B R O Z E . N E T

Under Construction since 1990 * Best viewed at 800x600 * 256 colors

WELCOME TO THE ZONE

The Apple IIgs

"g" is for graphics, "s" is for sound. The Apple II, finally out loud.

By the Numbers

CPU WDC 65C816 -- 16-bit, runs the whole Apple II library
Speed 2.8 MHz
Graphics Super Hi-Res -- 320x200 in 16 colors, 640x200 in 4, from a palette of 4096
Sound Ensoniq 5503 -- 32 oscillators, 64K of RAM
Memory 256K, out to 8 megabytes
Desktop GS/OS, System 6.0.1 -- windows, menus, a mouse, in color

Compute, Color and Sound

A 16-bit 65C816 that still speaks 6502, so every program you already own still runs. Four thousand and ninety-six colors. A thirty-two-oscillator synthesizer the rest of the desk cannot touch.

No home computer sounds like this. The Ensoniq 5503 is a monster. And the graphics answer: sixteen colors on a line, chosen from four thousand and ninety-six. Out of control possibility.

Look and Feel

GS/OS is the desktop the Apple II has finally earned.

The GS/OS color desktop
GS/OS System 6 -- a color Finder, mouse and menus.

The Software

What the machine runs, mirrored here so it stays runnable. The desktop you just saw -- System 6.0.1, GS/OS itself: the Finder, the fonts, the tools, SynthLAB -- comes on six 800K disks: Install * System * Tools 1 * Tools 2 * Fonts * SynthLAB (.sdk). The rest of the shelf:

DeluxePaint II -- a painting on the canvas, the menu bar, tools, and color palette DeluxePaint II -- Dan Silva's canvas. Sixteen colors to a line, four thousand to choose from.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
Paintworks Gold -- a painting on the canvas, the animation menu open Paintworks Gold -- Activision's painter, and it moves. Draw a frame, draw the next, run them.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
Music Studio 2.0 -- colored notes on the staff, the Sounds menu Music Studio 2.0 -- notes on a staff, the Ensoniq playing them back.
Download (.po -- disk image)
Music Construction Set -- the score editor, notes on a staff Music Construction Set -- Will Harvey's score editor. Drag the notes on, the GS sings them.
Download (.po -- disk image)
DiversiTune -- a MIDI song playing, the on-screen piano keys lit DiversiTune -- feed it a MIDI file and the Ensoniq plays it back, the keyboard lighting up as it goes.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
HyperStudio -- the authoring environment, menu bar and a stack card HyperStudio -- Roger Wagner's stacks, wired in plain steps. The card, in color and out loud.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
AppleWorks GS -- the page-layout module, a document open with rulers and tools AppleWorks GS -- writer, spreadsheet, database, page layout, paint, all one program. The disk everyone owned.
Four 800K disks: System * Program * Tools * Utilities (.po -- boot the System disk)
GraphicWriter III -- the page-layout interface, rulers, tools, and a document GraphicWriter III -- Seven Hills' page shop. Type it, draw it, lay it out, send it to the printer.
Two disks: System * Program (.po -- boot the System disk)
Pointless -- TrueType fonts rendered on the GS desktop at several sizes Pointless -- TrueType fonts on the IIgs. Scalable type at any size, sharp on the screen and to the printer.
Download (.po -- disk image)
Merlin 16+ assembler source listing Merlin 16+ -- Glen Bredon's assembler. Where GS software is written, on the GS it runs on.
Download (.po -- disk image)
The Tower of Myraglen title screen -- castle and rider by moonlight Tower of Myraglen -- PBI's tower, in full color and digitized speech. The game that sold the machine.
Two disks: disk 1 * disk 2 (.2mg -- disk images)
Task Force -- side-scrolling action on the Washington DC level Task Force -- a war at sea, overhead and unrelenting.
Two disks: disk 1 * disk 2 (.po -- disk images)
California Games -- the BMX event on the desert track California Games -- Epyx on the beach. Surf, skate, fly.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
Arkanoid -- the brick field, paddle, and Taito scoreboard Arkanoid -- Taito's bricks and the paddle. Break it all, hold the line.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
Bouncin' Ferno -- isometric color platforms by the FTA Bouncin' Ferno -- Freeware platforming. Miss the ledge and the floor takes you.
Download (.sdk -- native ShrinkIt)

Open Them With This

The .shk, .sdk, and .bxy files are ShrinkIt archives -- GS-ShrinkIt unpacks them on the IIgs, and a .sdk disk writes straight back to a 3.5" floppy. The .dsk and .2mg files are whole disk images; write one to a floppy or mount it in an emulator. Need ShrinkIt first? It waits with the rest, on the links page.

Get On-Line

A modem and a phone line, or Uthernet II. Dial a local BBS, haunt the A2 roundtable on GEnie, or go the whole way out to the Internet.

ProTERM 3.1 Intrec's terminal, the one the boards are dialed with. Reclassified freeware, and here in full.
Two disks: boot * program (.dsk -- ProDOS disk images)
Spectrum The premier IIgs terminal -- a true desktop application, scriptable to the bone. Ewen Wannop set it free.
Download (.bxy -- Binary II / ShrinkIt)
Spectrum Internet Suite Web, mail, and telnet from the GS desktop. The IIgs on the real Internet.
Download (.shk -- native ShrinkIt)

Demoscene

Such graphical and sonic capabilities deserve celebration.

FTA Megademo The demo that starts the argument about what the machine can do.
Native ShrinkIt, two disks: disk 1 * disk 2 (.sdk)
FTA Delta Demo More FTA, more proof.
Download (.shk -- native ShrinkIt)
FTA Blue Helmet FTA again. They are not done.
Download (.shk -- native ShrinkIt)
Nucleus demo screenshot Nucleus (1989) -- it survives as a disk image, so that is how it is here.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
Modulae demo screenshot Modulae (1990) -- a disk image as well.
Download (.2mg -- disk image)
A new demo from France Posted to comp.binaries.apple2 on the 14th of October, 1991, music by Quarks. Seven parts of BinSCII wrapped around a ShrinkIt archive. Decode it the way the scene does.
Download (.txt -- raw Usenet, BinSCII)

[Back to Main]