Since I’m no longer making or selling Brain Boards, I’ve made the Gerber files and CAD files available for download from my website. This board has been cloned by a few different folks, but if you want to make one, it’s easier than ever.
http://www.willegal.net/appleii/brainboard.htm
I’m aware that Superproto WIKI is currently broken. I’ve made a couple of half hearted attempts to fix it, and will hopefully find some more time in the near future to properly repair it.
Have fun,
Mike
As look back at some of the blog postings I made during the early days of the Mimeo project, the excitement I felt, could be easily discerned. For better or worse, after nearly 7 years, that excitement is no longer there, and it’s time to move the project over to someone who has a strong passion for that landmark system.
I’ve transitioned Mimeo 1 sales to Corey Cohen. I’m sure he will do a great job selling and supporting people interested in building reproduction Apple 1 Computers.
Since first making them available in March of 2010, I’ve sold 167 Mimeo PCBs, the first few as part of a kit, even a few that were completely assembled and tested. I have greatly enjoyed the entire process from creating the PCBs in the first place, to fixing a few boards that customers needed help with. Especially gratifying, has been the great relationship that I have established with all the people that I have made contact with over the years. One thing that I never expected, when starting this project, was the amazing contacts I made with so many people associated with Apple during those early years.
However, the learning part of the process, which is one of things that keeps me interested in my hobbies, has not been there over the past few years. It is time to move the sales over to Corey, who has unbelievable enthusiasm and knowledge for and about those milestone computers.
SCELBI PCBS
I will continue to sell SCELBI PCBs, as I am still excited about working on that system and learning a lot, while doing it. Blog followers will know that the Oscilloscope Interface PCBs, the last SCELBI boards that need to be reproduced, will soon become available to interested parties. I have some ideas for some even more obscure reproduction vintage computer projects. However, the Oscilloscope interface must be completed, before I move on to those projects.
Other Products
Other products I have sold in the past, will only be continue to be sold if I have remaining inventory in stock.
I presently have stock of the following
I am sold out of the following:
The PS/2 Keyboard Adapter
The PS/2 keyboard adapter is a little bit of a special item to me. When I had those PCBs made, because of economies of scale, I had 150 fabricated. I never thought I’d sell all of them. In the end, I sold over 140 those little dongles, using the others for a number of my own special projects. Though they probably exist, I have never heard of a PS/2 keyboard that it didn’t work with. It was designed to operate with Apple 1 and Apple II computers. As I originally hoped, people adapted the design to a number of systems beyond that. The firmware has had minor firmware features and improvements made over the years, but the basic design hasn’t changed over all these years.
There have been a number of other PS/2 keyboard to parallel ASCII keyboard adapters designed over the years, some coming before, and inspiring my adapter. Though it could certainly be improved further, I sincerely believe my version is currently the best of the breed.
When I get the time to add them to my web site, I will be releasing to the public domain, with no restrictions, all design files, including firmware and PCB CAD files. You will be able to do what you want with it, make copies for sale, improve it, or just study the design for your own purposes.
I now have a batch of Brain Board kits ready to go.
For kits sent to the US – send $59 per kit to my Paypal account (at end of this email)
For kits sent internationally – send $59 per kit, plus $10 postage (combined shipping for all kits) to my Paypal address (at end of this email)
For those that want to build and test the kits add $25 per kit built and tested.
Shipment should occur within a few days, except for those that want me to build and test – expect a week or so before shipment.
My PayPal address is: (mike@willegal.net)
Make sure you include your shipping address with Payment.
thanks and best regards,
Mike Willegal
I now have everything that I normally stock on hand – except SCELBI front panels.
I was a bit behind on things, but today I shipped a few items that I owed people, so am caught up, with the exception of those SCELBI front panels.
In addition, due to popular demand, I made a new run of Brain Board kits. I tested an example earlier in the week, and except for a bad 74LS74 IC, I found they work fine. I’ll have to go through my stock of 74LS74’s and test them before finishing putting together kits. With luck, I’ll have kits ready to ship by next weekend. Watch for an update in the next few days before sending money.
I built and tested the last two kits over the holiday break and sold them on eBay. I made 59 PCBs, and kept 1 for myself, so there are 58 that were sold, either as kits or fully assembled.
Once the initial interest passed, they were very slow sellers, so I’m not expecting to make any more. I have some ideas for an enhanced version, but that is very far down my list of things to do, so I don’t know if or when I’ll take the time to work on that.
Here are just a few projects on my backlog that are ahead of the enhanced Brain Board. These will easily keep me busy for a couple of years or more.
I have other ideas, that are even further out, such as doing a Mark-8. If I did a Mark-8, I would probably etch my own boards. This would probably be pretty easy to do, as the artwork was published and there was no solder mask and the holes were not plated through. I don’t think I would make batches of boards for sale, as this has been done already, and some of the parts are in the harder to find category.
I also really need to do a manual/book on the SCELBI and I have made some half hearted attempts to start this. The main obstacle is that I’d want to scan and OCR the original docs and that is a very laborious process.
I have two Brain Board Kits left and don’t think I’ll do a rerun anytime in the near future.
I had a total of 59 made in early 2011 and it’s taken a while to sell the last few kits after a fair level of initial interest. Given the numbers made, these are likely to be hard to come by in the future. If you don’t already have one, this may be your last opportunity to get one for some time.
I have a mistake in my Brain Board Manual versions 5.3 (current version) and lower. On page BB:12, the last switch settings are incorrect.
Dual Bank Mode – Either high bank of Brain Board or low bank of Brain Board is selected
should be:
1-ON
3-OFF
4-ON
5-ON
6-OFF
7-ON
8-OFF
Switch 3 and 4 settings are backwards in the manual. When I get a chance I’ll update the PDF that is on my Brain Board web page. I already printed manuals for the remaining inventory of Brain Boards, so will hand edit those manuals.
Now for the question – should I call my Apple II rev 0 reproductions Mimeo IIs, even though they came first?
Here is a summary of status of kits and PCB availability
email: mike@willegal.net if you have any questions
This year, for the third year in a row, I’ll be leaving the family in the care of our dog, Toby, and be spending a weekend with fellow retro-computer hobbyists. Since this years VCFeast, had to be cancelled, I’ll be treking down to VCF southeast in Atlanta for the weekend of April 20 and 21st. These weekends are always fun, so I highly encourage everyone that might be interested in these things to make the effort to join us.
Here is the link with informaiton for that event.
http://vintage.org/2013/southeast/
Stop by my exhibit. I’ll be operating a Mimeo 1 and a reproduction SCELBI 8H (one of a very few working SCELBIs in the world). I’ll even give you a chance to “drive”. Tell me you read my blog and get a free SCELBI/8008 reference card.
See you there…