Classic computing fanatic Augusto Baffa has added new performance to his modular Baffa-2 microcomputer mission, this time bringing Apple II+ help — incluyding compatibility with authentic Apple II+ enlargement playing cards.
“After different initiatives, I needed to construct my fundamental childhood pc: the Apple II+,” Baffa writes of the improve. “My Apple II+ clone was designed below the Baffa-6502 platform on which I applied the Apple-1 clone, and it is a pure continuation of the earlier mission. I spent a while finding out the Apple II mission to simplify it as a lot as doable, with out shedding any of the performance of the unique pc.”
Baffa’s authentic eponymous Baffa-2 machine was impressed by Grant Searle’s well-known breadboard CP/M pc mission and the favored RC2014 modular microcomputer. Being modular in flip makes the Baffa-2 upgradeable, with the Baffa-X board set including Microsoft/ASCII MSX normal compatibility — and the Baffa-X2 providing, because the identify implies, MSX2+ help. The Baffa-2+, in the meantime, put the system into an all-in-one 3D-printed housing impressed by the CRT terminals of outdated.
To show the Baffa-2 into an Apple II+ required some further {hardware} — beginning with the core boards, which added compatibility with software program loaded from cassette tape (or a contemporary audio gadget). These had been adopted by three quality-of-life boards: one which provides a Disk II floppy drive interface, one other which acts as a Grappler+ interface for a printer, and a ultimate one which presents Wi-Fi connectivity for comfort.
The ultimate improve was slot adapter, connecting to a single Baffa-2 bus slot and offering eight slots appropriate with authentic Apple II+ enlargement playing cards. This allowed Baffa to take two playing cards from his authentic, much-loved Apple II+ system — a Saturn 128kB RAM enlargement card and a Softcard with a Zilog Z80 secondary course of, which added compatibility with Digital’s CP/M working system to the Apple II+ — and use them along with his modernized clone.
Baffa’s full mission write-up, together with video demos of the machine working Lode Runner and The place within the World is Carmen Sandiego, is accessible on Hackaday.io; his earlier Apple-1 clone mission is accessible on a separate web page.
