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Franklin Ace 1200 worth anything?

TanruNomad

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
563
Location
San Diego, CA
Came across one of these, but know little about their current market value or rarity. Are they fairly common? I checked ebay (open and completed) and came up with nothing, but maybe its just an off month.
 
They are fairly uncommon - the 1200 is the same machine as the 1000, only with a different top cover, allowing two 5 1/4" floppy drives to be mounted "internally".

It's a very interesting machine, and it's fully Apple II+ compatible. The motherboard has a built in language card, so it has a full 64k of RAM. The machine does not, however, produce color, unless it has the color option board fitted (goes over the front of the motherboard, under the keyboard)

Also, it's highly unlikely the keyboard works properly - it uses the Keytronic capacitive keyboard, with the foam disc contacts. I have a 1000 and I had to rebuild the whole keyboard, making new little foam discs.

As far as value - I'd say it is worth more than a IIe or something (since it's far more interesting), but it's not worth a ton. Maybe $50.

-Ian
 
They are fairly uncommon - the 1200 is the same machine as the 1000, only with a different top cover, allowing two 5 1/4" floppy drives to be mounted "internally".

It's a very interesting machine, and it's fully Apple II+ compatible. The motherboard has a built in language card, so it has a full 64k of RAM. The machine does not, however, produce color, unless it has the color option board fitted (goes over the front of the motherboard, under the keyboard)

Also, it's highly unlikely the keyboard works properly - it uses the Keytronic capacitive keyboard, with the foam disc contacts. I have a 1000 and I had to rebuild the whole keyboard, making new little foam discs.

As far as value - I'd say it is worth more than a IIe or something (since it's far more interesting), but it's not worth a ton. Maybe $50.

-Ian
Cool, thanks for the info. This model has 2 drives installed internally like you mentioned. Based on your description of the keyboard, it reminds me of my Compaq Portable's keyboard issues. I had to replace the padding (or lack thereof) on several of my keys. I just used small pieces of paper that I cut to fit the contacts, and glue (I know, it sounds bad), but works perfect now.
 
Yeah, the keyboard is an annoyance. Give it a try, it might still work - but it probably does not. About half the keys worked on mine, and they would get worse as they were used.

I had a machinist friend make me a little punch, and I glued together foam, a plastic backing, and suitable mylar, then punched little discs out of it to rebuild the keyboard. It worked well. Tedious tough.

The Ace is a really cool machine. I like it a lot. Be warned that you do have to patch ProDOS to run, since it actually checks the poweron logo to be sure it says "APPLE", and not "ACE" or something else.

-Ian
 
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