Re: Need info on old serial card

[gray@acad.humberc.on.ca (Kelly Gray)]

Ed Federmeyer (ed@iitmax.acc.iit.edu) wrote:
: I have an Apple //e, and a "serial interface card" (from Apple).  It is not
: the "super serial card", but the older one.

: As I understand it, there were originally two serial cards:
: "serial interface card" and "serial communications card".

: Can I use the NON-communications card with a modem, or will it only
: work with a serial printer?  How about if I use a null-modem between
: the computer and the modem?

: In any case, I'd like to know what the DIP switch settings can be set to,
: so if anyone has that info, please send it along!

: Ed Federmeyer
: (ed@iitmax.acc.iit.edu)

My old Apple Peripheral Interface Guide lists two serial cards that predate
the SSC. One is the Communications Interface Card, and the comment at the
bottom of the page says that this should only be used with low-speed devices
that run at 300 baud and slower.
 
The High Speed Serial interface card lists baud rates up to 19200, but
also has a note saying it should only be used with low-speed devices. I
think there's a misprint in there somewhere, but I can't say for certain.
For what it's worth, the dip switch settings are as follows:
 
baud  switch ->  1   2   3        Switch 4, when off, adds a 1/4 second
rate                              delay after a carriage return.

110              on  on  on       Switches 5 and 6 control the line width
134.5           off  oo  on       of the output, as follows:
300              on off  on       line width  sw 5  sw 6
1200            off off  on       40 column    on    on
2400             on  on off       72 column   off    on 
4800            off  on off       80 column    on   off
9600             on off off      132 column   off   off
19200           off off off      The 40 column mode also echos to the
                                 standard Apple screen, the others do not.
Switch 7, when off, adds a line feed after every carriage return.
 
I suspect that this card is mainly intended to be used as a serial
printer port. If you do try to use it for communications, good luck
in finding software that will support it. The only thing that comes to mind
off hand would be the old ASCII Express program, and I haven't seen that
anywhere for almost a decade.