Make the Apple IIe Option Card software 32bit compatible?

[retr01]

Is there anything started yet towards the necessary modifications so that the Apple IIe Card can operate in a 32-bit environment? I remember when the LC came out with the Apple IIe Card. A few years later, I was off to college and changed my mind and got the PB 520c instead because I needed portability, especially across the country by air travel commute.

Now that I am intrigued, I realized turning off 32-bit addressing meant limiting to 8 MB of RAM, and I wasn't too keen about that. Hence, my curiosity about bringing the Apple IIe Card to function in 32-bit addressing.

 

[JDW]

Is there anything started yet towards the necessary modifications so that the Apple IIe Card can operate in a 32-bit environment?

This thread has been frozen in ice for a while, so I'm guessing the answer is No.

But my main question is, if 32-bit addressing compatibility is possible, why didn't Apple do that? It would have opened the door to them selling the IIe Card in even more Macs -- those models which cannot switch 32-bit addressing off. There was a financial incentive for Apple to do that, yet they didn't. Why? That's the big question!

 

[retr01]

This thread has been frozen in ice for a while, so I'm guessing the answer is No.

Seems so.

But my main question is, if 32-bit addressing compatibility is possible, why didn't Apple do that? It would have opened the door to them selling the IIe Card in even more Macs -- those models which cannot switch 32-bit addressing off. There was a financial incentive for Apple to do that, yet they didn't. Why? That's the big question!

Oh yeah, that is an excellent point, @JDW. Well, by the 1990s, Apple was in big trouble. A lot of things were going on. Many Macs, Newton, cutting off the Apple IIe and IIGS, then APPL stock tanked. So, I am unsure if there were further developments for the Apple IIe Card for a second version after 1991.

 

[Ron's Computer Videos]

This thread has been frozen in ice for a while, so I'm guessing the answer is No.

But my main question is, if 32-bit addressing compatibility is possible, why didn't Apple do that? It would have opened the door to them selling the IIe Card in even more Macs -- those models which cannot switch 32-bit addressing off. There was a financial incentive for Apple to do that, yet they didn't. Why? That's the big question!

I'd say the reason why it was never updated to 32bit is due to the low numbers of units sold, and how most folks never moved it out of their original Mac LCs before abandoning the card.

 

[JDW]

I'd say the reason why it was never updated to 32bit is due to the low numbers of units sold, and how most folks never moved it out of their original Mac LCs before abandoning the card.

Which implies it is a technological oversight by Apple that may one day be overcome by some savvy vintage Mac programmers. I can only hope so, Ron!

 

[Ron's Computer Videos]

Which implies it is a technological oversight by Apple that may one day be overcome by some savvy vintage Mac programmers. I can only hope so, Ron!

I don’t know if it was a true oversight, or Apple just realizing that updating the software didn’t make much financial sense.

If the source code was still out there, maybe someone could dig through it and see what needed to be done to make it 32bit clean.

 

[JDW]

...maybe someone could dig through it and see what needed to be done to make it 32bit clean.

I lack the skill set to do that, sadly, Ron. But I am hoping right alongside you. Because honestly, I really don't like switching off 32-bit addressing and restarting whenever I want to use my Apple IIe Card and then want to use Mac apps which require more memory than 24-bit addressing allows. It's extremely annoying. So I fully understanding and appreciate your desire to have a 32-bit clean version of the IIe Card app!

 

[Ron's Computer Videos]

I lack the skill set to do that, sadly, Ron. But I am hoping right alongside you. Because honestly, I really don't like switching off 32-bit addressing and restarting whenever I want to use my Apple IIe Card and then want to use Mac apps which require more memory than 24-bit addressing allows. It's extremely annoying. So I fully understanding and appreciate your desire to have a 32-bit clean version of the IIe Card app!

I'm thinking more along the lines of no longer being tied to 030 and 040 machines for the IIe Option Card.

Imagine being able to use it in a 6360 or 6500?