Category: Hardware

Atsushi Ushiroda of Ninja.info, introduced a 68008 card for the Apple II series computers. The card is based on the Q-68 card from Stellation II and adds an additional 1mb of onboard RAM to the design. The card is a 7mhz MC68008 with 32kb and 1mb of RAM and runs runs on the entire desktop based Apple II series computers including the Apple II, IIe, and IIgs. The card is available from nanja.info for $200 including the shipping costs from…

Lexington Infosystems, owned and operated by Renee Harke, has introduced a piggyback card for the Apple II Ramworks cards that allow users to utilize the modern Apple II memory cards with the piggyback and RGB cards. This card allows users to not only use the cards but also to reduce the amount of heat produced by the cards as well as to reduce the power requirements, thus also expanding the lifespan of both the machine and the cards. The cards…

From the europlus zone blog: [I’m happy to announce] four test sheets covering the major revisions of Apple ][ and ][+ motherboards: WOzFest Labs Apple II Motherboard Test Sheet – Revision 0 WOzFest Labs Apple II Motherboard Test Sheet – Revision 1-4 WOzFest Labs Apple II Motherboard Test Sheet – Revision 7 WOzFest Labs Apple II Motherboard Test Sheet – Revision RFI The sheets show most major components, including product codes, which motherboard product codes are relevant for that revision, areas to…

Bill Davis, a long time Apple user found a new way of asking the question “Why” this week and answering it with his own “because I Can!” He figured out the VidHD card was the perfect tool for connecting his Apple IIgs computer to the Apple, Inc. produced iPad Pro. Using the 1080p video output of the VidHD card and send it to the input port on the Hollyland Mars-X HDMI wireless video transmitter, he got the appropriate signal using…

Renee Harke has created an Apple II Breadboard Adapter Card that any Apple II electronics hacker will love. The Apple II Breadboard Adapter card design is complete with a 50 pin socket, all of the bus signals and the space to add a standard 830 point solder-less breadboard to the card. The card design files as well as the Gerber for the board are downloadable from Renee’s Github page at:https://github.com/rharke/apple-ii-breadboard-card

Steve Chamberlain has announced the addition of a number of new features to the latest version of the Big Mess O’ Wires BMOW Floppy Emu Disk Emulator. Included in the latest update is: Writeable WOZ and NIB disk image support Forgettable disk images Dual 5.25 inch floppy disk emulation These new additions to the firmware of the BMOW Floppy Emu mean that users will not only be able to use the BMOW Floppy Emu as a storage unit for programs…

MacEffects, LLC. has announced a new Kickstarter which will be launched February 14, 2021. For those hobbyists who wanted the Mechanical Transparent Keyboards, The Clear Apple II Case, or the new Midnight Black case and Keyboard, this will be your chance! According to MacEffects owner, Mark Jozaitis, this kickstarter will be 60 days in length in order to give people the time to sign up for it. This will be one you will not want to miss with several cool…

Matthew Sparby, vintage computer enthusiast and the sysop of the Atrium BBS, has created a new 3D Printed bracket for the Apple II Super Serial card connector. The brackets allow users to connect their cable connectors in a solid fashion without damaging the Apple II while at the same time providing a stable base to connect the cables to. According to Matthew, he also has plans to do up a DB-9 compatible bracket as well as a DB-19 compatible version…

Glenn Jones of a2RetroSystems has announced the availability of the Uthernet II cards. The Uthernet II is the only ethernet card available for the Apple II series computers. As of 21 January, there is stock on hand for those who have been waiting for the, The website allows ordering of up to four units and each unit is priced at $70 USD per. For more information or to order the Uthernet II cards, check out the A2RetroSystems website at:http://a2retrosystems.com

Just thought I’d say Happy Holidays to everyone here as well as share an Applesauce update. I don’t come on to Facebook much these days as I have been in the midst of a multi-month long move. But I have been knocking away on the Applesauce client whenever I have had the free chance. I just released version 1.41 today and 1.40 last week. Anyway, here are a list of the more important changes: There are a tremendous number of…

Kboo HK let us know this morning that there was a new update to the wDrive firmware as well as the DIY version of softSP. This update comes less than 48 hours after the previous update due to an unfortunate bug which had crept into the firmware. In his email, KBoo says”We have released a new wDrive firmware version 1.0b8. There is a bug in previous version that can cause dsk files to be unable to be written! This update…

KbooHK has released a new Firmware update for his wDrive. Firmware version 1.0b5 mainly fixes smartport images that cannot be booted under the wDrive’s boot menu! wDrive (connect as drive A) has limitations with how it works with the Apple IIc when booting smartport images. When hdv/2mg files are selected in the boot menu, they cannot be booted in drive A until the selection on the adaptor switch is changed to to drive B(SMARTPORT). Under this circumstance, wDrive will use…

The RaSCSI board is now available for old Macs. You could potentially emulate HD’s and CDROM’s with it.RaSCSI is a virtual SCSI device emulator that runs on a Raspberry Pi. It can emulate multiple SCSI devices concurrently, provides a control interface to attach / detach drives, as well as insert and eject removable media. Simply launch the software, connect the RaSCSI interface board to your Mac and the devices will be recognized as physical SCSI devices! Currently it is unknown…

One of the more interesting projects I came across today is Travis DeRose’s iPad replacement for the internals of the Macintosh Plus. While there are Mac 68K users who might get a bit peeved at the sacrilege, it is more pleasing and appealing the some of the other horrid changes and supposed updates I have seen such as fish tanks and beer dispensers. This is one upgrade that allows the coolness of the Macintosh 68K while having a modern computing…

Valve is now ending support for SteamVR on Mac OS X so as they say in their posting, “so our team can focus on Windows and Linux.” While the Mac has never really been a real focus for Steam VR, they did make a big bruhaha about their support of Mac OS X a while back but that excitement seems not to have translated to any real dollars for Valve. And just like that, they are dropping the whole Mac…

Just released Applesauce 1.32! This version allows you to open up and examine files on disk images (including resource forks for IIgs and Mac). Integer and Applesoft BASIC files can be displayed as detokenized source (including fancy REM text tricks). CP/M is now fully supported. Also new track location code to help determine tricky disk layouts. Tons of small improvements and fixes. You can update the Applesauce Floppy Disk Controller Client Software from within Applesauce or by downloading it from…

Reactive Micro has announced the availability of a new version of the Apple II Plus Rev Seven RFI Boards. According to the posting on the Reactive Micro Blog, The Apple II Plus, Rev 7 RFI Motherboard project is offered in several options. As assembled or kit, with and without ICs and DRAM, and in 93-series ROM (original) or 27-series ROM (not yet released). It is designed to be a replacement motherboard for your existing Apple II and II Plus. It’s…

There is a new version of the firmware for the Apple II BOOTi Card. Version 0.9K fixes a bug that was affecting users of the card on the Apple II Plus. The old version was causing a problem for users who did not have a disk image in the Virtual Slot 1 on the card. This new version, coded by Marko Ramius, also increases the boot delay for those users who are using the VidHD card in their Apple II’s….

Chuck Peddle, the creator of the MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor has passed away at age 82. Peddle, originally on the Motorola team that developed the 6800 series chips, was determined to develop an inexpensive chip which did not cost $300 such as the Motorola 6809 did. Originally developed while Peddle was working at Motorola, the 6502 was a major breakthrough in cost and allowed almost anyone to build a computer. Motorola told Peddle to shut down the project due to…

David Mutimer has made his Booti Card for the Apple II available once again. According to his posting in the Apple II Enthusiasts group on Facebook, : The pcb’s arrived today. Booti cards are now in stock again and ready to ship. The type A cards are functionally identical to the blue cards from the last batch, however the USB modules have different connections so the cards and modules are not interchangeable. So for those of you that already have…