Apple IIgs - Manual (Page 62)

Page 62 of 84 II gs
Printed: Thursday, July 25, 2002 12:14:50 PM
For example, the Apple II Plus keyboard generated only uppercase characters, so applications
developed for that model recognize only uppercase characters. You can run Apple II Plus
applications on your Apple IIgs, but you have to remember to type everything in uppercase
letters. Conversely, if an application is designed to take advantage of Apple IIgs-specific
features, it may not work on earlier Apple II's. If compatibility with other Apple II's is
important, choose applications that are advertised as compatible with the Apple IIgs, Apple
IIc, and Apple IIe.
This chapter summarizes the differences between the various models of the Apple II family so
you can anticipate and cope with differences that affect the way software looks and works.
Keyboard
Applications designed for the Apple II Plus won't recognize lowercase characters. Press Caps
Lock and the application should run just fine.
The Apple II Plus didn't have Delete, so applications designed for it won't respond when you
press Delete. The application will tell you some other way of deleting characters. (Usually it
will involve pressing Left Arrow.)
The Apple II Plus didn't have Up Arrow or Down Arrow, so applications designed for it won't
move the insertion point up or down when you press those keys. The application will tell you
some other way of moving the insertion point up and down.
Applications designed for the Apple IIe or Apple IIc may refer to a Solid Apple key or the
Apple key. This key has been replaced on the Apple IIgs with Option. When an application tells
you to press he Apple key (usually in combination with some other key), press Option instead.
Display
The Apple IIgs supports a super-high-resolution graphics mode that differs from earlier
graphics modes in the concentration of dots and the range of colors that can be assigned to
each dot.
Applications designed for earlier models of the Apple II will work fine on the Apple IIgs, but
won't use the super-high-resolution mode. They will use low resolution, high resolution, or
double-high resolution.
40 Columns Versus 80 Columns
The standard display on the Apple II Plus was 40 columns, so applications developed for it will
be displayed in 40 columns even if you selected 80 columns as your standard display by using
the Control Panel Program.
MouseText
There is a chip on the main circuit board that generates the characters that are displayed on
the screen. The character generator on the Apple IIgs (and on the Apple IIc and later models of
the Apple IIe) can generate 32 special characters (little apples, check marks, checkerboards,
and so on) in addition to standard characters like letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. The
32 special characters are called MouseText because they are used mostly in mouse-based
applications.
Applications designed for earlier models of the Apple II won't take advantage of these special
characters—at least not intentionally. But you may notice little apples and check marks
in place of uppercase inverse characters if you use older applications.