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LC //e Card - Problematic Software

Nearly all software that crashes on the Apple //e Card for Macintosh LC is likely because of accesses to $C029. This location is the NEWVIDEO register on the Apple IIgs which is used for, among other things, turning on and off super hi-res graphics modes.

TN.MISC.15 cautions against using this location without first identifying the machine. Ironically, the document is mistaken as to the outcome on the IIc Plus, and doesn't mention the //e Card at all.

On the //e Card, accessing $C029 switches out the main firmware in favor of the active alternate firmware bank. A subsequent attempted use of common firmware routines will not go well.

Other software may produce unexpected output on the screen depending on how it uses the disk, or if it uses DGR graphics.

Bitsy Bye in ProDOS 2.4.0 and 2.4.1

Bitsy Bye, as included with ProDOS 2.4.0 and 2.4.1, accidentally access $C029, switching out the main ROM bank. This causes a crash when it tries to use a firmware routine.

A fixed version of 2.4.1 is available on this page, ProDOS 2.4.2 and later correct this.

Apple II Desktop 1.1

Two parts of the program access $C029 without checking to see if the machine is a IIgs or not.

A fixed version of the software is in development.

Software That Leaves the Disk II Motor On

Software that leaves the Disk II motor on will not produce display output while the motor is on. This can be rather unsettling when running programs such as FASTDSK or the Locksmith Fast Copy program.

Games that display messages as they load data from the disk are also likely to misbehave.

Software That Uses the Floating Bus

The Card does not have any areas of floating bus, and neither the Gemini chip nor the card electronics implement the Apple II video circuitry at all. Unused locations on the I/O page tend to return the last key pressed.

Many emulators don't get this right, either.

The end result is that cycle counting programs that use “vapor lock” to synchronize the video will fail.

Software that uses Double Low-res Graphics

The IIe Startup application does not correctly display double low-res colors, getting every other column wrong.

The color palettes are in the resources of IIe Startup, it may be possible to fix this.