Apple II

Pineapple (clone) just let the smoke out

Submitted by softwarejanitor on December 21, 2023 - 4:59pm

I was playing with one of my clones, a Pineapple...  Unfortunately it "let the smoke out".  I had just booted the game "Ghostbusters" and was listing to the intro music when all of a sudden it got staticy and then PUFFFF!!! 

 

It appears that one of the differences between a Pineapple and an Apple ][+ is that it has a ULN2283B amplifier chip for the sound.  There is a volume knob on the back of the machine and I had the volume cranked and apparently that was too much for it.  The chip looks crispy.  Hopefully it is not an unobtanium item.

 

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Apple II

Apple II+ 48k 6502 and/or rom issue

Submitted by LennyStudios on December 17, 2023 - 10:53pm

I have a 48k apple II+ with no expansion cards, and whenever I try to execute certain AppleSoft basic functions (HCOLOR, COLOR, PLOT, HPLOT, IF, FOR, LEFT$, just to name a few) it spits back a memory address at EC46 with different values depending on the function it didn't like. In monitor mode, when I run Ctrl+E to get the 6502 registers, it has the same values every time.

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Apple II

Common capacitor failure? 16k ram card

Submitted by HiSir on December 16, 2023 - 6:42pm

16k memory ram card, had a capacitor smoke.   I had installed a new Apple II VGA card I had just assembled and was testing the machine.   I had considered leaving the top of the case open while I tested my newly built card but I didn't since I was running out of desk room.

 

I out the cover in and powered the machine on and my VGA card seemed to be working perfectly.  Although it didn't seem to work in 80 columns on my II+ but I am not sure of that is normal or not. I turned the machine off after about 10mins.

 

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Looking for assistnace with programming ATtiny2313

Submitted by Stargeezer on December 16, 2023 - 1:00pm

Howdy friends,

I am attempting to build Mike Willeal's keyboard ASC to PS2 Converter.  I finally overcame the battle of the Gerber files but had to use PCBWay instead of my usual PCB fab company, OSH Park.  While waiting for the PCB to arrive, I wanted to start programming the ATtiny2313. 

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Apple II

Formatting preformatted IBM disks

Submitted by HiSir on December 5, 2023 - 9:18am

I was using ADT PRO and having trouble formatting disks that are IBM formatted.  ADTpro won't let me do it. Always getting IO errors. 

 

I used a magnet on a preformatted IBM disk and it seemed to work after that.

 

I tried init hello on a prodos version but it must have been too old, and I tried a newer DOS version and it complained I didn't have an enhanced IIe, as I only have a IIe non-enhanced.

 

Is there a way to format IBM formatted disks? 

 

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Apple II

apple IIGS power supply question

Submitted by pcbishaf on December 1, 2023 - 10:03pm
The power connector on the motherboard, J14, is measuring -11.4 volts when it should be -5V
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Apple II

UNCLE BERNIE'S TIMING HAL SUBSTITUTE

Submitted by UncleBernie on December 1, 2023 - 9:56pm

Hi fans -

 

today I made some progress with substituting the timing HAL of the Apple IIe and IIc.

Here is what happened so far:

 

Weeks ago I took the equations from Jim Sather's book and plugged them into my PLD design software.

I then turned loose my proprietary PLD test and analysis tools on the JEDEC, and got lots of automatically generated test vectors.

Alas, when I took that JEDEC file to a programmer, and ran its test vectors against a real HAL (Apple part #341-0710-A date code 8429) plugged into it, I got hundreds of vector fails.

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Apple II

Videx softswitch fab

Submitted by warby on November 30, 2023 - 5:26pm

Hi all,

I'm making my own Videx softswitch. I have the 80 col card in  my ][+ and it works great with a pushbutton A/B switch but I don't have a softswitch. I've seen them on eBay but I think it would be fun to make my own (I etch my own PCBs). I saw a PCB design on Github but I have a slightly different design in mind.

I see the schematic in the manual and it's pretty straightforward:

 

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Apple II

Apple II plus questions

Submitted by HiSir on November 29, 2023 - 12:50am

I am awaiting delivery of this Apple II plus.

 

I have a IIE but don't know much about the II Plus.

 

1.  What were the purpose of the holes drilled in the bottom of the case?

2. I see it has a 16k memory card by COEX.  Is this only a memory board and not a language card?

2a. Is a language card beneficial to have?  I used to have one but I sold it thinking I didn't need it for a IIe.

3. Should I assume this unit has 32k of memory?

 

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Apple II

IOU soft switch RESET behavior

Submitted by MacFly on November 28, 2023 - 8:34am

Another forum member recently reported an issue he had with DAN][ Controller and the improved menu I made. After a warm-start the menu would occasionally show garbled MouseText instead of a flashing selection bar:

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Apple II

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