Re: IIe Questions!

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

Tony Cianfaglione (ab616@chebucto.ns.ca) wrote:

: I picked a IIe at a thrift store and had a few questions re: the same.

: 1. The SuperSerial Card - This one is dated 1981 but labelled SuperSerial
: II - does the II stand for Apple II or is this a second version?

: 2.  The 6551 is labelled 6551-II (the same deal as above or a revision)?

As far as I know, for the most part all SSCs are created equal.  The 6551
is the ACIA; that's a more-or-less standard part.

: 3. This IIe has no 16 pin joystick socket inside - when did they start
: removing them?

It doesn't??  I thought even the last ][e's had that...You are aware that
the ][e paddle port is in the rear-right corner of the motherboard, near
the cassette and video ports, and not at the center of the motherboard as
on the IIgs I presume?  Interesting...

: 4. Can the 9pin joystick socket outside use a mouse like a IIc 9pin socket
: does?  Will it work properly?

To the best of my knowledge, no.  To use a mouse on the //e, you need a
mouse card.

: 5. Can I tell by the Serial# on the bottom, the date of manufacture of
: this particular machine - it's a platinum IIe and came with 2 GS-style
: platinum disk II's (with the cords as opposed to ribbon cables).

I can't answer that one.  Sorry.

: 6. Can a 3.5" drive plug into the controller and daisy chain like the IIc?

No.  You need a different controller card for the 3.5 drive on a //e.

: 7. Will a GS RAM card (1meg or higher) work in a IIe?  Can any GS card
: work?

A GS RAM card won't even fit in a //e.  The only IIgs-compatible RAM card
that will work in a //e is a standard "any slot" RAM card which will work
in any Apple ][.  There are special ][e-specific RAM cards which fit into
the auxiliary slot in the front right corner of the motherboard...given
the relative age of your ][e, I'm guessing you have a half-height 64k RAM
card in there already, meaning you have 128k RAM.

Remember that the 6502 can only address 64k, so adding additional memory
to a //e does not give you the same benefits that you get on a IIgs.  //e
memory is bank-switched, and many programs can only make limited use of
the upper memory areas.  The number of programs which can make use of more
than 128k on a //e is even more limited.

--Dave Althoff, ][.
-- 
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