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Appli-Card (Z80 Card) disk images - Apple IIE

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3pcedev

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Hi all,

My Apple IIE has had an Appli-Card Z80 card in it for as long as I can remember. Years ago my father used it to run CP/M on the Apple IIE as he hated ProDos. I was too young to remember this (all I really recall is playing choplifter) so I would like to give it a try and see what it is like.

The original disks that came with it have been lost; so I figured I would get some copies off the internet. Unfortunately I could only find one set, and I am sure they aren't for my card (files are called PCPI Appli-Card StarCard, which I'm sure is something else). I found them here and gave them a try; however all that happens is that the machine reads the disk for about 2 seconds (can hear the head seeking) and then the machine reboots. I think these are more for an Apple IIGS as the documentation on the site talks about hard disk drives a lot.

Based on the manual that comes with the Appli-Card (manual here) there should be two disks, or one double sided disk. The first disk (or side) is called CP/M and the other disk/side is called Utilities. I probably need both of these; however I'll settle for anything!

Would some awesome person out there have these disks or know where they can be found? And if so could you make them into an image that ADTPro can read?

I'm really keen to give CP/M a try on this thing!
 
That link is the correct disk image for the card, perhaps the card is faulty. I've used the disk images from that site on cards I have here and it works fine.
 
If the computer keeps rebooting, there's something definitely wrong with the card. I'd try the easier things first. Make sure there's a jumper on pins 13 and 38 (there should be an arrow pointing to this location on the 50-pin connector) although all the cards I've run into have the pins already jumpered on the PCB itself. Try multiple slots like slot 2, slot 1, slot 4, etc. All the chips on the card are socketed, so I'd remove and re-insert each of them. Do this two chips at a time - pull/reseat the chips, insert the card into the Apple IIe, test, and repeat. All the chips except of course for the EPROM on this card are replaceable, and are available on eBay.
 
Tried reseating all the IC's; no difference at all.

Also tried slot 5 instead of slot 4; no difference.

I actually also found a (clone) Microsoft Z80 card in the drawer. Gave it a try and it worked in slot 4 and 5 (with the appropriate boot disk); however it refused to work with the Apple Mouse card installed. I tried the Appli-Card again without the Mouse card; however I still got the infinite boot loop.

Tried another set of 4164 RAM in the appli-card as well. Didn't make any difference.

Any chips that are more or less suspect than others? The card itself is in great condition, no oxidation or dust.
 
Does your card have the Z80B CTC chip installed? This is the 28-pin chip which sits above the EPROM. If you have this chip installed, remove it and test.
 
I bought an AppliCard on ebay last year and it would continuously reboot. It turned out to be the Z80 chip itself was dead no activity on the scope.
Reseating didn't help. The replacement does need to be Z80B for 6MHz.

Larry G
 
groink said:
Does your card have the Z80B CTC chip installed? This is the 28-pin chip which sits above the EPROM. If you have this chip installed, remove it and test.
Click to expand...

Nope, not fitted.

I'll see if I can dig up another 6MHz Z80 and give it a try; getting the scope in to test it live looks difficult.
 
retrogear said:
I bought an AppliCard on ebay last year and it would continuously reboot. It turned out to be the Z80 chip itself was dead no activity on the scope.
Reseating didn't help. The replacement does need to be Z80B for 6MHz.

Larry G
Click to expand...

Thanks Larry; you were right. The Z80 was dead. Replaced it with another 6MHz unit and it booted straight into CP/M.

Anyone have any suggestions regarding cool/unique software to run on it? Games would be great; however I doubt any exist as these cards were primarily for businesses.....
 
phed said:
Anyone konws how to use these:
ap40trk.lbr
ap40trk.tzt

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Old thread, but for anyone who is looking, that's the 40 track driver library for the Applicard. The other file seems to be the compressed text file with instructions. You should be able to find all of this on Asimov or one of the mirrors with Apple CP/M files on it.
 
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