On Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 9:34 AM Eric Smith via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 02:36 Jim Manley <jim.man...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Microsoft did offer a RAM expansion board specifically to allow the > Softcard to access 64K of RAM dedicated to CP/M, > > Even that wasn't dedicated to CP/M. It was a 16K RAM card that was > equivalent to the Apple "Language Card", which allowed replacing the 12K of > ROM of the Apple II and II+ with 16K of RAM, of which 4K had two banks. > Although it was useful with the Softcard, it wasn't in any way specific to > it. > From https://www.pcmag.com/feature/300240/the-secret-history-of-microsoft-hardware/2 - "Microsoft RAMCard for Apple II (1980) Microsoft produced the Apple II RAMCard as an accessory card for its Z80 SoftCard ... The RAMCard plugged into one of an Apple II's free slots and provided 16KB of additional system memory (brining the total to 56KB) for CP/M programs running on the SoftCard." MS's ad for the card appears above the writeup. Dedicated only applies to the Premiere Softcard for the //e, which is what I had. The bottom line is that this Microsoft product was _developed_for_and_sold_with_their_Softcard_. The wise (and unavoidable, without a lot of extra work) benefit to other software running on an Apple has nothing to do with its primary intent. Visicalc and other software was modified to take advantage of the 56K memory footprint this card made available, but that doesn't detract from its primary intended use with the Softcard in any way, shape, or form. All models of the Softcard could output 80 x 24 text, not only through > third-party cards, but Apple's own 64K RAM and 80 x 24 video combo card, > > Which was only available for the IIe. I stand by my assertion that the > Softcard did not in any way provide 80x24 text. It could use the capability > if it was separately provided. > Oh, really? Then where did the CP/M 80x24 text bits come from, outer space? They came from the Softcard - the means for how it appeared in front of the user's eyes isn't important. You remind me of people who insisted that MHz and MBs were the sine qua non for evaluating systems during The Spec Wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Nowadays, no one even pays any attention to such trivia, because it's meaningless, and always has been.
