It's a " MicroStar II " cover on an apple ii plus. I've been around Apple's for a while and I have NEVER seen this before.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390673392383?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
It's a Memory Lighting Control panel apparently. So I have a basic idea of what it does, I was just curious if any one owns a complete set up, and if anyone knows the history of this thing?
Oh it's for sale from "that guy". My guess is they have started to hit the "weird" stuff Sellam used for "prior art" work. This means we may start to see other "unique" stuff hit eBay.
MicroStar gear shows up on eBay once or twice a year, sometimes a few bits at a time (example: www.ebay.com/itm/271268021074) or as a complete system. It's a lighting/dimmer controller solution for stage lighting. With it you can choreograph complex lighting arrangement routines that would otherwise require a handful of people that are practically impossible to maintain precisely on the same queue.
Some people think it's a semi-official Apple-branded product, similar to the Bell and Howell. It is not. MicroStar just bought, modified and re-painted everything grey. Apple made some noise about their badges being on the MicroStar post-product but nothing was done about it. Other companies had done (and in the future, would do) the same thing.
Transwarp,
"S" is absolutely right.
I believe that there was a unit for auction on ebay, maybe a year or so ago.
I had to ask back then what it was for too. lol
I'm not sure what the value of this would be. I would have to say next to nothing though. I have several one-off-looking bits of hardware, and some prototype material. And it was deemed worth the material it was made from.. If this exceeds $500 I'll be completely surprised.
There are some people in our community who selectively collect 'out of the ordinary' gear (pokemon syndrome - gotta get'em all). To them, this is certainly worth something. If two or more of them show up and get into a bidding war, prepare to be surprised. Years ago, I would have wanted the II Plus and IIe versions of this machine. Today, it's only a curio to me.
"S" is Sean Fahey (a2fan) of A2Central.
Yes Sean...I know.
And it just so happens that I won this particular unit for $56.00.
I was not sure how high it would go since it is kind of a "one off".
My max bid was $60.00. I was not sure how many other folks might want it.
It seems that I picked the right price range.
Cool! under $60 is a great deal if you ask me. Heck the apple ii plus keyboard alone is worth that.
Here's the rig... in a plain machine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-Apple-IIe-computer-w-monitor-III-two-Disk-IIs-floppy-drives-/200976953991
Actually, Sean, I think you were talking about the Clear Light Superstar (back a few comments ago), which I don't think is related to the MicroStar. They're both for audiovisual applications, but the MicroStar was for running lighting, and the Clear Light Superstar was the co-branded grey/blue machine. The guy who started Clear Light (Eric Anderson) certainly believes he had a co-branding deal with Apple, which they eventually called a stop to. I've never seen a Clear Light Superstar machine except in this one photo (which I'm lifting from Eric Anderson's bio page), but there was a Clear Light drive that went by on eBay something like a year ago (and which I failed to win).
His picture of the badge is
And my grab of the eBay auction picture of the drive is here
Anyway, I suppose this is sort of a thread hijack, but still wanted to clarify the difference between the MicroStar and Superstar. For me, the difference is I don't really want a MicroStar, but I'd be quite interested to get ahold of a Superstar.