Apple II Euromod / Apple II Europlus

[Steven Weyhrich]

In an old Apple price list, I saw listed four models of the Apple II (and this was discussed some years ago in this group). There were four categories of computer, and three memory configurations in each category:

First, there was the Integer BASIC, old Monitor ROM versions:

Apple II 16K - A2S0016
Apple II 32K - A2S0032
Apple II 48K - A2S0048

Apple II Euromod 16K - A2S0016P
Apple II Euromod 32K - A2S0032P
Apple II Euromod 48K - A2S0048P

Then, there was the Applesoft, autostart versions:

Apple II Plus 16K - A2S1016
Apple II Plus 32K - A2S1032
Apple II Plus 48K - A2S1048

Apple II Europlus 16K - A2S1016P
Apple II Europlus 32K - A2S1048P
Apple II Europlus 48K - A2S1048P

Many people have Apple II Europlus computers they have collected. Has ANYONE ever seen the Integer BASIC Apple II "Euromod" in the wild? Does anyone know if this was actually sold under this name (it was in an Apple catalog, "Apple - The Personal Computer Magazine & Catalog, Vol 1, No 2") If so, did it look any different from a US Apple II standard?

[Sean Fahey]

On Wednesday, April 24, 2013 10:29:00 PM UTC-5, Steven Weyhrich wrote:

> Many people have Apple II Europlus computers they have collected. Has ANYONE ever seen the Integer BASIC Apple II "Euromod" in the wild? Does anyone know if this was actually sold under this name (it was in an Apple catalog, "Apple - The Personal Computer Magazine & Catalog, Vol 1, No 2") If so, did it look any different from a US Apple II standard?

woof - I've never seen one. Wouldn't that have been during the ITT2020 era?

[Ewen]

Sean & Steven,

> Wouldn't that have been during the ITT2020 era?

It would have been, but the ITT2020 was clearly sold as such at the
time. Apple UK had not yet been formed then, and Apple IIs in the UK
were being distributed by Microsense.

I don't remember the Euromod in the UK, but I am not sure of course what
happened over the channel in France and the rest of Europe.

Cheers - Ewen

[Steven Weyhrich]

I believe the Europlus came out a year or two after the ITT 2020, and (supposedly) the Euromod came out at the same time. Except it's hard to tell if Apple actually shipped any.

For that matter, I wonder how many Apple II standard computers they sold after the II Plus came out in America. It was listed in their price lists as lat as 1980, I believe.

[Antoine Vignau]

the euromod came before the europlus. itt 2020 came at the same time as the europlus.

private message sent to SW,
av

[dbacken...@t-online.de]

Steven, obviously several Apple IIs have been imported to Europe before the europlus came out. The first German inporter BASIS MICROCOMPUTER started officially in l978 (They are the company that developed the BASIS 108 when Apple terminated their contract). If I'm not mistaken already the Rev. 1 board had those 60/50 Hz conversion lugs computers mofified accordingly could qualify as euromods already.

When production/assembly started in Cork in mid 1980, it seems that they shipped II and IIeuroplus computers in the beginning. I have one of those II "euromods" in my collection. It was produced in mid 1980 (rev. 7 mainboard from 8036). The serial number sticker on the back is black on white like the US II. Serial numbers seem to have started with 500000 whereas the europlus started with 600000 (green on white sticker).

Dirk

[Steven Weyhrich]

Dirk,

The Europlus was clearly identified as such with the change to the name plate. Did your Euromod have any identifying marks on it that would allow it and a US Apple II (not plus) to be distinguished from each other if placed side by side? (Other than opening the case).

[Steven Weyhrich]

On Friday, April 26, 2013 4:05:18 PM UTC-5, Antoine Vignau wrote:
> the euromod came before the europlus. itt 2020 came at the same time as the europlus.
>

I have in my notes that that ITT 2020 came out in 1979, not long before the II Plus was available in the US. Are there any good guesses as to when the Europlus actually first became available to buy?

And did the ITT 2020 sell from 1979 through 1981 when Apple acquired Microsense to form Apple UK?

The question is why would the ITT 2020 sell if the Europlus was available at the same time. Less expensive?

[Sean Fahey]

On Tuesday, April 30, 2013 8:44:27 AM UTC-5, Steven Weyhrich wrote:

> The question is why would the ITT 2020 sell if the Europlus was available at the same time. Less expensive?

I thought the ITT2020 was originally manufactured under license, when they were using their own plastic case design. Later, they switched to the conventional Apple II case we know and love (still badged as a ITT2020) then switched to the beige and badged EuroPlus after Apple Europe started up.

[Steven Weyhrich]

I guess that would explain the change in case during its run. Did they get permission to not only sell the ITT 2020 clone but also use a case that was just like the Apple II?

[Sean Fahey]

On Tuesday, April 30, 2013 8:51:21 PM UTC-5, Steven Weyhrich wrote:

> I guess that would explain the change in case during its run. Did they get permission to not only sell the ITT 2020 clone but also use a case that was just like the Apple II?

So long ago, and I only had cursory knowledge of it all back then. I have to defer to our esteemed friend Ewen.

These should be examples of the LTM model:

http://www.hansotten.com/himages/itt2020a.jpg
http://www.oldbits.de/collection/itt2020_1.jpg
http://www.oldbits.de/collection/itt2020_2.jpg
http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Project/Computers/Other/ITT%202020/Photos/ITT%202020%20v2%20-%20Inside.jpg

And then the familiar case appears, with the ITT badge.

http://www.vintagemacworld.com/itt2020/case1.jpg

I wonder if Apple started supplying the cases ITT before or after they RFI shielded their cases. I bet it was after.

[Steven Weyhrich]

My ITT 2020 expert, Yves de Ryckel, responded to email, and said he is certain that the first cases were modeled after the Apple case, and then later they revised it to the one with the wide ITT logo on it, and an "Apple Systems" tag in the lower right corner of the keyboard.

Beyond his declaration I don't have any date info to verify or refute his claim. It may be that after Apple started making the Euromod / Europlus, they wanted to be sure that customers did not confuse the ITT 2020 with the Euro Apple II, and so had ITT change the case design.

[Sean Fahey]

On Wednesday, May 1, 2013 5:26:31 PM UTC-5, Steven Weyhrich wrote:

> Beyond his declaration I don't have any date info to verify or refute his claim. It may be that after Apple started making the Euromod / Europlus, they wanted to be sure that customers did not confuse the ITT 2020 with the Euro Apple II, and so had ITT change the case design.

He'd probably have more accurate info than me. BTW,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1980-RARE-APPLE-BROCHURE-MICROSENSE-SOLE-UK-DISTRIBUTOR-36-Pages-/261210253536

[Steven Weyhrich]

I would go for that Microsense brochure, but $40 is more than I want to pay for it. :-(

[Ewen]

Steven,

> I would go for that Microsense brochure, but $40 is more than I want
> to pay for it. :-(

I have a copy of that brochure, which only mentions the Apple II and II
Plus, and no prices. I will get it scanned in the next few days, and add
it to the PDFs in the Miscellaneous section of the Apple2000 archives on
my website.

Cheers - Ewen

[Steven Weyhrich]

Ahhhh, Microsense; where was your pride in your origins? Where was your sense of history?? Why did you abandon your humble but important beginnings, selling out to the multi-colored fruit ... man? Did you care nothing for the future of 33 years hence? ish?

[dbacken...@t-online.de]

Viewed from the top both computers look identical (same name plate). The serial number sticker on the bottom is different though, it reads (black on white):

apple computer ltd.
MADE IN IRELAND
SERIAL NO. IA2S1-501063
800-0186-00

on the cream packing box it says:

II "EURO- 7 A
MOD"

Dirk

[pibb...@gmail.com]

>
> My ITT 2020 expert, Yves de Ryckel, responded to email, and said he is certain that the first cases were modeled after the Apple case, and then later they revised it to the one with the wide ITT logo on it, and an "Apple Systems" tag in the lower right corner of the keyboard.
>
>
>
> Beyond his declaration I don't have any date info to verify or refute his claim. It may be that after Apple started making the Euromod / Europlus, they wanted to be sure that customers did not confuse the ITT 2020 with the Euro Apple II, and so had ITT change the case design.

At TNMOC at Bletchley Park I saw something that called it's self a "Colour Viewdata" in an ITT2020 case I did want to see inside but the whole thing was screwed down and from the back it didn't look like it ever had Apple family parts inside. (I think it was used for teletext or Prestel in the UK)

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107476717763958480109/posts/UWGocpxpTBJ

Also my ITT2020 appears to have original Apple ][ non-auto start ROM in it, it's next on my list of systems to resurrect and dump the roms from in case they're different.

So the cases got reused as some point.

[Ewen]

<pibb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> At TNMOC at Bletchley Park I saw something that called it's self a

> "Colour Viewdata" in an ITT2020 case. I did want to see inside but

> the whole thing was screwed down and from the back it didn't look
> like it ever had Apple family parts inside.
> (I think it was used for teletext or Prestel in the UK)

Prestel was a service provided in the UK for some years, and was a
similar information system to Minitel in France. It used the same
character set as the Teletext pages that were transmitted over analogue
TV in the UK. Prestel died many years ago, but Teletext survived until
last year, when the UK went digital for all its TV services.

However you did not need a special computer to access Prestel, as my own
commercial program Data Highway that was sold by PACE in Europe, was
able to access it in full colour using a //e or //c. On a basic II+, you
only got a B&W display, and to get the display in colour, you needed a
special Teletext card that PACE sold in the UK.

I think that special Viewdata version of the ITT2020, was probably what
I remember seeing in estate agants (realtors) to access custom pages on
Prestel. It would have been an ITT2020 inside, and would have run custom
software.

Cheers - Ewen

[Peter Ibbotson]

Next time I go up there I'll try and make some arrangements to see what's inside, when I was up there last time I was at a conference and was wandering around during the lunch break so didn't have much time. From memory I think this particular box was part of the "server" end of either teletext or Prestel.

I did a EGA/VGA version of the Prestel character set many years ago for a terminal emulator on the PC. I'd forgotten about the Pace Prestel cards.

[Steven Weyhrich]

So the Euromod has "Europlus" on its name plate?

[dbacken...@t-online.de]

The Apple II "Euromod" has a normal "Apple II" name plate.

[Steven Weyhrich]

On Tuesday, May 14, 2013 12:11:23 PM UTC-5, dbacken...@t-online.de wrote:
> The Apple II "Euromod" has a normal "Apple II" name plate.

That's very helpful; thank you!

[Steven Weyhrich]

Additional info that I've dredged up indicates that Apple formed a separate company called Eurapple, Inc. in 1977, not long after the original Apple II came out. It was managed by Andre Sousan, who used to work with Commodore (he actually came with Chuck Peddle to visit The Garage where they were assembling the Apple-1). Eurapple was responsible for overseas distribution of the Apple II.

Unfortunately, that's as far as I can discover things. What I've not been able to find out is why Apple chose to license out the Apple II to ITT for creation of the ITT 2020 (sold in the UK through Microsense, but also sold in France and elsewhere in Europe), when they were also creating their own Apple-branded Apple II (the Euromod and later the Europlus)? It does appear that the ITT 2020 and the Euromod became available at about the same time.

In other words, why allow creation of the ITT 2020, when the Euromod was available then or soon after? Why bother with the Euromod when the ITT 2020 was available?

[Antoine Vignau]

You mean, this one?

http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/2009/102712693.05.01acc.pdf

av

[Steven Weyhrich]

Yes, that's the one.

[Michael J. Mahon]

The answer is almost always channels--distribution relationships that
broaden the market for a product when it is available from a particular
supplier.

Compare with Apple's licensing deal with Bell & Howell in the US.

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon

[Steven Weyhrich]

Undoubtedly, that is part of the answer. Still: The B&H Apple II was manufactured by Apple for B&H. With these European models, we have the ITT 2020 built in Europe (and modified from the original specs, with its "9th bit" for hi-res graphics), and the Euroapples built BY Apple and shipped there, apparently at almost the same time (as best as I can discover). Wish I could find Andre Sousan, the original head of Eurapple, and ask about it.

[Michael J. Mahon]

Some partners are proud, and have to get their two cents into a design
before they'll sell it under their brand. No doubt that's why B&H Apples
are black. ;-)

[Mark Aufflick]

Wow thanks - I hadn't seen that before. I love how "hands down" is in
quotes, unlike all the other unsubstantiated claims :)

[bigsma...@gmail.com]

I worked for the 2nd Apple dealer in the country... The Euro-Mod model is the US Apple ][ with Integer basic and a Euro Modulator which convered the video so it worked on a 60 Htz monitor. it stuck interanlly to the side of the case.

[Steven Weyhrich]

> I worked for the 2nd Apple dealer in the country... The Euro-Mod model is the US Apple ][ with Integer basic and a Euro Modulator which convered the video so it worked on a 60 Htz monitor. it stuck interanlly to the side of the case.

Thanks for the post! I'd like to ask you some other questions, if you don't mind. Could you contact me at a2hi...@gmail.com?

[STYNX]

On Wednesday, June 19, 2013 3:23:32 PM UTC+2, Steven Weyhrich wrote:
> > I worked for the 2nd Apple dealer in the country... The Euro-Mod model is the US Apple ][ with Integer basic and a Euro Modulator which convered the video so it worked on a 60 Htz monitor. it stuck interanlly to the side of the case.
> Thanks for the post! I'd like to ask you some other questions, if you don't mind. Could you contact me at a2hi...@gmail.com?

I found, that i might have a Euro-Mod Apple II Plus (produced sometime in 1981)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88521483@N03/9645865792/

The Computer itself had a 'Basis'-Keyboard-contoller with Eproms on it. The Y and Z-Keys of the Keyboard were swapped. There was a Pal-Card installed as well. The case is a normal Apple II Plus (not Europlus).

-Jonas

[STYNX]

On Sunday, September 1, 2013 3:15:11 PM UTC+2, STYNX wrote:
> The case is a normal Apple II Plus (not Europlus).
> -Jonas

On closer inspection i must say that there actually is a Europlus plate on the case. I have a red-green color deficit, its really hard for me to make out the Europlus on the label if i don't actually look for it ;-)

[peddy...@gmail.com]

Hello. Looking for the name of original Apple head of production (found it -- Roy Mollard, found on another site), I came upon this site... I was employee No. 254, came to Apple (actually Eurapple) as a former Commodore employee (I was at Commodore when Andre Sousan was VP of Engineering there) and Sousan had hired Suzy Allen away from Commodore to head Eurapple operations. One of the pics on another early employees site pictures Sousan standing among several other employees in a room stacked with products in cartons, including Markulla, Jobs and Scotty, among others. I was at Eurapple (and then Apple, when they acquired Eurapple, which Sousan had set up as some kind of affiliate, per the original agreement to put Eurapple staff on Apple's payroll based on first option to acquire Eurapple when/if it proved to be a viable marketer/distributor of Apple products in Europe and other foreign markets (everywhere but USA, Canada and Japan). I was there from February 1979 until January 1983. When Apple acquired Eurapple (our budget was around $4 million), Sousan moved to Montreal to head up Apple Canada's operations; Suzy Allen was retained in some kind of vague function for Apple; and Eurapple's employees (15-20 at the time) became officially employees of Apple Computer, Inc. Ray Warneck, who was brought to Apple from Intel by Mike Markulla's, was installed as overall head of Apple's operations suporting the Europe and elsewhere market (formerly Eurapple -- somewhat officially later dubbed Apple Interncontinental). Most Eurapple employees (including me) hated Warneck, whose management style was very different from Susy's... And Sousan was no longer even in in the U.S. (I bought Sousan's car that he had left in Palo Alto after moving to Montreal.) Eurapple as an official Apple entity was great to work for while Suzy still ran it; however, Warneck's arrival was resented by most employees; I rebelled somewhat vigorously. I left Apple as the result of an offering to early employees when Apple made the decision to move most manufacturing/distribution operations to Dallas (or in the case of overseas markets, Cork, Ireland (hardware) or Singapore (software). Suzy would be the best source of more detail about early Apple. I arrived at the peak of negotiations between ITT and Scotty about that particular coupling. Eurapple at the time had distribution agreements for the "European" version of the Apple II for England, France, Finland, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, and one or two fledgling firms in South America. Glad to find this site. E-mail me with any questions I might be able to answer: charli...@mac.com. I don't check my Google e-mail; regular e-mail is on iCloud.

[Steven Weyhrich]

Thanks for the message - I'll track him down for some further info!

[Courtney Blush]

I have a boxed 16k Apple ][ plus Euromod, not Europlus. Made in USA according to the serial number label on both the box and computer itself and the serial number is A2S1-38482.

The board has 7951 written in the top left corner.

Courtney

On Thursday, 25 April 2013 04:29:00 UTC+1, Steven Weyhrich wrote:
> In an old Apple price list, I saw listed four models of the Apple II (and this was discussed some years ago in this group). There were four categories of computer, and three memory configurations in each category:
>
>
>
> First, there was the Integer BASIC, old Monitor ROM versions:
>
>
>
> Apple II 16K - A2S0016
>
> Apple II 32K - A2S0032
>
> Apple II 48K - A2S0048
>
>
>
> Apple II Euromod 16K - A2S0016P
>
> Apple II Euromod 32K - A2S0032P
>
> Apple II Euromod 48K - A2S0048P
>
>
>
> Then, there was the Applesoft, autostart versions:
>
>
>
> Apple II Plus 16K - A2S1016
>
> Apple II Plus 32K - A2S1032
>
> Apple II Plus 48K - A2S1048
>
>
>
> Apple II Europlus 16K - A2S1016P
>
> Apple II Europlus 32K - A2S1048P
>
> Apple II Europlus 48K - A2S1048P
>
>
>
> Many people have Apple II Europlus computers they have collected. Has ANYONE ever seen the Integer BASIC Apple II "Euromod" in the wild? Does anyone know if this was actually sold under this name (it was in an Apple catalog, "Apple - The Personal Computer Magazine & Catalog, Vol 1, No 2") If so, did it look any different from a US Apple II standard?

[Courtney Blush]

This has the following Roms..

341-0011(00) Applesoft BASIC D0 (c)1978 1980
341-0012(00) Applesoft BASIC D8 (c)1978 1980
341-0013(00) Applesoft BASIC E0 (c)1978 1980
341-0014(00) Applesoft BASIC E8 (c)1978 1980
341-0015(00) Applesoft BASIC F0 (c)1978 1980
341-0020(00) Autostart Monitor (F8) (c)1978 1980