27 Apr
2009
27 Apr
'09
7:07 a.m.
Now I'm fascinated by the thought of Brazilian
Apple II+ clones. Did any
of them vary much from the standard Apple II configurations?
Hmmm...lets see, I'll try to remember all DIFFERENT clones (not copycats
of the ][+):
- MicroEngenho (mfg: Spectrum): An Apple //e (if I'm not mistaken) made
in a PC-XT-Like cabinet. Very rare,
boards completely different of the original Apple.
- MaXXi (mfg: Polymax): I've never seen one in person. The cabinet is
completely different from anything I've ever seen. Polymax made digital
telex equipment, seems to have an excess of cabinets and made the MaXXi. As
far as I know, the rarest brazilian Apple-like
- Exato, Exato Pr?, Exato //e (CCE). All share the same cabinet, very
beautiful and excellent keyboard. Exato doesn't have the function keys on
top, Exato pr? has. Exato //e I don't remember well, I think only the
internal mainboard is changed. Famous for the bad sockets it uses.
- Apple Laser //c: A clone made by Milmar (which made the excellent
Craft ][+ copycat clone) which is a bad mix of the laser 128 and apple //c.
It has the WORST keyboard I've ever seen, an external power supply almost
the size of the computer and is just a simple ][+. A bad joke. Of course, no
internal drive
- (interesting, but not apple ][+)Mac 512 (mfg: Unitron): A reengineered
copy of the Mac 512, with a different logic board and dedicated ICs made by
National Instruments. Very bad quality cabinet, no-auto-eject drives (used
chinon mechanic drives). BTW, I have one. The rarest of all :)
- TK3000 (mfg: Microdigital): a true reengineered //e. Different
cabinet, different (programable) keyboard with numerical keypad (and even
better than the exato keyboard), already being an "enhanced" model from
scratch. A huge sales success in Brazil
- TK3000 Compact (mfg: Microdigital): a "thing". A very small TK3000
with same keyboard but small board (with lots of
impossible-to-be-found-if-broken dedicated ICs) and some expansions (memory,
maybe CPM, printer, floppy) onboard. A bit rare.
- TK2000/2000II (mfg: Microdigital): Clone of the "MPF" Microprofesseur,
which is an apple clone more-or-less compatible with a little bit different
ROM. The cabinet is a copy of the Atari 1200XL :o) Very, but VERY strange
beast. The drive interface was made into the box of a brazilian atari
cartridge (!!!!!!!!!!) and it connected on the side of the computer.
They're probably like the clones we saw in New
Zealand - really almost
identical to an original Apple II+ board. In fact, all three machines I
have here are very similar - as I mentioned, same type of ICs in the
same locations. I guess in most cases, there wasn't any point in
changing what was known to work! In the 80s I had a machine called a
MedFly - bizarre name, but just an Apple II+ clone with most options on
board (e.g. the 16k expansion, Z80 second processor for CP/M). I think
it was a rebadged Basis 108, which I recall had legal licensed Apple
ROMs in it. I don't think that was common. Certainly, the main board in
that was nothing like a standard Apple one, though I'd guess that
electrically it was just like a II+ with a bunch of cards in it.
Most of them, were. It was very easy to clone a ][+. Just copy the
board, the power supply, the cabinet and the ROMs.
There are photos that can be found on the web if you are curious :o)
Greetings from Brazil
Alexandre