Help identifying some expansion cards that came with my new-to-me Apple IIe

[Lando242]

I just picked up an Apple IIe today and, lacking a monitor to use it, I did the the next best thing: I cracked it open to see what is inside. It came with a DuoDisk (and IO card), an official Extended 80-Column/64k Card, plus two other cards that I am still puzzling out.

 

One has simply "Serial //" (obscured by reflection in the picture) and '"Made in Taiwan" printed on it, is plugged into slot 2, connects to a 25 pin d-sub connector in port 11, and a momentary switch and LED mounted next to the Apple II logo. In image 4 you can see both ends of the cable that I believe goes to it. It was in the box at least. The cable has a Centronics-style connector. So, modem or printer? Why the switch and LED though? I've never seen an Apple II with one.

 

The second card has no printing on it at all, is plugged into slot 1, and has a ribbon that goes out from port 12. It is much smaller than the first card. Sorry about the blurry pictures, but you aren't missing much (images 6-8). It ends in a smaller Centronics-style connector. So, another modem or printer card?

 

Is there any way to tell what make and model of device they are expecting on the other end or are they generic cards that will work with whatever type of device they are expecting? I haven't used an Apple II regularly since I was a kid and I never opened them or anything like that. The extent of my computer knowledge back then was wowing my friends by taking the disks out of the drives when activity LEDs were dark and not having the system crash.

[nick3092]

The card in slot 1 with the centronics connector is most likely just a generic parallel printer card. Slot 1 would be the typical slot for a printer card.

 

The card in slot 2 with a DB25 is a serial card. Slot 2 is typically used for serial cards to connect to a modem or other communication device. I have no idea why a switch and LED would have been connected to it though. 

[Lando242]

Thanks for the insight. I was able to get the cables I need to hook it up to a TV and it works just fine. I hadn't heard the sound an Apple floppy disk drive makes while booting in probably 30 years. These things are really well built. Old Commodore 64s from the same era seem to have to be completely rebuilt to get working.

[nick3092]

The problem with c64s is mainly their power supplies. Some versions aren't bad, but the majority of the supplies go bad and the 5v line goes high. And in the process takes out multiple ICs. A few C64 ICs run hot, and could fail from that. Some would have benefited from a heat sink. Commodore made the issue worse when they wrapped the PCB in a foil cardboard shield. 

 

The Commodore 1541 drive can be unreliable too. There were two versions. The early version used the same Alps chassis that the later Disk II and all Apple 5.25 drives used. Oddly, on the Alps 1541 the drive knocking causes them to go out of alignment. But they knock pretty good in the Apple drives and don't go out of alignment. The later 1541 used a Newtronics chassis. And the windings in the drive heads are failing at a high rate on those. At least you can realign an Alps drive. A Newtronics with bad head is basically worthless.

 

On the other hand, Apple has a bad reputation for the MT branded RAM they used for a period of time going bad. As where C64 RAM is usually good (as long as the PSU didn't cook it). 

[Lando242]

I got a stack of C64s at a sale awhile back and they were all bad. So far it has been bad RAM and bad PLAs that have been mostly plaguing them but I am only part way through fixing the stack. They are mostly models from the first few years of production.