16th anniversary Brain Board, Card One of Four: A Hand Built Brain Board for Apple II, designed by Mike Willegal, built by myself (Alex Kwiecinski).
These cards are one of a kind, each hand built, and each one of the four is on a different solder mask PCB color for unmistakable identification. The IC's were hand picked to match both era propoer date codes and the manufacturers most used by Apple. I don't plan on ever building more Brain Boards like these. Please ask before buying if you have any questions! The kits I sell contain normal metal film resistors and more modern versions of the same ICs. On the other hand, these cards I built for this edition look very proper next to a 1970's/1980's commercial Apple II card or other circuit boards of the era (in my opinion, of course).
This listing is for the complete Green HASL card of Mike's original design (released to public domain) in the first photo, exactly as pictured. What you see is what you get. Keep reading for a detailed description of the build process / details of this and the other three cards. There is a photo of the four individual and unique cards in every listing! This green card very nicely mimics the looks of the real Apple-1 with it's solder mask, carbon comp resistors, and vintage ICs. This would be a treat for someone with a transparent case for their Apple II(e).
For those unfamiliar with the Brain Board, it's a slot card which mimics Apple-1 in machine code ROM, including BASIC and cassette interface. This code for Apple-1 [like] operation is referred to as the Wozaniam pack. As a nod to the original Apple-1, carbon comp resistors are used in this card.
For the 16th anniversary of Mike's project, I built a few very special cards following the process I used building my own Apple-1 computer.
The following describes the meticulous build process I used to make these four cards particularly special:
- Used vintage 1/2W carbon comp resistors from Allen Bradley and Stackpole
- Resistor leads were pre cleaned with deoxit and iso alcohol prior to soldering.
- Top soldered the resistors, trimmed the leads on the bottom, and reflowed the bottom pads after the final lead trim. This avoids shock and stress to the final solder joint; a method known to avoid common failures of period manufacturing.
- Flooded all VIAs with solder, for a period correct wave-soldered appearance.
- Installed ceramic capacitors and sockets to an as-uniform-as-possible height.
- Test each PCB for any power to ground shorts / faulty capacitors
- Re-tested every resistor tolerance after soldering and cooling overnight
- Hand clean the boards to remove the flux, which was no-clean flux regardless (non corrosive once activated)
- Used quality NOS LS series ICs, primarily or exclusively USA sourced. Date codes as photoed.
- Tested all ICs for faults, i.e. overcurrent / faulty output states
- Installed all ICs in a static safe fashion
- Ceramic EPROM pre-programmed, tested, and installed. On the brain Board II (cards 2/3/4) it can give you both Apple 1 and integer basic modes without losing your system ROM, using my new QuickStart ROM, which is what you will receive. The original integer BASIC and Wozaniam mode ROM applies for card 1/4 (Green).
- Cards were then individually heat sealed in an anti-static bag, guaranteed to work on arrival in an already functional Apple II system.
If you have questions of usage or function, please see my blog regarding this card, particularly relevant for cards 2/3/4, which are the expanded design:
https://www.applefritter.com/content/brain-board-ii-bringing-integer-basic-and-apple-1-emulation-your-apple-iieii-single-card
Audio copies of Apple-1 software can be loaded right to the Apple II cassette interface. It's wise to use a TS to TRS 3.5mm audio cable, TS at the apple cassette input, and TRS with R lifted/disconnected to your audio device. Not all Apple 1 programs will work with Mike Willegal's Wozaniam pack, but I have tested specifically the Apple 30th Anniversary machine code, as well as some programs like blackjack and buzzword which require BASIC at E000, and they work as expected. As a bonus, the Apple II's cassette input is a bit more reliable than the notoriously picky Apple 1 ACI :)
This is an open source project under GPL and as such you are more than free to fabricate or even sell these yourself :) The ROM is shared with permission of Macnoyd, who I am most grateful to. If you would like to download the gerber files, Osmond file, Concatenated ROM, or just read more about this, please see my github project which includes a BOM.
https://github.com/Alex-Kw/Brain-Board-II
These work in Apple II and II+ normally, and IIe as well. Given these have hard soldered switches they are best suited for II+ enclosures for easy access to the main toggle. Observe static precautions when working with these or any exposed PCB!
The original documentation for the card can be found on Mike Willegal's site: http://www.willegal.net/appleii/brainboard.htm
Normal operation is the same if you follow the quick start guide from the original Brain Board manual. Your card should pre-arrive with dips 1,3,5,8 set! Please verify before use!
DIPS:
1,3,5,8: ON
4,6,7 OFF
2 - determines if the main rear switch enables Apple 1 mode or Integer Basic mode. Brain Board II Only.
To bypass your system roms, change DIPS to the following configuration:
1,4,5,7 ON
3,5,6 OFF
2 - FP/INTEGER
If you do not need Apple II Integer basic, and/or your system ROMS work, the first config is most compatible with other expansion cards and accessories. The second config makes the brain board more versatile in having 4 user roms instead of 2, and also can technically operate a ROMLess motherboard, but it may cause conflict with some expansion cards since you lose access to the logic boards own ROMS.