Apple IIe Card for the Macintosh LC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) This document is maintained by Phil Beesley (beesley@mandrake.demon.co.uk) to whom all corrections, additions and queries should be addressed. This is the HTML version of the FAQ. The text version of the FAQ can be freely distributed and can be downloaded from http://www.mandrake.demon.co.uk/Apple/lc-card/iie_card_faq.txt. Document date: 21st October 2000 Section A - BASICS A1 - What is the Apple IIe card for the Macintosh LC? A2 - Which Macintosh models and system software are supported? A3 - Is Macintosh System 6 supported? A4 - What is in the Apple IIe card kit? A5 - What are the part numbers for the bits? A6 - I have the card and Y-cable. What else do I need? Section B - DISK DRIVES B1 - Which types of external disk drives are supported? B2 - Does the card work without the Y-cable? B3 - Can I use the Mac's built-in 3.5" drive? B4 - Can I use ProDOS partitions on hard drives? B5 - Can I create ProDOS partitions on an external Zip disk? B6 - How do I create ProDOS hard disk partitions? Section C - RESOURCES C1 - Where can I buy the Apple IIe card? C2 - Where can I obtain the IIe card software? C3 - Where can I obtain the manual? C4 - Can I make my own Y-cable? Section D - USING THE CARD D1 - How do I get started in the Apple IIe environment? D2 - Can I access AppleShare servers and AppleTalk printers? D3 - Can I boot the IIe card from a file server? D4 - How can I use ethernet on my Mac LC series computer? Section A - BASICS A1 - What is the Apple IIe card for the Macintosh LC? The IIe card creates a multi-featured Apple IIe inside an LC series Macintosh. The hardware emulates many of the expansion cards that you would install in a bare IIe, including 3.5" and 5.25" external drives, mouse, memory, 80 column mono or colour display, clock, serial printer and modem , SCSI hard drive and AppleShare fileserver. The card plugs into the PDS slot in many of the LC series Macintoshes but not all models and system software combinations are supported. You may not add real Apple II expansion cards because the IIe card does not have real expansion slots. A2 - Which Macintosh models and system software are supported? Macs which have an LC-compatible PDS slot AND which support 24-bit memory addressing can use the card. System 7.0 through to System 7.5.5 support both 24- and 32-bit addressing on suitable Macintosh models; from System 7.6 onwards, Macintosh system software does not support 24-bit addressing. To enable 24-bit addressing, use the Macintosh Memory control panel. Apple's Tech Info Library article 8458 lists the following models as IIe card compatible: LC, Colour Classic, LC II, LC III, LC 475, LC 520, LC 550, LC 575, Quadra 605, Performa 4XX, Performa 55X, Performa 56X, Performa 57X. The Colour Classic II is not listed in Apple's article but *may* work. No other model will work. A3 - Is Macintosh System 6 supported? Yes, you should be able to use System 6.0.8 on the original LC. The "unofficial" release 6.0.8L may also work with the LCII and Colour Classic. Apart from the original LC, however, the official minimum system version for these Macs is 7.0 or higher. A4 - What is in the Apple IIe card kit? LC-compatible PDS card Y-cable to support external disk drives and joystick manual -- "Apple IIe Card Owner's Guide" software -- "Apple IIe Startup Disk" A5 - What are the part numbers for the bits? complete package M0444LL/A cable 590-0703-A original software package 914-0403-A IIe card itself 820-0444-A original manual 030-5001-A "final" manual 030-1930-A A6 - I have the card and Y-cable. What else do I need? optional platinum 5.25 disk drive (A9M0107) optional white Unidisk 3.5" drive (A2M2053) optional external SCSI hard disk Joystick port device Section B - DISK DRIVES B1 - Which types of external disk drives are supported? Only the two drives listed in question A6 will work with the LC card. This is explained in Apple's Tech Info Library article 8807. If the Unidisk 3.5" and platinum 5.25" drives are used together, hookup the 3.5" drive first to the Y-cable. B2 - Does the card work without the Y-cable? Yes, but obviously you cannot use an external disk drive or joystick. B3 - Can I use the Mac's built-in 3.5" drive? The built-in drive can be mapped as a Smartport device on Slot 5. 800Kb and 1.4Mb ProDOS formats are supported. The original LC was available with two 3.5" drives (ie no internal SCSI hard disk) and both drives can be accessed by the IIe card. All other Macs in the LC family only support one floppy drive. Note that some copy protected software will not work from the built-in drive and may require a genuine Unidisk 3.5" drive. B4 - Can I use ProDOS partitions on hard drives? You can create a large number of ProDOS partitions on a SCSI hard disk but only four can be mapped at any time as Smartport devices. When you start the Macintosh, the ProDOS file system extension will mount the hard disk partitions on the Mac desktop. Files can be dragged between Mac and ProDOS volumes in the normal way to copy them. When you start the IIe card software, ProDOS partitions are unmounted from the Mac desktop until you quit using the IIe card. This prevents you from accessing files simultaneously from Mac and Apple IIe environments. B5 - Can I use ProDOS partitions on an external Zip disk? The author has not tested this. B6 - How do I create ProDOS hard disk partitions? If you use "standard" utilities, you must completely reformat the hard disk to create ProDOS partitions. Recent third-party utilities such as "FWB Hard Disk Tools" *may* allow partitions to be changed without completely formatting the disk. The version of "Apple HD SC Setup" supplied on the "Apple IIe Startup Disk" will only work with Apple brand hard disks. A patch utility is available which modifies "Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5" to work with non-Apple disks. Information on the patch can be found at http://www.euronet.nl/users/ernstoud/patch.html. The "Apple IIe Startup Disk" contains System 6.0.8 in order to boot an original LC Mac. This disk will not work with later versions of the LC family. You only need to boot from the software installation disk to format/partition the LC series hard disk. The Apple IIe card support software can be installed after booting the Mac from any startup disk. Section C - RESOURCES C1 - Where can I buy the Apple IIe card? The card was launched in 1991 but has been discontinued for several years. You should be able to buy the card second hand for a few dollars in the US but the card is more unusual and more expensive in other countries. Avoid buying a card which does not include the Y-cable. C2 - Where can I obtain the IIe card software? The final version of the "Apple IIe Startup Disk" is 2.2.x. Version 2.2.1 of the complete software kit can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English- North_American/Apple_II/For_Macintosh/Apple_IIe_Card_2.2.1.sea.hqx A slightly later version of the "Apple II Startup" application is also available from ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English- North_American/Apple_II/For_Macintosh/IIe_Startup_2.2.2d1.sea.hqx C3 - Where can I obtain the manual for the card and software? Two versions of the manual can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat PDF format from the support area on Apple's web site but the location seems to change periodically. Try performing a search for "IIe card" in the manuals section. For use with version 2.2.1 of the software, you require the manual called "0301930AppleIIeCrd2.1.pdf". C4 - Can I make my own Y-cable? Possibly. The connector at the IIe card end uses an unusual connector (3 rows of pins, 26 pins in total). The author will determine the pin out if anyone asks. C5 - Where can I find photos of the IIe card? Photos of the author's card and screendumps of the card in use can be found at http://www.mandrake.demon.co.uk/Apple/lc_images.html Section D - USING THE CARD D1 - How do I get started in the Apple IIe environment? In Macintosh mode, double-click on the "IIe Startup" icon. Alternatively, double-click on an Apple II .SYSTEM file on a ProDOS disk volume to launch the desired application. Command-Control-Reset will reset the Apple IIe when running in this mode. It will not reset the Mac. Command-Control-Escape in Apple IIe mode brings up the Apple IIe control panel so that you can map slots and functions. Run DOS or Pascal applications in the same way you would use a real Apple IIe. D2 - Can I access AppleShare servers and AppleTalk printers? Yes, the IIe card contains all of the functionality of the Apple IIe Workstation card. You do not need to install any special drivers but you do need the Chooser and Logon tools which are on the Workstation card disk. This disk is not available from Apple's FTP site at the time of writing. D3 - Can I boot the IIe card from a file server? Yes, you can boot from a suitable AppleShare file server just like a real IIe. You do not need to install any additional software for the Mac or IIe card. If you do not have an AppleShare server, you can access shared folders on your network but you must boot the IIe card from a floppy or hard disk. D4 - How can I use ethernet on my Mac LC series computer? If you install the IIe card, it will use the only PDS expansion slot in your Mac so you will not be able to use an internal ethernet adapter. Some LC family Macs have an additional Comms slot that will take an ethernet adapter. Apple warn that these adapters may not be compatible with the Apple IIe card. SCSI ethernet adapters are available second hand. These are not as fast as a proper internal adapter but are much better than LocalTalk or an adapter that plugs into a LocalTalk port (eg Farallon Etherwave). If you use an external ethernet adapter for your networking, you will be able to use it for your IIe card's network connection without any additional software. Copyright information: If you wish to use any images on these pages, please contact the author, Phil Beesley on beesley@mandrake.demon.co.uk.