Re: ][+ lowercase adapter?

[Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Steven Hirsch <snhirsch@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/20/2012 03:52 PM, Steven Hirsch wrote:
>> I picked up a ][+ with a small board on the pins between the keyboard and the
>> encoder board.  It says "HUME" or "HOME" in a stylized logo.  There's a wire
>> soldered to the Apple encoder and another to pin 1 of an LS251 in the right
>> rear corner of the board - just in front of the joystick socket.  There's also
>> a Bourns trimpot on the board with no marking for function.
>> 
>> I don't seem to get lowercase letters, but may not be understanding how this
>> is supposed to work.  I was a latecomer to the A2 world in that my first
>> machine was a 2e in 1983.  Missed all the fun with ][ and ][+ :-)
> 
> I disassembled the machine and pulled out the board.  It's labeled
> "Repeaterrrrrrr" on the front.  I assume this automatic keyboard repeat
> that kicks in after a key is down more than a few seconds?  The trimpot
> is probably the delay or repeat time, then.
> 
> This ][+ was in terrific shape and cleaned up real nicely.

I remember that add-on. 

I instead used a mod I read about in a magazine that did the same thing by
adding a resistor, a capacitor, and a diode to the encoder board. 

If I recall correctly, it used the "any key down" encoder output to charge
the RC circuit, whose output went to the "repeat" input on the encoder. The
diode was used to quickly discharge the capacitor when AKD went false. 

The effect was a short delay before auto-repeat began--just like on later
machines. 

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon