Apple IIe Card

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by imported>Seloloving at 00:35, 4 August 2025 (→Reception: Fixed grammar). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.
(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

The Apple IIe Card is a compatibility card, which through hardware and software emulation, allows certain Macintosh computers to run software designed for the Apple II (excluding the 16-bit IIGS). Released in March 1991 for use with the LC family, Apple targeted the card at its widely dominated educational market to ease the transition from Apple II-based classrooms, with thousands of entrenched educational software titles, to Macintosh-based classrooms.

Overview

Well into the 1990s, most schools still had a substantial investment in Apple II computers and software in their classrooms and labs. However, by that period Apple was looking to phase out the Apple II line, and so introduced the Apple IIe Card as a means to transition Apple II educators (and to a smaller degree, home and small business users) by migrating them over to the Macintosh. By adding the card to certain 68K-based Macintosh computers, it provides backwards compatibility with the vast Apple II software library of over 10,000 titles. Software can be run directly from an Apple II floppy diskette, the same way as with an Apple IIe (made possible via the card's cable-adapter that connects a standard Apple 5.25 Drive). A similar "Apple IIGS Card" was planned for running 16-bit Apple IIGS software, but was canceled after being deemed too costly, therefore leaving no migration path for that segment of the Apple II line.[1]

Apple asked the media to call the peripheral the "Apple IIe option board", as earlier "emulator" cards were not successful.Template:R The Apple IIe Card works in the Macintosh LC series (I, II, III, III+, 475, 520, 550, 575), as well as the LC-slot compatible Color Classic (I and II).[2] When running in Apple II emulation mode, the card uses Macintosh peripherals as Apple II devices. The mouse, keyboard, internal speaker, clock, serial ports (printer, modem, networking), extra RAM (up to 1024 KB), internal 3.5 floppy drive, and hard disk all function as Apple II devices. With the included Y-cable, Apple II specific peripherals can be used as well: The Apple 5.25, Apple UniDisk 3.5, and an Apple II joystick or paddles. The host Macintosh requires special emulation software (a boot disk) launched from System 6.0.8 to 7.5.5 in order to activate the IIe Card. Apple II mode runs only in full-screen (a windowed mode is not possible) and all Macintosh operations are suspended while running, as the IIe card takes over the host computer.

Technical aspects

Like the Apple IIe itself, the Apple IIe Card uses an onboard 65C02 CPU.Template:R The CPU is software-configurable to run at the Apple IIe's native 1.0 MHz speed or at an accelerated 1.9 MHz. Video emulation (text and graphics) is handled through software using native Macintosh QuickDraw routines, which often results in operations being slower than a real Apple IIe except on higher-end machines. Any Macintosh that supports the card can be switched into 560×384 resolution for better compatibility with the IIe's 280×192 color High-Resolution graphics (essentially doubled in both directions on the Macintosh) and 560x192 monochrome Double-High-Res (doubled vertically), using the card's onboard 17.2349 MHz oscillator in place of the usual video clock thanks to the local bus nature of the PDS slot. This was particularly applicable to the Color Classic which is otherwise fixed at 512×384 resolution; the monitor scan rate remains the same, but horizontal pixel density (and total pixel clocks per scanline) is increased by 10% to fit the greater resolution in the same width.

The IIe card has 256K RAM; half is used to emulate the Apple IIe's standard 128K memory (reproducing its 64K main RAM plus the 64K bank-switched Extended 80-Column Text Card), and a small portion of the other half stores the IIe's 16K ROM. Macworld reported that because Apple IIGS engineers helped design the IIe Card, all copy-protected and other software except for "a few very esoteric games" are compatible.[3] The host Macintosh emulates or provides native access to many of the expansion cards and peripherals one might install in a bare Apple IIe. These services provided to the IIe card makes the simultaneous running of the host's System 7 impossible. Hardware services include a 1.44 MB 3.5" SuperDrive, mouse, 1 MB RAM, 80-column text and graphical monochrome or color display, clock, numeric keypad, two hardware serial ports (in addition to the emulated serial port necessary for the IIe mouse), SCSI hard drive, and AppleShare file server. An included "Y-cable" enables the attachment of up to two external 140 KB floppy disk 5.25" Drives, an 800 KB "intelligent" 3.5" UniDisk drive, and an Apple II joystick or paddle control for use in Apple IIe emulation mode. 800 KB 3.5" Drive and 1.44 MB SuperDrives are not supported nor function if attached directly via the Y-cable due to the Disk Controller on the IIe card lacking compatibility. (chip labeled U1A located in zone A1 of card – lower left as pictured above)

The product included the PDS card, Y-cable, owner's manual and two 3.5" floppy disks: the 'Apple IIe installer disk' and the 'Apple IIe card startup disk'. Version 2.2.2d1 is the final revision of the startup disk. Version 2.2.1 and a patch to reach 2.2.2d1 was originally available at Apple Support Area (which has now since been removed, as is the case with the original manual).

Reception

Apple stated that the LC helped the company regain educational market share lost to inexpensive PC clones. since May 1992Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., about half of the LCs sold to schools used the IIe Card.[4]

Some educators and users were critical of the card's limitations and shortcomings. When introduced, the original Macintosh LC (and its successor, the LC II) were not fast enough to fully handle video emulation, resulting in slow scrolling of text-based software, or sluggish and or jittery screen redraws for graphical applications and animations. While workable, it wasn't until the introduction of faster LC models that this issue became less apparent or resolved entirely.[5] Additionally, every time a user wished to run Apple II software, they had to wait for the Macintosh operating system to boot up before launching the specialized software. If an incompatibility or emulation bug caused a crash, the entire process had to be repeated, requiring a several minute wait, as opposed to simply power cycling a real Apple IIe.

Special needs software could also no longer be run due to limitations. For the visually impaired that required a speech synthesis card or the physically disabled that required hardware add-ons like adaptive input devices, the Apple IIe Card did not provide emulation or support of these peripherals.

Technical specifications

  • LSI Logic Gemini chip (similar to Mega II); a nearly complete Apple IIe on a single microcircuit – minus RAM, firmware, CPU and video generation
  • IWM (Integrated Woz Machine) for floppy control functions
  • 256 KB RAM built-in (128 KB for Apple II memory, 128 KB reserved for Macintosh)
  • 65C02 processor running at either 1.023 MHz or 1.9 MHz
  • High-density 26-pin connector with "Y-cable" supports joystick/paddles and two Apple 5.25" or UniDisk 3.5" floppy disk drives
  • Ability to access up to 1 MB of native Macintosh RAM
  • All Apple IIe text and video modes supported, via QuickDraw software emulation

Notes: When emulating the Apple IIe, only a full-screen mode is available and all native Macintosh functions are suspended while running (a proprietary graphical control panel, running outside Mac OS, is available for configuring the virtual Apple II slots and peripherals; however, both native and emulated computer function are suspended during this activity). Macintosh functions and control resume only once emulation is completely shut down and exited.

Host system compatibility

The card plugs into the PDS slot in many of the LC-series Macintoshes, but not all models and system software combinations are supported. Apple's Tech Info Library article #8458 lists the following models as Apple IIe Card-compatible: Color Classic, Colour Classic II, LC, LC II, III & III+; LC 475, 520, 550, 575; Quadra 605 and Performa 4XX, 52X, 55X, 56X, and 57X. However, other 68K models that have an LC-compatible PDS slot and support 24-bit memory addressing are generally compatible with the Apple IIe Card but are not officially supported. The host Macintosh requires Apple's emulation software (a boot disk) launched from System 6.0.8 to 7.5.5 in order to activate the IIe Card. Systems 7.0 through 7.5.5 support both 24- and 32-bit addressing on suitable Macintosh models (from System 7.6 onwards, Macintosh system software does not support the required 24-bit addressing). 24-bit addressing can be enabled on supported systems with the Macintosh Memory control panel. The Apple IIe Card will not work with 32-bit addressing enabled or Macintosh System Software or machines locked to this mode.

Contrary to some sources,Template:R the LC 630 and Quadra 630 are not compatible with the Apple IIe card because those computers do not support 24-bit mode.[6][7]

Timelines

Timeline of Apple II family Script error: No such module "Navbar".
<timeline>DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy

Define $start = 01/01/1976 Define $end = 12/31/1995 Period = from:$start till:$end Define $skip = at:end # Force a blank line Define $dayunknown = 15 # what day to use if it's actually not known ImageSize= width:900 height:auto barincrement:21 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:20 bottom:75 top:5 Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4

Colors = 

    id:bg         value:white
    id:mba        value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) 
    id:mba2       value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) 
    id:ap1        value:rgb(1,1,0.55)       legend:Apple_1
    id:0402       value:rgb(0.95,0.65,0.95) legend:Apple_//
    id:040        value:rgb(0.9,0.6,0.9) 
    id:apiii      value:rgb(1,0.55,0.65)    legend:Apple_III
    id:apiii-b    value:rgb(1,0.5,0.6) 
    id:0502       value:rgb(0.65,0.85,1)    legend:Apple_IIe
    id:050        value:rgb(0.6,0.8,1)
    id:portable2  value:rgb(0.6,0.9,0.5)
    id:portable   value:rgb(0.65,0.95,0.55) legend:Apple_IIc
    id:special2   value:rgb(1,0.8,0.5)
    id:special    value:rgb(1,0.7,0.4)      legend:Apple_IIGS
    id:line       value:rgb(1,0,0)
    id:lighttext  value:rgb(0.6,0.6,0.6)
    id:lightline  value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
    id:current    value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8)    legend:Lisa/Macintosh

BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lighttext unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1976 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightline unit:month increment:3 start:01/01/1976

BarData = 

 Barset:apple
 Barset:null
 Barset:macintosh

PlotData= 

 width:15 textcolor:black

 barset:apple
   shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
   color:ap1 from:07/01/1976 till:09/01/1977 text:"Apple I"
   color:040 from:04/01/1977 till:06/01/1979 text:"Apple II"
   color:apiii-b from:09/01/1980 till:12/01/1983 text:"Apple III"
 barset:break
   color:portable from:04/01/1984 till:09/01/1986 text:"Apple IIc"
   color:0402 from:06/01/1979 till:01/01/1983 text:"Apple II Plus"
   color:apiii from:12/01/1981 till:12/01/1983 text:"III Revised"
 barset:break
   color:portable2 from:09/01/1986 till:09/01/1988 text:"Mem Exp."
   color:050 from:01/01/1983 till:03/01/1985 text:"Apple IIe"
   color:apiii-b from:12/01/1983 till:04/01/1984 text:"III Plus"
 barset:break
   color:portable from:09/01/1988 till:09/01/1990 text:"Apple IIc Plus"
   color:0502 from:03/01/1985 till:01/01/1987 text:"Enhanced"
   color:special from:09/01/1986 till:10/01/1989 text:"Apple IIGS"
 barset:break
   color:0502 from:03/01/1991 till:05/01/1995 text:"Apple IIe Card*"
   color:050 from:01/01/1987 till:11/01/1993 text:"Apple IIe Platinum"
   color:special2 from:10/01/1989 till:12/01/1992 text:"Apple IIGS (1 MB)"



 barset:macintosh
   color:mba from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1984 text:"Lisa"
 barset:break
   color:mba2 from:01/01/1984 till:01/01/1986 text:"Macintosh"
 barset:break
   color:mba from:01/01/1986 till:04/01/1987 text:"Plus"
 barset:break
   color:mba2 from:04/01/1987 till:10/01/1990 text:"Macintosh II"
 barset:break
   color:mba from:10/01/1990 till:04/01/1995 text:"Macintosh LC"
 barset:break
   color:mba2 from:04/01/1995 till:$end text:"PPC"

TextData = 

 fontsize:S
 pos:(680,16)
 text:*    Requires Macintosh LC

</timeline> Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote".

Template:Timeline of Macintosh LC models

See also

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ https://www.apple2history.org/history/ah07/#09
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

External links

Script error: No such module "Navbox". Script error: No such module "Navbox".

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Apple_IIe_Card&oldid=3230576"