Museum

Peripheral Cards - Apple: "Applesoft Firmware Card"

When the original Apple II was introduced, it came with Integer BASIC in ROM. After Applesoft BASIC (floating point) was introduced, it could be loaded in RAM, but that cut down on the available space for programs. The Apple II Firmware card plugged into Slot 0, and paralleled the upper 8K of memory in the Apple II, replacing the Integer BASIC and original Monitor ROM space with Applesoft BASIC and a slightly newer Monitor ROM. It was switched originally with a toggle switch on the card itself, but later versions were switched via a software-based "toggle" that involved writing (storing) a byte to a specific address in memory.