From: "Peter Trei" <trei@process.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 06:34:47 +0800
To: <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: PBS show
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Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 09:35:16 -0800
To: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May), cypherpunks@toad.com
From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Subject: Re: PBS show
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Jim Bell wrote:

>But the Apple II WAS a toy!  Non-detached keyboard, poor placement of reset 
>key, upper-case only, 40-character wide display, odd microprocessor, VERY 
>SMALL capacity floppies (which were very slow as well), as well as a hostile 
>legal situation regarding the building of clones.  Hell, they even objected 
>to other companies building boards which plugged into the bus!

The reason for the 40 column screen was quite simple - many customers
did not want to shell out a few hundred dollars for a monitor, and
instead installed a cheap RF modulator and used an old TV for a
screen. The resolution of a TV is inadequate for 80 coumn text (think
about the smallest easily readable text you've seen on braodcast or
cable).

The Apple ][ did not include the RF modulator because it wasn't FCC
certified with one - but every dealer also sold $20 modulators tailored for
the machine. With the unshielded plastic case, I could wipe out any other
TV within 30 feet - a significant distance for a NYC apartment dweller,
which I was at the time.

While it was not the first machine I programmed (the PDP-8e has that dubious
honor, circa 1971), I learned a lot from my Apple ][. Among other feats, I 
added lower case support to Apple Kermit, and implemented Life in 
6502 assembler using HIRES graphics.

Peter Trei
trei@process.com

Peter Trei
Senior Software Engineer
Purveyor Development Team                                
Process Software Corporation
http://www.process.com
trei@process.com