Subject: Re: What is the Apple ][x
From: Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>
Date: Thu, Oct 15, 1998 07‚48(H
Message-id: <36260B32.FD53C016@swbell.net>

MERLANCIA writes ...
> 
> What is the Apple ][x (IIx, //x). It was project "Golden Gate".
> The project was canned before it was finished. Any info would be
> appreciated.

 ....


     After all this time it's kind of nice to be reminded of the Apple
"IIx". Really, the designation was in fairly common use among II users
soon after news of the 65816. For sure, rumors of a "IIx" were important
to us during the Spring and Summer of 1985 when both Atari and Commodore
introduced flashy new computers.

     By the Fall of 1985, the obvious need for an upgrade, the 'natural
fit' of the 65816, conversations with a designer at 65816 maker Western
Design Center, and news of 65816 hardware and software products led to a
conviction that the IIx was coming and that it would be based upon the
65816. That's what I said about the "IIx" in an article published in the
Dec/Jan 85/86 issue of IIComputing.

     One neat thing about the article was a sidebar tacked on by the
editors. It quotes the October issue of the California Technology Stock
Letter: "... we believe the upgrade will use the same Motorola chip that
will be in the new Macintosh-- the 68020-- thus putting both computer
lines on the same processor .... Our information is that the Western
Design Center chip approach was killed by Apple over six weeks ago."

     Actually, based upon past experience with Apple, they may well have
killed the whole thing in the Summer of 1985-- that may have been the
"Golden Gate" project you mention-- and, then, changed back to the 65816
approach. Fortunately, I knew nothing about this. And, the IIComputing
editors went out on a limb, too, saying that, despite the CTSL notice,
they agreed that the IIx would be based upon the 65816.

     Anyway, waiting for and speculating about the "IIx" made it a fun,
interesting time to be a II user.



Rubywand