SAACC@CUNYVM (Shermane Austin) (03/14/90)
Help! I just bought a use //e for my kids and need some advice (I'm a PC/unix user so these questions are REAL basic.) Also I don't know any apple users. Also I have no manuals. What is an enhanced //e? I know I don't have one, because the COPY II PLUS software I just bought tells me so. Can I enhance mine, is it a question of a card or a chip? Meanwhile, what backup program can I get? Are there older versions of COPY II out there floating around? (With the kids, I need software capable of backing up copy-protected programs.) What's a good all-purpose(compatible with most software) color printer that is also as cheap as possible. (Used is fine, but I can't find one, so I will settle for new if cheap). Also I need good communication software - for Apple bbs' (as soon as I locate said boards) as well as possible terminal emulation when communicating with the mainframe(for possible dl of apple utilities). Please e-mail me advice. Thanks.
eeta@yoda.byu.edu (03/15/90)
Enhancing the //e: The main changes required are a new set of ROMs, which should still be available from varoius sources, and a new microprocessor. (The II's use a 6502, while the enhanced //e uses a 65C02.) Before you make the change, beware: the change in uP will cause some incompatabilities with older protected software. Some use protection schemes which rely upon bugs in the 6502 to make them difficult to decode. Needless to say, the newer 65C02 doesn't have these bugs in it. Because of this, I have a set of "un-enhanced" chips that I use whenever I need to run the old stuff; so you may want to keep the old chips around. About terminal software, I usually use ProTERM - which requires the enhanced //e. I also used to use ASCII Express Pro, but my version did not support the //e 80-column card properly for the enhanced version. Although I don't have the software, I hear that Red ryder is also very good...