I realize there is a PCB file for making an Apple II motherboard, is there a reason for no IIe out there other than no one has put in the effort? Like some non expired copyright issue.
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I think the main reason is that the IIe uses custom IC's which would make it much more difficult to build from scratch. The II/II+ only requires standard parts which are still available. Otherwise, I see no reason why someone couldn't clone the PCB; just not much of a market for one. Plus there are plenty of working IIe's for sale.
Agreed. Someone did this already, but I couldn't find it anywhere. The issue is the VLSI chips are custom so you would need to grab them from a IIe motherboard anyway.
J
I used to have a couple of IIe clones. They were very exact copies with copies of the custom chips. I'm guessing that you could probably still get the chips copied somewhere but that you'd have to do a minimum order.
My thoughts if the PCB files were floating around out there I'd do some redesign to encorperate Pi CM4 headers and associated chips. I know it would not be cost effective but it's fun to ponder.
If the only holdup is the custom chips, and they're understood well enough, I wonder if someone would be able to do a CPLD or FPGA based clone. I know over in the Amiga scene, quite complex chips are being converted into FPGA or CPLD targets for replacements.
If it does get done, then even original hardwar owners win, as we get drop in replacements when our chips finally fail.
(TBH, it's not like I have the '1337 sk!!lz' to do any of that. I'm barely able to transcribe a schematic into a PCB)
Chesh
IWPWWOTFWWPTTF. IMHO.
I think your cat is sending messages while you're away from the keyboard.... Sorry I don't understand :)
There aren't a lot of fabs out there who could make those chips, even if you wanted to order a million of them.
CPLD or FPGA based clones would be possible. There are a few people out there with the skills to do it. But at this point //e units aren't in short supply enough for anyone to be likely to be that interested.
Amigas, those were made in way lower quantities than //e. Apple made literally millions of them.