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Possible Apple II IDE boards from Lotech

jodyspencer

Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Messages
47
Location
Charleston SC
Hello I approached James Pearce From LoTech about producing low cost Apple II IDE boards.. his Answer is Posted below.. I Lack good enough programming skills and in-depth in sites into Apple my self..But If you have the programming/hardware skills and the time it would seem if you contacted James and collaborated it might happen I am limited in my skills but have already offered my help ..


"Hi Mike

Thanks for taking the time to get in touch, and the kind words on the Lo-tech boards!

I've thought about doing something for the Apple II, but not so far had the time to fully read up. It would be a bit learning curve for me, as I never owned one and have now idea how the BIOS ROM and Option ROM processes work on them. But perhaps someone on VC forum could step in and handle that side of things.."

Hope someone steps up...

Regards.. Mike
 
The tricky part is indeed the 'software'. You would need to implement a SmartPort driver in 'Firmware' on the card to offer more than 1 partition. The interfacing of IDE is simple enough but i have no idea how you would tackle the 6502-assembler and how to interface the Apple II toolbox.

Rich Dreher is a Person that comes to mind when discussing Apple II and IDE. He has designed the CFFA in Hardware and Software (possibly with some help of others). The older versions are relatively 'simple' and offer only IDE interfacing. I think that you would not need to use a XC9536 (CFFA <2.0) to get a similar result.

-Jonas
 
Throwing a 8255 PIA and a ROM on a card would be pretty low cost, possibly lower if you used a CPLD. I looked at doing an 8255 based design but decided floppies actually pretty well cover my use of the Apple II.
 
Cost? Well if you look at Lo-Tech's other bare PCB's they run anywhere from 4-6 pounds and the kits are around 16....And builder/tinkerers like me probably have most of the common parts in stock..


Mike
 
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