Retro Geek

My house almost qualifies as one right now.

Speaking of which, I need help identifying a piece of hardware.

It's a card inside of an Apple IIe. Manufactured by Wico with a label that says, "Smartcard 2e" on it. I can't find any information about it online.

The card is installed in one of the slots and it is also connected between the keyboard and the motherboard via ribbon cable. That is, the ribbon cable that normally connects the keyboard to the motherboard is plugged into this card and then a separate ribbon cable runs from the card to the connector on the motherboard where the keyboard would normally be connected. It also has a male DB-9 connector on the back of the computer.

Here is the expired trademark:

Quote

Word Mark SMARTCARD
Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 009. US 026. G & S: INTERFACE PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD UNIT FEATURING A PROGRAMMABLE MICROPROCESSOR AND MEMORY FOR USE BETWEEN A COMPUTER AND COMPUTER CONTROLLERS. FIRST USE: 19840604. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19840604
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 73511655
Filing Date December 3, 1984
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Published for Opposition October 8, 1985
Registration Number 1375588
Registration Date December 17, 1985
Owner (REGISTRANT) WICO CORPORATION CORPORATION ILLINOIS 6400 WEST GROSS POINT ROAD NILES ILLINOIS 60648
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Attorney of Record HAROLD V. STOTLAND
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Cancellation Date July 31, 1992

Looks like it may have been a controller card for a DB9 and/or Mouse/Keyboard connector. It also appears that Wico made a "Smartmouse." I wonder if they provided them to apple for use with their peripherals or if you required that controller to run a Wico Smartmouse.

Yeah, that and some advertisements in old computer magazines ($159) were the only things I was able to find.

My current guess is that it was an adapter to let you use Atari/Commodore joysticks with the Apple II by mapping up/down/left/right/fire to keys on the keyboard.

It wasn't something that improved the quality of what was being typed?

Speaking of trademarks, what's with the mess of classes you can register in? So many seemingly duplicate categories:

Computer hardware
Computer hardware, namely, server, desktop, laptop and notebook computers
Computer hardware and computer peripheral devices
Computer hardware and computer peripherals
Computer hardware and peripheral devices
Computer hardware and peripherals
Computer hardware and peripherals therefor

The USPTO is a disaster. Fundamentally flawed in innumerable ways.

Their problem is that all the methods which could fix their process are patented.

Moving ROMs and disk images to the iPad surely would be a deal breaker for getting many existing emulators over to non-jailbroken devices. I wonder how well an intermediate redirection layer might work (net-boot over http, if you will) where you can host your own bootstrap/OS locker, and let the emulator be effectively an empty core onto which you would install whatever you had access to. (Dammit!)

Apple won't let you load executable code over the net, I don't think. I can run a Newton emulator on my iPad, but I have to use my developer certificate to get the ROM on there. iDOS can run games, but you have to sideload them from your Mac, using a utility that lets you copy files over (without jailbreaking... I can't believe that it works!)

Ah yes, I seem to recall reading about that. Now, what would be the ways around that,...? (Dammit!)

[EDIT] I wonder if that's limited to items that actually call out to the OS? I need to research this,... (DAMMIT!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2011 10:05AM by porruka.

Is there really that much of a demand for VAX emulator? Things have evolved since DCL, you know.

I'm about to build an XT-IDE Card in order to put a hard drive in my latest vintage machine, a Commodore PC10-III. I got the PCB yesterday and I'm about to order the components, then it's time to fire up the soldering iron.

CS,

Go out and get some fresh air my friend. That yellow thing in the sky is called the sun...

Quote
John Willoughby
Is there really that much of a demand for VAX emulator? Things have evolved since DCL, you know.

Sadly, I was thinking Z80/TRS-DOS/LDOS. The VAX/VMS thing is just for me.

Quote
Tony Leggett
CS,

Go out and get some fresh air my friend. That yellow thing in the sky is called the sun...

Heh. I spent my evening taking 3 broken Apple IIe systems and cobbling together two working ones. Each of them had keyboard problems. The repair process involved removing a bad key from one keyboard and replacing it with a good key from another keyboard... this required soldering/desoldering.

I think I need an intervention soon.

PUT THE CRAP DOWN AND GO OUTSIDE! LEAVE THE INTERNETS BEHIND!

You're welcome,

ddt

Actually, the weather is still crappy here for a few more weeks. I want to get all of these little projects done before the nice weather gets here so I'll be able to enjoy the outdoors then. Heh.

Quote
Cloudscout
Actually, the weather is still crappy here for a few more weeks. I want to get all of these little projects done before the nice weather gets here so I'll be able to enjoy the outdoors then. Heh.

I think you're missing the point. It's harder than hell to see the display on those old Apple monitors when you're outdoors. What you really need is a tty terminal, some roll paper and a long extension cord. Then you can play outside more effectively.

I got the Apple IIgs hooked up tonight, too.

My Vintage Computer Collection is now pretty much done. For the most part, I have the machines I want. I may eventually add a Coleco Adam if I can find a good deal on one in decent condition. For now, here's what I have (not including game consoles and arcade machines):

Commodore VIC-20
Commodore 64
Commodore SX-64
Commodore 128
Commodore 128D
Commodore Amiga 500
Commodore Amiga 2000
Commodore PC10-III
Apple IIe
Apple IIgs
Apple Macintosh 512K
Apple Macintosh Plus
Apple Macintosh Color Classic (with IIe card)
Apple PowerMacintosh 7800/180 (with G4 CPU)
Apple PowerMacintosh G3/350 Blue & White (with G4 CPU)
Apple PowerBook 180
Laser 128
Atari 600
Atari 800XL
Atari 1200
Texas Instruments TI-99/4a
Timex Sinclair 1000 (aka Sinclair ZX-81)

There's also a huge assortment of drives and accessories for all of these. I actually have multiples of some machines. I plan on trimming things down a bit in the near future.

The only vintage machine I still have is my 20th Anniversary Mac, with G3 accelerator. I wonder if it still boots up...