Re: Some II+ Questions. (ProDOS etc.)

[Linards Ticmanis <ticmanis@coli.uni-sb.de>]

Wayne Stewart wrote:

> Being a clone he likely doesn't have a separate encoder board.

That's True. There is just one big chip on the same PCB as the keys
themselves. As I'm not really in the mood for taking apart the case
again right now, I can't currently say what chip exactly it is. 

However I've decided to leave it alone, see the other article I just
posted in this thread.


A couple more questions, which you (the reader, whoever it is) should
only answer if you enjoy doing so, not out of a feeling of obligation
please:

Am I right to assume that the standard original II+ keyboard is also
52 Keys in a teletype-like arrangement, with that sturdy mechanic feel
and pretty tight key springs?

I guess this clone's @ on shift-0 is a peculiarity, right? IIRC the
original should have it on shift-P. Is the @ symbol printed on the P
Key or do you just have to know it is there? Also are there any other
special characters on the shifted letters? What does shift-0 and
ctrl-nonletter keys produce on the real Apple, just the basic
assignment without modifier?

Is there any reason for "]" being there while "[" is not? This strikes
me as very odd. This clone does add it, along with "_" and "\", and a
large bunch of precomposed BASIC and DOS 3.3 keywords, via an extra
key in place of the FUNC light though. Also that key if pressed alone
doubles as caps lock, as well as having the FUNC light embedded in it
as a red LED.

Last question, this keyboard has printable character keys that are
dark grey with white lettering, while the others are light grey with
black lettering and the special FUNC key is white and has CAPS LOCK
and FUNC written on it. Is this the same colors as the Original?

Yeah I know this all doesn't matter one bit to the question of running
software on it, it's just that I like the design, and I never had a
II+ before. Now I only need an Apple II Logo to illegally stick to the
empty place on the case... If only real Apples weren't so scarce over
here before the //e. That was an age when computing related stuff was
usually much more expensive in Europe than in America, with e.g. the
Apple II going for about 5000 DM, that's around US$ 2200 or so(though
the conversion rate might have been different back then). No wonder
everybody used clones, if they got an Apple at all. Most small
businesses here probably didn't have a computer until around 1982/83
or so IIRC, so they mostly started out with IBMs, and the first big
hits in the home computing sector were probably the Sinclair ZX-81 and
the CBM VIC-20.

-- 

Linards Ticmanis

 The Master said, "The business of laying on the colors follows the
preparation of the plain ground."