From: jnomina@andy.bgsu.edu (A.P.K.)
Subject: Re: Does apple ][ GS software work using the apple ][ emulator
Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh.
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 09:21:40 GMT

evensont@spot.Colorado.EDU (EVENSON THOMAS RANDALL) writes:
> In article <Bz1yqr.F3L@news.iastate.edu> irsman@iastate.edu (That Ian Guy) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec10.061621.11876@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> ramsey@spot.Colorado.EDU (Mad Poo Bandit) writes:
>>>In article <rdippold.723930292@qualcom> rdippold@qualcom.qualcomm.com writes:
>>
>>>Uhmmm, the Soundblaster can do quite a bit more than just FM stuff.  A SB
>>>can easily play 4 channel digitized tracks, ala MOD files, not to mention
>>>the other types of 'MOD like' music that is capable of mixing 7 tracks, like
>>>.669 files.  As for a GS blowing away the Soundblaster's sound, you must be
>>>mistaken.  Listen to both and tell me that again.
>>
>>Just did.  The SB has all of 1 DAC...MOD players have to do CPU-intensive
>>resampling on the fly to compensate.  The GS is the obvious winner.
>>
> 
> I don't know...on my 486-50, I can play a MOD, download, and format disks
> without slowing it down a bit.  I think it might be going a bit far
> to have the SB mix 32 channels, but for cripes sake, don't compare
> Apples to oranges (pun).  An IBM as far as most other things will exceed
> anything the GS can do.  And plop in a Gravis Ultrasound, and you could
> do near perfect emulation.  What's the clock speed and what CPU exactly
> does a GS use?  I'm not sure...it'd be neet to know.  
> 
> A 486-50 gets roughly 40 MIPS..  Find out what a GS gets, estimate the 
> efficiency of a good emulator, and see if the ratio of the mips comes
> close to the efficiency.  Won't be perfect...but nothing ever is.

And NOW who's camparing apples to oranges?  I'll set my 'accellerated'
apple ][gs (8MHz) beside any compatible IBMtm or clone running either
Windows 3.x or PS2-OS, and we'll see what the real deal is.  I think
that to make your camparison, you'd first need to be running a
comparibly priced, 16-bit, up to 20MHz system with a CGA or VGA (which
ever is closest to 320*200*16).  I've made comparisons with 386sx's
running at 20 and 25MHz, and they looked like dogs.  I'm not
intending that as a slam, the messy-dos crowd can finally start
to be happy about the latest windows, I know.  But it IS true.

To add my over-priced $.02 to the diskussion, concerning the
comparisons, there's nothing out there that an AMIGA or IBM can
do that a ][gs cannot do, other than hardware multi-tasking, but
we've even got a nice unix-styled multi-tasking environment now
called Gno.  And there ARE things, such as the built-in ensoniq,
that nothing else can come relatively close to, in a 'standard
configuration.'

Someone made mention of the toolbox in the ][gs...  While it
wouldn't be impossible to 'emulate' the toolbox, I think you'd
be seriously stepping on some Apple copyrights, which is why
no one has emulated a Mac or Apple ][gs.  Perhaps others have
successfully 'borrowed' Apple's look-and-feel, but the internal
workings are such that you can't 'emulate' the Mac legally,
and I believe that the same applies to the ][gs, especially
since some of the toolbox stuff was borrowed from the Mac
to the ][gs, and visa-versa.  (Yes, the colour aspect of the
QuickDraw2 routines used on Mac II's was originally taken
from the ][gs in the experimental stages, if I remember 
correctly.)  Also, on the subject of toolboxes, while it
shouldn't be impossible to emulate a ][gs, albeit slowly,
most of the important and usable applications on the ][gs
take specifically from the toolbox, FTA's stuff excluding,
which is one of the serious reasons that, A) the ][gs runs
so fast at such a slow speed compared to many machines
(toolbox being built into the ROM), and B) without the legal
or illegal use of the toolbox, it would be QUITE impossible
to ever hope to directly run most of the ][gs software.

There were a few other aspects I'd wanted to address, having
just read the entire thread, but I've forgotten much of it
at the moment, and I've already given $.02 plus change...
Maybe I'll get back to some of it later, it's after 4AM
and I've got a program's progress to check in on.

Later,

Jim

Newsgroups: alt.emulators.ibmpc.apple2