Name/Title
1983- Franklin ACE 1200 (3/2024)Tags
FranklinDescription
1983- Like the ACE 1000 from which it kept all its features, the Franklin ACE 1200 was completely compatible with the Apple II+. It was equipped from factory line with a Z80 board, a floppy disk controller board, a 80 columns board and a serial / parallel board that gave it the ability to also run all the software for the CP/M operating system. The box lid plugged the two floppy drives and the keyboard had typematic and lower case ability. The serial / parallel board experienced some compatibility flaws as printers connected to them weren't automatically recognized by Apple II management software. Franklin machines ran FDOS - Franklin DOS, which was compatible with DOS 3 from Apple, but had a lot of cool features such as built-in RAM disk, disk caching, loadable device drivers, shortened commands, support for hard drives, etc. In september 1983, Franklin lost a trial against Apple for counterfeiting ROM software from the Apple II and II+. Moreover the Apple IIe, launched a few time later with 2 special keys allowed to distinguish between true Apple and compatible machines. However, Franklin still produced Apple II and PC compatible computers (ACE-500, ACE-2000) for about two years before devoting them to pocket translators.Acquisition
Acquisition Method
EBayDate
Jan 19, 2008
