Ian McKinnell tries on the Mac's coat of many colours - 16 million at the last count - feels the quality and finds himself wishing it weren't quite so expensive. In the Macintosh community, each new machine is eagerly anticipated. For months before the strenuously-denied launch, rumours abound: the intimate details of the new machine (which change every week) are discussed in the minutest detail. Until now, the biggest question has been: is this PixelPaint not finally going to be the colour Mac? only looks like the original MacPaint This time it was. There was colour and lots - in most cases it of it, as demonstrated by the hackneyed works like images of 'balls in space' used in all the early MacPaint too, so photographs of the ugly new machine. No longer did Macintosh owners have to sali- most Macintosh vate over an Amiga, salvation was here - if (a users will feel very big if) you could afford it. immediately at home I was fortunate in having a Macintosh ll in my studio not long after the machine was launched. It was both an exciting and des- perately frustrating experience. There was the Apple in the top left corner of the screen, resplendent in its coat of many colours - but initially that was about the only evidence I had that this was a colour machine. Only two programs worked in colour (CricketDraw and PixelPaint uses all Graphicworks), but they used only a miser- of the 256 colours able total of eight colours and made a available with an Sinclair Spectrum's use of colour look posi- 8-bit video board. tively sophisticated. It was like having the The heart of first 128 Macintosh all over again. Here was an incredibly sophisticated colour machine PixelPaint is its with only black and white software. system of palettes, where colours can It took a long time for the first program to be mixed and appear which starte…

Ian McKinnell tries on the Mac's coat of many colours - 16 million at the last count - feels the quality and finds himself wishing it weren't quite so expensive. In the Macintosh community, each new machine is eagerly anticipated. For months before the strenuously-denied launch, rumours abound: the intimate details of the new machine (which change every week) are discussed in the minutest detail. Until now, the biggest question has been: is this PixelPaint not finally going to be the colour Mac? only looks like the original MacPaint This time it was. There was colour and lots - in most cases it of it, as demonstrated by the hackneyed works like images of 'balls in space' used in all the early MacPaint too, so photographs of the ugly new machine. No longer did Macintosh owners have to sali- most Macintosh vate over an Amiga, salvation was here - if (a users will feel very big if) you could afford it. immediately at home I was fortunate in having a Macintosh ll in my studio not long after the machine was launched. It was both an exciting and des- perately frustrating experience. There was the Apple in the top left corner of the screen, resplendent in its coat of many colours - but initially that was about the only evidence I had that this was a colour machine. Only two programs worked in colour (CricketDraw and PixelPaint uses all Graphicworks), but they used only a miser- of the 256 colours able total of eight colours and made a available with an Sinclair Spectrum's use of colour look posi- 8-bit video board. tively sophisticated. It was like having the The heart of first 128 Macintosh all over again. Here was an incredibly sophisticated colour machine PixelPaint is its with only black and white software. system of palettes, where colours can It took a long time for the first program to be mixed and appear which starte…