27 Apr
2009
27 Apr
'09
3:34 a.m.
Pete Turnbull wrote:
There's a standard modification to add lower case
to an Apple ][,
which consists of merely replacing the chargen (EP)ROM for the
display, and adding a wire for the keyboard. I guess Apple just
decided to economise so the keyboard didn't generate lower case, and
hence there was no need for lower case in the chargen either.
Yes - my II+ has the shift mod fitted, though I don't know if it has the
updated character ROM (I've never seen it run). Your explanation sounds
about right to me. Though it still seems strange, adding lower-case
support can't have been that hard or expensive? It must have made sense
to Apple at the time I guess! The clones had it built-in, no
modifications required. The one I have working does lower case in the
regular way you'd expect, and both clones have a shift lock key.
I remember using a word processor on the II+ I had in the mid 80s; that
had the shift mod, but no lower case ROM. The software indicated upper
case characters by showing that character in inverse video.Quite clunky,
but it worked fine; I was quite happy with the results by the time they
made their way out of the printer. It's surprising that it worked as
well as it did I guess. Having said that, I was very pleased to upgrade
to a IIe.
Cheers,
Mike.