Apple //e mainboards networked and boxed: the Applecrate

The Applecrate: a box full of networked Apple //e mainboards, just because:

At the outset, when designing NadaNet, I envisioned that it could be used to support parallel computing on Apple II machines. To add more processors and save space, I decided that I would package several Apple //e main boards together, without keyboards or peripheral slot cards. (I didn't disassemble the Apples myself, but found a box of Apple //e main boards being sold as an auction lot for about a dollar each!) I settled on a wooden cube about one foot on a side which I slotted to hold up to 8 main boards. For whimsical reasons, I called it an "AppleCrate".

The boards are powered by a PC power supply (out of sight, with only its power switch showing in the picture). They are connected only to the network using the RCA connector on the lower right in front, described below. It is also possible to connect one or more monitors to their video ports. In the picture it is connected to machine $06.

I had originally hoped to use the board edge connectors (front edge) that Apple used at burn-in to power the boards, but discovered that different board revisions have different edge connections, and none have all the voltages normally supplied. I therefore decided to use threaded rods as power busses (on the bottom) and signal busses (on the top).

The usual mode of operation is to connect the AppleCrate to a more fully configured "master" Apple //e using NadaNet. The Master boots the eight Apples in the AppleCrate and uses them to do work. Once they have been booted and started, they can run independently of the master–though they are clearly I/O-constrained!

Link

(via Joshua)