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>Apple IIs were popular but largely limited to proprietary products. Could you please expand on this thought? I'm genuinely curious as to what you mean by prop
by jackhack 7y ago
>Apple IIs were popular but largely limited to proprietary products.
Could you please expand on this thought? I'm genuinely curious as to what you mean by proprietary.
I cut my teeth on an Apple ][ with integer BASIC one would load from a tape. (Later, a ][+ with built-in Applesoft Basic and a floppy drive.) I'm puzzled what you mean when you refer to proprietary prouducts. I had an Epson dot-matrix printer, a 110/300 baud Hayes modem, and later AppleCat modem (1200 baud, full duplex, oh yeah!), a time/calendar card. A few different no-name joysticks, etc. The Apple ][s expansion bus slots actively encouraged aftermarket support. Anyone could create a peripherial.
Software came from magazines, commericial sellers (back of Nibble or Popular Computing magazines), shareware, my own imagination, BBS downloads, etc.
I think in more ways than not, the experience with the Apple ][ was in common with Commodore 64/128 users. The industry was blossoming, and competing by offering wildly different solutions with a common core.
- panzagl 7y agoDidn't Apple IIs require a monitor vs a TV? The Apple joysticks were also different from the 9 pin Atari/C64 ones. But they weren't 'proprietary' as much as 'differnet and more expensive'.
- reaperducer 7y agoNot just the joysticks. A useful Apple ][ system was double or triple the cost of a similarly capable C-64. Apples were great machines, but because of their timing and price they were considered business machines. At least until IBM changed the world.
- DerekL 7y agoYou could use an RF modulator and connect it to a TV, but it wasn't included with the system.