Questions about using an Apple II+ with "Asynchronous Serial Interface" + "Kaga Taxan RGB II" cards

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Questions about using an Apple II+ with "Asynchronous Serial Interface" + "Kaga Taxan RGB II" cards

Hello,

I just acquired an Apple II Europlus in working but slightly dodgy condition, and have some questions. I was hoping some people here may be able to help me. Smile

First of all, it has an "Asynchronous Serial Interface" card, but no cable. I'd appreciate any pointers to documentation on this card so I can build a cable and use it to connect my Apple up to other computers.

Secondly, it has a "Kaga Taxan RGB II" card, but I don't really want to use this - I just want to use the standard video out. But, video out is only working in black and white for me - I was expecting colour. Could this be due to the presence of this card? It has one lead soldered in place, so I can't just remove it and see without physically breaking that connection, though I did try with it just removed from the slot. I also tried both PAL and NTSC, but still no colour. Any ideas?

The computer itself appears to be working just fine. I have a language card that gives it an extra 16K of RAM when put in slot #0. Is that all a language card does?

Finally, the keyboard is pretty bad. After exercising it a bit, I've gotten all but a couple of keys to work, but they often automatically repeat. I will buy some contact cleaner and compressed air tomorrow, to see if giving it a clean out helps. Does that seem to be the best option?

OK - that's all. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ken

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advice

Maybe some of this is obvious information, here it is anyways...

The "Asynchronous Serial Interface" card should have some kind of adaptor like 25-pin serial. Photos?

Color: An Apple II+/e, will boot up in 24x40 text black and white mode which "kills" the color on video out so that the text is a bit more readable. To stop the color kill you need to be in a graphics mode: try typing "GR" from BASIC for 40x40 16 colors mixed with 4 lines of text. Here is some code to put a magenta (red) rectangle in the top left corner of the screen from Applesoft BASIC...
]GR:COLOR=1:PLOT0,0
There may also be a tiny adjuster somewhere near the video out to boost the output of the video which may turn on color if the signal is too weak.

> Is that all a language card does?

Yes, 16K more RAM. It's called a language card because the idea is/was to load a "language" into the card like INTEGER BASIC.

I hear you about the keyboard, I am looking for advice on this also.

http://www.geocities.com/mmphosis/apple2/keyboard.html

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Thanks for the reply.

Thanks for the reply.

About the colour, I did go into graphics mode - but the output stayed in black and white (although dithered).

About the serial card lacking a cable - I mean there is no cable attached to the card at all, just an 26 pin (I think) IDC header. I need the pinout of that so I can build a cable that connects to a DB-9 for example.

Ken

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I asked at a (relatively) loc

I asked at a (relatively) local shop here about a replacement keyboard, and got this reply:

> i have a "ii compatible" kbd that has that layout. but it is
> missing the big keyboard controller chip. let me know if u want
> that. otherwise i will have to get a keyboard with chip form
> a working machine. can do but the keyboard will be $55 inc gst.

It seems to me that my problem with failing keys that mostly start again after a bit of use, and repeating keys is indicative of problems with the keys themselves, rather than the chip. Does that seem reasonable? How should I go about testing the chip? The keyboard without chip is *much* cheaper! Smile

Ken

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