Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#1

Post by freediver » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 3:19 PM UTC

Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters
vintagecomputing.com

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#2

Post by js2 » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

Videx lower case chip to the rescue:

http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/documentat...

Another amazing bit of kit by Videx was a replacement keyboard controller called the Enhancer II:

https://archive.org/details/Videx_Enhancer_II_Installation_a...

The Enhancer II included the lower case chip.

Videx also made an 80 column peripheral card for the Apple II. The company is still around:

https://videx.com/

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#3

Post by fattire » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

Some of the Apple clones, such as the Franklin ACE models and others, offered lowercase.

Do a quick search for "apple II shift key mod" and you'll find vintage PDF instructions for adding it yourself..

https://archive.org/stream/II_II-Shift-Key_Modification/II_I...

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#4

Post by varbhat » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:11 PM UTC

I don't know why but interest of computer community shifted from uppercase letters to lowercase letters over the course of time.

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#5

Post by hisham_hm » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:14 PM UTC

varbhat wrote: post #4

I don't know why but interest of computer community shifted from uppercase letters to lowercase letters over the course of time.

Because Unix won. Other contemporary OSes, like IBM's VM on mainframes, DEC's VMS, Digital Research CP/M and even Microsoft's MS-DOS and so on all favored uppercase.

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#6

Post by hisham_hm » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:15 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #2

Videx lower case chip to the rescue: http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/documentat... Another amazing bit of kit by Videx was a replacement keyboard controller called the Enhancer II: https://archive.org/details/Videx_Enhancer_II_Installation_a... The Enhancer II included the lower case chip. Videx also made an 80 column peripheral card for the Apple II. The company is still around: https://videx.com/

Didn't the Apple II feature lowercase by the time of the IIe? My Brazilian clone of the II+ included the lowercase mod stock (even including Brazilian accented characters such as ç and ã).

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#7

Post by rogueresearch » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:17 PM UTC

Later versions of the Apple II line did eventually support uppercase. I forget which had it first, but the IIgs certainly did.

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#8

Post by fiddlerwoaroof » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:19 PM UTC

varbhat wrote: post #4

I don't know why but interest of computer community shifted from uppercase letters to lowercase letters over the course of time.

For me, it’s mostly because uppercase letters either require toggling capslock or holding shift.

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#9

Post by baggy_trough » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

varbhat wrote: post #4

I don't know why but interest of computer community shifted from uppercase letters to lowercase letters over the course of time.

If you look at any normal written text, most of it is lowercase.

Re: Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters

#10

Post by Finnucane » Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

rogueresearch wrote: post #7

Later versions of the Apple II line did eventually support uppercase. I forget which had it first, but the IIgs certainly did.

The II+ was basically a II with support for lowercase and 80-column lines added by means of an expansion card.