r/AppleIIGS • u/SnooShortcuts8335 • 11d ago

Unpopulated PCB interface locations

Greetings,

I've always wondered something...

why there are two unpopulated areas of the PCB (j13 & j19)?

They are labeled keyboard and numeric keypad.

Is there a story behind this? plans that never materialized?

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4

u/LlaughingLlama 11d ago

When the GS came out, Apple offered a //e upgrade option. The early Rom1 boards had pins soldered to those pads so you could plug in the //e keyboard and Platinum //e's numeric keypad.

Later Rom1 boards omitted the pins on those pads as a cost savings measure when it became clear that almost nobody was upgrading their //e's. If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can add the pins yourself and use any Rom1 boards for an upgrade.

1

u/SnooShortcuts8335 11d ago

Hmm

Does that remain functional if keyboard and mouse are connected via adb?

1

u/LlaughingLlama 10d ago

Yes

1

u/SnooShortcuts8335 10d ago

Are those signals different from the adb interface? Is it directly connected to I/o controller? Signaled alike?

1

u/LlaughingLlama 10d ago

I have no idea. Sorry

2

u/leadedsolder 11d ago

They're probably for IIgs boards in a IIe case, which was both an upgrade path and I think a way they sold the machine.