Re: One of the newest?

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

In article lmull@skypoint.com (Larry Mullaly) writes...
>
>	I recently bought an enhanced //e.  I noticed that the copyright 
>date on the motherboard was 1986.  What year did apple stop producing the 
>//e?  The serial # is #163081. 

	It's difficult to say the exact month/year Apple officially shut
down it's Apple IIe production line (or revamped it to handle Macs) but
the system was sold and remained on Apple's price list until mid 
November 1993. It was produced for about one full decade!

>Could my computer be from one of apples last production runs on the //e?

	Definitely not, although it was most likely one of the last
Apple IIe's shipped in a beige colored case. In January 1987 it was
replaced with a new revision Apple IIe shipped in a platinum case.

Here's a brief history:

January 1983  [IIe motherboard: 820-0064-A, (c)1982]

	The first Apple IIe model introduced. This motherboard (commonly
known as the Revision 'A') was not capable of supporting Double-Hi-Res
graphics. It had a 6502 and original ROM chipset, I believe it also 
_lacked_ access to a special video single via one of it's slots (#7?).
Beige colored dye was mixed in with the plastic molded case and like
the old II Plus, had a kind of black plastic velcro clip to lock down
the lid. The keyboard had large white lettering printed on it's keys.

(spring?) 1983  [IIe motherboard: 820-0064-B, (c)1982]

	A few short months later, a revision 'B' motherboard was
replaced the original (Apple even offered a free upgrade swap).
It had the necessary changes to support Double-Hi-Res graphics
and added a special video signal to one of the slots. Around the
same time a slight revision was made to the case and keyboard.
The plastic was painted beige rather than the use of a dye, and the 
cover merely snapped in place (gone were black clips). The keys
now had a smaller letters and symbols in black print. There was
another revision of this motherboard that had most chips soldered
in rather than socketed.

(spring?) 1985 [IIe motherboard: 820-0087-A, (c)1984]

	Although it was labeled 'A' again, it did support 
Double-Hi-Res. Most parts were soldered in. This was the
first motherboard that (at least in the United States)
came shipped with the Enhanced chipset as standard (65C02
and newer ROMs). The Enhanced chip part numbers were 
silk-laced on the board. I assume this board was in 
production between 1985 until late 1986. The Enhanced
Apple IIe was introduced in March 1985, so it seems more
than likely this board wasn't available until then (despite
the 1984 copyright date). Same case and keyboard as above.

January 1987 [IIe motherboard: 820-xxxx-x, (c)1987]

	This model was introduced so the Apple IIe would use
the same color scheme and keyboard layout as the Apple IIgs
and Macintosh. The case was now platinum colored, the metal
ID plate ("[Apple]" "[//e]") was replaced with the words 
"Apple IIe" printed in Apple's Garmond font. The Apple
logo was moved off the cover and onto the left side of the
case in a square recess (as it is on the Apple 5.25 drive).
The keyboard layout was identical to the Apple IIgs (as well
as Macintosh's of that time) with a numeric keypad and the 
reset button moved above the 'ESC' and '1' key. The power 
light became a horizontal slit above numeric keypad. The
keys were light grey with black print. 

	The motherboard of course had the Enhanced chipset as 
standard and came with an extended 80 columns card pre-installed 
(a new smaller version, slightly larger than a SIMM module). The
'CD' and 'EF' ROM were merged into a single ROM labeled 'CF' and
the bank of eight DRAM chips (64K) were reduced to two chips.
It also had the shift-mod installed. Out of the box you had an
Enhanced 128K Apple IIe, though it is basically the same as 
the latter two motherboards in terms of functionality.

..There was also the "Apple IIe Card" released in 1991 for
certain Macintosh models (Classic, LC, Performa, etc) that 
allowed hardware emulation of an 8-bit Apple IIe with special
software used. It had a 65C02, some varient of the Mega II
chip (an entire IIe motherboard on one chip, it was used in
the Apple IIgs), two 64K DRAM chips and IWM. There was a port
connector on the card that could work with an Apple 5.25 drive
and Apple joystick. It was a PDS slot card. It, and the platinum
Apple 5.25 drive, are the only remains of the Apple II left at 
Apple Computer Inc.

(sorry about any gaps or missing information. ie, exact dates
or part # for the Platinum IIe)

>Sean

Mitchell Spector
spector@vax2.concordia.ca