If you know me, you probably know I have a passion for old computers, and for electronics, and I like creating things.
This is a project for a digital DVI/HDMI video cards for Apple IIc or IIc+. It directly produces a digital video stream from the Apple IIc's digital video output connector. The signal is output via an HDMI connector, connecting the Apple IIc to modern displays with HDMI (or DVI) inputs. No more analog signal conversion required.
In February of 2025 I traded a friend one of my 3D printers for his Apple IIc. I grew up as a Mac user and outside of using some Apple IIe computers in elementary school I don't have much experience with them.
Many modern inexpensive solutions to output digital video existed for slotted Apple II devices, but few current options existed for the Apple IIc's proprietary 15 pin video out port designed for Apple's LCD screen attachment. So I was very excited to discover that Mike Neil had just started working on software based on the A2DVI card, which I am quite familiar with. He had an early schematic in April.
I reached out and asked him if he would be ok with me working on a custom PCB design for his firmware, and he was very happy for me to do so (and others also have or are working on card designs of their own).
So I quickly threw together a prototype PCB that used a full Raspberry Pi Pico (Version 1 of the A2CDVI)
My first version was designed from Mike's schematic and mapping those through the the needed components found on the A2DVI card itself. It utilized a Raspberry Pi Pico device for simplicity, but the overall size was too big and it blocked access to the composite video
Version 2
Inspired by the working prototype, I decided I could make it MUCH smaller by implementing the RP2040 directly on the board. I started selling this on Tindie and have customers from all around the world, what an amazing and supportive community centered around this 41 year old computer!
Version 2.5
Mike of course had more great ideas and started working on how to add audio support. He and I collaborated on several ideas and he got good results from using the ADC on the Pico. He presented at Kansasfest 2025 all about Hacking the IIc and showed of some of that work on one of my v1 prototype boards.Of course, this needed some additional hardware changes to support this feature. So, this week we announced that his Version 1.8.0 Firmware adds this audio support, and my new Version 2.5 board is the first to support it! I also fixed a compatibility issue with some HDTVs that had been reported.
Availability
This card is in stock and available for purchase for $35USD plus shipping on my Tindie Store MrTechGadget's Gadgets
A2CDVI - New Digital Video option for Apple IIc and IIc+
If you know me, you probably know I have a passion for old computers, and for electronics, and I like creating things. This is a project for...
