Games - Apple IIc Plus

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	Games - Apple IIc Plus

The Apple IIc Plus was the sixth and final model in the Apple II line of personal computers, produced by Apple Computer. The "Plus" in the name was a reference to the additional features it offered over the original portable Apple IIc, such as greater storage capacity (a built-in 3.5" floppy drive replacing the classic 5.25"), increased processing speed, and a general standardization of the system components. In a notable change of direction, the Apple IIc Plus did not introduce new technology or any further evolutionary contributions to the Apple II series, instead merely integrating existing peripherals into the original Apple IIc design. In fact the machine was seen by the computing industry as an evolutionary step backwards, a devolution into 8-bit development rather than going forward with the more advanced 16-bit Apple IIGS.

History

The Apple IIc Plus was introduced on September 16th, 1988 at the AppleFest conference in San Francisco, albeit lacking any of the excitement or enthusiasm the original Apple IIc had received when released four years earlier. Described unenthusiastically as nothing more than a "turbocharged version of the IIc with a high-capacity 3½ disk drive" by one magazine review of the time, it was an understandable disappointment. Not only did it lack any new technological advancements for 8-bit users (many current IIc users already had the equivalent features through third party add-ons) but defied common sense, as the next logical step demanded a new model of the Apple IIGS. As a result, even before the official release of the machine, it had been rumored to be a slotless version of the Apple IIGS squeezed into the portable case of the Apple IIc. Another reason for the rumor stemmed from the fact Apple employee John Arkley, one of the engineers working on the Apple IIc Plus project, devised rudimentary plans for an enhanced Apple IIGS motherboard that would fit in the IIc case, and petitioned management for the go ahead with such a project. The idea was, curiously, rejected and instead became the 8-bit computer described in this article.

When the project started the original plan was to just replace the 5.25" floppy drive with a 3.5", without modifying the IIc design. Other features, consequently, were added as the project progressed. It is believed the Apple IIc Plus design, and its existence at all, was influenced by a third party Apple IIc compatible known as the Laser 128. It is not coincidence that the Apple IIc Plus is very similar in design to the Laser 128EX/2 model, released shortly before the Apple IIc Plus. As fully backwards compatible, the Apple IIc Plus replaced the Apple IIc.

Codenames for the machine while under development included: Raisin, Pizza, Adam Ant.

Overview of new features

Three major new features

Although there were several changes present, the Apple IIc Plus was mainly comprised of three new features. The first and most noticeable feature was the replacement of the 5¼" floppy drive with the new 3½" drive. Beside offering nearly six times the storage capacity (800K), the new drive had a much faster seek time (3 times faster) and button activated motorized ejection. To accommodate the increased data flow of the new drive, specialized chip circuitry called The MIG, short for "Magic Interface Glue", was designed and added to the motherboard along with a dedicated 2K static RAM buffer (the MIG chip is the only exception to there being no new technological developments present in the machine). The second most important feature was a faster 65C02 processor, running at 4 MHz. In actuality an Apple II accelerator product called the Zip Chip was licensed through third party developer Zip Technologies and added to the IIc Plus, however instead of the all-in-one tall chip design, Apple engineers broke out the design into its core components and integrated them into the motherboard (a 4 MHz CPU, 8K of combined static RAM cache, and logic). Of interesting note is CPU acceleration was a last minute feature added, which in turn made the specialized circuitry for the utilizations of a 3.5 drive completely unnecessary as the machine was now fast enough to handle the data flow; that circuitry was left in place and put into operation nonetheless. By default the machine ran at 4 MHz, but holding down the 'ESC' key during a cold or warm boot disabled the acceleration so it could run at a standard 1 MHz operation--necessary for older software that depending on timing, especially games. The third major change was the internalization of the powersupply into the Apple IIc Plus's case, utilizing a new miniature design from Sony (gone was the infamous "brick on a leash" external supply). A new look and minor changes

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Apple IIc Plus ]

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Games - Apple IIc Plus

History

Overview of new features

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