Apple II processor cards (or co-processor cards) were special cards that could be used to allow the
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
to use different processors on the (otherwise) same
computer hardware
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the computer case, case, central processing unit (CPU), Random-access memory, random access memory (RAM), Computer monitor, monitor, Computer mouse, mouse, Computer keyboard, ...
. This allowed other operating systems to run on the Apple II.
Here are some processors that were available on
coprocessor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor (the CPU). Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating-point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, cryptography o ...
cards for the Apple II:
*
Zilog Z80 – Microsoft
SoftCard or compatibles, ran
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
*
Intel 8088 – the
AD8088 Processor Card, from
ALF Products ALF Products Inc., or ALF (named after an assembly language instruction for "rotate the A register Left Four bits"), was a Colorado company primarily known for its computer-controlled music synthesizers and floppy disk supplies and duplicators.
His ...
, ran
CP/M-86
CP/M-86 was a version of the CP/M operating system that Digital Research (DR) made for the Intel 8086 and Intel 8088. The system commands are the same as in CP/M-80. Executable files used the relocatable .CMD file format. Digital Research als ...
and
MS-DOS as well as increased the speed of math functions in
Applesoft BASIC. MetaCard, from Metamorphic Systems (a 1982 startup by
Phil Zimmermann), ran CP/M-86, MS-DOS, and
UCSD Pascal
*
Motorola 6809 – The Mill, by Stellation Two, ran
OS-9 Level One. AP10 by IBS running
FLEX
Flex or FLEX may refer to:
Computing
* Flex (language), developed by Alan Kay
* FLEX (operating system), a single-tasking operating system for the Motorola 6800
* FlexOS, an operating system developed by Digital Research
* FLEX (protocol), a comm ...
*
Motorola 68008
The Motorola 68008 is an 8/32-bit microprocessor introduced by Motorola in 1982. It is a version of 1979's Motorola 68000 with an 8-bit external data bus, as well as a smaller address bus. The 68008 was available with 20 or 22 address lines (r ...
– mc magazine
Apple II 68008 Co Processorcard project
/ref>
* DEC LSI-11 – (unconfirmed)
See also
* Apple II peripheral cards The Apple II line of computers supported a number of Apple II peripheral cards. In an era before plug and play USB or Bluetooth connections, these were expansion cards that plugged into slots on the motherboard. They added to and extended the functi ...
References
Processor cards
Compatibility cards
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