Apple IIe Card
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The Apple IIe Card (Apple Computer part #820-0444-A) was the smallest Apple II "computer" ever designed. It was released in 1990 and mostly worked on the LC series of Apple Macintosh computers. The card allows Macintosh LCs to run software designed for Apple II computers (except the Apple IIgs). Apple targeted the card's release towards Apple's widely dominated educational market where they were trying to transition from Apple II based classrooms, with thousands of entrenched educational software titles, to Macintosh based classrooms. The card was Apple's attempt at killing off the long lived Apple II line, however to this day you still may find Apple II's still in use. Like the Apple IIe itself, the Apple IIe Card used an onboard 65C02 CPU. The CPU is software configurable to run at the Apple IIe's native 1 mhz speed or at an accelerated 2 mhz.
Features
The Apple IIe Card emulates many of the expansion cards and peripherals that you would install in a bare Apple IIe through the use of the host Macintosh's hardware, including: 1.44 MB 3.5" Superdrive, mouse, 1 MB RAM, 80 column text and graphical monochrome or color display, clock, numeric keypad, serial printer and modem ports, SCSI hard drive and AppleShare file server. An included "Y-cable" enables one to attatch up to two external 140K 5.25" floppy disk drives, a 800k 3.5" Unidisk, and a joystick or paddle control for use with the hard-coded Apple IIe emulator. A 800k 3.5" platinum or 1.44 MB Superdrive will not work when attatched via the Y-cable.
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 IIe card compatible: LC, Color Classic, LC II, LC III, LC 475, LC 520, LC 550, LC 575, Quadra 605, Performa 4XX, Performa 55X, Performa 56X, Performa 57X however there may be more models which are compatible with the Apple IIe Card. Macs which have an LC-compatible PDS slot AND which support 24-bit memory addressing can use the card. System 7.0 through to System 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 24-bit addressing. To enable 24-bit addressing, use the Macintosh Memory control panel.
External Links for more info
Apple IIe Card FAQ (http://www.mandrake.demon.co.uk/Apple/lc_card_faq.html)
Homepage Mac IIe Card Info (http://homepage.mac.com/vectronic/appleii/appleiiecard.html)
Apple IIe Card Technical Notes (http://apple2.ca/?page=til/tn.aiie.010)
Macintosh Compatibility Table (http://www.mug.jhmi.edu/mirrors/InfoAlley/1196/15/apple.html)
Comm Slot Compatibility (http://www.mug.jhmi.edu/mirrors/InfoAlley/0996/17/apple.html)