2006-07-08 15:41:03 +00:00
|
|
|
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
|
|
|
|
|
<html>
|
|
|
|
|
<head>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<title>Historical Information</title>
|
|
|
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<body style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: verdana;" alink="#008000" link="#008000" vlink="#008000">
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2 style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">Historical
|
|
|
|
|
Information</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr size="4">
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The Apple II holds a unique
|
|
|
|
|
position in the
|
|
|
|
|
history of computing. It was the first truly general purpose
|
|
|
|
|
personal computer, and the first widely successful one. The Apple
|
|
|
|
|
II took the personal computer revolution from the garages of hard
|
|
|
|
|
core hobbyists and brought it into business and into millions of
|
|
|
|
|
homes around the country.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>It was developed largely by
|
|
|
|
|
one man, Steve
|
|
|
|
|
Wozniak. He designed the system board, employing a number of
|
|
|
|
|
tricks which made it easier to build but harder to program. He
|
|
|
|
|
created a floppy drive interface, a hugely important feature at
|
|
|
|
|
that time, during a marathon two week session in December 1977.
|
|
|
|
|
He programmed the Apple ROM's and even wrote the first BASIC
|
|
|
|
|
interpreter for the Apple. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>From the start, the Apple II
|
|
|
|
|
was a major
|
|
|
|
|
success, fueling the PC revolution and launching Apple Computer
|
|
|
|
|
Corporation as a major force in the computer industry. By 1980,
|
|
|
|
|
Apple Computer's yearly revenues already exceeded 100 million
|
|
|
|
|
dollars. In December of that year, the company went public,
|
|
|
|
|
making co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs each
|
|
|
|
|
multi-millionaires. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Although the Apple II had
|
|
|
|
|
originally been
|
|
|
|
|
designed for hobbyists and home users, about 90% of them were
|
|
|
|
|
being sold to small businesses. Apple therefore decided that the
|
|
|
|
|
successor to the Apple II, the Apple III, should be a serious
|
|
|
|
|
business computer. When it was released in 1980, it featured more
|
|
|
|
|
memory, an advanced new operating system, and support for
|
|
|
|
|
80-column text and lowercase characters. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>When we came out
|
|
|
|
|
with the Apple III, the engineering staff canceled every Apple II
|
|
|
|
|
engineering program that was ongoing, in expectation of the Apple III's
|
|
|
|
|
success. Every single one was canceled. We really perceived that the
|
|
|
|
|
Apple II would not last six months.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-- Steve Wozniak
|
|
|
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>However, the Apple III was
|
|
|
|
|
late and
|
|
|
|
|
suffered from poor backwards compatibility and a nearly 100%
|
|
|
|
|
hardware failure rate. Although Apple eventually addressed these
|
2022-03-18 22:04:34 +00:00
|
|
|
issues, they were not able to overcome the Apple III's bad
|
2006-07-08 15:41:03 +00:00
|
|
|
reputation. Apple III sales remained poor, while sales of the
|
|
|
|
|
older Apple II continued to climb. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>In 1983, Apple finally
|
|
|
|
|
returned its
|
|
|
|
|
attention to the Apple II series, introducing the Apple IIe. The
|
|
|
|
|
IIe borrowed some features from the failed Apple III, including
|
|
|
|
|
80-column text and lowercase support. However, it was at its
|
|
|
|
|
heart an Apple II, and retained very strong compatibility with
|
|
|
|
|
the existing base of Apple II software. The Apple IIe was
|
|
|
|
|
extremely successful, soon selling at twice the volume of its
|
|
|
|
|
predecessor. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>In 1984, Apple released their
|
|
|
|
|
first
|
|
|
|
|
portable computer, the Apple IIc. The IIc was very similar to the
|
|
|
|
|
IIe, but came in a compact case that included the most popular
|
|
|
|
|
peripherals, such as a disk drive and serial card, built in. It
|
|
|
|
|
also included an enhanced CPU (the 65c02) and mouse support.
|
|
|
|
|
However, the public did not embrace the Apple IIc, partly because
|
|
|
|
|
it was not expandable like the IIe and partly because people
|
|
|
|
|
incorrectly equated the small size with a lack of power. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Because the Apple IIe
|
|
|
|
|
continued to be
|
|
|
|
|
Apple's best seller, Apple returned focus to it in 1985,
|
|
|
|
|
releasing the Enhanced IIe. This computer featured the same
|
|
|
|
|
enhanced CPU as the IIc, and also included improved support for
|
|
|
|
|
80-column text and lowercase characters. Then, in 1987, they
|
|
|
|
|
spruced it up with a new keyboard and some other minor hardware
|
|
|
|
|
changes. This final IIe, called the Extended Keyboard IIe or the
|
|
|
|
|
Platinum IIe, is the computer that AppleWin emulates. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>In 1986, Apple released one
|
|
|
|
|
more Apple II,
|
|
|
|
|
the IIgs. Although this computer maintained backwards
|
|
|
|
|
compatibility with most II and IIe programs, it had a radically
|
|
|
|
|
new architecture and feature set. It was a 16-bit computer,
|
|
|
|
|
unlike the previous Apple II's which were all 8-bit. It featured
|
|
|
|
|
new graphics modes which could display thousands of different
|
|
|
|
|
colors on the screen at once. And it had an advanced new sound
|
|
|
|
|
chip that could play fifteen different sounds at once. However,
|
|
|
|
|
partly because it was poorly marketed and partly because the
|
|
|
|
|
world had turned its attention to the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh,
|
|
|
|
|
the IIgs never really took off. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
|
</html>
|
