Apple II keyboards

Scott Austin us21090 at yahoo.com
Thu Dec 11 13:23:27 CST 2008


All,

I'm looking for a final accurate answer.

When the Apple II's came out, the keyboard had a power-light that looked like a lit up key at the keyboard's lower left corner, below the shift key.

Apple II+'s had a power-light that was (nearly) flush with the case.
See these for comparison:
http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/ads/ads/appleii/howto2.jpg
http://www.computercloset.org/apple2Plus.htm

The question:  Did Apple ever produce II's with this flush-power-light keyboard?

I know the II and II+ lines were sold concurrently, so it doesn't
surprise me if, for a time, the hardware was identical.  All I've read
(and which sounds definitive) the only initial difference was the
ROMs.    See the 1980 price list mid page two: http://www.barse.org/blog/archives/apple1980pricelist.pdf .  In time, the II+'s motherboard's did go through changes 

Other, slightly related info
It has an Apple II 16K model #: A2S0016.
The motherboard is a Rev 4, which, if I understand it correctly, was used for both II and II+'s.
The silkscreen on the MB near the "apple computer inc" text (above ROMs) says 1978.
The manufacture date code (handprinted on MB corner near slot 0) is 7928-- 28th week (mid July) 1979.
It has the AppleSoft/Auto-Start ROMs, but these were available as an upgrade. (The previous owner also added memory to 48K plus a language card).
Oh yeah, the previous owner lost the lid!!

All this is consistent with it being an Apple II.  BUT one kicker is that the keyboard has a (nearly) flush power light that are used in II+'s. 

Thanks,
Scott


      


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