Richard2112

No, I do not remember and not sure if I have one of these assembled to check against. Just guessing, I would say J2 is DTR since it triggers pin 40 on the Z8 and it is labeled DTR. Since Tx is not needed, I would assume J3 is Rx, plus it is tied to pin 5 which is labeled SIN (signal in?). That would leave J4 and J5 as GND.

It will take a while, but let me see what I can put together.

Hello DropCheck, I’m the guy (not gal) you were Private Messaging and it is your lucky day. Attached are pictures of the original pencil drawn schematics of the parallel buffer and the ink velum of the serial buffer. It’s a miracle that I still have these and was able to find them. My name is Richard Taylor and I was the warranty repair department, shipping department, prototype builder, janitor, etc.. at DDC (Digital Devices Corporation) while I was going to Georgia Tech in 1984/85. Paul Nodwell was the Engineer/part owner and we have not heard from him since we closed the doors. Oooooh the stories I could tell about the good ol’ days at DDC. It was an incredible experience for an aspiring young Engineer. My first two computers were a 400 and 2600, so Atari has been a huge part of my life. I love seeing old equipment resurrected and will help where I can. I’ll dig in to my boxes of stuff and see if I can revive some damaged brain cells, but I remember the original APEFace was a Z8601 with a separate EPROM. This later evolved into a custom CPU with the program burned in to an internal ROM. The original printer buffer never had a separate EPROM. I spoke with the other engineer years ago and he said there is a way to bypass the internal ROM and use it as a standalone 8601, but can’t remember how and have not heard from him in 20+ years. I still have 1000’s of these old chips, boards, and components. Richard

Hello Re-Atari, It's a crazy small world. I worked at Digital Devices between 1984 and when they closed in 1985. I was the warranty repair department, shipping department, I built test units, and anything else that was needed. By blind dumb luck, I came across your post. Although I do not have any of the original EPROMs, code, or schematics for the APE Face, I do have a huge pile of Z80's with the printer buffer ROMs built in. I also have circuit boards, schematics, and everything else needed to build them if needed. You are welcome to them if you want to build one. Let me know if you have any other questions. Richard