Re: //c hardware trivia...

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In articl xray@cs.brandeis.edu (Nathan Raymond) writes...
>
>(I've appended the document someone posted here a while back that outlines
>the differences I'm talking about.) [snip]

	A few notes to add to this file...

>                  HOW TO TELL WHICH APPLE IIC YOU HAVE 
>                  ==================================== 
>                            Stephen  Buggie 
>                           Clinton SC  29325 
>                           sebugg@presby.edu 
>  
>Four models of Apple IIc were made from mid-1984 through 1989.  Some 
>models can be identified by the color of the external plastic casing  
>but mainly they are distinguished by special features. 

	Actually there were five revisions of the Apple IIc, introduced
between April 1984 and September 1988 (two of them simple ROM upgrades
or similar).

>ORIGINAL IIC: (1984-85)  White casing; does NOT operate an external
>              Unidisk drive; has NO internal self-test.  Most numerous 
>              type made.  Has 16K of internal ROM.  ROM code:  255  This 
>              model has a defective timing crystal, which limits modem 
>              use to the slower baud speeds (300 baud, or, if lucky, 
>              1200 baud).  

	This does NOT affect all original (ROM 255) Apple IIc models.
Only those produced between April 1984 and up until around December 1984.
If your IIc reports it has the original ROM revision, you should not 
automatically assume it has the faulty serial ports. If you open the case
and look at location C-7 on the motherboard, it'll either have a 74LS161
(black) DIP chip or a silver colored oscillator with MHz rating. If you
find the latter your motherboard has the "good" serial ports part.

>	       FREE MOTHERBOARD UPGRADE of the original IIc 

	This offer expired a year ago, it is no longer available. 
Apple dealers would often swap your motherboard if you had either
the original ROM version or the faulty serial ports (with proof 
that you owned a UniDisk 3.5 or high-speed modem).

>UNIDISK 3.5 IIC: (March to Sept 1986) White casing; externally  

	A magazine article reports that the UniDisk 3.5 IIc (ROM 0) 
was introduced the spring of 1986, though it would seem more logical
to have been the spring of 1985. Could someone verify when it was
actually released? [More trivia: If you had your IIc ROM upgraded, a
little sticker with a 3.5 disk-icon was placed above your IIc diskport.
Rather like the IIe "Enhanced" sticker :) ]

>MEMORY EXPANSION IIC: (1986-87)  Platinum grey plastic casing; has all 

	The memory expansion IIc (ROM 3) was introduced at the same 
time as the Apple IIgs, September 15th, 1986. However I've seen 
conflicting reports as to whether the external casing was changed
from snow-white to platinum-grey (I know for certain the keyboard
color changed from beige to light-grey though). 

	I've just examined a number of glossy color booklets 
promoting the Apple IIc, IIe and IIgs that I picked up from Apple
dealers years ago (quite a few actually, nice collector pieces :).