Hello,
I recently bought a used Drew ][ gs stereo card. It came with nothing else, just the card. Does anyone here have the docs / floppy images for this card? Or have Drew's contact info? I tried reaching him at his sales email, to no avail. Hit me up here if you know anything.
Thanks,
Gdan
I have one I got a couple years ago..
There is no Disk, the Card allows the ][gs to have Stereo Output instead of the Built In Mono...
I will double check my box when I get home tonight...
MarkO
Thanks for the reply.
I know that about it. I guess my problem is that I put it in slots 6,7 set to "Your Card", and nothing happened. So I must be doing something wrong. Unless theres a problem with the card.
Let me know if you find any docs for it. I tried looking on Drew's site and he doesn't have it up there. Much appreciated!
Trying to locate the Box it's in...
According to the Schematic, the Card only uses +5 VDC ( pin 25 ) and -5 VDC ( pin 34 ) from the Slot. Not even the Ground is used.. There will be no need to set the slots for, "Your Card".. Since it uses No Digital Resources, only Power...
Don't forget to connect the Ribbon Cable to the Mother Board and the Daughter Board, in the correct orientation...
The Output is Not Amplified, so you will need Powered Speakers... Or Ear Buds that take practically No Power..
This Page has a lot of background info...
MarkO
What MarkO said is correct - you don't need to set the slots to "Your Card" as it is only using the slot for power. The ground is supplied via the IIgs audio connector.
You need to connect the stereo card to the audio connector and your speakers to the card (obviously!).
The stereo card will only playback sounds/music coming from the 5503 DOC - i.e. 16 bit IIgs games/applications - it will *not* playback sounds/music from 8 bit games programmed for the original Apple II line prior to the IIgs.
Drew based his stereo card on my hand soldered hack job (my web site that has pictures has been down for nearly a year, but it will be coming back any day now).
The stereo cards are fairly simple devices - all they do is de-multiplex (separate) the audio signals coming from the 5503 DOC which does most of the legwork. It uses off-the-shelf parts, so even if something has been damaged, it should be fairly simple to fix.
Let us know how you get on.
Cheers,
Mike
If it really came with just the card then you will be missing the audio cable. You need that to connect to the audio connector on the motherboard. Without that, the card has no input.
Well everything is tight and at the other end of that is a pair of power speakers. They work fine in the headphone jack. But not with the card. GS/OS and 4th and inches and shufflepuck cafe ad nauseum play any and all audio out of the internal speaker instead of through the stereo card. Nothing at all coming from the speakers. I moved it over to slot 2 and changed it from "your card" back to "modem". Nothing doing. The card looks fine. I am going to try a different pair of speakers when I run into a pair. Any other ideas?
This is a little off topic, but, I never thought to put carbon zinc batteries instead of alkaline for the clock, it's a good idea!
They last forever too. More expensive but worth it.
I was noticed that the IC in the Middle, is a 14 Pin Device in a 16 Pin Socket... Is it in the Correct Direction and at the Correct End???
MarkO
If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, you're talking about the CFFA 3000 card in Slot 5. The CFFA3000 can just about go into any slot as long as you have an empty one somewhere on the board to emulate the Disk II functionality. On my IIgs I have the CFFA3000 in slot 5 and disk II functionality emulated in slot #6. The USB line goes out towards the keyboard, which looks crazy, but that's how its designed. I read somewhere the reason for Rich doing that, but I can't remember off hand.
My IIgs works awesome. I have zero problems with it at all. The monitor died last year and after several recap attempts (both by me and people I know) I gutted it and sent the shell to Javier who mounted a LCD in it. He does amazing work.
As for the stereo card, I think there is an issue with the amp in the speakers. Just going off a guess. Because the card looks minty. I would just use my stereo speakers that I use for my music but those aren't powered. So I'll have to get some out of the thrift store or something and hope for the best.
If your responding to my Post, I was referring to the Integrated Circuit in the middle of the Drew ][ board being a 14 Pin Device in a 16 Pin Socket.
I can tell the Board in Slot #5 is a CFFA3000.. I own two of them....
MarkO
I thought you meant IC = Interface Card. Like Disk Interface card. I thought you meant the card in the middle of the IIgs logic board. Thats why I was confused when you were talking about pins! Everything on that card looked good to me.
Also, even though Slot #2 is fine because I have used OTHER cards like the CFFA and the Uthernet II in it without any problem, I just moved it over to slot #3... And I am having -limited- success! Now using Jam Session I am getting sound out of the slave speaker, but not the master speaker. Weird! May be the software. May be the speakers. I have an extra set of speakers here now and I'll test with those. Why he put that integrated circuit in there I have no idea. The frenchman I bought it from didn't tinker with it. That would be a good question for Drew. Anyway, at least now I know the card works at least somewhat! Thanks Marko.
So yeah I got sound coming out of the internal speaker and the left external "slave" speaker at the same time when I run 16bit games and application. No sound out of the right "master" speaker at all. With two different sets of powered speakers. I mean it sounds "good" but I am pretty sure that this is not the way it is meant to be. I may try a Applied Engineering SonicBlaster and see how that goes. Who knows. Not for awhile though. Appreciate everything. Never had this much difficulty with such a simple piece of hardware!
Well,
I have a picture showing what MarkO is talking about,
but I cannot seem to load it.
Steven
Ill get a close up of that card here in a bit. No idea why Drew would do that though.
I "still" haven't located my Drew ][.. It's in the original box, but I moved a year ago and lots of things are "misplaced".
Here's a Photo of it I posted on FaceBook...
MarkO
There it is. I have taken out the card. I have deduced that this is not user error. Card is supposed to be inserted into the IIgs, powered speakers attached, with audio cable attached to the logic board. Taken the card out 3 times and put it back in. Attempted multiple softwares to arrive at different sound output. No worky. I think its the card. The IIgs is a cherry with no issues at all. I don't know if I'll get another card or bother trying to hack this card.
Mark,
You have the newer version. Mine is a 1.0.
Gdan
You might start with replacing the two Integrated Circuits ( IC )..
MarkO
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the Drew ][ stereo card is basically a clone of my card. I have one of Drew's cards at home that he graciously gave me. I'll check details tonight to see if there's anything obvious that you can try to get this card working again.
You can read details of my original hacked sound card here (and yes, it is still in use after 9 years!):
http://apple2.sytes.net/hardware/TDX_Stereo_Card/index.html
Cheers,
Mike
Marko,
That should be very easy especially since its the non-solder type. The other integrated circuit looks fine. Only one looks "goofy".
Thanks,
Gdan
Looking at your Close Up Photos, the 14 Pin DIP in the 16 Pin Socket you can see under it that the board Only has 14 Pins...
Obviously Drew ran out of 14 Pin Machined Sockets and Substituted the 16 Pin Sockets, after removing 2 Pins...
Since the Active Components are the Two ICs, try replacing them first...
Also, with the ICs removed, you can use a VOM to check the "Wire Integrity".. Make sure that the Connections match the Schematic..
MarkO
OK, I *think* I see what your problem is!
See the cable that plugs into the Drew ][ TDX that goes out to your speakers? Unplug it, turn it around 180 degrees and plug it back in.
Here is the picture of my board just after I soldered it together (notice the different wire connections):
I'm not convinced that someone hasn't done weird things with that board though, as many of the components look different from the ones that I got from Drew - the cables are different, the plug sockets are different, the capacitors are different, etc. It's like it was assembled using parts that the previous owner acquired themselves...
Anyhow, swap that cable around and let us know if it works properly.
Cheers,
Mike
Good Catch...
The Pin Headers are Reversible on the Early Version of the v1.0 Cards....
MarkO
I appreciate it. I looked at that connection and you can't spin it around on my board. It has a clasp on the back that you can't see in the picture. Mine is white and not black. It must be a later revision. Or maybe the guy did something to it, who knows. I think its either the caps or integrated circuits. It needs new ICs at the very least like Marko said. Perhaps new caps as well.
Gdan
I would still be suspicious of that connection - it is unlikely that the board traces were changed between revisions of the same board.
Cheers,
Mike