Ultimate Apple ][e?

Transwarp IIe (acellerate it up to 3.7 Mhz)
Ramworks II/III (Ram Expansion Get at least 512kb)
CFFA CARD (Compaq Flash Card / IDE controller)
Super Serial Card
Mouse Card

Thanks a bunch! Anyone have any other input? Also is anyone selling any of these items? Thanks!

LANceGS Ethernet card

There are X10 card, if you can find them.

The LANceGS will work in a Enhanced IIe but ther is no software for a IIe computer

"Happiness in life is what is important"
Steve Wozniak

G3 B/W 400
Apple //e
Apple IIc+
Apple IIGS

When you boot the machine, does it display ][e or //e. If the former, your machine isn't enhanced. I'd rather have an enhanced machine myself but I keep both around.

As to what you can add to "trick" it out, you have realistic options and "hard to come by" (HTCB) options.

The Aux slot is easy - either a RamWORKS III or a Sequential Systems Meg80z board - both will give you extended 80 column, 1024K RAM but the RW board has expansion for an addl 2MB and RGB options, which are both in the HTCB category.

Slot 1 - depends if you want to print serial or parallel. For serial printing (Imagewriter), I recommend getting an Apple Workstation card because not only does it provide networking (which you might want to do someday) but it also acts like a super serial card. Kills two birds with one slot. If you're printing to a parallel printer (Epson), get a Grappler of some sort.

Slot 2 - depends on what you're going to do... but I usually put a super serial card here or an internal modem. If you get a SSC, look for a Turbo ABS option - but thats HTCB, nearly impossible even.

Slot 3 - Transwarp IIe from Applied Engineering is an accelerator. These are pretty easy to find but if you can find a ZipChip or a RocketChip, you can leave this slot empty and save power.

Slot 4 - options options options... a mouse card? yeah, but not much out there really uses the mouse on a //e or //c. A sound card like a Mockingboard or an AE Phasor would be better. You can also add additional RAM with an Apple "slinky" board (another 1024K) or an AE RamFACTOR (again 1024K, or 5192K with a HTCB add-on). There's many many options for slot 4.

Slot 5 - 3.5 controller? Either a Apple "Liron" controller for UniDisk 3.5 or the HTCB Apple 3.5 Drive Controller (aka SuperDrive) which uses the more common Apple 3.5 drives used by the Apple //GS.

Slot 6 - 5.25 floppies here...

Slot 7 - More options. Focus IDE hard drive, CFFA card, Apple High Speed SCSI, Apple SCSI card, RAMFast SCSI card... got money, these usually get top dollar.

If you can get a ZipChip or RocketChip to replace your stock 65(c)02 processor, you save a slot and you'll get 4-5MHz, or 8-10MHz depending on what model you find. Those are HTCB.

Also, a Dallas Semiconductor No-Slot-Clock for date and time stamping your files is handy (but not required). Those are still available for sale out there.

A heavy duty power supply is recommended. Either an AE power supply or a Buggie modified PC power supply to keep your //e from stroking.

Don't forget a Kensington System Saver fan and
power outlet box. This thing is an absolute life
saver for any Apple as these computers have no
cooling fans of their own. Plus the master on/off
switch controls the Computer and Monitor with
one main switch.

These things are still around for sale for not
many bucks. Defenitely get one!

One other add-on I have seen is a board that can allow an Apple II to be an IBM-compatible computer. I think it was an 8088 board that went into an expansion slot. Does anyone have information on this item? It was out before Mac had the PowerPC. I think Allied Engineering made it.

That'd be the PC Transporter. It had a 7mhz V-30 processor and a socket for an optional 8087 math co-processor and up to 768mb RAM.

Wayne

I was re-reading the thread and I was wondering about
the RamWorks card you mention for Aux Slot. Are these
available at all? Where? About how much? Thanks.

I haven't seen a PC Transporter for sale in a LONG time.
As per my question to sfahey... Where are these available?
How much? Thanks to you too.

Applied Engineering, the company that made the PC Transporter and RamWorkshas been gone for more than 10 years. You may find one on ebay but they haven't been available new for a long time.

Wayne

eBay, 5 bucks or a little more plus shipping - or come to KFest 2005 and I'll give you one.

Hi, I've just joined this site because
(1) I have quite a few old Apples and Macs, although my knowledge of them is fairly limited. U(unfortunately I know an awful lot more about "PC's" of the IBM-compatible variety)
(2) I have been asked to find a way to keep an old Xray Diffractometer going which was built about 25 years ago and uses an Apple //e to control the precision stepping motors in the xray machine. It's still going, but only just!

Initially the idea was to replace the Apple //e. Rewriting the //e software is a bit formiddable but not impossible. But replicating the hardware controller boards in the //e slots seems even more difficult.

So can we keep the //e system, and just upgrade it?? e.g. a new motherboard, maybe a 3.5" floppy disk controller or even a hard disk instead of the existing dual full-height 5.25" drives (still working!). Are such parts available ?

Any help much appreciated.

Greetings,

You need to determine which operating system the floppy disk uses. If it is DOS 3.2 or 3.3, then you can't easily upgrade to 3.5" floppies. But, if they use ProDOS, then you can, and even more advanced storage hardware is available for use, like the Compact Flash memory card (fast, modern, and no moving parts). With the video monitor warmed up, and the right disk in the drive, start up the computer. It will flash a message on the screen saying "ProDOS 8.v."(and whatever version it is) if it is a ProDOS disk.

Good luck.

Mutant_Pie

. . . there is no need to move this conversation, as I think an X-Diffractometer thingy wins hands down as one of the more advanced Apple //e accesories ever!

Mutant_Pie

Hi M_P

Many thanks for your reply. The boot disk just comes up with a menu written in BASIC. Some of the menu items are binary programs, others are more BASIC programs I think. By quitting to BASIC and rebooting with a PR#6 command, then typing CATALOG I still can't get anything to see what operating system it is, but I guess it can't be ProDOS or it would say so?

So could these programs be run under ProDOS by transferring them to a ProDOS disk, and is ProDOS available?

The CF card sounds like a great idea - I presume these would also only be accessible under ProDOS? And are they available?

Thanks in advance,

Sorry, did I transgress or at least bend some rules here? Should I have started a new topic? I kinda thought it was relevant ... Yes considering it was all built in the mid-1980's it is quite an impressive setup. Maybe I could take a photo of it and post it on here if anyone would like to see it? Is that possible?

Cheers

You're most welcome.

The disk is probably DOS 3.3, but let's try to find out.

The method that you are using to stop the program execution shouldn't be necessary if it's DOS. Instead, boot the computer with the disk in the drive, hold down the "Control" and "C" keys at the same time until the disk drive stops as does the program. Hit the "Return" key once or twice to clear the keyboard buffer of any residual "Control-C" entry. Type "TEXT", and hit the "Return" key. Type "HOME", and hit the "Return" key. Then try "CATALOG".

Does the listing that comes up look something like this?;

DISK VOLUME 254

A 005 HELLO
*B 149 PROGRAM NAME 1
*B 068 PROGRAM NAME 2

If so, then it's DOS (probably 3.3).

If the above doesn't work to stop the disk drive, do the method that you've been using, and type "CAT" and the "Return" and if you get something like this. . .

]CAT

/DISK.NAME

NAME TYPE BLOCKS MODIFIED

PRODOS SYS 32 14-JUN-89
LAUNCHER.SYSTEM SYS 13 19-FEB-90

. . .then it's ProDOS. But I'm guessing that you could have figured that out. I'm having you check this way just in case. There were also several third party operating systems, but that's improbable. By the way, do you have a way of making a backup copy of your disk? I strongly recommend it.

It is possible that the programs could run under ProDOS as they are written. You'd have to create ProDOS disk and rename the boot program and do a few other things to set it up.

Here is the URL for the Apple II CF card;

http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

Mutant_Pie

I don't think that there was a transgression.

Well, there shouldn't be a problem, I had just noticed that when someother topics didn't fit exactly in with the original concept, they got shifted by the moderators. I think that they tend to ignore the A][ stuff though.

Mutant_Pie

..whew!

..whew!

Yes I get the DISK VOLUME 254 line, then the disk contents, so its not ProDOS right?

I figure the lines which start with A are ASCII text (usually BASIC source code files), B are Binary machine code programs and T are some other kind of Text? files, but I can't figure why some have an asterix * in front ??

The number 1 problem with the system right right now is the 5.25" drives are basically worn out. I have a hunch it ought to be possible to get DOS 3.3 or whatever to treat a 3.5" drive as a 5.25" and format it accordingly i.e. 8 sectors/track, single side 140K.

Have you heard of anybody doing that before? Then the ProDOS and CF card option could be a better long-term solution. Thanks for the link - I'll read up about the CFFA project over the next day or two!

The A stands for Applesoft program
B for Binary could be programs or pictures or anything else
T is Text files
the * means the file is locked and cannot be changed or deleted unless you type UNLOCK "File Name"

re: Worn out drives (DISK ][) drives, these mechanisms are amazingly robust. Most likely it just needs a servicing, meaning a head cleaning, cleaning out any dust/fuzz/hair, and speed adjustment.

Was booting the disk each time, consistently, the problem?

Mutant_Pie

To the best of my knowlege, DOS 3.3 is only available on 5.25" floppies. I just looked at my 1989 Copy ][ Plus v.9 manual, and it confirms this. However, this software can convert files from DOS 3.3 to ProDOS. The only way to find out if this will work with the software is to try it (with a copy of the disk(s)).

Frankly, if I were dealing with this situation, I'd just stick with what works. Recondition the drives, make several backup copies of the software on good quality floppies and keep using it as is. That would be the least hassle.

For long term archival/backup purposes, you can copy the files as is, to a ProDOS disk, and then transfer them to a modern computer, and burn a CD of the data.

Mutant_Pie

Most interesting conversation. I would be interested in seeing the photos. How many slots are free? There are replacement drives available, a bunch here in the USA. My DOS 3.3 is rusty. I do have the manual though. As was noted Prodos is required for 3.5, hard drive or the CFFA option.
Someone wrote a utility to have a DOS partition on the prodos drive.

It may also be very easy to port them to prodos if the programs didn't rely on DOS 3.3 specific memory locations a great deal.

If the binaries are mainly data logs and slot drivers. A peek at the Applesoft listing would tell a great deal and they are easily modified for prodos.

Also a good source of old-timers with a retained knowlede of DOS 3.3 can be found here.
news:comp.sys.apple2.

From the Moderator:

No need to move your topic. It fits just fine here.
In regards to moving things around, I tend to just
leave things alone as they are fairly harmonious here.
I try to keep an eye on things here and so far every-
one "plays nice" so there is no need for a bunch of
messing with content.

As for ProDos being on 5 1/4 disks, mutant_pie is
correct. However, if you have a 3 1/2 drive connected
to your Apple II machine (I have one on mine) you can
copy the disk to a 3 1/2 (I have done this a lot)and
it should boot up just fine if your 3 1/2 drive is
Drive 1.

woogie

Hi again M_P

Yes they have been used for over 20 years with no maintenance in that time I would say, so I suppose we can forgive them for starting to give up !!

I'm away for Easter until Weds next week, so hope you have a Happy Easter.

Thanks Technerd

Thanks Laine for all this info. I'll check out that link too. Hopefully I'll catch up with you again after Easter.

Is your achine an Apple IIe? What setup do you have for your 3 1/2 drive?

(I won't be on-line again till after Easter)

Happy Easter to everyone

For clarification and my own curiosity. You're suggesting ProDos can be moved to and ran from the 3.5 drive correct?

Or are you saying a DOS 3.3 disk can be copied to the 3.5 disk and be booted from drive 1.

If the latter dos it require one of methods below:
* UNIDOS / AmDOS / OzDOS (two 400K DOS volumes on an 800K disk)
ProSel Uni-DOS / DOS Master (one or more DOS volumes embedded in an 800K ProDOS disk) *

Lastly and off topic. If you have 3.5 connected to a //e I would dearly like to get a copy of the slot rom image. Expansion rom wouldn't hurt either but the slot is most important.

* text was cut and paste from this site
http://www.faddensoft.com/ciderpress/

Something in your neck of the woods.
http://www.welmac.org.nz/meetings.htm#osx

If you page down to the MAC help desk you'll find the email address for David Empson. That man has forgotten more about the Apple II then I'll hope to know.

A polite letter of introduction might gain you a wealth of information. Especially on the availability of local resources.

And tell him Laine Houghton misses his presence on CSA2.

Yes, my machine is an Apple //e. I have 2
5 1/4 floppies and 1 3 1/2 floppy. I have
copied ProDos programs onto a 3 1/2 floppy
and then changed the drives so the 3 1/2
was Drive 1 and the programs boot up OK.

PS...I am using a 400K 3 1/2 drive, not an
800K drive.

I originally hooked up the 400K drive as a
Drive 3 to use as a "mass storage" device
where I could transfer files to a Mac if I
needed to. No need for any special launch
setups or ROM images, etc. Just plain ol'
"breadboarding". (Manually switching con-
troller cards between slots) if I choose to
launch programs from a 3 1/2 drive (just to
see if it could be done). The 400K drive is
very happy running from a Uni/DuoDisk con-
troller card with no other mods. The cables
are compatible.

Thanks Laine, I'll try contacting David Empson, and I'll pass on your message!

I've been assuming that Apple disk drives share the same "standard" internal interface that the old IBM-compatible 5.25" floppy drives used (34-pin edge connector). Having just opened one up, I now see the error of my ways. The interface uses a 20-pin (10 x 2) header connector, which I presume has different signal specs as well as the different physical connector ??

I've also just got a ][e system of some sort going, from the collection of all my Apple bits and pieces, but I'm not sure what it is.

I have 3 cases, one of which is a ][e, the other two are Apple ][ europlus which are slightly different. My working system is in a europlus case. The motherboard has coloured slot connectors. The disk controller card works in Slot 2 (red) but not in slot 6 (blue). The language card in Slot 0 has 3 LED's facing upwards, one of which is permanently on and is labelled RAM WRIT(e) ENA(ble). There is also a cable plugged in to 16-pin DIL socket on the motherboard (located past the purple Slot 7 connector) which has a 9-pin 'D' connector on the other end. I don't know what that might be for ...

I have many other bits and pieces including another motherboard (with all black slot connectors, and a sticker on Slot 7 saying THIS SLOT ONLY FOR EURO COLOR PAL/SECAM CARD), 2 PSU's, 2 disk controller cards, a language card without the LED's, a Z80 CPU card, a Centronics parallel card, a Software Audio Mouth card with speaker, and some other assorted cards.

Hi Laine, I'll post some photos but how and where do I put them ??

I'm not that familiar with Applefritter. It almost looks like it can be done here. My ISP provides me with web space.

There are several free services.
http://geocities.yahoo.com/
http://www.freehomepages.com/
http://www.dreamwater.com/

These are a few google hits though I can't vouch for them.

Laine...

Thanks for all those links Laine, very helpful.

I've now made contact with David Empson who is also proving very helpful.

But I managed to blow up a disk drive out of a Laser 128 today. It is a half-height 5.25" drive. Was working perfectly in the Laser, and reading Apple II DOS 3.3 disks fine. Connected it to a Disk ][ controller card on an Apple II+ and poof ... the smoke came out of one of the IC's in the disk drive - an unsocketed one of course! So although the cables are the same, the electrical interface definiely is not!! Luckily the Disk ][ controller card is still working.

I'll check back a time or two to see if this thread has anymore posts but I'm confident you are in good hands.

Laine..

Would like to know about sources for Apple IIe hardware, at reasonable prices.

BTW, I have a couple of A2+ computers with lots of cards. The biggest bugaboo with this computer was the Power Supply. To run everything, one had to upgrade to a 5V, 5A supply and then came the 'over-heating' problem.

I solved this by changing all my chips to Hi-speed CMOS devices (HCT series). The power consumption of these devices is 1/10 or less than the original Apple installed devices. One fly in the ointment; it requires unsoldering and removing the original devices without damaging the mother-board (PWB). I did this and installed gold-plated machined sockets which have reliable contact and easy chip replacemtent for future upgrades.

Another 'upgrade' I aquired was a 20MB hard drive. An outfit in Santa Ana, CA. produced this, circa 80-81, with an O/S written by a guy from Germany; under the name of NW something or other. This was really great for CP/M files, programming etc.

Guvvy

you need the Applied Engineering RGB card for the video and either an internal Vulcan hard drive/power supply or an external Corvus HD with Dos 3.3,pascal,cp/m and Prodos partitions installed. A Sider external HD would be an option but I think most of the Maxtor HD's that Sider used are junk by now. Maxtor HD's had the nasty habit of sucking dirt into the mechanism and stopping the platters from spinning. Corvus used Pabst HD's and their brake pad's would stop the platters from rotating. The Vulcan HD's seemed to be the best when they were available but that was years ago. I have seen Siders and Corvus HD's for the Apple //e on the market. I own a 5 meg Corvus HD from 1980 and it still works but sounds like a jet engine when it is running. The 5 meg mechanism is enclosed in smoked plastic and it spins at 5000 rpm which at that time was fast.

I think you must have plugged the cable in upside down or one pin off. I've been using a couple of drives from laser 128s on a Disk II card in a towerized IIe for 5 years.

The tower idea was so I could easily move the IIe out of my livingroom when I had guests.

How about some pics and specs!? This would be a
great addition to the topics here. BTW what kind
of keyboard did you use when you made this? Did
you remount a standard Apple II keyboard in a
different case or something? How about cables?

I have thought about this idea myself over the
years but have not attempted it (mostly due to
time and other stuff).

Thanks.

You should have like a 'System Saver' made by some company I forget that starts with K, that I forgot, and an external hard drive, (I think they make them) and as many disk drives as you can get... 5 1/4"s and even 3 1/2" ones. Also get those talking speaker things, so you can program your Apple to talk to you... I always wanted one of those ^_^.

Kenningston System Saver...

I recently aquired several boxs of Apple/macintosh hardware and in going thru them I came across several Items for the Apple II.

1. 2 Apple ][ disk interface cards,part number 650-X104/650-X104B
2. 2 Apple II Super serial card II, part# 670-8020-A
3. 1 Apple II interface card, part# 820-5006-B, has ribbon cable attached says slot 5 hard drive.
4. 2 Apple workstation cards, part# 670-0204-A.

Of the super serial cards one was made in Australia and has a C after the part number and both have a ribbion cable attached with what looks like a printer interface.

I have no documentation with these parts, it is unknown if they work although they appear to be in good order. They are for sale and all reasonable offers will be considered. Reply here or E-mail me at

I have a ROM burner and interface card in the basement, I also have a UV-Eraser for the RE-burnable chips, as well as a long tube of chips. Apperently, when my dad worked at honeywell long ago (he still does) they used an Apple II+ to burn the chips. I wonder if this would be any use to anyone?

The Apple II workstation cards have been sold part #820-0204-B and the Apple II interface card part# 820-5006-B.

I have both super serial II cards left and two Disk II interface cards left