Wanted: SwyftCard

[Brian Vito]

I am looking for a SwyftCard (I do not need the manual, etc., just the
card itself, but I will take a full box/manual). I would happily offer
a good price for the SwyftCard and provide it a good home. Please
email me if you might have anything available.

[dwight elvey]

Hi
 I've successfully recreated a card. It has only a few parts.
You could make your own with not too much difficulty.
Dwight
 

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[Brian Vito]

Would anyone able to build one be willing to do so for a nice fee?
What are the instructions?

[dwight elvey]

Hi
 I have the binary for the ROM and figured out what was in the
PAL. There are only a few wires on the board. I just made it on
a prototype board.
 The schematic is in the manual. I wan't able to find an Apple II
proto card so hacked up a old PC type proto card.
Here are some pictures.
Dwight
 

 

> Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2011 18:43:49 -0700
> Subject: [Canon Cat] Re: Wanted: SwyftCard
> From: brian...@gmail.com
> To: cano...@googlegroups.com

[Sandy]

If we want to make a prototype PCB, I am pretty sure I can lay out the card edge connector except for the gold plating.

ExpressPCB has a cheap board service ... Three boards exactly 2.5 by 3.8 inches, double sided, solder mask and silk screened for about $90.  The Gerbers cost an additional $60.

I would do the board layout just for kicks but would folks ever want more than three cards?

How many working //e computers are there?

Sandy

Sent from my iPhone

<swyftcardback.jpg>

<swyftcardfront.jpg>

[Hannu Aronsson]

If we're making a batch of replica SwyftCards, please count me in... I think there are quite many Apple //s still in existence (I only have a //c ("portable", no slots) but a friend has a real //). 

Perhaps we might not need gold plating for the replica, it won't probably be inserted and removed that many times?

Using these historical milestone designs and systems on the real hardware is a very mind-activating experience ;-) After using the Cat, I now want to experience the SwyftCard as well on a real Apple //. Emulation doesn't really cut it all the way.

//haa

Terveisin,

  Hannu

-- 

Hannu Aronsson - h...@iki.fi

[Sandy]

Hey Dwight,

Can you please send me a PDF or JPG of the SwyftCard schematic and also of the equvalent schematic using modern parts.  Plus the reference to the card edge connector dimensions so I can lay out the connector correctly.

I am going on a road trip and probably will have some time to capture the schematic and lay out a board using the tools that are familiar to me: ExpressPCB.

NOTE; I do NOT plan to make a SwiftCard replica PCB.  I plan to make a prototype of an equivalent PCB ... one that will simply work properly and that can be reproduced at low cost using modern parts.  I don't care about appearance, I care about performance.

I will kick in the labor and I will hope someone will share the $ cost with me.

Sandy

Sent from my iPhone

[dwight elvey]

 

---

From: h...@iki.fi

 

If we're making a batch of replica SwyftCards, please count me in... I think there are quite many Apple //s still in existence (I only have a //c ("portable", no slots) but a friend has a real //). 

Perhaps we might not need gold plating for the replica, it won't probably be inserted and removed that many times?

Using these historical milestone designs and systems on the real hardware is a very mind-activating experience ;-) After using the Cat, I now want to experience the SwyftCard as well on a real Apple //. Emulation doesn't really cut it all the way.

//haa

---snip---

 

Hi

 If you plan to leave it in the Apple, you'll need to plate it

with gold or similar metal.

 Copper is too active and will soon setup electrolysis that

will corrode the contacts.

 Unless you live in the high Puruvian plains.

 Also, it needs to be a Apple //e rev B board. Not a plus

or original //.

 There are not many //e rev A boards out there as there

was a problem with that version( don't recall what ).

I seem to recall a patch for the rev A as well.

Dwight

 

[Jayson Elliot]

My //e is not just working, it sits on my desk right next to my Macbook and sees regular use.

I live in New York, and my apartment is a bit small so I don't have room to keep my Canon Cat out as well.

I would definitely buy a Swyftcard.

-Jayson

[Charles Springer]

There are a lot of Apple //e (the one you need for a good SwyftCard experience) on eBay. Some of the sellers think they are rare and want too much for them. $100 for a used one in good shape and a working drive is reasonable. I would pass on Apple monitors and use the cheapest LCD with a composite input you can find. I have a couple dozen Platinum //e models in storage and even a Platinum NIB.

Hmmm. I also have a box of never used replacement keyboards still shrink wrapped for the platinum - I think with numeric keypad. I'll try to get a picture today when I look for SwyftCards - provided it isn't raining. There has been some great work on how to make yellowed early models look new. Something with a paste of peroxide and ??? I have seen it work and it makes them look new.

Why do I have all these? A few years ago I was refurbing them and adding a card from Dave Lyons that lets it use A CF memory for a hard drive, then installing KIX and Kyan Pascal for some people. KIX is a Unix-like OS from Kyan. I recall the CF was broken into 32MByte partitions and each could boot an OS. I had some old 3.5 and 8MHz accelerators RocketChip, etc. It was instant boot and rather snappy performance. As far as I know, SwyftCard must use a 5" Disk II floppy drive.

-- Charlie

[Jon Sharp]

Yeah,

+1 here, as well.  I've talked to Dwight about his circuit before, and have been meaning to put it together on my protoboard, but haven't yet taken the time.  If there's enough group interest in functional replicas, and Sandy's willing to do the layout, etc., (Thanks Sandy!) I'd sure love to have a "real" card for my IIe enhanced.  I'm not sure what the immediate Cat group interest level would bring us to, but I imagine the most economical ExpressPCB run would leave a few unclaimed spares?  A lot of mailing list chatter has focused on IP rights, etc., so I'm not entirely sure if one could list these on eBay, but if it were possible to do so, I would expect that the general Apple II enthusiast community would be interested in boards.  (Again, with regards to "the law", fully populated boards may not be feasible, but I'm sure even bare PCBs would sell. Or just socketed or unflashed ROMs?)

Anyway, I suppose my point is just that I'm sure the interest in Swyft/Cat related tech among the general Apple II community would be there, as well.  I know I'm always looking for new things to do with my IIe.  :)

--

Jon

[Sandy]

Hi Jon,

I hadn't thought about an Apple // group.  Hummm ...

Well Canon has no finger in the SwyftCard pie at all so all one would have to do is ask Linda/Aza to get a definitive answer.

BTW, the ExpressPCB finish for the cheapie boards can be tin or tin-lead with solder mask and silkscreen.  Tin would probably be OK.  The boards are exactly 2.5X3.8 and you get three period.  Something on the order of $90 with shipping.  The Gerber's cost an extra $60.  With the Gerber files we can have more boards made anywhere we want.

What is the length of the //'s card edge connector?

Sandy

Sent from my iPhone

[Charles Springer]

I am thinking that with a little research we could use a "small" flash part in surface mount and what little logic can also fit an SM part (if it is all combinatorial, and I can't remember if it needs flipflops - the PAL type will tell, one might even use some of the left over flash as lookup-table truth tables.

It could fit a board that fills the connector slot with about a half inch more and a handle on the end. Maybe an inch wide total and lenght of the connector + 3/4 inch pan handle.

Some pads for a bed of nails or a clip-on connector could be used for programming. A board that small could also have an ARM7 at 100 MHz instead. It could emulate the old PROM and logic and do a few other things as well (like emulate the 65C02 as if it is going 25 MHz). Then you could program it by JTAG or USB and perhaps use USB printers with it. The acceleration would interest the rest of the Apple IIe community.

-- Charlie

[dwight elvey]

Hi
 First for Sandy, attached is the schematic. I'll have to do a little
searching for the pins of the Apple //e cards.
The card I made is the same dimensions as the swyft, as I recall.
Pins are 0.100 inch spacing. It is double sided and has 24 pins
on each side.
 The PAL is a latch output type. There are 4 state elements needed
to do the logic for the Swyftcard.
 The LM311 can be replaced by most any full rail comparitor, such
as a LM337 or even a 555 IC. It is intended to hold the reset
for slightly longer than the motherboards reset so the card can
take control of the memory bus and run the processor.
 The EPROM is a 27128 and is normally only 3/4 on the bus
to match the ROM size on the motherboard. The BANK signal
is use to switch the address lines to bring the last 1/4 of the
EPROM into the address space( I think through A12 ).
 The PAL I created, was done by hand and not though a PAL
compiler so I don't have anything other than the JADEC file.
One could determine the logic though by getting the TI spec
sheet and the fuse map to recreate the logic in a verilog file.
 My connector is 2.566 inches long from edge to edge of the
fiberglass. The card is 2.8 inches high, not counting the connector.
The connector is 0.265 inches high. it is offset from the short
end of the board by 0.40 inches.
 The address and data lines to the EPROM go to the component
side connector.
Dwight
 

[Sandy Bumgarner]

Thanks guys,

This is a good start and will keep me busy for a while. Looks like fun!

Using modern parts will be nice. I will keep everyone in the loop for
suggestions.

Sandy
===

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John O. 'Sandy' Bumgarner
KI6UOQ

[Charles Springer]

The PAL equations are short and not very many lines. There must be printouts somewhere. I noticed that one of the photos I gave the computer museum has a Cat screen with PALASM equations. Unfortunately it is for my Apple II frame grabber! I was tweaking it for a customer and using the PAL programer at IAI and it had PALASM built in. I would just select my equations and SEND over serial to the programmer and make a new PAL - later with GALs, which save about $1.25 very time I changed and equation.

Also, we can recreate the PALASM from the JADEC pretty easily if need be. Someone could then make it into Verilog so we could use anything.

I'm still thinking about a custom keyboard and Mac/Linux software. 

-- Charlie

P.S. Didn't find any SwyftCards today 

On Sun, Nov 6, 2011 at 6:52 PM, dwight elvey <dke...@hotmail.com> wrote:

--

[Jonathan Gevaryahu]

On 11/7/2011 12:08 AM, Charles Springer wrote:
> I'm still thinking about a custom keyboard and Mac/Linux software.
>
> -- Charlie
>

As am I, I loved the concept program that aza had working.

--
Jonathan Gevaryahu AKA Lord Nightmare
jgeva...@gmail.com
jgeva...@hotmail.com

[Charles Springer]

If I was retired instead of being 60 and working flat out like a 25 year old with stock options (my business  www.andahammer.com ) I would put some serious effort into the ARM emulation idea. A 1GHz A8 Cortex with lots of general purpose I/O and an Apple //e keyboard and box (I still like the basic shape) with a nice LCD and a great Forth on it? --- Homer Simpson daydreaming drool moment goes here.

It will have to be Forth 79 so that I can understand it, or Mops.

-- Charlie

PS, I have a blog at http://andahammer.blogspot.com/  and am interested in opinions on the latest post.

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[B.Person]

I'm getting a 404 error when I try your web site.

Is it me, or something else causing the error?

The blog links just fine.

Bruce


On Nov 6, 11:37 pm, Charles Springer <charles.regni...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> ... (my business  www.andahammer.com) ...

[dwight elvey]

Hi Charlie
 I can scan the fuse chart I used to make the PAL if that
would help someone either write it out in PALASM or verilog.
I'd never done PALASM although I was always told how
easy it was.
 I just wrote out the conditions I wanted each latch to
go to one and the conditions to go to 0. It was then
just a matter of getting used to the number of inversions
on the part. That did take me several tries to get
my thinking straight. The only signal that was in question
was the bank signal.
Dwight

 

---

Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2011 21:08:19 -0800
Subject: Re: [Canon Cat] Wanted: SwyftCard
From: charles....@gmail.com
To: cano...@googlegroups.com

[Charles Springer]

Two m's in hammer? The link generated by gmail on this page is working.

-- Charlie

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[Charles Springer]

Yes, that should be enough.

Click on the picture that just shows text on a Cat scree.  http://www.digibarn.com/friends/jef-raskin/slides/canon-cat/index.html

-- Charlie