"In the early 80s the Electronics Today International
magazine published a circuit for an interface between the System 80
and an Atari-style joystick. It was unusual in that it plugged into
the expansion connector rather than taking the simpler (and in my opinion
neater) method of connecting a 9-pin panel plug to the relevant keys
on the keyboard, to allow an Atari joystick to be plugged in.
I thought a circuit diagram might still be available
from Electronics Australia, and an AltaVista search showed up this URL:http://www.electronicsaustralia.com.au/files/eti_proj.txt
but EA doesn't seem to have a web site anymore either.
My System 80 aspirations only go as far as acquiring
an expansion unit, as I picked my machine up at the dump for $5 (they
run a for-profit scavenging programme called "Revolve" here
in Canberra). System 80s were prolific there in about 1994-5, but now
you seldom see anything other than PCs, Macs and the occasional Amiga.
I used a System 80 at high school in the late 80s.
I was the only person in the entire school to use it, and it felt pretty
good at the time since all anyone else knew how to do was stuff disks
in an Apple II and turn it on.
I tried to buy it from the school in 1991 but unfortunately
I was too late, as it had already been dumped. That was a shame, since
it had the printer interface, expansion unit with twin drives, DosPlus
and quite a bit of software on tape and disk. I managed to retrieve
the DosPlus manual and the taped software - they'd already overwritten
the disks with Appleworks or something (*sigh*).
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I'll be dusting
off the old box and firing it up sometime soon.
PS - If I use an Apple II monitor with my System
80, does that make me a heretic? :-)"
