DClock

The DClock project was started by James Littlejohn of 8bitsystem.com around the beginning of 2008. On February 2008 A2Central.com posted an announcement from James that he was working on the DClock project.

History

James consulted with Henry of ReActiveMicro about the project in early 2008. Earlier that year James obtained a DClock board. He planned to clone it and sell them through the ReActiveMicro Store as he had with all his previous projects. Since ReActiveMicro buys ICs in bulk, James asked if Henry could source the DS1215 Clock IC used on the DClock. Henry managed to find a deal on 50 units in SOIC form which he purchased and sent to James on April 22nd, 2008.

When they had previously spoken, James didn't seem to have an issue with updating the old DClock design to use an SOIC. He later stated that he couldn't use the SMT ICs and was abandoning the project.

In mid 2014 Anthony of UltimateApple2.com consulted with Henry about the DClock project. James had sent Anthony the unpopulated DClock PCB. Anthony was looking to possibly continue the project where James left off, however without any CAD or circuit design experience he quickly realized that Henry's assistance would be needed, and this could possibly be another joint Ultimate-Micro project.

Anthony sent the DClock PCB to Henry who started to produce a schematic. Henry also took some time to show Anthony how EZ-PC CAD software worked using the DClock as an example. Henry however had control over the project and managed to fully complete it in design form about July 2014. After a bunch of testing with the original PCB it was deemed that there's a very small market for the DClock. Unfortunately the user would be required to also have an Apple IIc 1Meg RAM Card installed since the DClock attaches to the RAM Card and not the IIc. So at this point the project was abandoned.

For a time Henry was also under the impression that the Apple IIc 1Meg RAM Card was an Auxiliary RAM Card much like the RAMWorks card is for the IIe. He later found out that this was incorrect and it's more like the RAMFactor. Henry had ideas of incorporating the DClock design in to a RAMWorks project, however this would require a new patch for ProDOS and new setup software. Everyone Henry contacted to help with this part of the project showed no interest in helping or was unable to complete any work if they started. Although possible, Henry postponed this idea till someone becomes available and willing to help code and test.

The work that Henry put in to the DClock project was not wasted. It the inspiration for and spured the No-Slot Clock project. Once Henry understood how the DClock worked he was able to see how a new and better No-Slot Clock design could be produced. When Henry started the No-Slot Clock project he purchased the DS1215 Clock ICs from James on June 13th, 2014.

Links

• More Pics, Docs, Software, and Info
• 

  ReActiveMicro's DClock Schematic

• 

  Old Server DClock Folder

• 

  New Server DClock Folder