Apple IIe Card for Macintosh LC Continued...

As I've mentioned in this previous post, I'd been able to acquire a Macintosh LC system on Craigslist that included an Apple IIe card.  The card was missing it’s Y-cable, Apple Part Number 590-0703-A.  This is a custom cable only used for this card so if you buy the card without the cable it’s quite hard too find.  There was someone building and selling replacements, but they haven’t been available for some time.

As I’ve already mentioned, I built some adapters using point to point wiring.  Since my use case is for the FloppyEmu, not an authentic Apple II drive (which I do not have to test) I have not connected the 12 volt supply lines.

After making this adapter...

I decided I really wanted a joystick connector, so I built this adapter...

                    

Neihther of these adapters are very reliable, and honestly I’ve been a bit afraid of a short causing damage to the card, which is something I would not be able to replace, so the project continues.

I've never designed a PCB before, and I've always assumed that it would be difficult and that the software tools were out of reach but after seeing multiple YouTubers not only advertising for PCBWay, but also actively building little problem solving boards, I decided that I should not be afraid to try my hand at building a circuit board to solve this problem.  I started out by downloading and installing KiCad, and watching several of the. “Getting Started” Videos on YouTube.  With a few evenings of learning  and working on this, I was able to get a design created that was acceptable to PCBWay.  Finding the right angle connectors on DigiKey was a challenge, but finding the footprint files that KiCad needed for those connectors was surprisingly easy.

Waiting for the boards to arrive from China was the hard part, I live in Minnesota so order from DigiKey usually arrive in a couple of days.  I couldn’t wait to solder up the first one and do some testing.  Had I done it right, or would rework be required on the circuit board after?

Well, the circuit board worked, I was able to read the FloppyEmu, and I was able to play games with the Joystick.  All in all a very gratifying experience.

This is a simple circuit and a simple design, but I’ve decided to share it with the community.  The files are here...

https://github.com/SteveMaves/AppleIIeCardYCableReplacementBoard

I've decided to go Open Source Hardware on this as a way to give back.

I’ve so appreciated how generous people are with their time, and this is a way that I can give back a little bit too the very small portion of the retro computer community for which this board may be of use.

It’s my hope that every Apple IIe card that still exists out there will be able to be put back into service with FloppyEmu and a Joystick.

As always, I appreciate any and all feedback, leave a comment below.  Thanks!

Using Bootable Floppy Disk Images from the Internet to make Actual Floppy Disks

I’ve recently made some interesting discoveries that I thought may be valuable to other fans of the early Apple Macintosh Computers.

I had an interesting conversation about running some old Macintosh software that was pre System 6.  This era of Mac was before my time and so an interesting challenge.  Of all the early Mac system software disks out there, I think the best organized collection is currently on Winworld, here.  These files work great with the vMac Mini emulator running on a modern Mac, but when you move the files back onto a “Rosetta Stone” Mac in order to build boot floppies, the files are not associated with Disk Copy (the resource fork is missing, and Disk Copy does not recognize the files as disk images).

In the past, I have had some limited success in finding StuffIt (SIT) archives and bringing them onto the bridge machine before un compressing them, that way if the resource fork was intact it will be maintained, but unfortunately a lot of the files on Winworld are missing that information.  Up to this point I had been deleting these versions of the files and moving on to try to locate different sources of the files.

Today I learned that there is another good option.  The vMac Mini folks have created a set of utilities that can be used on OS9 and early versions of OSX to recreate the resource fork for a disk image if that information is missing.  The part of the tool that’s most relevant to vMac Mini is used to indicate that the file should be opened in vMac Mini, but they also created a tool too associate files with Disk Copy.  This utility is called SetFType and is avaliable here.

Normally I used OS 8 or OS 7 for disk imaging activities, but unfortunately this utility requires OS9, so the process I used was this:

Put the files I wanted to use on ZIP drive using the modern Mac, 

Boot my Bridge Mac up in OS9

Run the SetFType utility on the files on the Zip drive

Reboot to OS8 and copy the files over onto the Bridge Mac

Create Floppies using Disk Copy 6.3

Using this technique, I’ve been able to create boot floppies for System 3, the earliest version that will boot on the Macintosh Plus, and to get my Macintosh Plus running System 4, which is the earliest version that will support large 2GB SCSI partitions.

Other than running some very old versions of software that will crash on System 6, I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of System 4, but it will be interesting too understand more of the history of these early systems.

Macintosh Classic I and II Repair

I’ve so enjoyed the Macintosh Classic Repairathon Series on Adrian Black’s YouTube channel, Adrian’s Digital Basement, if you haven’t seen that I've created a YouTube playlist here...

So, when I saw an add on Facebook marketplace for a Macintosh Classic and Classic II, I couldn't resist making an offer.  I probably paid too much knowing that one computer was working and the other was not, but I'm always in this tension of not wanting to insult sellers with low offers and wanting to keep my retro computer spend to a manageable hobby level and not a lifestyle.

Machine #1, Macintosh Classic

Upon inspection, the Macintosh Classic was booting and running off the hard drive.  I don't want to get my hopes up about this, since all of my vintage macs have had failed hard drives, but this one is a Connor and I haven't had one of this brand.  Maybe it will survive long after all the Quantum Fireball drives have died?

Other than that, the Classic isn't too remarkable on the outside, one of the ideas I got from Adrian was using an external drives to test all the ports, I was able to confirm all the ports are working (Floppy, SCSI) except the Serial ports, since I don't have a Printer or Modem to use for test.  On the inside, I'm happy to report that although the clock battery had not been changed and still have the 1991 date code, it had not leaked.  Also, the electrolytic capacitors on the Logic board appear to be intact.  So with a simple battery change, this computer is back up and running.

Machine #2, Macintosh Classic II

The non-starting Classic II posed more of a challenge, and knowing from the video series that most of the parts were interchangeable is what really got my excited about this project.  By opening both machines and swapping known good parts from the first machine, I was able to determine that the HDD (yet another failed Quantum Fireball), and the Logic Board had problems.  Usually on power up, I'd get a black screen, but occasionally, I'd see this...

Upon inspection, the Logic Board had leaking electrolytic capacitors, but once again the battery from 1991 was intact.

Another YouTube channel that's been helpful is Bruce from Branchus Creations.  He's prepared many Recapping guides on his website, the one for the Classic II is linked here.  I ordered the parts and prepared for a recap of this motherboard to bring it back.  As I desoldered the pads, I lifted one, and another was close to failing.  I was pretty discouraged because I've already failed in one recapping project, but I kept going.  Thankfully I was able to find schematics for this computer linked here, so even if I couldn't identify the nearby via, at least I had a chance to figure out where the pad should be attached.

Anyway, cleaning was a bit of an adventure, and there seem to be alot of cookbooks out there about how to do this.  Let me share what I believe to be the best way:

1.    Remove old Caps first (hot air appears to be the best way, but I don't have a heat gun yet), Clean the old solder pads with wick, but do not do any repair yet.

2.    Use Vinegar to clean the board, be liberal with the amount you use, you pretty much want to bathe the board in it to get under the chips and sockets where possible.

3.    Use Isopropyl Alcohol to neutralize the vinegar and remove any visible residue from the boards, paying close attention to the pins around the surface mount chips, the finer the pitch of the pins, the easier it is for the junk to short them out.

4.    As a final step, wash the board out by itself in the dishwasher.

At this point, if inspection reveals that the board is clean, the sticky residue is gone, and the finest pitch pins don't have any white material between them, then you are ready to move one.

I didn't do these steps in the correct order, and ended up having to repeat steps 2 and 3, but I do know from previous experiences cleaning with vinegar that you don't want to leave it for hours, only minutes because it can do to much damage, so better to repeat steps 2 and 3 than to loose the board.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that after cleaning and recapping the board, I was able to get the system back to life, it was a very exciting moment for me, my first successful recap of a board.

After testing, there is one nagging issue that remains, the sound for this machine isn't working.  Since I have the schematics, I've been able to use those to do troubleshooting, I assumed the problem was with my recap, but the circuit is intact now from the speaker output pin (which I know is working with the other board) all the way back to the DFAC but not further, so the adventure continues.