Microsoft-Paul Allen

[Jim Manley]

On Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 9:34 AM Eric Smith via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 02:36 Jim Manley <jim.manley at 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.