Category Archives: A2 Proto Board

Easy TTY Emulation on an Apple ][e

Posted on by

Back in 2015, I partially described how I used an early Apple serial card in an Apple ][ to provide a “glass” TTY emulation in order to check out some of my SCELBI software and interfaces. Since I don’t have a real TTY, I always had to set up the Apple ][ and download an emulation program via cassette tape interface in order to test the SCELBI with an TTY interface. Over the years, this has been an annoying bit of hassle, mainly because I usually forgot exactly what version of the software that I needed to download, exactly where in memory to download it, and what slot to put the serial card into.

I knew that I could create a turnkey power on and go solution by designing and building a custom Apple ][ peripheral board. I just needed to copy the current loop interface from the Apple Serial card to a Superproto board and drive it with the Superproto’s 6522 VIA interface hardware. I knew I could easily port the program I had already written to run right out of the Superproto’s EERPOM. I first thought about doing this years ago.

Finally I started to do something at the beginning of this year, when I ordered the few required hardware components that I didn’t have in my stash. These parts came in right away, but, until now, I haven’t found the time to build up the board and port the software.

TTY Card
TTY Card

Well, I finally found the time to get this project working. I think the result is pretty cool. To connect a TTY with a 110 baud current loop interface to my SCELBI, I just connect the Apple ][e to a monitor, the SCELBI and power it up. No need to bother with floppy disks or cassette interfaces, or anything else. Since this card looks like a Disk ][ to the Apple, the Apple will automatically boot the TTY application, which resides in the Superproto’s EEprom.

I could potentially add logging, paper tape emulation and scroll back capability to this application, but I probably will not proceed with those ideas, at least anytime soon.

One other thing I might do, is create a version of software that will work at 45.45 baud and the Baudot charactor code, so I can use it with RTTY applications. I have done a simple version of this software for the Apple serial card, so it shouldn’t be too hard to port over. Since the Superproto supports multiple banks of memory in the EEPROM, I can use the same board and just put the RTTY app in a separate bank, and use the bank select jumpers to switch between TTY and RTTY applications.

Someday, I might make a custom card for this design, but I’m not going to do this unless I hear about some kind of demand for such a card.

Let me know if you are interested in seeing more details of the software and hardware design.

Apple II SuperProto Web Page Added

Posted on by

I had a fairly elaborate WIKI dedicated to my Superproto card, but either an upgrade of some underlying support application broke it or it was hacked. After making an effort to recover it, I decided to put up a basic HTML based page which shouldn’t suffer from that sort of issue in the future. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to recreate a lot of the detailed content regarding usage and applications.

SUPERPROTO
SUPERPROTO

Anyway the new HTML based page can be found at: www.willegal.net/superproto/SuperProto.htm.

Brain Board CAD Files Released

Posted on by

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

Superproto PCB Design Files Just Made Available for Free Download

Posted on by

I just added a link to OsmondPCB and gerber files to the Superproto Wiki in case someone wants to build their own PCBs.

http://willegal.net/superproto/index.php?title=Main_Page

SUPERPROTO

SUPERPROTO


In case you weren’t aware of it, the SuperProto is an Apple II prototyping card designed with EEPROM and the basic Apple II hardware interfacing circuitry “built in”. This makes implementation of some types of Apple ][ interfaces much more straightforward than doing it all from scratch.

Datanetics Rev B PCB Design Files Now Available

Posted on by

As I have decided not to make any more runs of certain PCB’s, I’ve started to make the design files available for other people to use. Keep in mind, if you decide to use them, you are responsible for any and all problems, difficulties and expenses associated with the use of these designs.

Currently available are:

  • Apple II rev 0:http://www.willegal.net/appleii/A2rev0.zip
  • PS/2 to ASCII keyboard:
    Software Files:
    http://www.willegal.net/appleii/SWfiles.zip
    Hardware files:
    http://www.willegal.net/appleii/HWfiles.zip
  • Datanetics Rev B PCB: http://www.willegal.net/appleii/dc-6e.zip

    • Since I’m sold out of them, when I get a chance, I’ll make the Superproto hardware design files available. The GAL and software is already available on the Superproto Wiki.

    End of an Era for Me

    Posted on by

    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

  • Brain Boards
  • Swift Cards

    • I am sold out of the following:

  • Apple II, rev 0 boards
  • SuperProto boards
  • PS/2 keyboard adapters.
  • Datanetics Keyboard PCB

    • 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.

    Kit and PCB status update and a question

    Posted on by
  • Coming for VCF east – SWYFT card reproduction kits – special introductory price if you join my SWYFT Card soldering Workshop – $40, drop me an email to register. Part of the proceeds goes to help support MARCH. After VCF east, price goes to $50.
  • Mimeo’s – out of stock – expect to have new batch around end of February
  • Datanetics PCBs – 1 left – rerun timing TBD
  • Brain Boards – 9 left – Note that I’m going to try move the remaining Brain Board kits over the next few months. I might even list them on ebay, to clear them out. If you want one, time to get it, is now. A rerun is not likely to be in the “cards”. I have a vague idea for an enhanced firmware board that may or may not get traction someday in the future.
  • SUPERPROTO kits – 8 left – rerun TBD – these are slow sellers and I haven’t actually made any money on these. However, I find them useful for my own purposes, so I might do another run (someday).
  • ACI kits – plentiful (currently I’m running low on PROMs, but expect I’ll be able to find another batch without too much trouble)
  • PS/2 keyboard adapter kits – plentiful
  • A2 rev 0 – ample supply
  • SCELBI 8H – I have less than 10 8H board sets remaining. I’ll make extra SRAM PCBs, when needed. Front Panels are in limited supply (less than 15, I think). TTY boards are plentiful

    • Now for the question – should I call my Apple II rev 0 reproductions Mimeo IIs, even though they came first?

    Initial SUPERPROTO to Swyft Card Conversion Instructions Posted

    Posted on by

    http://willegal.net/superproto/index.php?title=Swyft_Card

    For those of you without soldering/rework skills, depending upon interest, I may do a run of reproductions, but it’s not going to happen for quite a while as I have too many projects already in the works.

    I’ll try to find time to do a video blog of a Swyft card in operation, but don’t know when I’ll find time, might be today, might be three months from now.

    SUPERPROTO converted into Jeff Raskin’s Apple IIe Swyft Card

    Posted on by

    I just finished turning one of my SUPERPROTO prototyping cards into a Swyft card. If you don’t know what a Swyft card is, Jeff Raskin was working on a low cost “appliance” computer called the Macintosh at Apple. Steve Jobs took over the project and moved the project in a quite different direction. Jeff left Apple and founded a company called “Information Appliance”. The first product was the Swyft card that plugged into an Apple IIe and ran his software. The software was an integrated word processor and calculator, which had access to Applesoft and included a few other printing and communications capabilities. Later they came out with the Swyft computer which was later licensed to Canon – which called it the Canon Cat. I didn’t explore functionality that much, but the software looks pretty clever, despite the lack of a GUI. 🙂

    Once I get the rework instructions up on my SUPERPROTO Wiki, I’ll offer SUPERPROTO swyft card kits, with the components necessary to build your own SWYFT card, including preprogrammed GAL and EEPROM at the usual SUPERPROTO price of $65. The conversion of a SUPERPROTO to SWYFT card does require good soldering/rework skills, as you have to cut some traces and solder a few wires directly to pins on the back of the card. If there is enough interest, I could possibly make dedicated reproduction swyft cards.

    SUPERPROTO/SWYFT Card

    SUPERPROTO/SWYFT Card

    By the way, this was another one of those projects, where I didn’t have to buy a single part, everything needed was on hand, either part of an existing kit or in my spares bins.

    Kit and PCB availability Status

    Posted on by

    Here is a summary of status of kits and PCB availability

  • Mimeo 1 PCBs – out of stock – new PCBs coming late fall 2013
  • Mimeo cassette interface kits – plenty in stock
  • Datanetics PCBs – less than 10 left – no brackets available – considering run of reproduction keycaps
  • PS/2 keyboard adapters – plenty in stock
  • Apple II rev 0 reproduction – out of stock – new PCBs coming fall 2013
  • Brain Board kits – less than 10 left – rerun plans are up in the air
  • SUPERPROTO PCBs and kits – less than 10 left – rerun questionable
  • SCELBI 8H PCB set – in stock – extra SRAM boards available, too
  • SCELBI TTY PCB – plenty in stock – still untested- caveat emptor
  • SCELBI front panels – probable Sept, 2013 – being anodized now, screen printing legend will be next
  • SCELBI 8B PCB set – layout work in progress – given the other ongoing projects, and other planned expenses, I’m realistically looking at 2014.

    • email: mike@willegal.net if you have any questions