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Enhancing //e with "language adapter"
I have here an old Apple //e with a Rev.B motherboard, yet it
contains the unenhanced ROM set. I am, however, about to receive an
"upgrade kit" with the four-new ROM chips, but I'm wondering if there
won't be a small problem with the version of //e I own...
This IIe has the little black switch under the keyboard which
toggles between regular ASCII screen display, and a French-Canadian
character display set. I've also noticed the Video-ROM socket (one of
the chips that I believe gets swapped) is a bit usual. Rather than a
single 24-pin EPROM, there's a 2' x 2' little square circuit card
marked with the following IDs: "AIIe Language Adapter", "820-0094-A",
"Seiko-AAF 38-83", "Apple Computer 1983". Underneath the board is
a socketed 24-pin EPROM marked: "341-0166-B Apple 83". If I'm not
mistaken, this card contains all regular ASCII sets in addition to
the special French-language characters (that's toggled by switch).
(Not sure what the function of the circuit card is, when the EPROM
could just plug into the socket alone).
...Now here's the problem. I'm pretty sure the (American)
Apple IIe enhancement kit comes with a single 24-pin EPROM chip
for the Video-ROM socket. If this is so, will replacing that little
circuit card with a single chip work okay on my Canadian-version //e?
And assuming if it does function okay, what will happen when I flip the
switch under the keyboard afterwards? Will I get a Qwerty/Dvorak layout
toggle like that of the Apple IIc? I don't really mind losing the
foreign language character-set if it means the benfits of an enhanced
Apple //e, but is there by any chance a way to keep the extra character
set when doing the chip swap?
Mitch
sb_spec@pavo.concordia.ca