Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

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MarkO's picture
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Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )
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Image icon HPIM5331.JPG1.66 MB
Image icon HPIM5333.JPG2.16 MB
Image icon HPIM5335.JPG1.81 MB
Image icon HPIM5336.JPG1.91 MB
Image icon HPIM5339.JPG1.87 MB
Image icon HPIM5344.JPG2.16 MB
Image icon HPIM5345.JPG1.49 MB
Image icon HPIM5346.JPG1.67 MB
Image icon HPIM5351.JPG1.8 MB
Image icon HPIM5352.JPG1.52 MB

I have been working on other Hobbies, and have let the Apple ][ "stuff" sit for a while... But in needing to consolidate my Storage Units, it has caused me to do some cleaning and rearranging, and some of my Apple Stuff from 10+ years ago has re-surfaced.

Somewhere around 8-10 years ago, my Dad gave me a couple Apple ]['s he found at Garage Sales or Thrift Stores, One was an Apple ][, the other was a Apple ][+. My first Apple ][ that I owned was the //e, which I shared with my Dad when I was 17 years old and still in High School, so to get some even Older Apple ]['s was quite a Historic Thrill.

Neither seemed to boot at the Time, and the Apple //e my dad gave me had a dead Power Supply, so I remove the 3rd Party Supply from the Apple ][+ to power the Apple //e.

So, two days ago, the Apple ][ and ][+ were found in my Storage Unit #1.. They had not been stored with any care, along with many other items, and the Apple ][+ looks pretty messy inside, but the Apple ][ is quite clean (surprisingly), and after applying some of the things I have learned here at AppleFritter in the last year, I was able to get it to boot!!! I took the Top Case off, so I could access ALL the Sockets, and did remove the CPU to locate the MB revision. (It would not boot until I replaced the CPU, it appears some of the RAM needs to be Reseated, I am thing of removing all the Chips in Sockets and reseating them)

The Chip Dates, MotherBoard Date and Keyboard Date, (09-APR-1979) all seem consistent with other similar units I have found on eBay, Example #1 and Example #2.

This Apple ][ was owned by a Local School District, and surprisingly came with no Disk Controller, but did have Three Bonus Cards...

An Applied Analytics uSPEED Math Co-Processor Card with an AMD AM9511A
A PCPI APPLI-CARD, Z80 for CP/M card.
A Number Nine alternate Processor Card with a MOS 6502.

One Inconsistency I have found (so far), is from Cliff and Dick Huston, located at Apple1Notes, about the Apple ][ Board Revisions:

"Revision 3, part number 820-0001-04, has gold plated traces and was physically marked "Rev 04" at the insistence of Engineering VP Rod Holt, who objected to counting from zero! There never was a part number 820-0001-03 for the same reason. Revision 3 (AKA "Rev 04") was never put into production, but rumor has it one was stuffed for Woz." [1]

Did they mean "Revision 2, part number 820-0001-03", or does anyone have a better explanation. I am really curious now...

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

I have seen rev 0, 1, 3, and 4, based on the numbers printed on the boards (or lack of rev in case of rev 0). I have never seen a rev 2. (Again, all based on the actual printed part number.)

That Number9 board is an Apple Booster - an early accelerator. As I recall, they were almost as expensive as the computer itself, at least when they first came out.

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

I have seen rev 0, 1, 3, and 4, based on the numbers printed on the boards (or lack of rev in case of rev 0). I have never seen a rev 2. (Again, all based on the actual printed part number.)

The "actual printed part number" would be the Rev Number under the 6502?? Hmm... So the Rev 2 might be the Woz Only one...

That Number9 board is an Apple Booster - an early accelerator. As I recall, they were almost as expensive as the computer itself, at least when they first came out.

Any Idea how it works?? I have a 4Mhz Zip Chip I bought new, and it needs no Firmware or Software support.. Does this work the same, or is there Software Support for it?? The AM9511A would need "Special Machine Instructions" for it to be used.... I guess documentation for this board is basically nonexistent, per Wikipedia.

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

I have one with original materials somewhere. Somewhere, unfortunately, could be a lot of places, but I'll see if I can dig it up.

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

I have one with original materials somewhere. Somewhere, unfortunately, could be a lot of places, but I'll see if I can dig it up.

That would be excellent!!! The Apple II community at large would benefit too...

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

I have seen rev 0, 1, 3, and 4, based on the numbers printed on the boards (or lack of rev in case of rev 0). I have never seen a rev 2. (Again, all based on the actual printed part number.).

I have an Apple II system serial number 13738 with a rev.2 motherboard dated 7851. I also have a loose rev.3 board dated 7905, so maybe that is an indication that rev.2 boards were used for only a short time compared to the others.

Howie

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

Today, I was looking at my "other", older Apple ][, rediscovered in my Storage Unit, and found a few Interesting things about it..

Unless "someone" was Swapping Apple Parts around own their own, Apple's repair procedures have been "messing a bit" with this Apple II.

So I have an Apple ][+, Serial Number "A2S2- 101011", which would have been made in Late 1979 or 1980, depending on how fast Apple was selling them.. I can not find a closer Manufacture Date, because the Motherboard is not the Original, which I would have guessed would be a Rev 07 or so.. Instead the Motherboard has Markings of "7294", which I would surmise is the Serial Number, rather than the YYWW of Manufacture. After pulling the Rockwell R6502P, with a manufacture date of 8138, the Board Revision is "820-0001-01", making this Motherboard Older than the One in the Apple ][ with a Serial Number of "A2S1- 25422". The Apple Language Card seems typical.....

This Motherboard is quite dirty, and will definitely require cleaning, plus the 9334 chip next to the ROMs in missing, and one of the 16Kx1 RAM Chips.. I hope that I can get it working, as it will make a nice board for the Apple ][+, or even as a Transplant to an Apple ][ that needs a replacement board.

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

Hello MarkO,
when pressing the Esc-key at startup makes the zipchip run at apple-speed ( 1 Mhz ).
there is a Utility Disk used for setup.
I have a Zipchip 8000 with manual and software.....
I´ll make within the next days a .DSK image and copies of the manual and set the links in my website for download.
After that was done i will send you a pm. .....
sincerely speedyG

and by the way .... the RAMchip isn´t missing,,,, it´s usually reseated at the languagecard beside the cableplug and the empty socket on mainboard is the other place where the cable is to be plugged in.......

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )


That Number9 board is an Apple Booster - an early accelerator. As I recall, they were almost as expensive as the computer itself, at least when they first came out.

Any Idea how it works?? I have a 4Mhz Zip Chip I bought new, and it needs no Firmware or Software support.. Does this work the same, or is there Software Support for it?? The AM9511A would need "Special Machine Instructions" for it to be used.... I guess documentation for this board is basically nonexistent, per Wikipedia.

The Nuber Nine looks exactly as Accelerator II from Saturn Systems/Titan. There is some info at Apple II Documentation Project:

Number nine: http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Project/Interface%20Cards/Accelerators/Number%20Nine%20Apple%20Booster/

Accelerator II: http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Project/Interface%20Cards/Accelerators/Saturn%20Systems%20Accelerator%20II/

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

The uSpeed card appears to be a math processing board.
Did it come with a driver disk?

http://www.applefritter.com/files/HPIM5346.JPG

On both the Saturn and Number Nine accelerators, the chip (a PAL?) located between 40024 and 40025 has NNCE or NNCC written on it.
I'm guessing this stands for Number Nine Corporation.

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

On both the Saturn and Number Nine accelerators, the chip (a PAL?) located between 40024 and 40025 has NNCE or NNCC written on it.
I'm guessing this stands for Number Nine Corporation.

And there is a Number Nine copyright on the back of Saturn sistem card Smile

On one of my cards the IC is clear - it is Harris M3-7611A-5 (1.4MHz, Low Power CMOS Operational Amplifiers)

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

Hello MarkO,
when pressing the Esc-key at startup makes the zipchip run at apple-speed ( 1 Mhz ).
there is a Utility Disk used for setup.
I have a Zipchip 8000 with manual and software.....
I´ll make within the next days a .DSK image and copies of the manual and set the links in my website for download.
After that was done i will send you a pm. .....
sincerely speedyG

Thanks for the offer, but I have the Original Disk, and the Manual...

A funny Story about my 4Mhz Zip Chip..

I saw the Zip Chip advertised in some publication, and Sent in my ~$100.00 ( USD ). It turns out that they weren't shipping at that time, and it was 8-10 Months later that I finely received it.. I was beginning to get worried, that it might be a Scam, and thought about asking for my money back, but I really wanted the Speed-Up, rather than my money back... Years later, I read about the Altair 8800 made by MITS in New Mexico, and people that sent in their $400.00 ( USD ) and waited months for their kits, they didn't want their money back either, they wanted the kits...

I always had the feeling, that I was an "Old School Hacker", and that story about the Altair kits fit my Mind Set entirely...

and by the way .... the RAMchip isn´t missing,,,, it´s usually reseated at the languagecard beside the cableplug and the empty socket on mainboard is the other place where the cable is to be plugged in.......

I wasn't counting that RAM Chip, the one that is missing, is in the Second Bank...

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )


That Number9 board is an Apple Booster - an early accelerator. As I recall, they were almost as expensive as the computer itself, at least when they first came out.

Any Idea how it works?? I have a 4Mhz Zip Chip I bought new, and it needs no Firmware or Software support.. Does this work the same, or is there Software Support for it?? The AM9511A would need "Special Machine Instructions" for it to be used.... I guess documentation for this board is basically nonexistent, per Wikipedia.

The Nuber Nine looks exactly as Accelerator II from Saturn Systems/Titan. There is some info at Apple II Documentation Project:

Number Nine

Accelerator II

WOW!! It is Totally the Same, except for the PCB Silk Screen... Same DIP Packages, and All!!!

I hope it works... It would be very nice to have that Classic Hardware working..

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

The uSpeed card appears to be a math processing board.
Did it come with a driver disk?

http://www.applefritter.com/files/HPIM5346.JPG

It was suppose to, according to this Thread, Software for uSPEED math card from comp.sys.apple2.

I didn't get one, just the Apple ][ with the Language Card and the Three "Bonus Cards"..

I am not even sure how to test it for Operation, with out some Basic Instructions.. I should Dump the Cards ROM Area. And Ask the Internet for a Copy of the Disk... Wink

On both the Saturn and Number Nine accelerators, the chip (a PAL?) located between 40024 and 40025 has NNCE or NNCC written on it.
I'm guessing this stands for Number Nine Corporation.

"Number Nine Computer Corporation" was the Original Name, according to Wikipedia, and that is What I recall as well... The Number Nine Silk Screened Card has "NNCC", where as the Saturn II Silk Screened Card has "NNCE", which would be Saturn's "Best Guess" at the Name???

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

On both the Saturn and Number Nine accelerators, the chip (a PAL?) located between 40024 and 40025 has NNCE or NNCC written on it.
I'm guessing this stands for Number Nine Corporation.

And there is a Number Nine copyright on the back of Saturn sistem card Smile

On one of my cards the IC is clear - it is Harris M3-7611A-5 (1.4MHz, Low Power CMOS Operational Amplifiers)

I just noticed that the Number Nine card has most of the 74LSxxx Logic Chips with Obliterated Markings.. I am really Curious to see how the Control is passed to the Number Nine/Saturn II card. With CP/M, when the Disk is Booted, the CP/M card "Takes Over".

My Applied Engineering CP/M disks will Boot as .DSK Files on the Apple Win Emulator, with the "Micro-Soft CP/M Softcard in Slot 5" toggled On.

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Re: Finely getting back to some Apple ][ stuff ( sort of )

I Smoke Tested the Three Bonus Card in my "Test ][e".

I bought an Apple ][e a few months ago, that got "broken" during shipping. The Keyboard and Motherboard work fine, just the Case is damaged. So I use it for trying Unknown Hardware...

I tested each Card, Individually, No Smoke or excessive Heat. No noticeable changes to the ][e on Power-Up, and the ][e still boots fine, so there was no Damage done to the Computer.

Bottom Line, the Cards might or might not work, but there appears to be no Collateral Damage to my systems..

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