Vintage Computing - Apple IIe Card for Macintosh LC

Earlier in 2020 I was able to acquire a Macintosh LC, a Craigslist find.  The computer was reported to be "not working", although the pictures showed that it included a monitor, keyboard and mouse, as well as some software.  I got it home and started with an inventory and some basic cleanup with IPA.

It turned out the system was working, but it did need some TLC.  One of the surprising discoveries once I had the cover off was that the Macintosh LC included an Apple IIe card.  This was a pleasant surprise, as one of my long term goals is to "move back in time" so to speak, to acquire computers back to the original personal computers.  I had given up on the idea of getting original Apple II hardware, as the costs have gotten a bit ridiculous.  My first exposure to computers was Apple II computers in my school, they were already quite dated by that time, but we learned everything from Typing to CAD on Apple II computers, with some Oregon Trail thrown in.

Unfortunately, the computer had gotten separated from the "Y" cable that is used to connect the proprietary DB-26 connector to the apple standard floppy cable and standard joystick cable.  As with all vintage Apple stuff the cost are ridiculous so I started the research to see what the best path forward would be.

Reading on the Vintage Computer Forums, I commented on a thread here. and got a pinout, thanks again to the good folks on VCF, they've been a great resource on several projects.  The DB-26 connector itself is not incredibly rare, this part can still be purchased on Digi-Key and other electronics houses.  I ordered three.

The connector for the Floppy Drives is getting especially difficult to find, based on this article from the creator of FloppyEmu, but since my main goal was to get connected with the FloppyEmu anyway, I skipped the difficult to find connector (or the impossible mating male version) and went with header pins, which I had originally purchased for Raspberry Pi projects.

I didn’t have an Apple Joystick at this point anyway, so I simplified the pinout to this diagram.  After I soldered up the adapter, I carefully measured which pins had voltage on the computer, then powered off and plugged in my new FloppyEmu device.   It worked!  (I wish I could say it worked the first time, but I'd been through all three connectors by that point)

Anyway, I'm thrilled now that I'm able to use the FloppyEmu with my Apple IIe card in the Macintosh LC.  Now that I'm exploring the Apple IIe software library a bit, I'm learning how critical that joystick really is, so I may need to go back and re-order another connector and make another attempt with a joystick.