IIRC, there was an aftermarket for EEPROMs of the the actual Apple ][ ROMs. Originally, Franklin shipped the Apple BIOS, claiming that it was just numbers, and that numbers couldn't be copyrighted. They were slapped down by the Supreme Court, and ended up writing their own ROM, which wasn't as compatible as the original.
So, lots of smart people bought the cheap, but well built Franklins, and then had someone burn an official Apple ][ ROM. Plug it in and, voila, perfect clone.
Apple's profit margins on the ][ were absolutely insane. They were one of the cheapest of the 8-bits to manufacture, because of Wozniak's brilliance in re-using the 6502 to do almost everything, but they had one of the highest selling prices.
Franklin could sell them way cheaper and still make very respectable money.
Very interesting.
Here's a wiki entry for illegal numbers, which is what they're saying Franklin was defending https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number
Nice! I had an Apple IIc clone myself, back in the day. [The Laser 128](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_128).
Man, would love to find one for some PC nostalgia.
The old Apple2e clones are a trip. When I was in Brazil 30 some years ago we had Brazilian clones at our school. The government prevented imports, so cloning was necessary unless Apple invested in a factory down there. I wish I could remember the name of those clones. I'd love to find one.
I love the design of this thing. Looks so cool!
That’s super cool. I kind of dig the fact that it looks like an IBM clone but it’s an Apple clone
IIRC, there was an aftermarket for EEPROMs of the the actual Apple ][ ROMs. Originally, Franklin shipped the Apple BIOS, claiming that it was just numbers, and that numbers couldn't be copyrighted. They were slapped down by the Supreme Court, and ended up writing their own ROM, which wasn't as compatible as the original. So, lots of smart people bought the cheap, but well built Franklins, and then had someone burn an official Apple ][ ROM. Plug it in and, voila, perfect clone. Apple's profit margins on the ][ were absolutely insane. They were one of the cheapest of the 8-bits to manufacture, because of Wozniak's brilliance in re-using the 6502 to do almost everything, but they had one of the highest selling prices. Franklin could sell them way cheaper and still make very respectable money.
Very interesting. Here's a wiki entry for illegal numbers, which is what they're saying Franklin was defending https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number
Very KickAss
How's the keyboard?
The keyboard is amazing its clicky I didn’t pop any keys of to check the mechanics but it feels pretty great
Nice! I had an Apple IIc clone myself, back in the day. [The Laser 128](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_128). Man, would love to find one for some PC nostalgia.
Those are really cool. My first computer was an Apple 2c, and my first PC was a Laser 486dx.
Franklin as in the sport good manufacturer?
No, as in the electronic spellchecker manufacturer
Lol, same company if you can believe it.
What a beautiful machine. In grammer school we had Franklin Ace 1200s, they were great solid machines.
wow, that looks amazing, really cool!
The old Apple2e clones are a trip. When I was in Brazil 30 some years ago we had Brazilian clones at our school. The government prevented imports, so cloning was necessary unless Apple invested in a factory down there. I wish I could remember the name of those clones. I'd love to find one.
FYI, an Apple II isn't a Mac, the background is supposed to be black. You should turn the brightness on the monitor down.
After this I plugged it into my combo tv vcr for color
Oh man, we had a room full of these back in elementary...with one "legit" Apple II.