the same as calling the gs an Apple II.

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Also, the Commodore 128 can emulate the C64, the 1571 can emulate the 1541, but the C128 isn't a C64, nor is the 1571 a 1541. 

3 hours ago, airsoftmodels said:

interesting comparison.  heard of the new mustang EV?  has nothing to do with the mustang except in name.  the heart of the machine has been replaced.  sound familiar?

If the Mustang EV drives like the real mustang(Like the IIgs can run II software) it would be debatable whether if it's a real Mustang(like it's debatable whether the IIgs is II) But the Mustang EV would probably drive nothing like a real mustang(it's goddamn crossover SUV!), so it doesn't even qualify to enter the debate.

18 hours ago, CaptainBreakout said:

Holy crap. Yes it is. If the Corvette is a Chevy, the IIgs is an Apple II.

That's literally like saying the IIgs is an Apple II because it's an Apple computer. Is a Camaro a Corvette because they're both Chevys?

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53 minutes ago, bluejay said:

Now that I think about it, yeah, the IIgs is definately not a Mac(what was I thinking when I first posted this?) but I still think it has nothing to do with an Apple II. It's just a computer that happens to be able emulate the Apple II, but it doesn't have a 6502(rather a cpu that emulates it) nor most components that made the original II tick.

There is NO emulation in the IIgs. The Apple II circuitry is alive and well in the form of the MEGA II chip.

 

Just like how the II & II+ chipcount was reduced to make the //e - same thing here. The //e chipcount was reduced to make the MEGA II.

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1 hour ago, Keatah said:

There is NO emulation in the IIgs. The Apple II circuitry is alive and well in the form of the MEGA II chip.

 

Just like how the II & II+ chipcount was reduced to make the //e - same thing here. The //e chipcount was reduced to make the MEGA II.

I thought the 65c816 emulated the 6502.

https://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/computers/IIgs.html

Edited by bluejay
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