Re: Help identify cards

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

Mike Ulman (mulman@cco.caltech.edu) wrote:

: Hi,

: I am a //c owner since I got one in Jr. High (Jan. 1986). Recently I got a
: hold of two ][+ machines. I got one running but the other powered up once
: and after a game of Star Blazer won't power up any more. It looks like the
: power supply is dead because using the power from the other ][+ makes this
: motherboard work OK. Anyhow, the two have different cards inside and I was
: hoping someone would help me ID some of them: 

: "Language Card"
: This card was in slot 0 of one of the computers and plugs into the memory
: board. I guess this is the 16K ram upgrade to 64K.

Bingo.  This is the $D000-$FFFF RAM memory.  On any ][ or ][+, it lets you
run Pascal or ProDOS or anything else that uses the "Language Card"
RAM...it is bank-switched with the BASIC ROM.  On the ][, you can load
Applesoft into the Language Card; on the ][+ (with Applesoft in ROM), you
can load Integer BASIC into the Language Card.  Or, if you are a
programmer, you can stick GPLE up there (for Applesoft), or Merlin-8 (for
Assembly), or DOS 3.3 if you really want to...It's probably the most
useful extra 16k you can put in a ][...so useful that it is standard
motherboard equipment on the //e, //c, and IIgs.  8-)

: "Saturn Ram Card" from Titan Technologies, Inc.
: I presume this also is a ram card. This as in the other ][+. Its only
: about half full of chips and though also found in slot 0, it has no
: connections to the memory on the mother board (the spot where the card
: above plugs in is occupied by a chip). What is this card? Can it go to
: 128K?

Sorry, can't help you here.

: "Epson APL Board"  This is a printer card. It has a cable that fits a
: parallel printer. I can just hook it up to a parallel printer and pr#1
: will print to the printer. Any info on how to get it to print graphics
: like the Grappler C used to do?

I don't think the APL board will do graphic dumps (i.e. ^IG) like the
Grappler will; I think it is a more simplified interface.  But almost any
graphics printing program can use it.  In other words, you print graphics
on this one "the hard way."

: "SUP'R'MOD II Ch. 32-34 TV Interface Unit" by M & R Enterprises, Sunnyvale
: This little board with two RCA jacks, one on the board and one off a
: little box on the board, connects to a four prong connector on the
: motherboard behind the monitor connector. Is this an RF modulator? How
: does one hook up a TV to the RCA jack (I can hook up the monitor connector
: on the TV to the monitor connector on the Apple so whats this gadget
: for?).

This is a gizmo which allows you to connect your ][+ to a television set. 
Yup, it is an RF modulator.  Note the channel numbers!  Most RF mods these
days use Ch.3 or Ch.4; this one uses UHF channels 32 or 34.  You will need
to run a cable from the RCA jack to the UHF inputs on your TV set, usually
a set of screw terminals.  To do this, you will also need a 75-ohm ->
300-ohm matching transformer, like the one the cable company puts on your
TV set if you don't have an F-connector on the back.  You can use a cable
that looks something like this--

      -]===========[-    ]====(-  [==###==<
CONN (RCA)      (RCA)  (RCA)(F) (F)     (spade lugs)
GEND   M          M      F   M   M

(I hope that makes some sense!)
Also, if it is a cable-ready TV, switch it to the "NORMAL" tuning mode (as
opposed to "CABLE") so that when you tune in Channel 32, you actually get
UHF channel 32 instead of CATV channel 32 (they are located at different
frequencies).

: "Micromodem II" from Hayes
: Its a card with a 10 pin (one blocked out) cable going nowhere. I presume
: this is just a serial card, not a modem. Does it look up to a modem? To an
: accoustic coupler? I bet its 300 baud at most. 

Probably a 300 baud modem, though I think there was a 1200 baud version of
the Micromodem.  I think that was only available as the Micromodem IIe,
though.  I have one of these things, in exactly the same condition: 
without the telephone jacks.   And besides, who wants to connect at 300
baud these days?

: Any help in identifying any of this stuff appreciated.

: Anyone ever hear of someone sticking an XT motherboard inside the ][+
: case? I think it'd be an interesting endeavor.

Now why would you want to do a thing like that?  8-)

--Dave Althoff, ][.






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