I might be acquiring a Laser 128

[ColecoGamer]

It looks like I’ll be getting a very clean, fully functional Apple IIe instead. It’s in beautiful condition too.

[christo930]

On 2/17/2022 at 1:29 AM, Iamgroot said:

I wouldn't bother with the original Laser 128 as it doesn't have the 3 speed accelerator, unless the price is quite reasonable.  The Laser128EX or EX/2 are the ones to get.

Why exactly would you care about a 3 speed accelerator?  I honestly don't know and I don't know jack about the Apple II.  But why would you want anything but the entry level machine?  Isn't that going to be the target of like 99% of games?  Presumably nobody is buying an Apple II to do actual work on as a computer in 2022.  It kind of reminds me of when people seek out an 8087 chip to put in their 5150 or XT for some unknown reason.

[Iamgroot]

4 hours ago, christo930 said:

Why exactly would you care about a 3 speed accelerator?  I honestly don't know and I don't know jack about the Apple II.  But why would you want anything but the entry level machine?  Isn't that going to be the target of like 99% of games?  Presumably nobody is buying an Apple II to do actual work on as a computer in 2022.  It kind of reminds me of when people seek out an 8087 chip to put in their 5150 or XT for some unknown reason.

Many games can benefit from a faster processor.  Especially board games that have an AI.  Applesoft is extremely slow at 1 Mhz and also benefits.  Even some of the graphics intensive games were quoted to be better playable with a faster cpu.  Plus there are still new programs that can be written to take advantage of the extra speed.  I wrote a .lz4 compressor to compress both the hi-res and dbl-hi-res screens with some impressive compression.  But would take 4 hours at 1 Mhz.  Now only takes 1/4 of the time it normally takes.

 

Nobody definitely buys an Apple II for actual work, but having a faster processor definitely makes play-time a lot more fun.

[potatohead]

I have a FastChip for my //e.

 

RadWarrior is too slow at 1mhz, runs great at 2 to 4Mhz.

 

The FastChip is nice because it can run at 1Mhz for joysticks, specific slot, etc...

 

NoxArchaist is also great at 2 to 5Mhz.

 

Some games are fun below 1Mhz!

 

High speed Applesoft is fun!  At 16Mhz... crazy fast.  

 

Those are just some examples. I've really enjoyed the accelerator on my machine and run things at different speeds fairly regularly.  There are more than a few titles out there that kind of assume you've got a GS or some boost of some kind.

Edited February 24, 2022 by potatohead

[Keatah]

For those wanting to see what a 1GHz 6502 does with Applesoft, try Applewin on the newest i9 machines. To go even faster compact the code with Beagle Bros COMPACT, then compile it with EINSTEIN or TASC.

 

On 2/21/2022 at 11:03 PM, christo930 said:

Why exactly would you care about a 3 speed accelerator?  I honestly don't know and I don't know jack about the Apple II.  But why would you want anything but the entry level machine?  Isn't that going to be the target of like 99% of games?

That's right, the base hardware covers just about everything. The most cost-effective upgrades back in the day were the 64K/80-Column memory card combo, A color monitor, and perhaps a 2nd disk drive. Runners up would be like a serial card and modem if into BBS'ing. And a printer if using PrintShop & word processing.

 

There were two niche products I loved though. The type ahead buffer/enhancer thing from Videx. Let you start typing a command while the computer was still doing something. And of course the MicroBuffer from Practical Peripherals. This latter add-on was an in-line Parallel Printer buffer 64K-256K in size. It let me print hour-long PrintShop banners while playing a game or getting back to the BBS. Or anything else, without having the printer tie up the system.

 

Accelerators do help games that should have never been written on the platform. Makes them actually playable. Personally I'm not a fan of speederupperstuff. It's not really the computer doing the work, but, instead, the accelerator. The computer suddenly becomes a dumb terminal.

 

On 2/21/2022 at 11:03 PM, christo930 said:

 Presumably nobody is buying an Apple II to do actual work on as a computer in 2022. 

Nobody I know buys these machines for any real work either. It's all about nostalgia and sentimentality. And access to the older and better games. For me it's recreation experimentation in Applesoft, a handful of action games, and archiving activities.

 

On 2/21/2022 at 11:03 PM, christo930 said:

It kind of reminds me of when people seek out an 8087 chip to put in their 5150 or XT for some unknown reason.

Not an unknown reason. The 8087 completes the architecture. No different than getting OEM or perfect replica parts for a classic car. Why install a chrome knob when a black one functions 100% the same?

[christo930]

On 2/22/2022 at 5:03 AM, Iamgroot said:

Many games can benefit from a faster processor.  Especially board games that have an AI.  Applesoft is extremely slow at 1 Mhz and also benefits.  Even some of the graphics intensive games were quoted to be better playable with a faster cpu.  Plus there are still new programs that can be written to take advantage of the extra speed.  I wrote a .lz4 compressor to compress both the hi-res and dbl-hi-res screens with some impressive compression.  But would take 4 hours at 1 Mhz.  Now only takes 1/4 of the time it normally takes.

 

Nobody definitely buys an Apple II for actual work, but having a faster processor definitely makes play-time a lot more fun.

Do the games run too slow ,only faster?  Like I said, I don't know much about the II platform, but on different 8 bit computers and with the early PC games, games that run slow don't speed up with a faster processor in a way that makes sense.  Like if a game has 10 frames per second and you double the speed of the processor, it is the seconds that speed up, not the frames per second because the game is just running flat out and so it is time that goes by more quickly (IOW, you don't get 20fps, you just complete the lap in 1/2 the time (by your watch) it used to take).  Like if took 10 (your clock) seconds to go through a lap, it will now take 5 real clock seconds to get around the track. You don't get twice as many frames per second, you get more seconds.  I'm not sure I'm explaining this well.

 

If you had a chess game or something, I can see where a faster processor would help.

 

So it only takes an hour now