Re: Unknown hardware...

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

Rob Greene <nospam-greener@charter.net> wrote:

>I figure someone can help me out here.  I've got a bunch of hardware, some 
>of which I really have no clue about.
>
>1. Adaptive Firmware Card & associated I/O Box - I think this is for 
>handicapped access??

    Yes, it's used to assist people who are physically, mentally or visually
impaired, who would have difficulty (or just outright impossibility) making
use of a standard keyboard. I believe it functions as an interface for
specialized devices such as enlarged keyboards, switches and headgear.

    I know they're highly sought after, probably still to this day, to any
person with such disabilities. You might want to see about donating it.
I believe it works in both the Apple IIe and IIgs.

>2. Powerport DPP-002 (not a card, connects to GAME controller J21)

    I'd need more details about what connector is on the opposite end.

>3. Quickie Controller (Vitesse Inc) - for a scanner? (but no scanner!)

    It's a serial-based interface for a greyscale handscanner. In order to
use it you'll need the software and the actual handscanner. The two
popular ones in the Apple II world were the Quickie or LightningScan,
but any that uses the Omron 1700 mechanism will work (that would
include several from the PC world).

    It works on either the Apple IIe or IIgs, and on the latter supports up
to 4-bit greyscale at up to 400 DPI.

>4. Unknown card - does not use a slot, connects to J25 and Fan header. Was 
>bolted to external slot just behind motherboard power connector.  The back 
>has "(c) 1998 Roger Wagner Publishing".  Pictures at:
>   http://webpages.charter.net/greener/apple2/

    This is known as the "Slotless Digitizer" and came with the HyperStudio
software package. It allows you record audio (input-only) using the built-in
Ensoniq chip. It digitizes only in monaural.

>Any additional information would be appreciated.
>
>I also have a Zip GSX (version 1.02) and an Echo II.  I assume there is 
>software and information for both somewhere?  

    The Zip GS is a plug-in accelerator card for the Apple IIgs. It uses a
faster 65C816 CPU (i.e. 7 to 16 MHz versus the default 2.6 MHz) and 
8 to 64K of high speed cache, working much like L2 cache on a PC.

    No special software is required for the Zip GS, it will automatically
(and significantly) speed up the machine once installed. There are
some useful programs such as Andy McFadden's "Zippy" and the
FTA's "SuperZip" Desk Accessory, both of which allow you to tweak
the card (i.e. disable complete, adjust speed in percentile increments,
slow down or speed up slots).

>Is the Echo II needed in a GS?

    Not at all, although it would have been useful in conjunction with the
Adaptive Firmware Card above, due to the lack of native speech 
synthesis software for the IIgs (especially for the blind).

    The Echo II has a speech synthesizer and at least one AY-8910
sound/music chip (very basic, just three voices and one white-noise
generator). It is designed for use in an Apple II Plus or IIe. The IIgs
itself has a 32-voice Ensoniq 5503 wavetable synthesizer built-in,
capable of far better speech synthesis and music, just as mentioned,
it wasn't utilitized as much as it could have been.

Mitchell Spector