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anyone own a non-Franklin Apple ][ clone?

T

tipc

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And incidentally, I know this is the buy and sell section, I'm looking for said parts, etc. Do chime in though if you're running any non-Apple non-Franklin non-Laser stuff.

What would it take to upgrade a ][e say to a ][gs, or is such a thing even possible?
 
The //gs originally came in an upgrade+from-//e package. You sent your e to Apple and it came back a gs in an e case. It wasn't very useful because the keyboard was incomplete and most gs cards didn't fit in the case.

You can replicate.what Aplle did by fitting a gs motherboard in your e. You would have to cut away most of the back panewl and it would be ugly and also not have the official gs retrofit case cover. The gs motherboard was made to fit in either case but later boards don't have the necessary connectors soldered on.

It's just really not worthwhile,IMHO. Better to have a real gs, or not.

Actually, there may be an emulator card with a Pi on it that you can put in a slot and effectively make your e a gs.
 
I keep several Bulgarian ][+ and ][e clones and peripherals (they were widespread in my country once upon a time) and I don't mind exchanging them for original apple h/w since apple is more interesting to me...
 
I don't have one but are Bell & Howell considered clones or were they just rebranded by Apple? (My memory says the latter)
 
They were re-branded. They did have some improvements over the plain Apple ones. So did most of the clones. In fact, the best Apple ][ ever made might have been a Franklin.
 
I think the B&H was the only officially licensed clone. Apple did made everything except for the badge, though B&H added some BTO wizbang features on it, though.
 
david__schmidt said:
Interestingly, the backpack (part of that whizbangery B&H added) also came in beige:
http://apple2history.org/2013/05/12/bell-howell-not-just-black/
Click to expand...
All I get when I try to access that site is:

Error 403

We're sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /2013/05/12/bell-howell-not-just-black/ on this server.

You do not have permission to access this server.

Your technical support key is: d1b3-470f-17f4-e8c8

You can use this key to fix this problem yourself.

If you are unable to fix the problem yourself, please contact a2history at gmail.com and be sure to provide the technical support key shown above.
 
Try a different browser.

Try a different computer.

Try a proxy.

There's something about your current configuration the server has been set to reject.
 
RWallmow said:
Weren't the Laser 128's some of the most prolific clones after the Franklin?
Click to expand...

Yes -- to such an extent that a lot of Apple II software from the mid- to late '80s specifies "Apple IIe, IIc, or Laser 128".

Allegedly it was due to competition from the Laser 128EX offering a higher CPU speed and optional 3.5" disk drive that Apple decided to release the IIc Plus with those features.
 
Tor said:
Base64a here. Taiwan clone. 64KB RAM (4164 chips). Has numeric keypad.
Click to expand...

sorry to nitpick, but Korean according to this page: http://www.a2clones.com/apple_clones_1/base_64a/

Interesting unit. There were more flamboyant examples (occupying vanilla style pc boxes and whatnot), but if I were to select a clone it would be an actual clone (i.e resemblance wise). This one is close. Guess I have to dig through some BYTES and take another gander at the stuff I used to gawk at. Never was a huge Apple ][ fan, but it was sort of (don't egg me now) the first widespread hobbyist computer by my reckoning, if for no other reason then it was readily expandable.

Don't forget the Wombat down unda'. A prominent court decision surrounded it's copying of the actual A][ roms. Since it wasn't "literature", it was not therefore illegal to copy them. WHAT!! Well that's the law for you. Maybe some astute Aussie can chime in on the subject. Was just a small news item in an old BYTE.

Most of what I was referring to were likely components made in Taiwan that people could purchase and assemble. Wasn't so much thinking (or even aware of) the formal foreign made items.

Franklin and Laser apparently underwent something like a clean room approach to their roms. Anyone up on that?

I used to have the Franklin PC Clone LOL. K/b was missing a few keys, but was in otherwise marvelous shape.
 
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