News: Retrolution 4 Released

[Chipp Walters]

Christopher...I stand corrected.
From:

The original Lisa had dual 'Twiggy' 5-1/4" floppy drives, which were 
quite unreliable, and which was soon replaced by the Lisa 2. The Lisa 2 
and Lisa 2/5 were essentially the same machine as the original Lisa with 
the exception that the dual 'Twiggy' floppy drives were replaced with a 
single 400k 3-1/2" floppy drive made by Sony to Apple's specifications.

I'm remembering the Lisa 2 3-1/2" drives were not Twiggy drives. Turns 
out the Twiggy drives were famously unreliable.

Interesting bit of folklore:
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Hide_Under_This_Desk.txt

best,

Chipp

Christopher Mitchell wrote:

> I think Lisa did use Twiggy.
> 
> Yours,
> Chris
> On Apr 1, 2004, at 2:38 PM, Chipp Walters wrote:
> 
>> Bummer, I guess my old Lisa will have to wait for Retrolution 5. BTW, 
>> anyone know where to purchase a replacement Twiggy drive? Oh, that's 
>> right, Lisa didn't use Twiggy.
>>
>> -chipp
>>
>> Rod McCall wrote:
>>
>>> In response to customer requests we've decided to release Retrolution 
>>> 4, please find the press release below.
>>> Best,
>>> Rod
>>> -----
>>> Runtime Retrolution 4 Release
>>> Develop Software for Platforms Past and Present
>>> Edinburgh Scotland, April 1st 2004
>>> Runtime Revolution today announces the release of Retrolution 4, the 
>>> developer
>>> tool for computer platforms past and present. Retrolution includes 
>>> support for
>>> a selection of platforms dating from the mid-1900's to the present 
>>> day and
>>> covers most major graphic and chip architectures.
>>> Announcing the release, 92 year old Rt. unRev. Kevin Miller CEO of 
>>> Runtime Revolution said "I can remember when the transistor was just 
>>> a glint in the milkman's eye. Since then we've seen the advent of 4 
>>> bit computer systems through to the state of the art G5" While 
>>> semi-drugged and undergoing a hip replacement
>>> operation, Miller added, "Retrolution's stacks and punched card 
>>> development system now make it even easier for developers of all 
>>> abilities to write software for platforms big and room sized!"
>>> Retrolution 4 adds support for the following platforms:
>>> *Atari 8-bit, including XL and XE
>>> *Apple I (Apple II coming soon)
>>> *Commodore Pet and C64
>>> *LEO: Lyon's Electronic Office (support for certain bakery products 
>>> only)
>>> *Atari ST
>>> *Acorn Atom and Archimedes (prior to RISC OS 3 only)
>>> *ENIAC
>>> *Dragon 64
>>> *Oric 1, Atmos and Stratos
>>> *Sinclair ZX80, ZX81, Spectrum support to follow shortly.
>>> *Texas Instruments TI99/4A
>>> *Microsoft Windows 1
>>> *Tandy Radioshack TRS-80 (green screen only)
>>> *Hanimex Pencil II
>>> *MicroBee
>>> *Heathkit EC-1 Analogue Valve Vacuum Computer
>>> *Seattle Computer Gazelle (Zebra and Giraffe support to follow)
>>> *Beattie Bunion 64 Colour Computer
>>> *Open University Hektor 2
>>> *Dick Smith Cat
>>> Daffid Blanket of the UK Home Office Immigration Service said "We've 
>>> been using
>>> punched cards since the year dot, This new release means we don't 
>>> need to discard
>>> our state of the art IT systems which include ENIAC, MicroBee and 
>>> LEO. Instead
>>> we can keep on using them and our trusty stack of punched cards."
>>> Retrolution 4 makes development easy by forcing the developer to 
>>> program in
>>> binary and to manually punch the holes in the cards. This latest 
>>> release adds a
>>> whole range of features including:
>>> *Multimedia support with up to 1 channel beep-based sound
>>> *3D graphics, monochrome wireframe with resolutions of up to 64 by 48 
>>> pixels
>>> *Ability to use compiled external libraries written in BASIC, 6502 
>>> and 6809
>>> assembler
>>> *Support for upper and lowercase letters, except for the letter P
>>> *Support for all numbers from 0 to 9, except 6
>>> *Databases up to 3 records in size, with one field
>>> *Secure data encryption protocols. Each letter is encoded using the 
>>> next letter
>>> in the alphabet. Support for Z due in 2007, numbers in 2009
>>> *Ability to build standalones in 14 days, allowing you to go on 
>>> holiday while
>>> Retrolution gets on with the job
>>> *Sync with the Osborne 1 handheld computer
>>> Retrolution 4 is priced at $999.95 and is available on reel-to-reel 
>>> tape, pre-programmed valve
>>> bank, cassette, punched card and 8 inch floppy disk from all good 
>>> computer
>>> stores.
>>> For more information and a free download visit <http://www.runrev.com>
>>> About Retrolution and Revolution
>>> Information on pricing, versions, and local distributors, as well as 
>>> a free 30-day trial edition of Revolution for all supported 
>>> platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, classic Mac OS, Linux and Unix, is 
>>> available at
>>> <http://www.runrev.com>.
>>> Runtime Revolution and Express do not support any of the platforms or 
>>> features listed above.
>>> Runtime Revolution Ltd.
>>> Founded in 1997, Runtime Revolution focuses on bringing user-centric
>>> programming to all major platforms: Macintosh, Windows, Linux, and Unix.
>>> Products include Revolution, Revolution Express, and Ten Thumbs Typing
>>> Tutor. The company is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. For more information
>>> on Runtime Revolution, please visit the company on the web at
>>> <http://www.runrev.com>.
>>> ###
>>> Contact
>>> Dr Rod McCall
>>> Runtime Revolution Ltd
>>> 91 Hanover Street
>>> Edinburgh
>>> EH2 1DJ
>>> email: rodmc at runrev.com
>>> telephone: +44 (0) 131 718 4333
>>> fax:+44 (0) 131 718 4334
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> use-revolution mailing list
>>> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>>> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
>>
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