Re: //gs upgrades

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article wshek@ibm.net writes...

>Has anyone come across an official upgraded //e -> //gs box.
>Apple did this as a matter of regular business in the late
>80's and it cost about $500. Kind of like getting a brand new
>gs for $500 in a //e box. To do this its obvious they gutted
>the //e.
>

    They're certainly floating around out there, but probably make up
a small number considering the upgrade wasn't very popular (nor did it
make much sense). Also, I believe Apple discontinued the offer shortly
after it was made available.

    Apple dealers would remove the IIe motherboard and metal base-pan,
replacing it with an Apple IIgs motherboard and new base-pan (the new
base had cuts-outs in back for the various port connector the GS had
which the IIe didn't). The IIe keyboard, powersupply and speaker would
connect to the GS motherboard (the original motherboard had extra pin
connectors to support this). The final bit was cosmetic, Apple removed
the metal sticker plates on the cover recess with updated ones. That
is a smaller Apple logo, with the words "Apple" and "IIGS" in Garamond.
Not sure what they did for the Platinum IIe, I suppose it just came
with a little "GS" sticker to place over the "IIe" (those newer model
IIe's had its name ID printed right on the case, like the GS and Macs).

    You got less than a real IIgs though, the IIe keyboard lacked a
numeric keypad and functioned differently from an ADB keyboard (the
newer IIe with numeric keypad was _not_ recognized like the ADB one).
You also didn't get a mouse, and although the motherboard was 100%
identical to a real GS one (being no functionally different from a
regular GS) you had the disadvantage of many slot cards not fitting
inside the IIe case. 

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca