Re: Clone - see if this looks familiar

[Mike <mike@bogus.address.net>]

Ernest wrote:
> Well there ya go. It makes me wonder how many of the clone boards that
> I have were built by hobbiests, rather than at the factory. There are a
> few that I know were home jobs -the sloppy soldering and wire wrapping
> on others makes me wonder. The "ready go" system was a home job,
> and the person who built it laid several bridges, including one of the
> sockets
> on the first memory row. The poor bastard probably never even got a chance
> to see it in action. There's nothing more fun than de-slobbing someone
> else's shoddy solder job. I'm ham fisted with a soldering iron but even I
> can avoid bridging.

This board exhibits a good workmanship standard.  My uncle never did 
anything half-arsed.

> You should document what you know about this system. It may not seem like
> a big deal but future collectors will thank you. It's likely that this
> board, if you
> do sell it to a collector, will probably pass to other collectors as time
> goes
> by, and the documentation that you provide will probably stay with it...
> at least if these collectors know what they are doing. The fact that it
> was hand built, and the ROMs were copied from a II+ are good things for
> future collectors to know. I wish that I had information like that about
> my clones.

Yeah, I still wish I had the case :)  Little did I know 10 years ago that 
people would be collecting this kinda stuff.

> That was good thinking on your Uncle's part. It's much easier to find
> Apple II
> power supplies than the odd ones that some of my clones use, and the Apple
> supplies are probably safer to.

Actually, I still have that power supply, too.  I realized today that it's 
in my II+, I put it there after my II+'s supply died.  I thought about 
doing a swap of the boards when I did that, but since my II+ has a Saturn 
128K, a clone SoftCard, ThunderClock, and A.E. ViewMaster 80, it didn't 
have any feature that the other board provided.  (Well, really just the 
Z80.)

> Tough call. It definitely has value but considering that it uses copied
> ROMs
> rather than weird knock-offs, no case,  and no video or cassette jacks
> decreases the value to an extent but the fact that you know it's history,
> and it was hand built add's value. I bought my OS-22, which is complete
> and in pristine condition, for around $38.00. I should say however, that
> I consider that a very good price.

I also have a big, extended keyboard, with a telephone-style connector, 
that plugs into an adapter that, in turn, plugs into the keyboard socket of 
an Apple II+.  :)  It takes a ROM cartridge for Macro features.  It has 
been slightly damaged by a fall, but I believe it still works.

Almost enough to make a complete machine :)
 
> It just so happens that I have an AE Z80 board for the Apple IIc. Let
> me know if you are interested in making a deal of some sort. Otherwise,
> I was going to put it on ebay.

That one that goes in the memory socket of the newer IIc's or does it go 
into the 6502/MMU sockets?  Any other features besides the Z80?  And, does 
it follow the softcard protocol?

Perhaps we could work out a trade?  I'm willing to let go a few items I 
have.  Including the whole II+, or the clone board or whatever is a fair 
trade.

Or, perhaps my in-box, BMC RGB interface.  This may or may not have been 
plugged in.  There are marks on the edge connection that indicate it was, 
however, the cables have their original pin protectors.  This thing plugs 
into a slot, and has three ribbon cables that plug into where various chips 
go.  The result is an output on the card that corresponds to TTL-level RGB 
on a DIN-8 connector.  It even has the original little manual, which 
includes a pin diagram.  Of course, I have no idea how much this thing is 
worth.  Likely it would let your Apple II+ connect to a CGA monitor.  It's 
only for the II and II+, though.

> That's cool. Considering the sentimental value of this board, and the fact
> that it takes up so little storage space, are you sure that you want to
> part with it?

Well, the big issue is I kinda need money right now, and also I want to buy 
a couple things for the IIc (Z80 and RAM would be cool), and also need to 
possibly pay a speeding ticket off if I don't win in court. :(  Sigh.  Such 
is the "student condition."

Mike