Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rlgvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!wjh12!talcott!harvard!seismo!rlgvax!geller
From: geller@rlgvax.UUCP (David Geller)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: mac compatibles ?
Message-ID: <303@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Dec-84 13:00:49 EST
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.303
Posted: Fri Dec 14 13:00:49 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Dec-84 03:30:39 EST
References: <91@vectron.UUCP> <1807@sun.uucp> <> <18@cornell.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
Lines: 23

> There will probably not be any Mac compatibles.  Few people seem to
> realize the enormous amount of software built into the ROM.  I heard
> that the first version of Quickdraw, done in Pascal, was 128K.  After
> rewriting it in assembly it was 64K.  After another year or so of
> optimization (and adding features) it was 16K, and that's what is in
> the 64K ROM.  I think these numbers came from Byte, but I'm just remembering
> them, so don't trust them too far.
> 
> There are many, many man-years of programs in that ROM, and it would be
> infeasible to rewrite them.  Therefore, any Mac compatible will have to
> copy the ROM, and will be illegal in the US.  In addition, Apple uses
> custom chips in the disk controller, (and perhaps elsewhere) making
> copying harder.  I assume that Apple did it that way on purpose,
> to prevent the Mac from ending up like the Apple II in the far east.

The MAC uses the same disk controller as the II series (The Woz machine). It
is not that difficult to imagine someone else writing the equivalent. I also
suspect that it is not to difficult to believe that a team of good programmers
couln't create something very close to the *magic* in the Macs ROMS. My claims
are based upon the inevitable - there will eventually be little machines far
faster and more complex then the MAC with better graphics and a better more
usable user-interface. Maybe it will even come from Apple. Maybe the Amiga
will bring us closer to what we want...