Hello again,
Since I got some great advice about getting a 16K Language Card, I thought I would ask about an 80 column card for the Apple II+.
It looks like there are very few out there, but I'm seeing ones for the Apple IIe. Is anybody making these and selling them? You can buy so many other parts new, I'm wondering if there are any 80 column cards out there. Because E-Bay is looking pretty slim.
There is an open source Videx clone, but I don't think anyone is offering it fully assembled: https://github.com/btb/80ColumnCard
Another modern option is the ∀2 Analog, which also gives you an (emulated) 80-column card, but through VGA: https://www.v2retrocomputing.com/analog
Yeah. The card up on GitHub would be great. Too bad no one is making any of them, and I'm no electrical engineer.
I guess I'll have to watch E-Bay. Thanks
there's currently an AE ViewMaster80 on fleaBay for 65 bucks. (Not mine,)
That Viewmaster is not bad, the price is reasonable too: https://www.ebay.com/itm/305002262254
Thanks for finding this. It's a good price, but it's untested. That gives me a bit of pause.
Also, I'm not sure how ViewMaster works. It's looks like it plugs into the Apple's Video Out and then the CRT plugs into the card? So then it's switching between 40 and 80 on its own? As in, the user types PR#3 or PR#0 to switch modes? Just wondering. The whole thing is pretty interesting. But I'd rather not go with an untested card.
As someone who has been watching and buying Apple II stuff from eBay for 10 years now, I can tell you that "removed from a retired machine that worked when last used" is as good as it gets for a retro 80-column card. Besides, look at the condition! I think people like me who have an Apple II+ to test it will definitely not put it for sale on eBay and if they do, it will not be at that price.
The only minus I see is that the PROMs are not socketed (or are they?), but if the stickers have not fallen out, they should be alright.
I have a couple of AE Viewmaster cards. All the chips are socketed. They’re nice cards.
Well my worst mightmare happened.
I got this card, I like the idea of the soft switch. Put it in. No video. Okay, card doesn't work. Out $65 bucks, oh well. Plug the Apple back together, no video. Pull all my cards, no video. Now the machine doesn't output video. Yeah, my worst nigthmare about this just came true.
Did you by any chance connect the Video Out on the back of the Apple II to the upper RCA connector of the card instead of the lower one?
No. That's not what happened. The card is labeled clearly, and I read the installation section in the manual. Though it's pretty short.
With all the slots empty, do you hear a beep when you turn on the power?
I had to plug the speaker back in, but yeah, she beeps. Even with 2 cards plugged in. Language and Disk Controller.
From one of your other posts I can see that you have an original Apple II CRT monitor. When you increase the brightness enough do you still see the individual horizontal lines and just the text is missing, or do you see nothing at all?
Lines.png
If I turn it way up, all I see is horizontal lines. Nothing is there. Not veritcal like that picture.
And if you unplug the monitor from the Apple II the horizontal lines are gone, right?
No. Those lines are part of the CRT. When I unplug it, it just gets a bit dimmer.
I see. Do you have a second composite display to plug to your Apple II? There are two possibilities here: either the card has damaged your monitor or your Apple II.
Later this afternoon I'll have an RCA converter.
It looks like the Apple is working. So the monitor is blown. Is there a fuse in the monitor I can easily get to? The monitor is an A2M2010.
It's not a fuse if it's still showing horizontal lines on the screen. The issue is somewhere in the video circuit of the monitor.
It the problem is not some bad connection in your monitor, and assuming your monitor went out immediately (and not after you typed PR#3), my guess is that card’s transistor based video switch is the problem and it’s outputting +5V or just a very high video level, which your monitor didn’t like. This is one of the reasons I use a relay instead of a transistor in the card that I designed.
Of course this is just a speculation without hooking up an oscilloscope and taking a look.
When I turned on the computer there was no video output. It looked like the monitor never kicked in. I never typed PR#3. I couldn't see anything. So it must be that the CRT post on that card is hot.
You should find someone with electronics knowledge to take a look at what's happening and possibly fix it. Unfortunately this is the reality with 40-year old used electronics. Less than half of the Apple II original retro stuff that I have acquired over the years was working and the rest I had to fix. And from the stuff that was working, less than half was working perfectly and didn't need any intervention. This is why most people are gravitating towards the modern retro stuff these days.
Another one is up for auction, but this one is without the EPROM stickers: https://www.ebay.com/itm/364336704789