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THE LISA: APPLE'S MOST INFLUENTIAL FAILURE
“What is the Apple Lisa computer, and why was its release on January 19, 1983, an important date in computer #history? Apple’s Macintosh line of computers today, known for bringing mouse-driven graphical user interfaces (#GUIs) to the masses and transforming the way we use our computers, owes its existence to its immediate predecessor at Apple, the Lisa. Without the Lisa, there would have been no #Macintosh”
#lisa / #apple / 1983 #computers #hardware <https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-lisa-apples-most-influential-failure/>
“Sadly, there are no instructions on how to whip up a Lisa VM. If you really want to try the ancient machine,”
<https://theregister.com/2023/01/21/apple_lisa_source_code_release/>
#lisa / #apple / 1983 / #computers #hardware <https://theregister.com/2023/01/21/apple_lisa_source_code_release/>
Hello Object #Pascal my friend
{$S EditTime }
FUNCTION EditYear {newChar: CHAR) : BOOLEAN};
LABEL 99;
BEGIN
IF dbgClock THEN WRITELN ('EditYear');
EditYear := FALSE;
CASE fieldPos OF
1: BEGIN
IF ValidChar (newChar, advChar)
OR (ValidChar (newChar, numChar) AND (newChar >= '8'))
THEN EditYear := EditFirstChar (yearOffset, newChar);
END;
2: BEGIN
IF ValidChar (newChar, numChar)
THEN BEGIN
IF ((editTime[yearOffset+1] = '9') AND (newChar > '5'))
OR ((editTime[yearOffset+1] = '8') AND (newChar = '0')) THEN GOTO 99;
IF EditSecondChar (yearOffset, newChar)
THEN BEGIN
EditYear := TRUE;
ShowTime (TRUE); { Correct leap year display }
END;
END;
END;
END;
99:
IF dbgClock THEN WRITELN (' exit EditYear');
END;
<https://raw.githubusercontent.com/azumanga/apple-lisa/main/APPS/APCL/APCL-CLOCK.TEXT.unix.txt>
OPEN-SOURCING THE LISA, MAC’S BIGGER SISTER
“Forty years ago, on January 19th of 1983, #Apple released the #Lisa, which was in many ways a revolutionary system. On January 19th of 2023, to celebrate the system’s 40th birthday, the Computer History Museum released the source code for Lisa OS version 3.1 under the Apple Academic License Agreement. Written in Pascal, the source includes over 1,300 source files, covering the #OS itself, the Lisa #Toolkit development system and a number of applications.”
<https://hackaday.com/2023/01/25/open-sourcing-the-lisa-macs-bigger-sister/>
♬ 
@peterrenshaw@ioc.exchange
“‘Sun Remarketing’, a local #computer dealer, had developed a workaround and still had Lisas in stock, including some 2,700 of them on consignment from Apple. But at a price of around $4000, they weren’t exactly flying off the shelves. The #expense of servicing the computers was another concern, so Apple decided it would be more advantageous to dump them all and write off the loss on its #taxes… Logan ‘rented’ landfill space to Apple for the scrapping operation, charging $1.95 per cubic yard for the *22 truck loads* that measured out at 800 yards” #retrocomputers <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/revisiting-apples-ill-fated-lisa-computer-40-years-on/> / <https://www.hjnews.com/opinion/article_b71cddba-f7a0-11e0-8054-001cc4c002e0.html>
“I wanted to port the UCSD #Pascal system to the Apple II. We needed to build software in a cumulative fashion with libraries of reusable modules, and #Apple #BASIC didn't even have local variables. My manager said "No", but I went over his head to Steve. Steve thought Apple users were fine with BASIC and #6502 assembly language, but since I argued so passionately, he would give me two weeks to prove him wrong. Within hours I boarded a plane to San Diego, worked like crazy for two weeks, and returned with a working UCSD Pascal System that Apple ended up using to #bootstrap the Lisa development. After the UCSD Pascal system shipped, Steve asked me to work on on Apple's new #Lisa project.” — #BillAtkinson
