Apple IIe Card for the Macintosh
LC
Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)
by Phil Beesley
Document date: 17 February 2002
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?
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?
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?
C5 - Where can I find photos of the IIe
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?
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
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 optionally 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.
[Csa2 FAQS rev055: Added from http://www.euronet.nl/users/ernstoud/patch.html ]
Open HD SC Setup 7.3.5 within ResEdit 2.1.3
Open the resource called "wfwr" ID 67.
Change this byte from "00" to "FF".
Save HD SC Setup 7.3.5 and close ResEdit 2.1.3
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.
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 as Apple_IIe_Card_2.2.1.sea.bin
from
A slightly later version of the "Apple II Startup" application is available as IIe_Startup_2.2.2d1.sea.bin .
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). Connectors in the right hand column are those on the
IIe card; for pin numbering, please see
this image file. The connector is shown as viewed from the back
of the Mac LC.
Note: these pinouts have not been tested and you use this information at your own risk.
Joystick (9 pin) to IIe card connector
01 01
02 21
03 02
04 20
05 12
06 19
07 10
08 03
09 11
Disk drive (19 pin) to IIe card connector
01 04
02 04
03 13
04 14
05 no connection
06 05
07 22
08 23
09 06
10 15
11 24
12 07
13 16
14 25
15 08
16 17
17 26
18 09
19 18
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
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.