Re: Some II+ Questions. (ProDOS etc.)

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Linards Ticmanis <ticmanis@coli.uni-sb.de> wrote:

> [Fitting IIe logic board in II+ case]
> 
> As I already said above, do you (or anybody else) have info on the IIe
> keyboard protocol/connector/whatever? The photo shows it as something
> with two rows of pins, like a floppy cable connector, only longer. Is
> the IIe keyboard still an ASCII encoded self-contained thingy, or is
> it just a matrix that is handled by the motherboard like in a C64?

The IIe has the keyboard encoder circuitry on the motherboard, so the
keyboard connection is just a raw matrix, with a few direct signals for
specific keys: the modifiers, the Apple keys and Reset.  (The IIe
keyboard has the Reset key hard-wired in series with Control.)

By comparison, the II+ has the encoder on a piggyback board behind the
keyboard, so the motherboard connection is pre-encoded.  I've never
looked closely enough at the construction of the keyboard, but I imagine
it might be possible to remove the piggyback board and jury-rig a
rewired keyboard directly to the motherboard.

Apart from the Apple keys, the II+ keyboard is also missing Caps Lock,
Delete and several of the more obscure ASCII characters.  It also has
most of the symbols on different keys.

I expect all of the information required to construct your own keyboard
would be included in the IIe Technical Reference Manual, or in Jim
Sather's "Understanding the Apple IIe".  I don't have either of them at
hand right now to confirm this.


You said that you don't like the IIe case, but which version are you
referring to?

The original IIe case is similar in appearance to the II+, apart from
having a full ASCII keyboard and the back panel cutouts matching
standard D connectors (several D-25, one D-9 and a couple of D-19).  The
1986/1987 "platinum" IIe (with a numeric keypad) looks quite different,
but has the same back panel.