Re: What is the best clock card?

[Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net>]

In article <zHEXa.67667$o%2.33152@sccrnsc02>,
 "Ernest" <leucoplast@seanet.NOSPAM.com> wrote:

> "Mark Percival" <markREMOVE@syndicomm.com> wrote in message
> n1utivg6ok0srsc4g8m050hdp4ljka6a3t@4ax.com">news:n1utivg6ok0srsc4g8m050hdp4ljka6a3t@4ax.com...
> > On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 16:49:56 GMT, "Ernest"
> > <leucoplast@seanet.NOSPAM.com> wrote:
> >
> > >I know that there are several good clock cards for the Apple II but I was
> > >wondering if there is one that is superior to the others?
> >
> > Interesting you should ask about this.  I recently found a source for
> > "No Slot Clock" chips.
> >
> > What is a "No Slot Clock"?
> >
> > - It is exactly what it say it is.  It gives your Apple IIe or IIc a
> > ProDOS compatible clock without the usage of a slot.
> > - Yes they are still available.
> >
> > http://www.syndicomm.com/~mark/NSC.jpg
> >
> > From the photo above you can see that it is a clock chip inside of a
> > 28-pin ROM socket.  All you do is carefully pull a 28-pin ROM from
> > your machine (CD or EF ROM), place the NSC into the ROM socket and
> > then replace your removed ROM into the socket on top of the chip.
> > Patch ProDOS, run the utility to set the clock and your done!
> >
> > These will work in any Apple IIe (enhanced or not), IIc or IIc+.  The
> > lack of a 28-pin ROM in a II or II+ prevents it from working there.
> >
> > I recently picked up one to try and put it in my Platinum IIe.  Works
> > great.  It also keeps track of the year so you don't have to patch
> > ProDOS every 7 years.
> 
> I used one of these in my Tandy 1000hx but I didn't know that it would work
> in a IIe. I would be interested in purchasing one of these. I don't remember
> the one for my HX being expensive at all.
> 
> Will these clocks work on Dos 3.3, CP/M and Pascal as well?
> 
> 

So long as you code a driver for theOS you want to use it with.

Years ago, I hijacked the "ATINIT" file (A little-known, poorly 
documented file that's similar in concept to the Mac's "Extension" 
loading mechanism) to auto-install a tweaked driver for the beast at 
ProDOS boot-time. Worked sweet, although it *DID* kill the originally 
intended functionality of the ATINIT file (specifically, getting 
AppleTalk cards fired up so the machine could talk to a file-server) 
which was a non-issue for me, seeing as I didn't have an AppleTalk card 
in my rig.

Without that little hack of mine, you had to run an installer widget 
(supplied with the NSC back in the day) that was written in BASIC 
(which, obviously, required BASIC.SYSTEM on the disk - overhead I didn't 
particularly care for at the time) before you could use the clock.

Unfortunately, that hack has disappeared into the mists of history - I 
left it (and my //e, and five banana boxes work of Apple II books and 
software) in Florida when I moved west about 6-7 years ago 'cause I 
simply didn't have space to haul it along. Chances are, the folks at the 
place I left it put it on the curb the next trash day.

-- 
Don Bruder -  dakidd@sonic.net <--- Preferred Email - unmunged, SpamAssassinated
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