The Apple IIGS can operate at two speeds: fast and normal. Fast refers to the speed of the Apple IIGS when it's operating at a maximum speed of 2.8 megahertz (MHz), the top speed possible on the Apple IIGS. Normal refers to the speed of the Apple IIGS when it's operating at a maximum speed of 1 MHz, the top speed possible on earlier models of the Apple II.

Fast, the standard setting, is best for applications developed specifically for the Apple IIGS and for any Apple II application that involves a lot of calculations and sorting. The only time you have to change the speed to normal is when the fast speed throws off the application's timing or keeps it from running properly.

If you change from Normal to Fast system speed after starting up an application, you may have to restart the application by pressing Open-Apple-Control-Reset before the Fast speed will take effect.

You already had some exposure to the Clock option when you learned how to change the date and time in Chapter 1. You can also use this option to change the date format from month first to day first or year first and to change the way time is displayed from the AM/PM format to the 24-hour format.

118

Appendix A: The Control Panel Program