The Apple IIe Card is a compatibility card, which through hardware and software emulation, allows certain

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

computers to run

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

designed for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

(excluding the 16-bit Apple IIGS, IIGS). Released in March 1991 for use with the Macintosh LC, LC family, Apple targeted the card at its widely dominated educational market to ease the transition from Apple II-based classrooms, with thousands of entrenched educational software titles, to Macintosh-based classrooms.

Overview

Well into the 1990s, most schools still had a substantial investment in Apple II computers and software in their classrooms and labs. However, by that period Apple was looking to phase out the Apple II line, and so introduced the Apple IIe Card as a means to transition Apple II educators (and to a smaller degree, home and small business users) by migrating them over to the Macintosh. By adding the card to certain 68K-based Macintosh computers, it provides

backwards compatibility In telecommunications and computing, backward compatibility (or backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, software, real-world product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with Input ...

with the vast Apple II software library of over 10,000 titles. Software can be run directly from an Apple II floppy diskette, the same way as with an Apple IIe (made possible via the card's cable-adapter that connects a standard Apple 5.25 Drive). A similar "Apple IIGS Card" was planned for running 16-bit

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer beginning in September 1986. It is the fifth and most powerful model of the Apple II family. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound" ...

software, but was canceled after being deemed too costly, therefore leaving no migration path for that segment of the Apple II line. Apple asked the media to call the peripheral the "Apple IIe option board", as earlier "emulator" cards were not successful. The Apple IIe Card works in the

Macintosh LC The Macintosh LC is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1990 to March 1992. Overview The first in the Macintosh LC family, the LC was introduced with the Macintosh Classic (a repackaging ...

series (I, II, III, III+, 475, 520, 550, 575), as well as the LC-slot compatible Color Classic (I and II). When running in Apple II emulation mode, the card uses Macintosh peripherals as Apple II devices. The mouse, keyboard, internal speaker, clock, serial ports (printer, modem, networking), extra RAM (up to 1024 KB), internal 3.5 floppy drive, and hard disk all function as Apple II devices. With the included Y-cable, Apple II specific peripherals can be used as well: The Apple 5.25, Apple UniDisk 3.5, and an Apple II joystick or paddles. The host Macintosh requires special emulation software (a boot disk) launched from System 6.0.8 to 7.5.5 in order to activate the IIe Card. Apple II mode runs only in full-screen (a windowed mode is not possible) and all Macintosh operations are suspended while running, as the IIe card takes over the host computer.

Technical aspects

Like the

Apple IIe The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer. It was released in January 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus. The ''e'' in the name stands for ...

itself, the Apple IIe Card uses an onboard 65C02 CPU. The CPU is software-configurable to run at the Apple IIe's native 1.0

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

speed or at an accelerated 1.9 MHz. Video emulation (text and graphics) is handled through software using native Macintosh

QuickDraw QuickDraw was the 2D graphics library and associated application programming interface (API) which is a core part of classic Mac OS. It was initially written by Bill Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld. QuickDraw still existed as part of the libraries ...

routines, which often results in operations being slower than a real Apple IIe except on higher-end machines. Any Macintosh that supports the card can be switched into 560×384 resolution for better compatibility with the IIe's 280×192 color High-Resolution graphics (essentially doubled in both directions on the Macintosh) and 560x192 monochrome Double-High-Res (doubled vertically), using the card's onboard 17.2349 MHz

oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

in place of the usual video clock thanks to the local bus nature of the PDS slot. This was particularly applicable to the Color Classic which is otherwise fixed at 512×384 resolution; the monitor scan rate remains the same, but horizontal pixel density (and total pixel clocks per scanline) is increased by 10% to fit the greater resolution in the same width. The IIe card has 256K RAM; half is used to emulate the Apple IIe's standard 128K memory (reproducing its 64K main RAM plus the 64K bank-switched Extended 80-Column Text Card), and a small portition of the other half stores the IIe's 16K ROM. ''Macworld'' reported that because

engineers helped design the IIe Card, all copy-protected and other software except for "a few very esoteric games" are compatible. The host Macintosh emulates or provides native access to many of the

expansion card In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus sl ...

s and

peripheral A peripheral device, or simply peripheral, is an auxiliary hardware device that a computer uses to transfer information externally. A peripheral is a hardware component that is accessible to and controlled by a computer but is not a core compo ...

s one might install in a bare Apple IIe. These services provided to the IIe card makes the simultaneous running of the host's System 7 impossible. Hardware services include a 1.44 MB 3.5" SuperDrive,

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

, 1 MB RAM, 80-column text and graphical

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...

or color display, clock,

numeric keypad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the calculator-style group of ten numeric keys accompanied by other keys, usually on the far right side of computer keyboard. This grouping allows quick number entry with right hand, ...

, two hardware

serial port A serial port is a serial communication Interface (computing), interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in Pa ...

s (in addition to the emulated serial port necessary for the IIe mouse),

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, best known for its use with storage devices such as hard disk drives. SCSI was introduced ...

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

, and AppleShare

file server In computing, a file server (or fileserver) is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files (such as text, image, sound, video) that can be accessed by workstations within a co ...

. An included " Y-cable" enables the attachment of up to two external 140 KB

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

5.25" Drives, an 800 KB "intelligent" 3.5" UniDisk drive, and an Apple II

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...

control for use in Apple IIe emulation mode. 800 KB 3.5" Drive and 1.44 MB SuperDrives are not supported nor function if attached directly via the Y-cable due to the

Disk Controller A disk controller is a controller circuit that enables a CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. It also provides an interface between the disk drive and the bus connecting it to the rest of the system.{ ...

on the IIe card lacking compatibility. (chip labeled U1A located in zone A1 of card – lower left as pictured above) The product included the PDS card, Y-cable, owner's manual and two 3.5" floppy disks: the 'Apple IIe installer disk' and the 'Apple IIe card startup disk'. Version 2.2.2d1 is the final revision of the startup disk. Version 2.2.1 and a patch to reach 2.2.2d1 was originally available at Apple Support Area (which has now since been removed, as is the case with th
original manual
.

Reception

Apple stated that the LC helped the company regain educational market share lost to inexpensive PC clones. , about half of the LCs sold to schools used the IIe Card.

Technical specifications

LSI Logic LSI Logic Corporation was an American company founded in Santa Clara, California, was a pioneer in the ASIC and EDA industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in data ...

Gemini chip (similar to Mega II); a nearly complete Apple IIe on a single microcircuit – minus RAM, firmware, CPU and video generation * IWM (

Integrated Woz Machine The Integrated Woz Machine (or IWM for short) is a single-chip version of the floppy disk controller for the Apple II. It was also employed in Macintosh computers. History When developing a floppy drive for the Apple II, Apple Inc. co-found ...

) for floppy control functions * 256 KB RAM built-in (128 KB for Apple II memory, 128 KB reserved for Macintosh) * 65C02 processor running at either 1.023 MHz or 1.9 MHz * High-density 26-pin connector with "Y-cable" supports joystick/paddles and two Apple 5.25" or UniDisk 3.5" floppy disk drives * Ability to access up to 1 MB of native Macintosh RAM * All Apple IIe text and video modes supported, via QuickDraw software emulation Notes: When emulating the Apple IIe, only a full-screen mode is available and all native Macintosh functions are suspended while running (a proprietary graphical control panel, running outside Mac OS, is available for configuring the virtual Apple II slots and peripherals; however, both native and emulated computer function are suspended during this activity). Macintosh functions and control resume only once emulation is completely shut down and exited.

Host system compatibility

The card plugs into the PDS slot in many of the LC-series Macintoshes, but not all models and system software combinations are supported. Apple'
Tech Info Library article #8458
lists the following models as Apple IIe Card-compatible: Color Classic, Colour Classic II, LC, LC II, III & III+; LC 475, 520, 550, 575; Quadra 605 and Performa 4XX, 52X, 55X, 56X, and 57X. However, other 68K models that have an LC-compatible PDS slot ''and'' support 24-bit memory addressing are generally compatible with the Apple IIe Card but are not officially supported. The host Macintosh requires Apple's emulation software (a boot disk) launched from System 6.0.8 to 7.5.5 in order to activate the IIe Card. Systems 7.0 through 7.5.5 support both 24- and 32-bit addressing on suitable Macintosh models (from System 7.6 onwards, Macintosh system software does not support the required 24-bit addressing). 24-bit addressing can be enabled on supported systems with the Macintosh Memory control panel. The Apple IIe Card will not work with 32-bit addressing enabled or Macintosh System Software or machines locked to this mode. Contrary to some sources, the LC 630 and Quadra 630 are not compatible with the Apple IIe card because those computers do not support 24-bit mode.

Timelines

References

External links

Apple IIe Card FAQ

Using an Apple IIe Card in Your Macintosh

Apple IIe Card software
{{Apple hardware IIe card Compatibility cards IIe card Macintosh internals Computer-related introductions in 1991 Products and services discontinued in 1995