Apple II clones

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The Jiama (嘉馬) SPS-109, a Taiwanese clone of the Apple II, looks almost identical to the Apple II and II+, including an identical case, color, and keyboard layout. The only noticeable physical difference is the label above the keyboard.

Apple II clones are computers that share functionality with the Apple II series but were not created by Apple. The Apple II home computer series was frequently cloned, both in the United States and abroad, in a similar way to the IBM PC. According to some sources (see below), more than 190 different models of Apple II clones were manufactured.[1] Most could not be legally imported into the United States.[2] Apple sued and sought criminal charges against clone makers in more than a dozen countries.[3]

Background[edit]

Many Apple II clones had fruit-related names, without explicitly stating that they were Apple II clones. An example was Pineapple, who Apple successfully forced to change its name to "Pinecom".

Agat was a series of Apple II compatible computers produced in the Soviet Union between 1984 and 1993, widely used in schools in the 80's. The first mass-produced models, the Agat 4 and Agat 7, had different memory layouts and video modes from Apple II, which made them only partially compatible with Apple II software.

Agats were not direct clones of Apple II, but rather uniquely designed computers based on 6502 CPU and emulated Apple II architecture. That helped developers to port Apple II software titles to Agat. A later model, the Agat 9, had an Apple II compatibility mode out of the box. Soviet engineers and enthusiasts developed thousands of software titles for Agat, including system software, business applications and educational software.[4]

Bulgarian Pravetz series 8 was an Apple II clone with Cyrillic support.[5]

Basis, a German company, created the Basis 108,[6] a clone for the Apple II that included both a 6502 processor and the Zilog Z80, allowing it to run the CP/M operating system as well as most Apple II software. This machine was unusual in that it was housed in a heavy cast aluminum chassis. The Basis 108 was equipped with built-in Centronics (parallel) and RS232c (serial) ports, as well as the standard six Apple II compatible slots. Unlike the Apple II it came with a detached full-stroke keyboard (AZERTY/QWERTY) of 100 keys plus 15 function keys and separate numeric and editing keypads.[citation needed]

Another European Apple II clone was the Pearcom Pear II, which was larger than the original as it sported not eight but fourteen expansion slots. It also had a numerical keypad. Pearcom initially used a pear shaped rainbow logo, but stopped after Apple threatened to take legal action.[7]

A Bosnian company named IRIS Computers (subsidiary of an electric company in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yugoslavia’s ENERGOINVEST) produced Apple II clones starting in the early 1980s. Their official brand name was IRIS 8. They were very expensive and hard to obtain and were produced primarily for use in early computerized digital telephone systems and for education. Their use in offices of state companies, R&D labs and in the Yugoslav army was also reported. IRIS 8 machines looked like early IBM PCs, with a separate central unit accompanied by a cooling system and two 5.25-inch disks, monitor, and keyboard. Compatibility with the original Apple II was complete. Elite high schools in Yugoslavia and especially Bosnia and Herzegovina were equipped with clusters of 8, 16, or 32 IRIS 8 computers connected in a local network administrated by an IRIS 16 PC clone. Between 10,000 to 20,000 IRIS 8s are believed to have been produced.[citation needed]

An Australian-produced clone of the Apple II was the Medfly, named after the Mediterranean fruit fly that attacks apples. The Medfly computer featured a faster processor, more memory, detached keyboard, lower and upper case characters, and a built-in disk controller.[citation needed]

Until 1992 in Brazil, it was illegal to import microcomputers. Because of that, the illegal cloning industry of Apple II-based computers was strong there. In the early 1980s, there were around 20 different clones of Apple II Plus computers in that country, all of them using illegally copied software and hardware (since the Apple II and II Plus used commonly available TTL integrated circuits). Some of the names include Elppa ("Apple" spelled backwards), Maxtro, Exato MC4000 (by CCE), AP II (by Unitron), and even an "Apple II Plus" (manufactured by a company called Milmar, which was using the name illegally). There were only two clones of the Apple IIe, since it used custom IC chips that could not be copied, and therefore had to be reverse-engineered and developed in-country. These clones were the TK3000 IIe by Microdigital and Exato IIe by CCE. In addition, the Laser IIc was manufactured by Milmar and, despite the name, was a clone of the Apple II Plus, not of the Apple IIc, although it had a design similar to that of the Apple IIc, with an integrated floppy controller and 80-column card, but without an integrated floppy disk drive.[citation needed]

The Ace clones from Franklin Computer Corporation were the best known Apple II clones and had the most lasting impact, as Franklin copied Apple's ROMs and software and freely admitted to doing so. Franklin's response was that a computer's ROM was simply a pattern of switches locked into a fixed position, and one cannot copyright a pattern of switches. Apple fought Franklin in court for about five years to get its clones off the market, and was ultimately successful when a court ruled that software stored in ROM was in fact copyrightable in the US. (See Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp.) Franklin later released non-infringing but less-compatible clones; these could run ProDOS and AppleWorks and had an Applesoft-like BASIC, but compatibility with other software was hit-or-miss.[citation needed]

Apple also challenged VTech's Laser 128 in court. The Laser 128 was an enhanced clone of the Apple IIc first released in 1984. This suit proved less fruitful for Apple, because VTech had reverse-engineered the Monitor ROM rather than copying it and had licensed Applesoft BASIC from its creator, Microsoft. Apple had neglected to obtain exclusive rights to the Applesoft dialect of BASIC from Microsoft; VTech was the first cloner to license it. The Laser 128 proved popular and remained on the market for many years, both in its original form and in accelerated versions that ran faster than 1 MHz. Although it was not fully compatible with the Apple II, it was close, and its popularity ensured that most major developers tested their software on a Laser as well as on genuine Apple machines. Because it was frequently sold via mail order and mass-market retailers such as Sears, the Laser 128 cut into the sales of low-cost competitors such as Commodore Business Machines as much as it did Apple's.[citation needed]

While the first Apple II clones were generally exact copies of their Apple counterparts that competed mainly on price, many clones had extra capabilities too. A Franklin model, the Ace 1000, sported a numeric keypad and lower-case long before these features were added to the Apple II line. The Laser 128 series is sometimes credited with spurring Apple to release the Apple IIc Plus; the built-in 31⁄2-inch drive and accelerated processor were features Laser had pioneered. The Laser 128 also had a IIe-style expansion slot on the side that could be used to add peripheral cards.[citation needed]

Bell & Howell, an audiovisual equipment manufacturer whose products (particularly film projectors) were ubiquitous in American schools, offered what appeared at first glance to be an Apple II Plus clone in a distinctive black plastic case. However, these were in fact real Apple II Plus units manufactured by Apple for B&H for a brief period of time. Many schools had a few of these Black Apples in their labs.[citation needed]

ITT made the ITT 2020, a licensed Apple II Plus clone, in the UK. It has the same shape as the Apple II but was matte silver (it was sometimes known as the "silver Apple") and was not an exact copy functionally.[8] The ITT2020 produced a PAL video signal for the European market, where the domestic US market used NTSC.[9] Software using the BIOS worked correctly on both the Apple and ITT, but software written to access the Apple's display hardware directly, bypassing the BIOS, displayed with vertical stripes on the ITT 2020. The Apple II itself was later introduced in the UK, and both the Apple II and ITT 2020 were sold for a time, the ITT at a lower price.[citation needed]

Syscom 2 Inc (from Carson City, NV) created the Syscom 2 Apple II+ clone. The case looked nearly identical. It had 48 KB of RAM and the normal expansion capabilities. These clones also supported lower case characters, toggled with a ^O keystroke.[citation needed]

An unknown company produced a clone called the RX-8800. One new feature it had was a numeric keypad.[10]

The SEKON, made in Taiwan, had the same color plastic case as an Apple II, sported 48 KB of RAM standard, and a lower-uppercase switch, located where the power light indicator was typically situated on Apple II's. Additionally, it featured a 5-amp power supply which supplied ample power for add-on cards. SEKON avoided shipments being confiscated by US Customs, by shipping their computers without ROMs, leaving it to the dealers to populate the boards upon arrival to their private stores. Often these machines would boot up with a familiar logo of the Apple II after the dealers removed E-proms of original Apple ROMs and added them in. The reason for such activity was so that users could obtain a fully Apple-compatible clone for usually around US$600, as opposed to US$2500 from Apple.[citation needed]

Norwegian company West Computer AS introduced an Apple II clone West PC-800 in 1984.[11] The computer was designed as an alarm center allowing use of several CPUs (6502, Z80, 8086, 68000) and operating systems.[12]

Expansion cards[edit]

Although not technically a clone, Quadram produced an add-in ISA card, called the Quadlink, that provided hardware emulation of an Apple II+ for the IBM PC.[13] The card had its own 6502 CPU and dedicated 80 K RAM (64 K for applications, plus 16 K to hold a reverse-engineered Apple ROM image, loaded at boot-time), and installed "between" the PC and its floppy drive(s), color display, and speaker, in a pass-through configuration. This allowed the PC to operate in a dual-boot fashion: when booted through the Quadlink, the PC could run the majority of Apple II software, and read and write Apple-formatted floppies through the standard PC floppy drive.[14] Because it had a dedicated processor, rather than any form of software emulation, this system ran at nearly the same speed as an equivalent Apple machine.[15][16]

Another company, Diamond Computer Systems, produced a similar series of cards called the Trackstar, that had a dual pair of 6502 CPUs, and ran Apple II software using an Apple licensed ROM. The original Trackstar (and "128" and "Plus" model) was Apple II Plus compatible, while the "Trackstar E", Apple IIe compatible. The original offered 64K of usable Apple II RAM, while the other models 128K RAM (192K is on board, with the additional memory reserved for the Trackstar itself). The original Trackstar also contained a Z80 CPU, allowing it to run both Apple DOS and Apple CP/M software,[17] however the newer Trackstar models did not, and thus dropped CP/M compatibility. The Trackstar also had a connector allowing use of an actual Apple floppy drive, which enhanced its compatibility with software that took advantage of Apple hardware for copy-protection.[citation needed]

North American clones[edit]

United States[edit]

Canada[edit]

  • Apco
  • Arcomp
    • Super 400
    • Super 800
  • CV-777
  • Golden II (Spiral)
  • Logistics
    • Arrow 1000
    • Arrow 2000
  • Mackintosh
  • Microcom II+
  • Microcom IIe
  • MIPC
  • O.S. Micro Systems
    • OS-21
    • OS-22
  • Orange Computers Orangepeel
  • Peach Microcomputer

El Salvador[edit]

  • Computer Data Systems: Tarjeta Apple II CDS-A2COMP: Expansion card for the Atlacatl Home Computer released in 1982

Brazilian clones[edit]

Chinese clones[edit]

China[edit]

  • China Education Computer
    • CEC-I
    • CEC-M
    • CEC-G
    • CEC-E
    • CEC-2000
  • Venus II Series (Apple II+ Clone)
    • Venus IIA
    • Venus IIB
  • ChangJiang-I (Apple II+ Clone)
  • DJS-033 Series (Apple II+ Clone)
  • DJS-033e Series (Apple IIe Clone)

Hong Kong[edit]

  • ACC 8000 (a.k.a. Accord 8000)
  • Basis Medfly
  • CTC (Computer Technologies Corporation)
    • Wombat[3]
    • Wombat AB
    • Wombat Professional
  • Pineapple Computers
    • Pineapple 48K Color Computer[22] (or "ananas")
    • Pineapple DP-64E
  • Teleco Electronics
    • ATEX 2000 Personal Computer
  • VTech (Video Technology)

Taiwan[edit]

  • AP Computer
    • BAT 250
  • Chia-ma SPS-109
  • Chin Hsin Industrial
    • RX-8800
  • Copam Electronics
    • Base 48
    • Base 64
    • Base 64A
    • Base 64D
  • Fugu Elite 5
  • Golden Formosa Microcomputer
    • Golden II
  • Happy Home Computer Co.
    • Multi-System
  • I.H. Panda
    • CAT-100
    • CAT-200
    • CAT-400
  • IMC
    • IMC-320
    • IMC-480 [23]
    • IMC-640
    • IMC-640E [24]
    • IMC-2001 (with officially licensed DOS 3.3 from Apple; after battle in court IMC Taiwan got an agreement with Apple to officially license them DOS 3.3) [25]
    • IMC Fox
    • IMC Junior [26][27]
    • IMC Portcom II [28]
  • Lazar II
  • Mitac
    • LIC-2001A/LIC-2001 (Little Intelligent Computer)
    • LIC-3001 (Little Intelligent Computer)
  • Multitech
  • Panda 64
  • Rakoa Computer
    • Rakoa I
  • SMC-II MCAD (Microcomputer Aided Design System)
  • Sages Computer Zeus 2001
  • Surwave Electronics
    • Amigo 202
    • Amigo 505
  • The Jow Dian Enterprise
    • ZD-103 (The ZD 8/16 Personal Computer)
  • Unitron U2000
  • Unitron U2200

European clones[edit]

Austria[edit]

  • Zema Twin

Bulgaria[edit]

France[edit]

  • 3CI Robot (non-Apple II clone, but comes with a dedicated cash register for hairdressing salons)
  • TMS Vela (TMS means Troyes Micro Service)

Germany[edit]

  • Basis Microcomputer GmbH
    • Basis 108
    • Basis 208
  • Blaupunkt
    • Blaupunkt Apple II
  • Citron II
  • CSC Euro 1000
  • CSC Euro Plus
  • CSC Euro Profi
  • CSC Euro Super
  • ComputerTechnik Space 83
  • ComputerTechnik SK-747/IBS Space-83
  • Eurocon II
  • Eurocon II+
  • ITT 2020 (Europlus)
  • Precision Echo Phase II (Basis 108 with a light milk chocolate brown case)

Greece[edit]

Italy[edit]

The Netherlands[edit]

  • AVT Electronics
  • Computer Hobbyvereniging Eindhoven
  • Pearcom
    • Pear II

Norway[edit]

Poland[edit]

  • Lidia

Spain[edit]

  • Katson
  • Katson II

Yugoslavia[edit]

  • Ananas
  • Marta kompjuteri

Israel[edit]

  • General 48A
  • General 64A
  • RMC Kosmos 285
  • Spring (sold, inter alia, in Israel)
  • Winner 64K
  • Elite //E

East Asian clones[edit]

Japan[edit]

  • Akihabara Japple[32]
  • Honda Computers (also known as Pete Perkins Apple) it used a custom Vectorio motherboard with a custom user EPROM socket (shown on Thames Television in 1984)[33]
  • Wakou Marvel 2000 [2]

Singapore[edit]

  • Creative Labs CUBIC-88
  • Creative Labs CUBIC-99
  • Lingo 128 Personal Computer [3]

South Korea[edit]

  • Hyosung PC-8000
  • Sambo TriGem20
  • Sambo Busicom SE-6003
  • E-Haeng Cyborg-3
  • Zungwon HART
  • Champion-86XT [4]
  • Sanho ACME 2000

Australian clones[edit]

  • Dick Smith Cat (VTech Laser 3000)[34]
  • Energy Control 128. Came with a 128k ROM with Forth built in. Needed a hardware modification to run ProDos.

Soviet clones[edit]

  • Agat
    • Agat-4
    • Agat-7
    • Agat-8
    • Agat-9

Unknown models[edit]

Other models[edit]

  • AES easy3
  • AMI II
  • Aloha 50
  • Aton II
  • Bimex
  • BOSS-1
  • Elppa II
  • General 64
  • Iris 8
  • Ivel Z3
  • Lingo 8
  • MCP
  • Mango II
  • Mind II
  • Multi-system computer
  • Orange
  • Shuttle (computer)
  • Space II
  • Tiger TC-80A

Plug-in Apple II compatibility boards[edit]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "12-The Apple II Abroad / Clones". 2012-01-27. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  2. ^ Mitchell, Peter W. (1983-09-06). "A summer-CES report". Boston Phoenix. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2021-02-09. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Caruso, Denise (1984-01-23). "Customs officials seize 400 fake Apple Computers". InfoWorld. p. 17. Archived from the original on 2023-03-10. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  4. ^ Walgenbach, Stefan. "HCM: East European Home Computers". Archived from the original on April 9, 2010. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
  5. ^ "The Museum". Old-Computers.Com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016.
  6. ^ "The Museum". Old-Computers.Com. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  7. ^ "Pear II advert". Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  8. ^ "ITT 2020 (Europlus clone)". Vintagemacworld.com. February 14, 2004. Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  9. ^ "comment from a designer of the 2020". Apple-history.com. Archived from the original on November 3, 2006. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  10. ^ "RX-8800". www.classic-computers.org.nz. Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  11. ^ "Datarevolusjon i Molde". rbnett.no. Guardian Media Group. 20 November 2018. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  12. ^ Gulbrandsen, Eirik (April–May 1985). "West PC-800 en talentfull maskin" (PDF). Mikrodata (in Norwegian). Vol. 3, no. 3. Computerworld Norge. pp. 8–12. ISSN 0800-269X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  13. ^ "Quadlink by Quadram – put an Apple II in you PC". Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
  14. ^ "Quadram Quips (sales flyer)". Quadram. Archived from the original on February 16, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
  15. ^ Arrants, Stephen (December 1983). "The new blue Apple; Quadlink makes your IBM think it's an Apple". Creative Computing. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
  16. ^ Lombardi, John V (1983). Review: Quadlink. InfoWorld. Archived from the original on 2023-03-10. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
  17. ^ Lockwood, Russ (November 1985). "Build a better computer; a look at some new, interesting, and affordable additions for your IBM PC". Creative Computing. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
  18. ^ "Look at Albert and See the Future". BYTE (advertisement). October 1983. pp. 264–265. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  19. ^ Gross, Steve (August 26, 1983b). "Computers will be deported, but firm has substitute". Minneapolis Star and Tribune: 5B, 10B. Archived from the original on March 10, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Staff writer (February 21, 1983a). "Computer grab is case of Apples, Oranges". St. Cloud Times: 2C. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Pournelle, Jerry (June 1983). "Zenith Z-100, Epson QX-10, Software Licensing, and the Software Piracy Problem". BYTE. Vol. 8, no. 6. p. 411. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  22. ^ Advertisement (August 1982). "Introducing the Pineapple". BYTE. p. 322. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  23. ^ "IMC-480 (Apple II Clone)". Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  24. ^ "IMC with two new two CPU machines with Apple licens (in Norwegian)". Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  25. ^ "Swedish computer magazine, 1984, page 7" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-02. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  26. ^ "Apple Clone/IMC Jr System disks". Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  27. ^ "IMC with two new two CPU machines with Apple licens (in Norwegian)". Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  28. ^ "iMC Portcom II". 8 July 2016. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  29. ^ (in Bulgarian) The history... Facts concerning Bulgarian microcomputers
  30. ^ "More Bytes Per Dollar". BYTE (advertisement). December 1982. p. 33. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  31. ^ "Microdata nr. 3- 1985" (PDF). Microdata. 3: 64. Winter 1985. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  32. ^ "快適appleII計画 clone". Archived from the original on 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  33. ^ "Japanese home computers". Database. Thames Television. 1984-06-07. Archived from the original on 2019-08-19.
  34. ^ "The CAT". www.applelogic.org. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
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