Re: Does an enhanced //e _ALWAYS_ have 80 col. support?

[Oliver Schmidt <ol.sc@web.de>]

Hi,

First of all thanks for the informative answers I received :-)

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 12:32:56 -0500, Martin Doherty
<martin.doherty@undisclosed.com> wrote:

>[...]
>
>I believe that Apple did not start shipping the 64K extended 80-col card 
>standard with every //e until the platinum (enhanced) IIe.
>
>I'm curious to know why you are asking the question?

I'm developing new software for the Apple2. One configuration targets
an enhanced //e (or better) in that it uses 65C02 instructions and
relies on the mousetext alternate charset to display solid lines.

Recently I was wondering if it is necessary to check for the presence
of an 80 col board before switching to 80 col mode that configuration.

But what I still don't understand: You say that all machines contain
the firmware. Does it mean that it is "visible" at $C300 even if
there's no card installed in the AUX slot?

Currently I'm trying to detect the presence of 80 col capability by
checking slot 3 for the "Pascal 1.1 Firmware Protocol ID Bytes"
according to the "Apple II Miscellaneous TechNote #8".

Another question: I'm I guaranteed to read something < $80 from $C01F
of there's no card installed in the AUX slot or must I be prepared to
read undefined hi-bits?

Oliver