Feel free to post below what you guys think and if you have any to add.
Are these cards worth it?:
- CP/M card - II, II+, IIe, IIGS
- 8MB Ram expansion - IIGS
- AE PC Transporter - IIe, IIGS
- Fingerprint GSi - IIGS
- Apple II Workstation Card - IIe
- Applied Ingeunity Innerdrive - IIGS
- Apple II Video Overlay Card - IIe, IIGS
They were made for specific tasks and would not be of any use otherwise. The Apple IIe Workstation Card is for AppleTalk networking, which was commonly used in school computer labs with an AppleShare (Macintosh) server. Most of its functionality is built-in to the IIgs, so if you already have a IIgs, there's not much point. It provided file sharing, disk image sharing, and printer sharing.
The CP/M cards (AppliCard, SoftCard) are only useful for running CP/M software, ditto the PC Transporter for IBM PC software.
The Video Overlay Card is one of the least useful as very little software supports it. It was designed to support interactive-laserdisc applications, which were a big deal in the 1980s but almost entirely forgotten today.
The FingerPrint has only one purpose, to save what is on the screen. I can see how this could occasionally be useful, but running IIgs software under emulation makes screen copying trivial.
The InnerDrive (or AE Vulcan) are pretty rare but I don't think they are useful these days—a solid-state drive solution is quieter, more reliable, and easier to install. Note that they use special power supply modules, so maintenance is complicated.
Overall I think the only one of these that is in much demand at all is the 8MB memory expansion, which is pretty much required for serious use of GS/OS. There are a few CP/M users so the AppliCard or SoftCard are also traded and discussed. The other stuff is pretty marginal.
I’d agree with Robespierres assessment but I’ll add that an Innerdrive is a bad choice as it uses an 8 bit hard drive. 8 bit hard drives are rare and pretty much impossible to find. The Vulcan is a bit better and can be kept going but may require hard drive replacement or power supply repair soon. My first suggestion for a hard drive is the MicroDrive Turbo. It’s the fastest hard drive solution currently being made. There’s other good options out there.
They will be worth it for some people and not for others. Everyone has different interests... so these are my takes:
CP/M card - No. CP/M is not cool.
8MB RAM expansion (IIGS) - No. There is almost nothing that requires more than 4 MB, other than some recent stuff from Fatdog.
4MB RAM expansion (IIGS) - Yes. If you use GS/OS then this is essential. If you only do 8 bit stuff then No.
AE PC Transporter - No. While it's kinda cool, and was made by Apple II royalty, it's too expensive these days.
Fingerprint GSi - No.
Apple II Workstation Card - No.
Innerdrive - No. CFFA is the best if you want flexibility. RAMFast is the best if you need the speed (e.g. programmer). Microdrive Turbo is an OK alternative to RAMFast if you cannot find one.
Apple II Video Overlay Card. Maybe. Extremely expensive card. Lots of interesting capability for programmers (e.g. 640x400 graphics mode), but almost no existing software that uses it.