What new hardware should be built for Apple IIs?

[rich]

Is there anything that people are still wanting for their Apple IIs that hasn't been done yet or hasn't been done well?
Any thoughts?

-Rich

[Ken C]

How about a video converter/card for the //gs. Something to allow the RGB output from the gs to work with modern LCD monitor. As the current crop of 20+ year old, crt based, color monitors fail, there is nothing to replace them.

Accelerators seem to be popular. A nice 20mHz replacement for the 65816 would be great !! :-)

[gsmcporet]

Hi Rich and All,

1. A way to run either a hard drive, USB card, or CFFA card from a IIC.
2. An adapter and drivers for a USB device from the CFFA card.

I know Rich...lol we've discussed both of these before. Being a little bit technically challenged when it
comes to building things for computers I try to leave the creation of devices to the folks who can create them.
When they do, I sing their praises forever and a day. lol.

Best Regards,

Steven

"Apple II...It's ALIVE!!!!"

[Sprout]

A readily available Mockingboard clone, with both audio and speech capabilities.

I know some have done this - there is a Korean clone that pops up on eBay from time to time in the past, but it doesn't support speech, and is only erratically available.

Reactive Micro offered a Mockingboard v1 and v1a clone, but it's no longer available, and unclear whether it will every become available again in the future. It also didn't ship with speech by default, instead relying upon users to track down rare and expensive speech chips. The card sold for $60, and the speech chip was an additional $75.

I went to bid on an AE Phasor card on eBay last night, but when the price went over $250 + another $20 for shipping, that seemed a bit much.

So - is it conceivable to make an updated clone that provides at least Mockingboard support (or perhaps acts like the Phasor, and emulates various sound cards from the era), and emulates the expensive speech chip in a CPLD perhaps? Even just the sound, without speech would be useful really.

Although I'd personally likely only ever use it with the Ultima series, I remember the Mockingboard I had with my //e many years ago really increasing the enjoyment of the Ultima games it was compatible with.

I'd think this would be a much simpler, less complex device than the CFFA cards assuming you're interested in taking on another project any time soon.

I'd otherwise state that a processor upgrade really isn't all that useful - I'd use it for something like Wolfenstein 3D on the //gs, but for anything game-related, I can't see it being much use. With the CFFA card, and the ease of using a thumb drive to transfer data back and forth, an ethernet card really is no longer necessary in my opinion for the average user. There are otherwise generic video adapters that could be used to allow a // series to connect to a VGA monitor worst-case as well. For me personally, that leaves a good sound card alternative for my personal wish list.

If I'm missing some existing, ready source where I can go buy an alternative *today*, I'm all ears !

Regards,

Brent

[Doug G]

My vote for new hardware is a VGA card so a flat panel monitor can be used. My 1987 era Apple RGB monitor is almost unusable, makes my IIgs with a CFFA card almost useless. This is hardware that would keep the IIgs alive for years to come.

[akochera]

Ethernet and sound boards are available from time to time. I'd have to vote for VGA card. Every once in a while you hear about someone working on it, but it never hits the market. I've tried a few composite to vga adapters from Ebay and Amazon (popular among old console gaming enthusiasts), but the only one with an acceptable picture for Apple lI loses the color signal... so I'm running on monochrome :(

[Doug G]

I think ethernt and soud are much needed but VGA should be the top priority.

[oraclemaster]

A VGA or HDMI card.

Mauro

[Keatah]

Some sort of multi-function card. There's lots of things that can (or should) be combined into one.

Clock
mockingboard
CP/M
storage
ram
serial
parallel
ethernet
VGA/HDMI video
.and more!

Some of this could be placed on a card set taking up maybe two slots. Or even using the fact that the major chips in a //e are socketed, and patch in at one of those points.

Not everything need be compatible at the same time. For example, it's not likely you'll use CP/M features in conjunction with mockingboard support simultaneously.

One other thing I'd really like to see is some sort of "Arcade" board or enhanced graphics board that is good at animation and co-processing and what not. It must be cheap enough to be adopted by a large number of users otherwise it'll never go anyplace.

[Keatah]

One other thing I see a need for is the ability to convert composite / s-video / component / and possible RF ch 2-4 to VGA/HDMI/DVI.

Not only for the Apple II, but for many classic consoles. As crt monitors go the wayside, so do their types-of-inputs. Modern LCD's don't always have the necessary input connections for hooking up these old systems.

There are converters available on ebay, but to be honest they perform like shit.

[BillBoz]

There is this converter available for newer monitors/tv's from here...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-GGLABS-GS2H ... 1062335431

I have bought their 8 MB RAM Board and have had no problems. Very professional customer service and honest to deal with.

[EEE]

What I need is an external speed toggle for a ZipGS. (If you ever played Carrier Force from SSI, you'll know exactly why you need to toggle between maximum mhz (while the computer thinks it's turn through) and 1mhz (for viewing the combat portion of the turn).

[GerryS]

While I agree that an accelerator card is useful, I think the display issue is more critical. Many of the digital video converters have delay and mush the background and mouse pointer together when they overlap. The GGLabs GS2HD converter is, in my opinion, the best converter since it's analog, so no delay, and most TVs still have an Y, R-y, B-y inputs. It plugs directly into the 15-pin RGB D connector on the bak of a IIGS. I also have an older RGB to Y,R-y,B-y card from a gentleman in Japan and it works great. Long term, a video converter to HDMI (from raw MB points) for the entire Apple II line.

The second thing is a multifunction card. At present, both my 01 and 03 IIGS slots are completely full (except for slot 4).

Both IIgses are configured the same:

Slot 1 - Apple Hi-speed SCSI cart, for access to CD-ROMs
Slot 2 - Uthernet II Network cards
Slot 3 - Transwarp IIGS Accelerator cards, both running at 17MHz
Slot 4 - Nothing, blocked by TWGS fan
Slot 5 - Apple II Superdrive I/F card, for 3.5" Superdrives
Slot 6 - 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives
Slot 7 - CFFA3000

Yes, I have hi-current power supplies in both IIGSes.

Thank you,
Gerry