I was looking through some old cards and came across this Advanced Logic Systems Smarterm II with RCA jacks. I tried to Google for it, but I'm not finding what I'm looking for. Does anybody know what this is used for? What are the RCA jacks for? I would guess it's for video, but there are no markings saying how they should be used. What slot does it go in?
It’s an 80 column card for the II/II+. The card goes in slot 3. One of the RCA jacks connects to the monitor and the other to the computers video out port.
When you start up it’ll display in 40 columns and when you type PR#3 it’ll display 80 columns.
That is a complicated version of what I have in my IIe expansion slot. LOL.
This is correct.
Hopefully this will help:
https://archive.org/details/alssii/SmartermIntelligentInterfaceCharacterEnhancement/
Yes, because the //e actually has most of the hardware needed for 80 columns on the motherboard. What it is missing is the extra RAM and a couple of logic chips to put it all together. The later versions of the Apple supplied 64k 80 column card only have a few chips on them. The SmartTerm and other 80 column cards for the ][+ not only have to supply their own RAM (in the case of the SmartTerm it is the 6116 chip) they also have a CRT controller (in this case a 6545) and all the logic to put those things together and the circuitry to generate an 80 column NTSC video signal.
In case it isn't obvious, the 2nd document on the archive.org link above is the ALS SmartTerm II manual, which should explain everything about the card. I was just looking at that, and it is a little confusing the first document is just like an addendum.
Interesting... I just noticed that the pictured SmartTerm card has a 6845 on it. The one I have uses a 6545. Those chips are close but not 100% compatible. I wasn't aware the SmartTerm could use either. I wonder if it requires a different firmware version or possibly if there is a different board revision entirely. I will have to ask Charles Mauro (founder of ALS).
Yes.
But the Apple II / II+ didn't have the necessary means on its motherbaord to support 80 columns. It couldn't generate 80 column video, and it didn't have the extra RAM necessary to add another 40 columns.
It's all we had in the old days before the IIe became popular.
There were a few 80 column cards around - the Videx 80 column card was by far the most prolific, but this ALS Smart Term was considered a better implementation.
iI agree completely. The Videx card was the most popular and most cloned. But the ALS was a much cleaner design with its integrated "soft switch" that doesn't require any motherboard hookups like the Videx card does.