CompuLynx SchoolMate IIe

[Drken]

I picked up an Apple IIe recently that was loaded with cards. Most were the standard stuff, but one in particular is baffling to me - a CompuLynx SchoolMate //e. It consists of a long card plus an external box that has 4 buttons on the front (SM "A/b", SM "A", SM "B", and Local) plus two lights - Disk and Printer. The rear has a ribbon cable with a 26-pin connector and a DB-9 pin connector on the back plate. I haven't been able to find any information on this whatsoever and am wondering if anyone here has any idea as to what this is. The internal card has two connectors - one 26-pin (which I am assuming is for the cable coming out of the back of the external box) and a separate 20-pin connector. I'll try to get some pictures taken & posted here (I'm recovering from surgery last week, so I'm not moving very quickly right now).

Here's some photos. (Please excuse the "Photo courtesy of..." line - I'm using these for a photo library I'm creating.)

 

[Drken]

Finally got the photos taken...

 

[dan102010]

I picked up an Apple IIe recently that was loaded with cards. Most were the standard stuff, but one in particular is baffling to me - a CompuLynx SchoolMate //e. It consists of a long card plus an external box that has 4 buttons on the front (SM "A/b", SM "A", SM "B", and Local) plus two lights - Disk and Printer. The rear has a ribbon cable with a 26-pin connector and a DB-9 pin connector on the back plate. I haven't been able to find any information on this whatsoever and am wondering if anyone here has any idea as to what this is. The internal card has two connectors - one 26-pin (which I am assuming is for the cable coming out of the back of the external box) and a separate 20-pin connector. I'll try to get some pictures taken & posted here (I'm recovering from surgery last week, so I'm not moving very quickly right now).

Here's some photos. (Please excuse the "Photo courtesy of..." line - I'm using these for a photo library I'm creating.)

View attachment 1042512View attachment 1042510View attachment 1042513View attachment 1042511

Hi, I know its been long time since you posted this card but I’m just after find one myself , mine has no box . Did you ever find more info about this card ? Thanks

 

[SportBikePilot]

Late to the party as usual, but I used this system in elementary school years ago. I'll throw the description out here in case anyone comes across this in the future and it helps.

So the SchoolMate system was basically a way to serve disk images out to multiple computers from a master machine, and a way to print back to a centralized printer. I don't know that I'd even call this a network, but I suppose it is.

Essentially the way this worked is that there would be a school computer lab with this card and box installed and attached to each Apple IIe in the lab. They were all tied together back to a "master" (I wouldn't exactly call it a server) IIe which had disk drives on it and a "head end" SchoolMate unit.

You loaded software onto the master machine (which did have disk drives) via disk, and it was then loaded into the "head end" device. The user computers could then select the "side" of the disk loaded into the head end unit by pressing A or B (or A/B if you needed both sides) on the user computer unit. You could then boot the IIe user computers off the disk image loaded into the "head end". If the machines had a disk drive attached to them directly. and I believe ours did, you could use the "Local" button to boot from that drive.

I believe you could also send a printout from the user machines back to a central printer on the "head end".

I recall it fondly, and specifically remember having to actually load the software du jour on to the head end one day when the teacher or operator who normally did it wasn't around. I remember they were going to cancel the time in the lab since that was the case, and I asked the teacher if she wanted me to do it, since I'd seen it done, and she let me. I must've been 10 or 11 at the time and was just thrilled I was allowed that level of "access", hah.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Chris

Edit: You know, if anyone has any of this stuff they don't want, it might be cool to have it on my IIe just for history sake. Drop me a DM.