Brandon Cobb of the Super Fighter Team sent us these awesome photos of the No Slot Clock in action in a Tandy 1000 TX and an IBM 5160 XT.

Figure 1. Tandy 1000 TX

Figure 2. IBM 5160 XT

The No Slot Clock is perfectly compatible with Radio Shack’s SMWCLOCK software for the Tandy 1000 TX. The IBM 5160 XT uses a different piece of software CLOCK.

Brandon suggests getting a set of extra IC sockets, to help the No Slot Clock clear the surrounding chips.

https://www.jameco.com/z/28LPD–28-Pin-Dual-Wipe-Low-Profile-IC-Socket-0-6-Inch-Wide_40301.html

Thank you Brandon! We’ll make sure to try the NSC on any PCs we can get our hands on.

The No Slot Clock is available for sale at the shop.

No Slot Clock

Mountain View, CA, 7 April 2017 — Manila Gear today announced the 2soniq interface card for the Apple IIGS. The card gives IIGS owners the ability to connect 2 powered speakers so they can enjoy stereophonic sound. This is a simpler version of the 4soniq – the quadraphonic sound card with a monophonic input digitizer that the company released almost a year ago.

2soniq Stereo Sound Card

Hardware – The 2soniq unlocks the capabilities already available in the Apple IIGS’ Ensoniq Digital Oscillator Chip. The simple design and robust engineering delivers clean, reliable sound. It features 2 channel output via one 3.5 mm stereo jack. Similar to the 4soniq, the 2soniq can also be setup for slotless operation.

Software – The 4soniq Programmer’s Guide is available on the Manila Gear website. The guide shows developers how to program for both the 2soniq and the 4soniq, and includes sample code on how to modify existing software to support multi-channel sound.

The 2soniq is now on sale for $69++ at the ReActiveMicro online store at http://store.reactivemicro.com/product-category/49/apple2/iigs/.

For more information on the card specifications please visit https://manilagear.com/product/2soniq-stereo-sound-card.

New Partnership with ReActiveMicro

In February 2017, Manila Gear contacted ReActiveMicro about working together to bring their projects to the Apple II Community. Manila Gear wanted to make sure their current and future products continue to be available to the community at scale. ReActiveMicro was Manila Gear’s first choice since they are the most experienced and longest lived Apple II vendor currently active in the Apple II Community.

Starting from April 2017, ReActiveMicro will be selling and supporting all the great items available from Manila Gear. These will include the new 2soniq stereo sound card, the popular Apple IIGS VGA Adapter, and a refreshed version of the 4soniq 4-channel sound card.

4soniq 4-channel sound card

Apple IIGS VGA Adapter

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Manila Gear is an electronics company founded by Jon Christopher Co and John Valdezco. Jon has been a hardware hacker for the past twenty years and maintains a blog at http://damntechnology.blogspot.com.au. John advises Silicon Valley startups, and has a degree in Electrical Engineering. Both Jon and John attended Philippine Science High School, and have been working together on cool stuff since then.

ReActiveMicro was formed by Henry S. Courbis in 2005 as a division of Reactive. Since 1990 the parent company Reactive has had many different divisions. They have worked with hardware, custom software, auto security and sound, auto repair, pay phones and electronics to name a few. Henry’s current project at Reactive Computers is related to the Apple II and Arcade systems. He also plans on teaming up and working with others to provide new solutions for the Apple II Community.

We wanted to see what the output from our VGA Adapter would look like if we added a very basic scan line generator in the mix. We built a prototype and took the following pictures.

The picture on the left is the normal output. The picture on the right is the one with the scan line generator enabled.

Take a look and let us know what you think by voting on the poll below!

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Here are some photos showing the output of the Apple IIGS VGA Adapter on a 15 kHz capable VGA monitor – the Samsung SyncMaster 712N – using Dagen Brock’s video test program:

40-Column Mode

80-Column Mode

Lo Res Mode

Hi Res Mode

Super Hi Res 320 Mode

Super Hi Res 640 Mode
 

Compare them with the output you get on your screen and let us know the results!

You can download a copy of the video test program from the downloads section.

If you are using a Samsung SyncMaster and have an image that looks taller than it is wider, you can adjust the image!

Use the front panel buttons to adjust what’s called “Coarse” … it will let you widen the image. You can then adjust H-Position to center it back on the screen.

We’ve found that a Coarse setting of 860, and an H-Position setting of 73 works best for us.

Mountain View, CA, August 26, 2016 – Manila Gear, makers of the 4soniq quadraphonic sound card for the Apple IIGS, today announced the Apple IIGS VGA Adapter. The adapter lets you connect your Apple IIGS to a VGA monitor that supports 15 kHz. It consists of a DA-15 to DE-15 adapter with an integrated sync separator.

This is a great solution for those of us who have aging AppleColor RGB Monitors, or are just looking for a simple VGA solution. Unlike other solutions that require either modifications to the Apple IIGS motherboard, or soldering your own adapter together, this is truly plug and play.

The adapter has been tested and confirmed to work with a few Benq and Samsung monitors. It can also be used with monitors that do not support 15 kHz, by using the adapter in conjunction with a frequency upscaler such as the Gonbes GBS-8200. A list of supported monitors is maintained here.

The Apple IIGS VGA Adapter retails for $30, and is now available for purchase at https://manilagear.com/product/apple-iigs-vga-adapter.

For the Apple IIGS, nothing beats the picture quality of an AppleColor RGB Monitor. The next best thing is a compatible CRT, like the NEC MultiSync 3D. For most of us though, the best modern option is a VGA LED Monitor that supports 15 kHz. We’ve listed a few of them in the table below.

If you are able to find one of these monitors, you will also need two things:

First, you will need an adapter to physically convert the DA-15 connector of the Apple IIGS RGB port, to the standard DE-15 connector of a VGA monitor.

DA-15 Male Connector

DE-15 Female Connector

Second, you will need a sync separator. Some monitors, such as the Benq BL702A, work just fine with the composite sync signal from the Apple IIGS RGB port. Other monitors, like the Samsung SyncMaster 510N/512N and 710N/712N series of monitors, require a separate (vertical) sync signal.

LM1881 Video Sync Separator

The Apple IIGS VGA Adapter combines these into one adapter to get you beautifully sharp video. Easy!

Apple IIGS VGA Adapter with Sync Separator

Some monitors, such as particular revisions of the Dell 2001FP, have been reported to have 15 kHz support. However in our tests we so far have not been able to make it work unless we also use a frequency upscaler. We tried using the Dell 2001FP with the upscaler for a while, but we were never truly happy, until we found a Samsung SyncMaster 712N and used it with the Apple IIGS VGA Adapter.

Here’s our list of monitors indicating a “Yes” for those monitors that would need the Apple IIGS VGA Adapter:

Samsung SyncMaster 712N

Samsung SyncMaster 712N using an ordinary DA-15 to DE-15 adapter with no sync separator

Samsung SyncMaster 712N using the Apple IIGS VGA Adapter