Four years after Apple introduced its computer, Franklin Computer Corporation thought to duplicate Apple’s achievement and released its first computer, the Franklin Ace 100.
The ACE 100 was a pure copy of the Apple II. The main board had quite the same design and the ROM content was also exactly identical, aside from the Apple copyright which was removed!
Nevertheless, it supported some features that were missing in the Apple II, lower-case letters, and a numeric keypad. The ACE 100 had a short life, hardly one year, and was soon replaced by the ACE 1000
It found however one's place in computing history when Apple took legal action against Franklin for counterfeiting and the US Court of Appeals eventually decided in August 1983 that computer programs in ROMs could legally be copyrighted.
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NAME
ACE 100
MANUFACTURER
Franklin
TYPE
Professional Computer
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1981
END OF PRODUCTION
1982
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
AppleSoft BASIC
KEYBOARD
Typewriter style, 73 keys with numeric keypad
CPU
6502
SPEED
1 MHz
RAM
48 KB - Allowed for a 16 KB Language card
ROM
12 KB
TEXT MODES
40 columns x 24 lines
GRAPHIC MODES
40 x 48 / 208 x 160 / 280 x 192 dots
COLORS
Monochrome
SOUND
1 voice - Built-in speaker
SIZE / WEIGHT
Unknown
I/O PORTS
Joystick, 8 Apple II compatible slots (No tape recorder jacks)
