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Videx Videoterm clone - looking for the firmware

B

bano

Member
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
37
Location
Bologna, Italy
Hi everyone!
I've recently scored a nice italian Apple II+ clone (Asem AM-100), carrying an 80 column video card:

IMG_20160917_111454855_HDR.jpg

The card appears to be an exact clone (..of course) of the Videx Videoterm board: even the layout it's the same, except the leftmost part, where the four 2114 SRAM chips are replaced with a single 6116, and the soft video switch is embedded in the board.

Unfortunately the EPROM containing the firmware (a 2716) had lost its content.
I burned another 2716 with the original Videterm firmware, hoping that, being the two cards nearly identical, it would've worked... but when I issue a PR#3 it just locks the machine.
So I'd like to test it with its original firmware: is there someone who has the same card and can kindly dump the firmware?

Thanks in advance!
 
I was at VCF Midwest last weekend (sept. 10,11) and a gentleman by the name of KYLE had a few apple things for sale, he had two IIgs's and Apple ][ disk controller and drive, and he had a VIDEOTEX graphic card, I am not sure if it was original or a clone, but he had one on his table, and pretty sure he packed it up and took it back with him. He also had a few other systems on display. I'm not sure if he frequents this board, but you might wish to do a search for a KYLE? :) he might be able to dump the rom...

here' is a stretch, if you go to the vcfmidwest site, and check the pictures people took i'm sure you will find one of his stuff...

here's a picture of it, too bad there is a sticky note on it.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=c0lvVEY4ZFE2d1hsLXcxbXpVR2p2ZEw3dG9xaUtn
 
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Im gonna chime in on this old post as its relevant. I had a stack of videx and videx clone 80 col cards with issues. I fixed all but the last one. This card needed some new RAM and a MN4013B IC as well. All that is left is replacing the middle ROM. However every rom I try and burn to this card gives me bad video. I try the same rom from another board and it works fine. So I guess my question is which ROM do I burn to this position?videx default - Copy.jpg - Videx card rom location
I have tried the inverse ROM which makes the background inverse and cuts off half the characters (here I typed the alphabet to letter P)
with inverse rom.jpg - inverse rom video issue
I also tried the character ROM normal uppercase and its even worse looking
with normal uppercase rom.jpg - char rom normal uppercase video issue

So again which Bin file do I need to burn to this location ROM?
 
I have so many of these things.. yeah, that's going to be fun going through them all sometime.

Back in the era when I had BBS running, I had couple of these in the //e for extra stats. The currently logged in user and all their cumulative stats with current connection rate and amount of data up/down on one and the other kept running stats for the whole thing. All that stuff that you typically see while it's waiting for a call.

/<-Mart, Space Bar, The CPU over the years. At one time it was 300/1200/2400 and Apple-Cat 202. Two modems. That was a hilarious piece of work.
 
What was the original part number? There are a couple of families of masked ROM (and some EPROM) with pinouts that don't fully agree with the 27xx parts.
 
bano said:
Hi everyone!
I've recently scored a nice italian Apple II+ clone (Asem AM-100), carrying an 80 column video card:

View attachment 1055358

The card appears to be an exact clone (..of course) of the Videx Videoterm board: even the layout it's the same, except the leftmost part, where the four 2114 SRAM chips are replaced with a single 6116, and the soft video switch is embedded in the board.

Unfortunately the EPROM containing the firmware (a 2716) had lost its content.
I burned another 2716 with the original Videterm firmware, hoping that, being the two cards nearly identical, it would've worked... but when I issue a PR#3 it just locks the machine.
So I'd like to test it with its original firmware: is there someone who has the same card and can kindly dump the firmware?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
That's an interesting find. This advice is probably way too late, but you should try the firmware for the Unitron 80-column card. Their card also uses 6116 RAM and a 2732 character ROM. I took a look at it and it's definitely not the same as the videx firmware.

VERAULT said:
Bump? Anyone have any idea on what ROM I need to write for this card per my last post?
Click to expand...

That's the basic "Videx Videoterm Character ROM Normal.bin" - from Apple II Documentation Project Interface Cards 80 Column Cards Videx Videoterm ROM Images
 
VERAULT said:
If you read the post you would see that those roms posted online didnt work and I showed screenshots. Another member sent me a rom that did work and that board was repaired early last year.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I was assuming your board was the videoterm you showed. was it actually a clone?
 
Never assume ;). As mentioned it was a clone. I have repaired about 4 or 5 videx cards and clones at this point and owned several more which were 100% working. I can honestly say the clones are 100% identical. So are the Roms. however the roms I found online did not work and caused graphical errors that I point out in #4. I used known good roms for testing from other cards and used the roms on the actual videx brand cards. The roms online did not work. I forget whom sent me the the roms in early 2021 but @ldkraemer burned the eproms for me since my Minipro cant handle those older eproms.
 
I've spent too much time researching these for my own projects so I know you're right about the roms being (well, almost) 100% identical. They do have some differences but the character ROMS are super simple and should be interchangeable unless something is really weird.
I know there are problems with some of the ones in the link I gave so I'm not surprised if that specific one got messed up as well. I plan on putting up a collection of known good ones here to go with this card I designed: https://github.com/btb/80ColumnCard
 
Very cool project. I would definitely be interested in making some of these. My only concern is will it be backwards compatible with the Videx software? I like the fact I can use the Videx modify disk on appleworks 2.0 and run it on my apple ii plus with videx card. Will the same software work on your card? If so Im sold and will have some boards printed.

I dont suppose you made a new verison of the Videx softswitch to compliment your 80 col card and remove the need to run two different video outs? That would definitely be something worth having printed.
 
I haven't done any real software testing, but it should be totally compatible, at least, as compatible as the clone card I have which I bodged all my exact modifications onto before designing my own pcb.
I did draw up a softswitch pcb as well which will be an exact copy of Videx's. I'll upload that pretty soon.
 
Ok keep me informed. If I am going to print boards Id rather wait until I have all the options. I have wanted to make a new videx card replacement for a while. Glad you chimed into my post.
 
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