MultiFinder
Well-known member
Can we all agree that since the SE/30 is just under God in our universe, that the Classic II comes in second? Please? It's really a great little Mac!
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Classic II: Second-best Compact Ever?
- Thread starter MultiFinder
- Start date
Sorry but I voted no and ill tel you why.
If you want the compact with the best performance the SE/30 wins. that's a plain fact.
Now the classic II might come in second in that list but it doesn't have anything the SE/30 doesn't offer.
now the plus on the other hand does offer something else. A silent floppy only mac!
opinions may very about if this is a good or bad thing but it still offers you something else to choose from if your not into high performance (for an old B&W compact that is of course) and the plus is the best choice in this category.
You could also go for the SE FDHD with 2 internal floppy drives if you want to stick to floppies and don't care about the fan. Or perhaps even a 2 floppy SE/30 but ive personally never seen those unless they were modded to include a hard drive aswell.
Besides, the original floppy only macs were the best looking compacts in my opinion. And that makes them the best looking computers ever because nothing beets the old compact look!
so second comes the plus!
If you want the compact with the best performance the SE/30 wins. that's a plain fact.
Now the classic II might come in second in that list but it doesn't have anything the SE/30 doesn't offer.
now the plus on the other hand does offer something else. A silent floppy only mac!
opinions may very about if this is a good or bad thing but it still offers you something else to choose from if your not into high performance (for an old B&W compact that is of course) and the plus is the best choice in this category.
You could also go for the SE FDHD with 2 internal floppy drives if you want to stick to floppies and don't care about the fan. Or perhaps even a 2 floppy SE/30 but ive personally never seen those unless they were modded to include a hard drive aswell.
Besides, the original floppy only macs were the best looking compacts in my opinion. And that makes them the best looking computers ever because nothing beets the old compact look!
so second comes the plus!
Patrickool93
Well-known member
Classic I !!!!
MultiFinder
Well-known member
You all make me a saaaaaaaaaad panda...
coius
Well-known member
why? it did SO MUCH on _so_little_. I know it was limited, but think about it. How the hell do you cram a GUI into 128KB or ram, and a 400KB floppy disc. that is HARD. but apple did it. It proves that you don't need that much resources to do the impossible. Personally, I think that the Apple II was the best (the II series, all of them) because they seem to be the most hackable machines out there.
I mean, heck, the thing tells you what all the address lines are, how to make your own cards for it, and the thing is so darn configurable, it's not funny.
As much as I like the mac (68k,PPC, Intel) I still think the Apple II series was the best computer out there.
Besides, for an interesting bit of trivia, did you know that they got the Finder running on the Apple II? that's why there is a mouse for the apple II
it was mainly made for the development of the finder
I mean, heck, the thing tells you what all the address lines are, how to make your own cards for it, and the thing is so darn configurable, it's not funny.
As much as I like the mac (68k,PPC, Intel) I still think the Apple II series was the best computer out there.
Besides, for an interesting bit of trivia, did you know that they got the Finder running on the Apple II? that's why there is a mouse for the apple II
it was mainly made for the development of the finder
Kallikak
Well-known member
Can you give a reference for that story? I know they did MousePaint on Apple II (for the IIe with Mouse Card) and that was essentially a port of MacPaint. I think the Desktop programs for Apple II were later than that - certainly the IIgs ones were.Besides, for an interesting bit of trivia, did you know that they got the Finder running on the Apple II? that's why there is a mouse for the apple II
it was mainly made for the development of the finder
coius
Well-known member
read about jeff raskin
He said that during the process of making the macintosh, they had built a serial board and a program that could use the mouse. So the mouse was originally designed for the Mac. which first went into the Lisa because the mac hadn't shipped yet.
During the development, they figured out how to get the 6502 in the Apple II to display non-laggy feedback from the mouse. They used the Apple II to boot the Mac through the serial port.
However, to design the finder, they did it through the Apple II, running the GUI on the Apple II (which probably had the Apple II desktop OS come out after the Mac)
Also, another bit of trivia, the Mac 128k was originally going to use the 6502, but they found out it wasn't powerful enough. So they chose the new up-and-coming 68k
Check out the Jeff Raskin Story:
http://jef.raskincenter.org/home/index.html
He said that during the process of making the macintosh, they had built a serial board and a program that could use the mouse. So the mouse was originally designed for the Mac. which first went into the Lisa because the mac hadn't shipped yet.
During the development, they figured out how to get the 6502 in the Apple II to display non-laggy feedback from the mouse. They used the Apple II to boot the Mac through the serial port.
However, to design the finder, they did it through the Apple II, running the GUI on the Apple II (which probably had the Apple II desktop OS come out after the Mac)
Also, another bit of trivia, the Mac 128k was originally going to use the 6502, but they found out it wasn't powerful enough. So they chose the new up-and-coming 68k
Check out the Jeff Raskin Story:
http://jef.raskincenter.org/home/index.html
Kallikak
Well-known member
Jef Raskin wanted the Motorola 6809 ( http://www-sul.stanford.edu/mac/primary/docs/bom/jan80.html , and even earlier, http://www-sul.stanford.edu/mac/primary/docs/bom/macpoints.html).
This story from folklore sounds like what you are referring to:
http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Apple_II_Mouse_Card.txt
Jef Raskin seems to claim a whole lot of inventions that seem more likely the result of many people's work. There's even been a little war of words between him and Bruce Horn that you can find traces of on the net in this regard. Nevertheless, although Raskin certainly blows his own trumpet with considerable vigour, he was an amazing individual and we have a lot to thank him for.
This story from folklore sounds like what you are referring to:
http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Apple_II_Mouse_Card.txt
Jef Raskin seems to claim a whole lot of inventions that seem more likely the result of many people's work. There's even been a little war of words between him and Bruce Horn that you can find traces of on the net in this regard. Nevertheless, although Raskin certainly blows his own trumpet with considerable vigour, he was an amazing individual and we have a lot to thank him for.
equill
Well-known member
Both of us will always have a soft spot for the Classic II. Crippled though it was, one of that model, with only six out of the possible 10MB of RAM, a 40MB internal HDD and an 80MB external served this household magnificently for three years. With WriteNow 3 and FileMaker Pro 2, and a StyleWriter II, it plugged steadily away at maintenace of a 10,000-plus record music catalogue for preparation of broadcast programmes, and printed them in format for publication. It took care of essays for ge's undergraduate work, our correspondence, and committee and Board minutes for our joint hobby of broadcasting.
It was infraseded (You'll understand 'infraseded' if you know the LC II/Performa 400.) by a Performa 400 only because of the larger and colour display, which suited ge's eyes better. Nonetheless, Elsie coped with ge's Honours year, and was then replaced with a Snow iMac/500 DVSE for her PhD.
Both Algernon and Elsie are still with us. He has 10MB of RAM, an EN/SC connection to my LAN, and an FPU (the only available upgrade for a Classic II) now, and she has morphed into a Q605 hybrid with 132MB of RAM and a full 68040.
In my opinion the clean lines of the Classic and Classic II are such as to make them the epitomes of the 'Classic' appellation, never minding that both were far from blazing fast at anything.
de
It was infraseded (You'll understand 'infraseded' if you know the LC II/Performa 400.) by a Performa 400 only because of the larger and colour display, which suited ge's eyes better. Nonetheless, Elsie coped with ge's Honours year, and was then replaced with a Snow iMac/500 DVSE for her PhD.
Both Algernon and Elsie are still with us. He has 10MB of RAM, an EN/SC connection to my LAN, and an FPU (the only available upgrade for a Classic II) now, and she has morphed into a Q605 hybrid with 132MB of RAM and a full 68040.
In my opinion the clean lines of the Classic and Classic II are such as to make them the epitomes of the 'Classic' appellation, never minding that both were far from blazing fast at anything.
de
equill
Well-known member
If I turn my head to the left, from where I sit between two iMac 500s with only the desklamp on, in the semi-gloom I can see a 512Ke standing on its overgrown floppy drive (Hard Disk 20), an SE/30, a Classic II, a CC, a IIci with Portrait Display, and a Q605 (genuine) with its bug-eyed Multiple Scan 14.
It's the simplicity of line of the Classic II that catches the eye and makes the Mac instantly identifiable.
de
It's the simplicity of line of the Classic II that catches the eye and makes the Mac instantly identifiable.
de
Kallikak
Well-known member
I still kick myself for surrendering the Classic II with FPU that I did my PhD on... :-( System 6.0.8L for Mathematica work to maximise speed and memory, THINK C for coding, and MPW for coding and shell and LaTeX, and a noisy external 105MB SCSI drive for workspace AND backup!
And, I must add, Tetris for notoriously frequent "mental recovery sessions"
