InCider A 1086

THE APPLE Il MAGAZINE : A Sneak Preview of lies Software October 1986 USA $2,95/Canada $3.95. A CWC/I PUBLICATION STEVE WOZNLAK Augyale tl Cheater E COlok E SOUND LE COWEATIBILITY The New lias Voperope Oe dae ay Oa PO ak ed, ' f ¢ PB ee pre pty nt —_— Overview TheyNevw IGS BACK TO THE FUTURE: APPLE’S AMAZING GS by Eric Grevstad, inCider staff ne The sensational Apple lis boasts ride lbpatic arose nderstatement. It combines two of the r something old and something new: art Gonipiee ear ha canes compatibility with thousands of landmark commitment—dare we the market audience that made existing Apple II software packages, dience has grown more sof plus vibrant graphics, superb sound, = ee sophistication and the Mac interface. At first, the lias’ role as a taster, more cor compatible will o Ww its gee-whiz abilitie preview in Cupertiny me too early (June 1t the machi jot expansion slots like the //e, built-in interface 16-bit, super S jt demos. Indeed, Ap- Ports like the //c. and mouse-and-menu firmw. ple’s liGs product manager Curtis Sasaki desi The lics system unit is half wedge and half rectangle, about the size of a //e (counting its keyboard). Like older Apples, it serves as a stand for a composite monochrome or new hi-res analog RGB color monitor. After what lias engineers say were lengthy debates about extra cost and classroom reliability, the Apple team decided on a detached keyboard. The 80-key, low-profile board contains the familiar //e or /ic layout with two notable exceptions. One is a numeric keypad with its own clear and enter (return) keys. The other is the solid-apple key—renamed the option key and moved just to the left of the open-apple (which also bears the Mac's cloverleaf command-key symbol). The bottom row of the keyboard, from left to right, con- tains caps lock, option (solid-apple), open-apple, single left quote (tilde), space bar, backslash (vertical bar), and then the four arrow keys. The reset button is centered above the top row, Minor layout differences aside, the keyboard passed inCider's typing tests with flying colors—a bit firmer than a tte board, but not as shallow or stiff as a //c’s. There are connectors for the liGs’ Apple Desktop Bus input port on both the left and right sides of the keyboard; whichever you don't use for the keyboard, depending on whether you're left- or right-handed, fits the lics' standard mouse. 16 Bits, No Under the hood, the lias bears a family resemblance to the //e: There's a 60-watt power supply on the left, seven expansion slots along the rear of the motherboard, a dedi- cated eighth slot, and even some familiar antiques like the Apple || game I/O (input/output) socket. There’s no cooling fan, though Sasaki says the company recommends and will sell one to users who fill three or more slots; it will fit inside the case, under the power-supply box. At second glance, though, the lis is clearly a brand- new animal, For one thing, the 6502 microprocessor has finally retired, The new Apple is built around the 16-bit 65C816 (or 65SC816, to read the GTE chip in one of the units we saw), which runs at either the familiar 1 MHz or a fast 2.8 MHz clock rate. (Apple technical documentation confesses that housekeeping chores reduce speed to an effective 2.5 Mhz, except for system programs running in ROM.) The 65C816 is a split-personality CPU. In emulation mode, it works exactly like the 8-bit 65C02. answering to the same instructions, running the same software (though with a choice of two speeds), and limited to the same 64K of memory at any one time. in native mode, it's a true 16-bit chip, not bottlenecked by an 8-bit address bus like the IBM PC's Intel 8088; in fact, its 24-bit bus can address up to 16 megabytes of memory simultaneously, with no bank-switching shenanigans. Sixteen megabytes is twice the maximum currently planned for the lias, or at least twice what's been said publicly. Memory Matters The lis comes with 256K of memory, arranged on the motherboard in two sets of four 256K-bit chips. When run- ning Apple Il programs, one 128K set, with slightly slower access than its companion, is reserved for display, I/O, and system memory, while the faster RAM becomes two 64K banks for program use. New IiGs programs fit mostly into fast RAM, but can spill over into the slower space; Apple technical papers say that roughly 176K of the stan- dard 256K will be available for 16-bit programs. Figure. Diagram of sample lls motherboard and rear panel. Since the liGs prototypes inCider saw in Cuper- tino were three months shy of being production models, Apple representatives wouidn’t allow topless photos of the machines showing the interior logic board, or motherboard. However, they were too polite (though visibly uneasy) to prevent an inCider editor from drawing a freehand sketch of a sample board. This stylized diagram isn't guaranteed to accurately re- ENSONI DOC MUBIONOCE SYNTHESIZER CHP MEMORY. EXPANSION SLOT L0G 8590 SERA COMMUNICATIONS. CHIF (S00) SEVEN DANSON SLOTS flect final hardware, but shows some of the lias’ main components and their positions relative to each other in the machines we saw. One thing the diagrarn can't convey is the flat profile yielded by Apple's use of newer surface-mounted instead of socketed technology. Except for the socketed CPU, RAM, ROM, and graph- ics controller, the lias’ chips are efficiently mounted al- most flush with the board, AGB COMPOSITE APPLE DESKIOF BUS FOR KEYBOARD COLOR VEO COLOR © MONOOHROME AND MOUSE woEO 0) * 12% "SLOW" RAM 6K ENS RAM MEGA FAST PROCESSOR INTERFACE (FQ) GO BETWEEN FOR 650816 AND APPLE | MODE WED GRAPHICS CONTROLER (VQ) FOR NEW SUPER. HARES MODE CLOONICALENOAR ANO BATTERY Pobebobebals PL Broderbund Software's The Drawing Table (above) and Fantavision (below) take advantage of the as’ graphics capabilities. TTT ITT To surpass 256K, there's the lics' eighth slot—not equiv- alent to the //e auxiliary slot, but dedicated to memory ex- pansion. This slot can carry up to 8 megabytes of RAM; according to Sasaki, Apple's own memory-siot card will stop at 1 megabyte, but third parties are expected to re- lease 4- and 8-megabyte cards. The memory-expansion slot can also hold up to 1 megabyte of ROM, serving as an application ROM disk or adding extra convenience (an ‘Operating system, perhaps) to the standard 128K of ROM Does this mean current //e memory-card owners are out of luck? Partially, Auxiliary-stot cards such as Applied Engi- neering’s RamWorks are useful only as sources of chips to Plug into the socketed new board, but a peripheral-siot card such as Apple's //e expander will fit into one of the lIGs' seven expansion siots and will be recognized as a RAM disk. The llGs has a built-in real-time clock, powered by a lithium battery providing five to ten years’ use (and sol- dered to the motherboard, upsetting inCider's consumer advocates, who think changing the battery in 1996 shouldn't require a trip to your dealer). The clock serves to time- and date-stamp disk files, though it uses different commands from those of current third-party timers such as the Thunderclock i Compatibility: From El Grando to Mega II Computers today commonly use VLSI (very large-scale integrated) circuits, but the new Apple carries the technol- ogy to extremes. The first four lies prototypes, dubbed “El Grandos" by the engineering team, were computers the size of conference tables, lashed together from oid- fashioned wire-wrapped circuit boards with hundreds of IC's each. Once the design was debugged, it could be shrunk. Along the way, the Apple ll—the whole computer, except for the processor and memory—was squeezed ‘onto a single chip. It's called the Mega Il, and it's the heart of the lics’ compatibility with ProDOS, DOS 3.3, and Pascal 1.3 software. (Yes, WordStar and Studebaker lovers, Apple says the lics will run CP/M software with one of today’s Z-80 cards, though some cards require a software patch.) The Mega |i encompasses the //e’s MMU (memory-man- agement unit), [OU (input/output unit), general-logic unit, timing generator, and character-generator ROM's (for up- per- and lowercase and mousetext, with Swedish, German, ftalian, Spanish, Danish, French, and U.K. as well as U.S English). It also provides |I-compatible composite and RGB video, including low-, hi-, and double hi-res graphics. October 1986 Another new chip, the FPI (fast processor interface), is the link between the old and new architecture, controlling 65C816 access to the Mega || and Mega Il access to the faster RAM. Together, they ensure that the liGs will boot and run practically anything your || Plus, //e, or //ic can— in the case of inCider's trip to Apple headquarters, every- thing in a box of office disks ranging from AppleWorks, Mouse Desk, and SuperCaic3a to F-15 Strike Eagle and Stickybear Speligrabber. One lias hung up after the title screen of Epyx’ Ballblazer; another, with newer ROM's, ran the game successfully. The major exceptions are communications programs, most of which (even Apple's own Access //) bypass formal VO channels to directly address the II's serial hardware. Since the lics has a different communications chip (see below), Apple expects vendors to issue revised versions of their programs, as it’s doing for Access. You're in Control Users of self-booting software, as always, won't have to think about operating systems. New 8-bit (6502 emulation mode) programs will run under one of the lias’ two oper. ating systems, ProDOS 8, which doesn't look very different from the current ProDOS 1.1.1. (Screens we saw booted to a "ProDOS 8 1.2" message.) ProDOS 8 becomes the official operating system for the /le and /ic, as well, At startup, it automatically checks to see whether it's on a liGs and should read the clock But even when running an old program in an old graphics mode, you're never far from the lics firmware. Press the control, open-apple, and escape keys (except under ProDOS 1.1.1, which disables interrupts), and your program is temporarily frozen while a Macintosh-like Con- trol Panel takes over the screen. The 8-bit Control Panel is a 40- or 80-column text dis- play, compared to the bit-mapped, mouse-driven dash- board that waits behind ProDOS 16 software, But it offers the same range of options, from setting serial-port parame- ters to setting the time and date, choosing a foreign char- acter set and keyboard layout, controlling sound (such as error beep) pitch and volume, or sizing a RAM disk. De- fault choices are preserved in battery-backed memory until you change them again. Up Software You'll probably use two Control Panel choices more often than any other. One lets you choose among 16 Above and below are examples of Electronic Arts' Deluxe Paint program running on the Apple lias. The above illustration was designed by Richard Antaki. The illustration below is by Avril Harrison. @ Picture Brush Mode Special Font Prets LT colors for text, background, or border display—blue AppleWorks on a yellow background within a green frame, for example. The other lets you toggle between slow (1 MHz) and normal (2.8 MHz) speeds. The faster speed is a barely controllable riot for graphics games ('Go, Stickybear, go!"’), but will be the usual choice for applications. Our unofficial stopwatch tests yielded approximately double speed—a SuperCalc3a recal- culation in 0.6 instead of 1.3 seconds, an AppleWorks word-pro ing search-and-replace in 15.5 seconds in- stead of 35.1. Sasaki claimed Apple's tests show a some- what greater improvement, though he admitted that a //e with an accelerator card like Applied Engineering's TransWarp is still faster by 5 to 10 percent. (Our test times are for lias slow versus fast modes; the lias at 1 MHz was trivially slower than a regular //e, but differences were within the margin of stopwatch reflex error.) Super Graphics The following articles contain more detail about 65C816 native mode and ProDOS 16 software, though at press time we don't know as much as we'd like to. Suffice it to Say that IIGS programs will work like Macintosh programs, with pull-down menus and point-and-click mouse control, and that the centerpiece of ProDOS 16 will be a Mac-style Finder that makes file copying, for example, as easy as scan line and 64 colors on screen. Those colors, Sasaki admits, are technically shades achieved itheri (mixing blue with white, for instance); the number of true simultaneous colors in 640 mode is more like 16. Symphonic Sound As for sound, an adjustable error beep is only the be- ginning. The lics has the same Ensoniq DOC (digital oscil- lator chip) found in that company’s Mirage music synthesizer, with its own 64K of RAM to store and manip- ulate digitized waveform representations or samples. The synthesizer chip includes an analog-to-digital converter and 32 oscillators; since one serves as a clock and most appli- cations will use two for each voice (loading and playing waveforms, respectively), that lets the lics play 15 voices Or instruments at once. While there's room for the lis’ sound capabilities to grow—neither stereo output nor the popular MID! (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) are standard, though both are likely add-on products—the Ensoniq chip is already reason enough to hook up an external speaker to the lias sound port, (The lias has the same built-in low-fidelity speaker as the //e.) With the proper software, for instance, the lias can be a string quartet or a 15-piece band—it sounds like a musical instrument, not like a computer imitating one. According to software engineer Gus Andrate.’ What you'll get when you open your liGs package: a system unit, keyboard, mouse, 3%,-inch system (ProDOS 16 and utilities) and tutorial disks, and Applesoft BASIC, system disk, owner's guide, and setup manuals. drives, Single drives can be either existing UniDisks of ei- ther size or the new 3¥- and 5y,-inch Apple drives sched- uled for release at lls rollout. (They're platinum color, and the 3%inch drive plugs into either a lics or a Macintosh.) if you want a fifth or sixth floppy, a pair of Sy,-inch disks will run off a controlier card in slot 6. As far as the 3)- versus 5y,-inch drive decision goes, Apple and its customers are in an awkward position. The smaller disks are faster, quieter, sturdier, and more spa- cious, and deserve to become the market standard; Apple supplies the lics tutorial, ProDOS 16, and Finder on two 3%-inch disks, and new 16-bit software will presumably ap- pear in 800K format. On the other hand, the lis can run thousands of existing Apple || programs, and they're on 5y-inch floppies. Current owners can use their old drives with their new machines, but will ultimately have to buy a 3¥-inch drive if they haven't already. Novices, at least for a while, will almost have to buy one of each. Apple's Macintosh Pius has a SCS! (Small Computer Systems Interface, pronounced "‘scuzzy"') port, used pri- marily for fast transfer of hard-disk data, as standard equipment. This fed market watchers to guess that the liGs would have one, and it does—on an optional card for the lis and //e, not as standard. Along with the SCSI card, Apple announced a matching 20-megabyte hard drive. The Hard Disk 20SC takes up extra desk space (10 by 11 inches) beside the computer, but can load pro- grams or data at the breathless rate of 1.25 megabytes per second, according to Appie press information Communications and Networking So far, we've mentioned almost every port along the lias’ rear panel, from composite and RGB video to the disk port and Apple Desktop Bus (which can take input devices such as graphics tablets as well as the keyboard and mouse). If you've been waiting in suspense all this time, there’s a game/joystick port back there, too. And there are two built-in /ic-style serial ports, which most buyers should use for the traditional connections to printer and modem. There are, however, two changes in the liGs’ communications architecture. One is that the ma- chine uses the same Zilog 8530 SCC (Serial Communica: tions Chip) as the Macintosh—that's why communications software that expects to find earlier models’ 6551 ACIA’s inCider 43 Your computer can talk in your own voice. Not @ synthesizer but a true digitizer that records your natural voice quality—and in any language or accent. Words and phrases can be expanded without limit from disk. Speech Editor program alters or improves sounds. And it will understand what you say. A real word recognizer for groups of 32 words or phrases with unlim- ited expansion from disk memory. Speech playback and word recognition can work together. Have a two way con- versation with your computer! Easy for the ing programmer with new BASIC commands. Machine language programs and memory locations for the more experienced software author. Exciting Music Bonus lets you hum or whistle to write and perform. Notes literally scroll by as you hum! Your composition can be edited, saved, and printed out. You don't have to know one note from another in order to write and compose! Based upon new technologies inverted by COVOX One iow price buys you ine complete system includes @ host of sample programs! In addition. you will recewe periodic information about speech technology. applications, new products, up-dates, and user contributions. You will never find # better value for your computer. ONLY $89.95 inciuces ai narsware anc sonware Availabie from your dealer or by mail, When ordering by mail add $4.00 shipping and handling ($10.00 foreign. $8.00 Canada) The Voice Master is available for the Commodore 64, 128, Apple lic, tle, Ilt, and Atari 800, BOOXL, 130XE. Specify mode! when ordering. Apple lis (with 64K) ‘owners must have joystick adapter, Available trom Covox at only $9.95. Apple lie and I+ owners: Enhance speech quality and music capabilities with optional Sound Master hardware card. installs in siot 4 or 5. Available separately for $39.95 witn demo software, or order with Voice Master for only $119.95 (saves $10 when ordered together) = = a 5 DEMO SPEECH DISK AVAILABLE New! An introduction to keyboard, calculator, clock, and more, English, French and German Selections. Samples of level 1 and 2 speech editing. 28 page bookiet For telephone demo, additional information, or prompt service for credit card orders (except $5 tallong disk) = CALL (503) 342-1271 can use in any of your own programs Sample programs include a talking el] | — Check, money order, of cath only. SPECIFY COMPUTER BRAND, Call or write today for complete product information. . 342-12 COVOX INC. 503) 342-1271 OR Street : ugene 97402 675-D Cor ger (asynchronous communications interlace adapters) won't work, as mentioned earlier. It's a matter of hardware com- Patibility; the lics firmware emulates the familiar Super Se- fial Card, as far as software commands are concerned. The other difference is that printer and modem connec- tions are only two of the lics’ three communications abili- ties, any two of which you can use at a given time. The third is AppleTalk, protocol firmware for which is built into the lis just as into the Mac—a significant statement of Appie's plans for the new Ii in local-area networks, partic- ularly since networking is an increasingly hot topic in edu- cational-computing circles these days. AppleTalk, announced in January 1985, is currently lan- guishing as a system used primarily to connect multiple Macs to an office LaserWriter, as Apple still hasn't re- leased the critical file-server component that will let net: worked computers share programs and data (if you want to ruin a friendship with an Apple official, say ‘AppleTalk file server'’). But once complete, the network promises to be an affordable alternative to big corporate LAN’s like 3Com's Ethernet, although its speed (230,000 bits per second) and size (300 meters maximum) are correspond: ingly less. If networking makes the transition to America’s schools and smail businesses, it'll be good to see the lics side by side with the Macintosh. The Wish List The lis doesn't have absolutely everything an Apple hacker could wish for, as project engineers confessed to us while our escort from Apple’s public-relations staff blanched and sputtered. While the machine's 8-bit expan- sion siots provide compatibility with most Apple || add-ons, the designers considered adding 16-bit slots for more powerful peripherals, The video circuitry’s place on the motherboard doesn't allow for quick upgrading as even more colorful, higher-resolution displays become feasible. The firmware Monitor includes new commands for the 65C816's extra functions, but Appiesoft is boringly un- changed, with no support for the new graphics and sound (although ampersand routines may let programmers tap some @f the toolbox firmware). Also, while the liGs is definitely inspired by the Macin- tosh interface, the Mac remains Apple's performance leader. It has a faster processor, higher resolution (albeit in black-and-white), and more ROM- instead of disk-based Programming tools. The Mac's 68000 CPU also allows such conveniences as a switcher that supports multiple programs in memory at once, a feature Apple won't prom ise for the weaker 65C816. On the other hand, Apple's Vice President for Product Development, Jean-Louis Gassée, told us, ‘We are al: ready working on the successor to this machine. . [and ensuring] that the software for [the lis} will run on it even if we make hardware changes at the lowest level.”’ When it comes to upward compatibility, Apple is clearly hanging on to its good habits. Besides, for now the lias isn’t meant to be Apple's top of the line. It's meant to revitalize the Apple II worid— which it does with a vengeance, with fireworks, with choirs singing. No other microcomputer company has ever made a totally new machine that's hardware- and software-com patible with an old one; no other company has ever had such a large, loyal installed base to benefit from the maneu- ver. Seeing the sensational liGs, you realize the slogan "Appie Il Forever” was wasted on the //c, SS October 1986 inCider WHO WILL BUY THE IIGS? “The reincarnation of the Apple II spirit’’’ For education, home, and small business, the powerful, high-end lias combines open architecture with sophisticated graphics and sound. by Dan Muse, inCider staff hat's platinum and goes between the Appie //e and the Apple Macintosh? The answer: the new Apple lics. Its color is platinum, and Its position in the Apple ll product line is between the //e and the Mac. Officially, Apple says, the Gs is the high end of the Apple II family, and the company will market the machine for educational and home-business applications. Unofficially, the GS has no bounds, and you, the user, will decide where the Gs fits in. The cs in With the release of the Gs, the Apple Computer product line looks like this, ranging from least powerful and expensive to most powerful and expensive: Apple //c, Apple //e, Apple lias, Mac- intosh 512, and Macintosh Plus. According to Apple's New Product Manager Randy Battat, the Gs represents the high end of the II family, but doesn't change the positioning of the //c and /le {although | Apple says we can expect price cuts). ‘The Gs is a new II. It doesn’t replace anything,” says Apple's Battat, Apple had four objectives in designing the ics, says Battat: @i\t had to be an Apple || and run existing || software. @\t had to be faster. @\t needed increased memory addressing, @\t needed sophisticated graphics and sound capability. In many ways the Gs offers the best of both worlds. It combines the Macintosh's user inter face and sophistication with the Apple II's software base and open architecture. But the Gs isn't a merger of the Macintosh and the II. The Mac and |! will each retain a “unique identity," according to Battat. “In terms of power and capability, there's some overlap with the Mac, Is the market going to be confused? | don't think so,"" says Apple's Vice President of Product Development Jean- Louis Gassée. What makes an Apple Il unique, Battat says, is its “special base’ of thousands of software packages and the company's ten years of experience in designing Apple || computers. Battat says this experience let Apple build a Ii that's comparable to the Mac for less money. If you were expecting to buy the new Gs at a price that rivals the Atari 520 ST or one of the popular IBM clones, you'll be disappointed. When inCider editors viewed the Apple lics in June, Apple officials were reluctant to talk pricing. They did indicate, however, that the cost would be in the $1300 range. Add an RGB monitor and a disk drive, and the price for a complete system is about $2000. “It's an expen- 55 your II+ Viewmaster 80 Now run AppleWo: tks‘on and keep full 80 column compatibility! hie a vi i J PAB ERs WIZARD 6 ra VISION 0 rm a2 Z “OMNIVISION Fs Zz VIEWMAX 80 ra Zi Fa ‘SMARTERM LTy ye BF Vineorenst rm Fi Z Z © ne look at the chart will give you some of the reasons there's only one smart choice in 80 column cards for your Apple. But the real secret to Viewmaster 80's success is something even better: Total compatibility Each Viewmaster 80 includes our powerful Apple. Works expand software, allowing AppleWorks to run on the I+ with only 64K (or more) memory. (We recom: mend the RamFactor memory card, but any compatible Apple memory card will work.) The software provides our full range of AppleWorks enhancements, including expanded records, word processor, multi-disk saving, time and date display on screen with any PRO-DOS clock, and more! The Viewmaster 80 works with all 80 column applications, including DOS 3.3, PRO-DOS, CP/M, Pascal, WordStar, Format Il, Applewriter II, dBase Il Visicale Viewmaster 80 delivers for a great price ($139): * 80 Characters by 24 lines Multiplan, and hundreds of others — includ: re just a few of the powerful features the Fully compatible with all Apple languages and software + Highest compatibility with existing 80 column software * Very low power con. sumption * High speed (18 MHZ) scroll rate * Upper and lower case characters and true descenders, both inverse and normal; all on-screen editing functions are sup: ported + User-definable cursor shape * Compatible with Apple I, I+ and Ile « Five-year warranty Call today to order or for more information, 9 a.m. to 1] p.m. seven days, or send check or money order to Applied Engineering. MasterCard, VISA and C.O.D. wel come. Texas residents add 514% sales tax. Add $10.00 outside U.S.A. AE Applied Engineering P.O. Box 798, Carrollton, TX 75006 (214) 241-6060 sive product to build, When you try to build two software bases under the same roof, there is no way we can make it as low as the Apple Il is today. We're not going to try to piay that (low-end) game,” Gassée says. | don't expect the economy-oriented customer to be necessarily wanting this [product],’" he adds. Apple //e users who want to upgrade to the lics can retrofit their systems for $300-$400 less than the price of the lias," Tom Virden, Appie’s liGs introduction marketing manager told inCider. The as Goes to School While price is important to everyone, educators are par- ticularly sensitive to the bottom line. Betsy Pace, Apple's marketing manager for K-12 education, says Apple is aware of this. The !lGs will replace the //e at the top of the K-12 price scale, but, Pace says, the price structure of the various educational packages shouldn't change radically. ‘The Gs is the home-education connection,” explains Pace. She says she doesn't see a parent buying a lics just for home education, but if a child uses an Apple Il at school and the parents want a powerful computer for home business or productivity, the Gs is a likely candidate. In developing the lics, Pace says, Apple recognized the vaiue of Apple Il's already in schools and the investment those schools have made in Apple || products. “The prog: ress of the Apple liGs doesn’t leave the older computers behind,” Pace says. Because educators don't have a lot of money to spend on computers and software, it's impor tant that what they already have doesn't become obsolete. The Gs will naturally replace the //e at the high end of the K-12 price scale. Pace says she believes educators will continue to buy //e’s, however, because they know they have the option of upgrading to the Gs. The //e will continue to be the computer Apple recommends for use in kindergarten through grade 8. The Gs will be used in grades K-8 for higherJevel applications, though—for ex ample, reading programs that take advantage of the Gs’ sound and graphics capability. The Gs’ power and speed (and software that takes ad- vantage of them) make it the Apple best suited for the high-school classroom, according to Pace. For teachers, Pace says, Apple recommends the lics because of its strength as ‘a productivity workstation,” It will let teachers run the instructional programs they use in the classroom as well as their own classroom-management software. Another important aspect of the Gs for teachers is its ability to talk to other computers on the AppleTalk local-area network. The Gs is compatible with AppleTalk through its RS-422 intertace. Apple expects the Gs to play a pivotal role in October 1986 the educational network. According to Virden, ‘The Gs is the network master.” The network capabilities of the Gs and its ability to run 16-bit business software make the new II the primary ma- chine for school administrators, according to Pace. The Macintosh is reserved for district-level administrators, who need sophisticated business programs and data communi- cations. The Macintosh will also be used for niche applica- tions in grades 9-12 (for example, desktop publishing), she says. Pace says the option of retrofitting the //e (replacing the /le’s motherboard with the ics motherboard) will eliminate educators’ fear of obsolescence. Educators can expect the prices of the //e and //c to drop as the Gs enters the scene. At press time. though, Pace said a figure for the Gs hadn't been set, but she did note it would be “aggressively priced. On the Home Front Gs should strengthen Apple's solid foothold in the edu- cational market. Outside school, however, the market posi- tioning of the Gs isn't as clear-cut. Apple's game plan is to market the lis as it has mar. keted the //c and //e, relying on dealer sales and avoiding at all costs the low end of the market (as well as low prices). Apple's Virden calls the //e and //ic high-end con- sumer products, and the lics the high end of the II line According to Virden, Apple will not market the Gs di- rectly against low-priced mass-merchandized computers, such as those from Atari and Commodore. "We are aware of competition,” says Virden, but he makes it clear Apple has no intention of getting into a price war. "You know damned well that we're not going to match the Atari 520,” he adds. Instead, he explains, Apple will rely on its strength: “We are committed to our dealers.” In launching the Gs, Virden says, Apple has focused on “how can it work best for the dealers." He notes, We also want to build a grass-roots movement [by] talking to user groups." According to Elien Petry Leanse, Apple's user-group evangelist, user groups will be involved with the lcs at the product roll-out phase through a cooperative effort with dealers. Representatives from about 500 user groups will receive modified presentations by dealers. "We want to reach out to end users and make them more comfortable with the machine,” Leanse says. As “unbiased third parties,” she adds, the involvement of user groups will benefit the dealer and the end user. Moving Toward the Fringes According to Virden, the Gs will attract users who were ‘on the fringes of deciding which computer to buy: "A fot inCider With Z-80 Plus, lanpeat body of e oO sianiein existence. Now, get two computers in one, and all the advantages of both. et the CP/M world with the new 2-80 Plus « Applied duce your Apple Hle* or 11+ to the thou sands of CP/M programs. Only the 2-80 Plus comes standard with the eering, and i new 5.0 sofware, the most advanced system ever for running CP/M programs. The new 5.0 boasts advanced features like built-in disk emulation for popular memory expansion boards, boosting both system speed and storage capacity. And menu-driven utilities that let you get to work faster. The 2-80 Plus also lets you cun older CPM programs —all the way down to Version 16 (2.2 48 the mast popular). The 2-80 Plus is the only card on the market capable of accessing more than 64K. If you have an extended 80-column card, al usable. And if you have RamWorks, RamFactor, o an Apple card, up to 1088K is available Bach 2-80 Plus comes with our PAM Ram Deive software, enabling an extended 80-column card, RamWorks card or other standard memory card to work as a hy to twenty times faster So packages like WordStar speed Ram disk which runs CP/M software up ad BASE Il run at blinding speed Simply plug the 2-80 Plus into any skit in your Apple, You'll get the benefits of ewo computers in one —all at an unbelievably low price ‘only $139!) ‘*Pully compatible with ALL CPM software + Fully comy luding Corvus and the Sider * Fully « most hard disks, i patible with Microsoft disks (no pre-boot required) + Specifically designed for high speed operation in the Apple te (runs just as fast in. the Apple 1+ and Franklin) — *Runs WordStar, dBASE ff, Turbo Pascal, and ALL CP/M software with no pre-boot + nC and low punt allows Z-80 Plus to fly through ns with extreme mption (we use the Z:80B) + Does EVERYTHING s do, plus 7-80 interrupts * Five-year warranty Call today for more information or to order, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. seven days, or send check or money ¢ neering. Master Gard, VISA and COD. welcome. Texas residents add 534% sales tax. Add $10.00 outside USA - Applied Engineering P.O. Box 798, Carrollton, TX 75006 (214) 241-6060 57 Our Ic System Clock offers automatic time and date stamping, puts time, year, month, date and day of week right on your screen! pplied Engineering's revolutionary IIc System Slock plugs into either your modem or printer serial port ... and displays the time and date right on the AppleWorks screen. The time feature includes hours, minutes and seconds, and the date includes year, month, date and day of week. All your work is automatically time and date stamped to give you a complete record of your work history. And since it's from Applied Engineering, you'll get our famous no-hassle five year warranty and a price that will persuade you. FOR JUST $79, you can give your IIc the time of day, plus much more. Fully PRO-DOS compatible Automatic time and date stamping Easy to use from BASIC Date includes year, month, date and day of week Time includes hours, minutes, seconds Time and date stamps AppleWorks files Auto-access from AppleWorks database No-hassle five year warranty Call 214-241-6060 TO ORDER TODAY 9 a.m. to LI p.m. seven days, or send check or money order to Applied Engineering. MasterCard, Visa and C.O.D. welcome. Texas residents add 5'4% sales tax. Add $10.00 outside U.S.A. AE Applied Engineering P.O. Box 798, Carrollton, TX 75006 (214) 241-6060 Tom Vi rden of business users with //e's have accelerator cards and upgrades. They're right on the ragged edge.” They're considering going to MS-DOS and 16 bits, but they don’t want to give up their Apple || software, according to Virden. The existence of a computer that runs current Apple Il software and offers sophisticated sound and graphics and powertul 16-bit software—a computer that seems to com- bine the best features of the //e and the Macintosh—may confuse users trying to decide on a machine. Virden main- tains that the Mac 512K and Mac Plus will still be the high-end Apple business systems. ‘The last thing people want is Apple flip-flopping on position again,” Virden says, alluding to Apple's previous positioning of the Apple /i/, Lisa, and Mac as top-of-the-line systems. But if the customer's toughest decision is which Apple computer to buy, Apple isn't worried. Gassée says there’s a philosophical difference between the ll and the Mac. Users who want to “‘lift the hood" and get inside the computer will be more likely to look at a lias; others will want only the easier-to-use Mac. “There are people who would not touch an Apple |i, and there are people who would not touch a Mac,"’ Gassée says. New Life for the Il While a number of Appie officials are planning the mar- keting and positioning of the lias, Gassée prefers to talk about the computer itself: "I'd rather talk about usages than markets and niches.” The Apple lics is ‘'the reincarnation of the Appie II spirit,” says Apple's Gassée. ‘There's so much users can do [with the a@s}."" It has more power and sophistication than earlier II's, but for those so inclined, the hood still lifts easily. “It's better than compatible, because it's faster," Gassdée says. He warns, however, that ''100-percent compatibility is not something you want to guarantee.” Gassée realizes that the best/aid marketing plans often go astray. He jokes about his "Zen theory of marketing’: Put the computer out there and see who buys it. When Gassée refers to his ‘Zen theory,” though, he’s only half kidding. While Apple has carefully positioned the Gs in the educational and high-end home markets, Gassée hints at the llGs’ greater potential: "We shouid not try to artifi- cially constrain this product by positioning it as an educational computer or a home computer... .It could be an interesting small-business type of machine. My idea of positioning tends to be simplistic: It's the high-end-technology Apple II." ai October 1986