19 replies to this topic

[Keatah]

... it has no fan, and can operate in total silence.

[Arkhan]

That's about the only reason it's better.

[potatohead]

Another reason would be instant access to programming. Turn it on, give it some instructions, get result, turn it off!

Fully documented would be another reason. Not only can one person actually completely understand the machine, but they can do so in a way that makes building another one possible.

The keyboard rocks. This is a matter of taste, and I've written a lot on that //e keyboard. In fact, I'm doing some writing on it currently. With ADT and Ciderpress, I can get that data out and use it elsewhere too. Writing on a classic 80 column display has a great appeal. There are basically NO features, leaving just the writing. Running on a terminal is about the same experience.

Edited by potatohead, Fri Feb 3, 2012 10:42 AM.

[BydoEmpire]

Plus, it still runs like new after 25 years. Not holding my breath about any new computer lasting that long.

I LOVE the keyboard on my ][c - it feels so great.

[wood_jl]

I suppose all those "System Savers" with fans in them were unnecessary, then?

[Keatah]

In a II+ with some cards, you had every bit of 130 chips warming the case. For the //e, you can run it just fine without a system saver. Especially with with the cold running 65c02.

[FujiSkunk]

wood_jl, on Fri Feb 3, 2012 12:32 PM, said:

I suppose all those "System Savers" with fans in them were unnecessary, then?

System Savers were a good idea in some cases, but like many good ideas, the number of people who would actually benefit was less than the advertisers would have you believe. For a computer jammed into a small space with little ventilation or air circulation, a System Saver was good insurance. For a computer on a wide desk in a typical air-conditioned home, it was less necessary.

Actually I liked the System Saver more for the front-facing power switch and the fact that switch could control both the monitor and computer. One easy click and done.

[magnusfalkirk]

.....with Appleworks or Publish It! and an Imagewriter II printer you can produce documents that look just as good asanything done on a modern system.

Edited by magnusfalkirk, Sat Feb 4, 2012 10:10 AM.

[high voltage]

Modern PC don't need fans...or?

[Keatah]

...it is easier to repair!

[Retro Rogue]

potatohead, on Fri Feb 3, 2012 10:40 AM, said:

Writing on a classic 80 column display has a great appeal.

Bah, it's not classic unless you're writing at 40.

[Keatah]

I remember in grade school. I didn't really do too much word processing till I got an 80 column card. Though I had the Videx 80-col board for the II+, it was with the //e that I got into high gear with text operations.

[jaybird3rd]

potatohead, on Fri Feb 3, 2012 10:40 AM, said:

Writing on a classic 80 column display has a great appeal. There are basically NO features, leaving just the writing. Running on a terminal is about the same experience.

I agree. There's something austere and simple about character-based writing tools on vintage systems: no multitasking, no GUI overload, no WYSIWYG distractions ... just words on a screen. I still do a lot of my writing in XyWrite on the PC, with my good old Model M keyboard, for the same reason. I've also written on terminals running emacs (the amber monochrome screens are my favorites), but the keyboards on those aren't quite as nice.

[Keatah]

wood_jl, on Fri Feb 3, 2012 12:32 PM, said:

I suppose all those "System Savers" with fans in them were unnecessary, then?

Many were, if you generally had a full house of cards in a II+, then it was a good idea. Otherwise, it was marketing gimmickry.

Edited by Keatah, Thu Feb 9, 2012 11:47 PM.

[potatohead]

Yeah, totally. Amber screens, and older keyboards. YES!!

Re: Writing at 40. You know I did a lot of that too.

For a while, my primary writing machine was an Atari 800xl. I ran it in 40, using some *writer program that I really liked. What I found notable between the two is one tends to change language based on where the line breaks are. This sentence might appear quite substantial on a 40 character screen, looking like a paragraph. On the 80, it's closer to what we have here, though still vertically larger.

I'm somewhat sensitive to the vertical area used, generally willing to author longer paragraphs at higher character densities, shorter ones and simpler words at lower character densities.

[Keatah]

I once had a Videx UltraTerm card going, upgraded from the VideoTerm 80-col card. This new board gave 132 columns or 160 columns. There was a short amount of time when I had an Enhancer II, Function Strip, lowercase chip, shft-key mod, and an UltraTerm going all in my II+. And it migrated over to the //e for a while. It was among the last upgrades I did to my II+, not including the Sider or car battery adapter.

I still have all that hardware. I made a badge on Printshop saying "Text by Videx", and glued it to the side of the system - I was so proud! It's been years, the glue dried up, and the banner fell off. But the boards and disks and computer still operate if I take it for a spin on Sundays.

Edited by Keatah, Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:50 AM.

[Ransom]

Yeah, those old A2's had it going. I had a //c from 1986 to 1990. I did everything on that for my first few years of college. Then I switched to an IBM compatible for a few years before switching back to a 1200XL with flickerterm-80 (remember that?) and dialup. So when I was writing professionally, I was doing so in a terminal window, dialed into a shell account, using vi as my editor. I must have churned out more than 100,000 published words using that setup. Good times...

[Keatah]

I wonder if it wasn't more common to use a terminal program's editor for text ops instead of a regular word processor like Magic Windows or Bank Street Writer or Appleworks?

Edited by Keatah, Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:16 PM.

[desiv]

Protection...

If I'm in my house and a bad guy comes in...
Yeah, I can throw my laptop at him.. Nothing...
I can throw my PC at him.. But the flat panel?? Same as the laptop.. No damage..
The case? Yeah, it's biggish, but no real weight...

Would barely slow him down, and now he's pissed and going to kill me..

BUT... I make it to my retro room and free the Apple Color Monitor and throw that at him... BAM...
And, if he manages to somehow stagger up after that and keep coming toward me..

The //E in my hands held up high..... I can hear a voice coming from somewhere, "Finish him!!"

Yep...

Protection...

and it's more fun...

desiv
:-)

[yell0w_lantern]

desiv, on Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:58 PM, said:

The //E in my hands held up high..... I can hear a voice coming from somewhere, "Finish him!!"

That was me, sorry.