Don't forget the Laser 128 -- it is an almost 100% compatible Apple IIc clone, and it was popular enough that most later Apple II software specifically supported it.
This was exactly my first *real* computer... thought my family was the shizznit with the duodisk setup... ('cept we had a green monochrome... no color)
I still have my Apple II+, IIe, and a pair of IIc's. Unfortunately, the II+'s power supply is dead, and I only have one power brick for the IIc's, but other than that they work. Had to do a bit of repair work to the IIe a few years ago (a RAM chip went bad at some point) and I have no idea what happened to the 80 column/64k memory expansion card. I've also got a highly modified IIe (or is it a II+? I forget which...) that was built to the Tempest anti-emissions standards. Came with a lot of extra goodies, including a Corvus hard drive, custom keyboard with built in joystick, printer, color monitor, and a VCR for backing up the hard drive onto VHS tapes (Weird, huh?). All packed in custom heavily shielded cases and using a weird 3-point variant of the BNC connector. Sadly, it's in sad shape and we never really got it running. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to cleaning it up and getting it going, though I doubt I'll be able to save the hard drive.
I feel the most important thing is to get the power supply upgrade from Reactive Micro. Not a plug. But if you want to use a II, II+, IIe, IIgs, Platinum, on a daily basis you are going to want this. The original power supply will smoke at some point, and you don't want to run the risk of damaging the rest of the machine.
Excellent video! I have had a IIGS for a few years (found it at Goodwill!) and I absolutely love it, but I wanted one of the original-case-design Apple IIs, so I got a IIe enhanced. I wanted a IIe enhanced over a Platinum because I prefer the older style cosmetics. I also made sure it had the RAM expansion, disk controller and super serial card before I purchased it.
A few comments. The IIc can boot off of Floppy emulators. There's two ways to do this. The easiest is to just hook it up internally to the internal floppy connector. (Floppy Emu supports this). The other way is to Install the newly released Rom 4x, that restores booting off of external drives. It's available on github at github.com/mgcaret/rom4x and make a couple minor modifications to the motherboard so it'll accept 32K ROMS. Option 2 is a bit harder, since you'll have to burn your own ROM. I don't _think_ anyone currently sells this. When first looking into Apple 8-bits, I wanted to buy a IIgs for largely the reasons you spelled out. After looking into it a bit, there were three things that killed it for me. 1. Price The IIgs looks inexpensive... until you realize that most don't come with a keyboard. A keyboard that's itself is at least $100, maybe $140. The IIGs itself is at least $100, so you're now at $240 just to get started. That doesn't include any disk at all, since the disk is internal. So add on another $100, for $300-$340, all just to get something that will boot an OS. So ultimately I decided it wasn't worth it to pay so much for an old retro-machine. I bought a IIc for $150 that had an external floppy and power supply. Assuming the floppy works, I can sell it on ebay for maybe $30--$40. $100 vs $300 just to get in the door is a big difference. 2. Experience As you said, the added experience of the IIgs just looked like running a Mac, which doesn't appeal to me at all. I decided any extra time, effort any money on re-capturing the 16 bit era should go into the Atari ST, which I've long heard about, but never actually ran. I _think_ there might be more games for the ST than for the IIgs in full gs mode. 3. Size I much prefer the size of the IIc. For most people this isn't something they're going to use a whole lot, so it winds up taking valuable space The IIc you can tuck away somewhere and pull it out when needed. That's quite a bit harder with the IIgs with the larger box, + keyboard. So "better" is often a matter of perspective. The IIgs is more attractive because it can run more software, which is what originally drew me to it. But the other advantages of the IIc made me ultimately decide to buy a IIc.
To piggyback off of this, BMOW now also has a drive switcher for their Floppy Emu, that allows you to select which drive you want to be bootable. Useful if you have a mix of old disks and emulated images you want to run, as you won't have to crack open the case every time you want to switch which drive is drive 1. Because it's physically switching the address for each drive, it doesn't matter which ROM your Apple IIc is running (as long as you're emulating the 5.25" floppy drive).
Apple computers were always very expensive. I remember back in the early eighties going to flee markets and seeing people selling Apple 2 clones. I never had access to an Apple computer, we had Commodore PET's in high school and the Atari 800 or Commodore 64 at home.
As an Apple II collector, A small warning on the standard A2 power supplies: There's a foil capacitor in them that has a tendency to catch fire after all these years. The machine still works but it will not be pleasant.
A friend fired to show me Demos he wrote in the late 80's, While demoing this cap Melted down, Absolutely stank however it didn't become unstable or do any damage
Excellent video! Apple IIc was also my first computer and took me all the way through college. I love what you did with the title screens in the video. You captured the font AND the correct shade of red in the Apple manuals. I spent many a day reading the AppleWorks literature learning how to use the database so I could categorize my baseball card collection. Because of these experiences I feel our generation is unique in that we have seen and lived the widest spectrum of technological advancement. Great job!
I’m young so I wasn’t around when the apple 2 came out or when any of the older style computers came out for that matter so could you tell me what computers were used for before the internet came out because it’s hard to imagine a computer being used for anything else really
Amazingly computers now do what computers back then laid the groundwork for. Just to name a few things: 1. Gaming! 2. Word processing/Desktop Publishing - Being able to type out a letter in its entirety and THEN print it out was a BIG deal. We literally had to spell check manually using a dictionary (no really an actual book sitting next to us to look up words) But, we learned spelling, grammar, sentence and paragraph structure and how to avoid run-on sentences ; ) You could add graphics, clipart etc. and now schools, churches, organizations had a way of creating, printing, and distributing their newsletters. Information sharing took off. 3. Spreadsheets/Databases - Accounting was able to transition from manually written ledgers to early spreadsheets for easier calculation and accuracy. Business merchandise inventory was able to be kept in a database for easy query. 4. Graphics - My Apple IIc had MousePaint where you could draw out and print your own designs, logos, plans, etc. and then I got Blazzing Paddles which printed in color! 5. Programming - BASIC (just to name one programing language) was taught in schools and magazines and allowed you to write programs (apps). Anything from a simple conversion tool (Miles/Fahrenheit -> Kilometers/Celsius) to more complex programs tailored to your needs was possible. 6. Connectivity - Although this was before the internet, these computers were not completely isolated. If you were lucky enough to afford a modem, you could connect to a BBS (Bulletin Board System) Schools and Libraries had computers that you could dial and connect to for a virtual bulletin board of announcements, news, etc. This was early information exchange and was a game changer. These are just a few examples and I am sure others could chime in. Anything done on a computer today started in these early days of computing. Although it may seem rudimentary to most now in comparison, for this generation it was light years of advancements when compared to doing things manually. I hope this helps.
Good thing I happened across this video and discovered a new CFFA3000 run was in progress. I bought my last CFFA3000 back in 2012 and it's great in my IIe, but I also have a IIgs that needs one. Of course, the Floppy Emu is a fine bit of hardware. It's the only way my IIc can boot to anything other than its internal floppy drive, and it does work on the LASER 128, albeit only in floppy mode. Your advice about getting a IIgs is on the mark. Although I have the IIgs, two IIes, a IIc and a LASER 128EX, I can always depend on the IIgs to run everything in the Apple II series, from DOS 3.1 all the way to the latest GS/OS 6.0.4 stuff. And I can do so with real hardware or in emulation (GSport). Too bad I lack the RGB monitor for the IIgs; using GS/OS over composite in real hardware looks as nasty as it sounds.
I considered upgrading from a C64 to an Apple IIGS back in the '80s... Then I came to my senses and bought an Amiga. Really dodged a bullet there... The IIGS could have (should have) knocked the Mac in the dirt, but they ham-stung the machine because they were afraid it would cannibalize Mac sales.
I’d try to get the Laser 128, if it were me. Better than the IIc, despite being cheaper than it back in the day. And it’s a pretty legendary computer to those of us who read 8-bit computer magazines, due to it being largely sold mail-order! I had a Commodore 64, but I wish I’d supplemented that with a Laser 128! If only I’d known how good it was! It would have been a great Apple II machine for GEOS.
I should add, later variants even optionally ram at 3.6 MHz. I’d love a IIGS, don’t get me wrong, but I retroactively appreciate how much the Laser 128 added for such a reasonable price!
Question... What if instead of buying one, I wanted to pull a unicomp and make a fully compatible computer from scratch, without bios knowledge. Do you know some good rescources for that?
You'll never convince me that the best one is not the IIe platinum. Mine still runs, never replaced the ram. I'm been through 2 IIc's and I'm about done with them. The IWM seems to go out almost as often as ram.
@@Nas_Atlas Not on the IIe Platinum it's not. It's only 2 chips and it's the most reliable RAM on the whole lineup-ever. IWM=Integrated Woz Machine IC -When it goes bad, it starts overwriting disks. Fortunately you can cannibalize old Mac motherboards that were more common than IIc
I second you on the monochrome monitors. You can always switch to a color screen if you need it. Another trick I discovered on accident was when I used a //e with a LCD broadcast monitor. The broadcast monitor was able to detect the difference in the Apple video signal and automatically turned on the chroma killer (I think the color burst may be present in Text mode I never checked on a scope) giving you a monochrome monitor until you switched to color graphics. Also, never use 80 column mode on any machine on a color monitor in color mode. These vintage composite monochrome computer monitors (especially Green and Amber) are something that should be valued, even if you always otherwise bin CRTs. This monochrome trick for 80 column composite is still valid today, but with modern computers with composite outputs such as the Raspberry Pi, you can actually disable the chroma signal (you add a line in config.txt).
In 2007, I won an auction on eBay for an Apple IIgs with monitor, keyboard, mouse, 5.25 and 3.5 drives for $36. Shipping was $46. I still have my confirmation email from eBay since it’s so unbelievable today. It didn’t have any cards or ram expansion- but I wasn’t quibbling at that price. Still works good.
If, like me, you are from PAL land (UK, Europe) then you will get black and white video, unless you get a colour PAL card, or get a NTSC motherboard. I have a NTSC motherboard and get colour on a CRT TV that supports PAL and NTSC. I have one of the newer floppy drives, not the disk II, and I use the website Apple Disk Server - to send Apple Disk images via a Laptop and a 3.5mm audio jack from the headphone socket to the Apple IIe's cassette IN port. The Apple formats a 5.25" disk, then writes the disk image in blocks. Amazing to see it work, especially since this thing is late 70s tech. Such a fun machine to use in the flesh, better than using the Apple2win emulator. I could have got a IIGS, but it felt too much like a Amiga 500 and not a Apple IIe - despite being able to run IIe software. Mine's been restored, the PSU has new caps, the case and keys retrobrite done, fully cleaned, disk drive cleaned and aligned. Everything looks as good as it did in the 80s.
Why are these to F..... expensive? I see the average Apple II doing like 400-500€. It seems as widespread as a C64, yet a lot less in demand because of the lack of nostalgia with its games. A C64 does only like 64€.
Hello! Could you help me with the standoff for the 128K expansion board for the IIc? I need to know the height of the standoff. I have the expansion bard and the IIc but not the standoffs. Thanks! Around 5:00 - There's a device produced in Japan by Nishida Radio that is amazing! It fits inside the IIc and goes between the internal drive and the controller; one wire goes out so we can select if the emulator is boot or second drive. The guy who does it has some health issues so availability is complicated. The device is, however, a masterful example of Japanese ingenuity. He also did a DVI output for the IIgs - it has a clever non intrusive installation that has some problems: it clamps on top of the Woz Video Chip and keeps both video outputs working however it keeps popping out so some sort of creativity is necessary to make it work properly. Hope you have some videos on how to repair the CRT monitors.
Do you even know that a battery has nothing to do with a ROM? Probably, not an Apple user here, it is with any other computer that you can swap the ROMs or burn EPROMs (maybe with adapter) to upgrade versions
No mention of soundcards? My ||c gets most of my retro Apple use, but I head to the //e with its Mockingboard to hear the great music in games like the !ater Ultima games.
Yeah Mockingboard is one of the few Apple II expansion cards that seems real compelling to me. (As a IIc owner that's a little difficult - though there *is* a mockingboard available for the IIc!)
I love the asthetic of the apple //c, and think that it's the right size for being a little computer to play around with in my free time, and feel like I could pretty easily keep it on my desk without it taking up to much space, but I feel like I should get the //GS just to have a more powerful machine that I could also expand. Any suggestions?
A bit late but here's my take: I felt much the same way about the space concerns when it comes to the IIc. I have a lot of fond memories of the Apple II (and, frankly, the IIc in particular) and I want to play around with the machine, learn about it, etc. - but I don't have loads of space so I like that the IIc is a compact solution. I was also lucky enough to get a good deal on one, complete with the little 9" monochome CRT monitor and a carrying bag for the computer. (Personally I am one of those folks who feels the Apple II is best in monochrome... It just seems sort of a shame that most game software is designed for color.) Personally I don't put much stock in the IIgs as a "more powerful" machine. It's not that much more powerful, it's sad to see the thing choke on a relatively simple game like "Lemmings". It's also not got a whole lot of native software, and personally I find a IIgs running in backward compatibility mode (Ensoniq sound chip idling while the CPU bit-bangs bleeps over the speaker, that nice RGB monitor displaying a very crisp rendition of 140x192 6-color graphics, etc...) to be mostly a pretty sad statement on how the machine failed. But that said the IIgs is a very attractive machine, and having a machine that outputs RGB is great. Since I've got a IIc the world of expansion cards is mostly inaccessible to me. I had thought I'd be OK with that limitation but I have learned of some expansion cards I'd actually be interested in. The ones I'm most interested in would be a sound card like the Mockingboard (the most-widely supported add-on sound card for the Apple II - a couple dozen games support it), a RAM expansion, network card, and mass storage. Some of those are available for the IIc (notably, RAM expansion and Mockingboard) but due to limited space you're pretty much limited to just one of those. Also, while all these add-ons are fun the cost of them does add up - between $70-$130 for each of these modern add-on devices. I think it's worth thinking about whether it's really worth dropping that kind of money for Apple II add-ons. To me, it's not just important to consider what these machines can do, but what they represent. The IIc mostly represents the Apple II as I experienced it as a kid. I had always thought of the older Apple II's as relics because of their big boxy cases and the older-style DiskII drives they were usually paired with, but looking at it now I feel like they may represent the Apple II at its peak - hailing from a time before the platform felt badly outdated, and also a time when the platform was meant to be open to tinkering. Looking at it that way, the IIe represents the tail end of a period of the Apple II that I mostly didn't experience, when the platform was a little less a finished product and a little more of an adventure. If anything could convince me to get a IIe, it would probably be that. But for now I'm very happy with my IIc.
man, this is dangerous, I'm hyping my self for a day that could never come, We have a Apple IIc, but, the house has a history of getting robbed, so i really want to get there and rescue it, if it hasn't been stolen yet
disagree with IIGS is "just better".. if the form factor and limitations of the machine aren't considered part of the retro experience you may as well just use an emulator..
I'm interested in selling my apple ll complete with printer and software in good working condition . How no idea how much to ask for can anyone help me?
i want one because its the wozniak computer and its cooler then my pc. plus i wanna do simple thigns with a computer and learn more coding. plus the old machines are cooler. and simple.
good afternoon, I want to sell or place in a auction a new cpu and monitor in its original sealed box never opened apple iie model, do you now a place or forum to get an idea of the price?
I really need to get one of those floppy EMUs. Collecting for the apple II and mac lines are fun, but it gets frustrating when you are trying to track down little pieces here and there. I found a good condition iie color monitor, but it is missing the cover for the adjustments in front. Also I just need to find a cable from the duo to the controller card and I will have fully replicated my childhood computer. Great video, glad i found your channel recently.
The Floppy Emu is one of the best purchases I have made for my Apple II. One of the big problems today is that floppy disks have become horrendously unreliable, so I've even been backing up the ones I made when I was a kid for when they finally fail. Every time I look at my old disks, including storebought games, something new doesn't work anymore since the last time. About half those boxed games I show in this video are no longer working, but I can play them from the Floppy Emu.
I just got an Apple iiE since it's the computer I first played games on as a kid. I purchased the enhanced upgrade kit and the system came with a Taxan 80 column card. Now I just need to figure out if I need to hook the monitor to the expansion card or if I can just use the composite out. I have a Sony PVM from that Era as well so I can get a great retro experience. Cheers!
Hi Modern Classic!! So I got an Apple II plus two years ago for my birthday and just wanted to know how it ranked on your apple II list and how to fix the screen being green. I don't know if all apple II pluses were made to where The screen is green and the text is greener but if that is a common problem or if I can fix it please let me know!! great video!!
I had the Apple ][+ (still do) man, that computer was fantastic. It was so much fun back in the day. I wrote my own adventure programs in basic and created graphics using Graphics Magician by Penguin Software. 🐧 In addition I had countless “kracked” games including Castle Wolfenstein. (I was playing CW in 1980 when I heard by TV announcer Howard Cosell that John Lennon had been shot on December 08 1980-never will forget that shocking moment)…Back to the positive, the ][+ was pure bliss.
If you're asking how to tell a ROM 3 from a 00 or an 01, the easiest way is to look for the keyboard connector at the front of the board. ROM 3's don't have it. Also look for the socketed battery. You can just see it peeking out from under the power supply. (You can also remove the power supply if you're talking to a seller and he lets you.) It's much harder to tell a ROM 00 from an 01 without turning the machine on, especially since 00's could be upgraded to 01's. It's a software revision, not a hardware one. Of course, you can always tell any ROM version just by turning the machine on.
hey, the FloppyEmu guy (Big Mess o’ Wires) seems to have solved the problems with the IIc. give it a check, i will certainly now buy the FloppyEmu device for my IIc.
It is interesting that in this chart only Apple has survived as a company (Atari exists as a brand), not only survived but is the highest valued tech company in the world. In the mid 90s Apple was for sale, but no deals were ever finalized, then comes the iconic return of Steve Jobs in late 90s to reboot Apple into the company it has become today.
You are so right about the IIgs. I grew up on a IIc and lusted for a IIgs. The IIgs was the dogz balls to a 1987 suburban kid...but if your ‘rents just shelled out for IIc in 1984...and are still paying it off on the AppleCard...they don’t want to hear your BS whining. Damn those graphics were so good and that sound was...unreal! Yeah, so as an adult...I just bought 2...one as a backup. You get the classic 8-bit Apple II experience if you want it, but in GSOS you have the first full color, mouse-driven GUI on a PC...EVER! (Earlier GUIs were either monochrome or left out the Mouse). The Mac was overpriced and ran a sharty black and white version of....well...GSOS. And that software designed just for the IIgs? WOW. It still impresses, especially the sound chip. It was a full bore MIDI experience in 1986...a decade ahead of its time. No shit. It is a piece of computing history and is a better PC than any early era Mac... It was so good they had to stop marketing for it and limit CPU upgrades because businesses started buying them for their graphics and sound work...and they were supposed to be buying Macs. It was the best Apple II of the 1980s...unquestionably.
In the early 80s we could turn on our tv switch the jerrold converter to one of the channels on the bottom and watch video games, we could also call in ( the line was always busy ) and get to chose what video game you wanted to play using a touch-tone phone ( modem ) thanks the the Apple II. Two games I remember was a defender-type game and star trek.
I'm a zoomer but I spent hours upon hours playing games and programming in BASIC on my dad's old Apple II//c. I think all of those games were pirated off of suburban BBSes. I was devastated when I woke up one morning to find it thrown away. Someday I definitely want to own my own, and maybe even the dot matrix printer again too. It was so much fun.
Interesting review. I was a PC person back in the 80's and I recently got a couple of old clones, monitors and some boot disks and games on diskette. Until my wife told me to "get rid of that junk". Now I have to be content with DOSBox on my laptop and downloading games from Abandonia, which is ok :-)
Ok... my first computer was a IIci (I really wish I still had it, for purely nostalgic reasons). Yes, all 5 megs of it’s Ram and 20 megs of it’s hard drive space. But where is that on the list? Doesn’t it have more in common with other models than the ones listed here?
I got a 2c and i LOVE it. I would say a later 2c ROM rev 3 and a second 5.25 with a couple packs of disks and adtpro is your best shot. Ill also say i do like to push my computers and limitations of old systems are a soft spot for me personally. I adore for instance the sinclar 1000 i got for free lol.
I had a //c and got it the same year you got yours. Mine had an AppleColor Composite monitor (ooh la la!) AND an Apple ImageWriter II (ooh la la-er!). As for the monitor, I experienced the "color bleed' spoken of here regularly. My friend had one with your monochrome monitor and it was much easier to look at for most things. My main addiction was Print Shop and games (the order of obsession change regularly. Ah, the days when we had to get productivity software that matched both the computer AND the printer.
My dad built an Apple ][ kit into a printer casing. It had a disk drive, a joystick, and a green phosphor Zenith monitor. I miss playing with that. Never had any problem with yellowing, since the casing was already yellow and was metal besides.
This was the first video I watched when I decided I wanted to own an Apple II again to relive my childhood. It was a tough choice but this video helped ... I now own 9 different Apple II's! XD
In 2005, I bought a complete IIe system (platinum) with two disk drives, printer, display, mouse, software, and all, for $26. I guess I should consider myself lucky. I think I'm going to go home and fire it up this weekend to see if it still works. I have no idea where the software is, so I guess I'll need to look into getting one of those disk drive emulators!
You have brought back many memories for me. I built a Heath Kit Computer before buying an Apple //e. I went to buy and Apple ][, but the //e had just been released and was actually cheaper and I used the difference in price to add a memory card bringing the memory up to a massive 128K. I had a serial and parallel part card and amber monitor, later replaced with an Apple Color Monitor. I became something of an Apple ][ guru, programming in machine language as well as the built in basic and later Apple Pascal and Beagle Brothers Basic. I upgraded to a llGS and yes I did get the later ROM upgrade. I also had an Apple SCSI card with a 30 megabyte RODIME hard drive that I got on sale for $800. I also had 4 megs of ram upgrade. as well as both the 5 1/4" and 3.5" floppy drives with the mod that allowed me to use the 1.2 meg double sided disks. Unfortunately, I lost them all when we flooded with Salt water during Hurricane Isaac in 2013. Your videos almost convince me to spend the money and replace my old system, but the immense cost of replacing all I had is a severe impediment. I had all the books, including the very expensive Apple Development Series. I knew the Peeks and Pokes of both the older Apple //e models as well as the newer llGS Rom. One more upgrade I did was the WDC 65816S processor which if memory serves ran at a whopping 12 or 14 mhz, which would not slow down less than 4 mhz and made a lot of older //e games unplayable.
I just bought a apple 2c a2s4100 today at a garage sale and know nothing about them.... Just occurred to me i hope there is not a password... After watching this i feel i am in over my head lol
There's not going to be a password. There are just commands you'll need to learn to be able to do anything, but that's the same as any early to mid 80's computer.
@@ModernClassic I got it up and running but it says Check Disk and won't read the disks, The inner disk drive sounds like it makes all the right noises ... The outer drive blinks red 1 time real quick and does nothing else...
You can only boot from drive 1. If it's making kind of a "dubububububub" noise and not a horrible "waaaaah!" noise, then try just cleaning the heads. That usually works. You'll need to open the drive up, then just use a Q-tip dipped in alcohol to clean the heads.
I’ve always wanted a IIgs! Hopefully some day. I had a II+ back in the day (which I’ve recently reacquired). My dad had the IIe. But yeah, IIgs, I covet... my precious.
I remember buying my Apple IIe back in the 90's for $20 at a yard sale. Thing still works like a champ.
Don't forget the Laser 128 -- it is an almost 100% compatible Apple IIc clone, and it was popular enough that most later Apple II software specifically supported it.
Thanks for the info.
And the IWM and ram is rarer to die than the stupid IIc. (I own a stupid IIc and with these problems so I'm allowed to say that). ;)
Personally, I love the aesthetic of the //e + DuoDisk + Color Monitor. They stack beautifully.
I love it too only I think the platinum iie looks better with the DuoDisk and color monitor
This was exactly my first *real* computer... thought my family was the shizznit with the duodisk setup... ('cept we had a green monochrome... no color)
I work for a school district, and one of the schools still has an Apple IIe lab with working corvus.
That is very hard to believe
@@TheRealTrimBrady VERY hard to believe. What would be the point in would have been 2018?
I believe it. I work for the government. We still use windows 95 for one of our machines.
Lol
thumbs up!!
I still have my Apple II+, IIe, and a pair of IIc's. Unfortunately, the II+'s power supply is dead, and I only have one power brick for the IIc's, but other than that they work. Had to do a bit of repair work to the IIe a few years ago (a RAM chip went bad at some point) and I have no idea what happened to the 80 column/64k memory expansion card.
I've also got a highly modified IIe (or is it a II+? I forget which...) that was built to the Tempest anti-emissions standards. Came with a lot of extra goodies, including a Corvus hard drive, custom keyboard with built in joystick, printer, color monitor, and a VCR for backing up the hard drive onto VHS tapes (Weird, huh?). All packed in custom heavily shielded cases and using a weird 3-point variant of the BNC connector. Sadly, it's in sad shape and we never really got it running. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to cleaning it up and getting it going, though I doubt I'll be able to save the hard drive.
I feel the most important thing is to get the power supply upgrade from Reactive Micro. Not a plug. But if you want to use a II, II+, IIe, IIgs, Platinum, on a daily basis you are going to want this. The original power supply will smoke at some point, and you don't want to run the risk of damaging the rest of the machine.
The original supply is easy to fix, and the RIFA emi filter cap is the main failure point.
Excellent video! I have had a IIGS for a few years (found it at Goodwill!) and I absolutely love it, but I wanted one of the original-case-design Apple IIs, so I got a IIe enhanced. I wanted a IIe enhanced over a Platinum because I prefer the older style cosmetics. I also made sure it had the RAM expansion, disk controller and super serial card before I purchased it.
Awesome video, thank you. I’ve been thinking about getting into the II recently and I’m glad I found this vid!
You're very relaxing to listen to.
A few comments.
The IIc can boot off of Floppy emulators. There's two ways to do this. The easiest is to just hook it up internally to the internal floppy connector. (Floppy Emu supports this). The other way is to Install the newly released Rom 4x, that restores booting off of external drives. It's available on github at github.com/mgcaret/rom4x and make a couple minor modifications to the motherboard so it'll accept 32K ROMS. Option 2 is a bit harder, since you'll have to burn your own ROM. I don't _think_ anyone currently sells this.
When first looking into Apple 8-bits, I wanted to buy a IIgs for largely the reasons you spelled out. After looking into it a bit, there were three things that killed it for me.
1. Price
The IIgs looks inexpensive... until you realize that most don't come with a keyboard. A keyboard that's itself is at least $100, maybe $140. The IIGs itself is at least $100, so you're now at $240 just to get started. That doesn't include any disk at all, since the disk is internal. So add on another $100, for $300-$340, all just to get something that will boot an OS. So ultimately I decided it wasn't worth it to pay so much for an old retro-machine. I bought a IIc for $150 that had an external floppy and power supply. Assuming the floppy works, I can sell it on ebay for maybe $30--$40. $100 vs $300 just to get in the door is a big difference.
2. Experience
As you said, the added experience of the IIgs just looked like running a Mac, which doesn't appeal to me at all. I decided any extra time, effort any money on re-capturing the 16 bit era should go into the Atari ST, which I've long heard about, but never actually ran. I _think_ there might be more games for the ST than for the IIgs in full gs mode.
3. Size
I much prefer the size of the IIc. For most people this isn't something they're going to use a whole lot, so it winds up taking valuable space The IIc you can tuck away somewhere and pull it out when needed. That's quite a bit harder with the IIgs with the larger box, + keyboard.
So "better" is often a matter of perspective. The IIgs is more attractive because it can run more software, which is what originally drew me to it. But the other advantages of the IIc made me ultimately decide to buy a IIc.
To piggyback off of this, BMOW now also has a drive switcher for their Floppy Emu, that allows you to select which drive you want to be bootable. Useful if you have a mix of old disks and emulated images you want to run, as you won't have to crack open the case every time you want to switch which drive is drive 1. Because it's physically switching the address for each drive, it doesn't matter which ROM your Apple IIc is running (as long as you're emulating the 5.25" floppy drive).
I got a almost brand new 2c with color monitor and monochrome monitor. Used for around 15 minutes total in 1988.
Lot of useful info here! I got my first Apple II + a few months ago. Loving it!
i loved the x/y joysytick analog inputs for exeperiments so much!!!!
Apple computers were always very expensive. I remember back in the early eighties going to flee markets and seeing people selling Apple 2 clones. I never had access to an Apple computer, we had Commodore PET's in high school and the Atari 800 or Commodore 64 at home.
As an Apple II collector, A small warning on the standard A2 power supplies: There's a foil capacitor in them that has a tendency to catch fire after all these years. The machine still works but it will not be pleasant.
A friend fired to show me Demos he wrote in the late 80's, While demoing this cap Melted down, Absolutely stank however it didn't become unstable or do any damage
Yea, it's a horrible smell. Mine straight up caught fire and I discarded the power supply, didn't wanna risk damage. Have yet to find a replacement.
keptil There's one being sold on eBay at the moment.
Is that in all apple 2 power supplies or is it not in the 2gs
@@lorumipsum1129 If you're paranoid my suggestion would be to replace any of the capacitors across the line (mains) with the appropriate X-Rated Cap.
Excellent video! Apple IIc was also my first computer and took me all the way through college. I love what you did with the title screens in the video. You captured the font AND the correct shade of red in the Apple manuals. I spent many a day reading the AppleWorks literature learning how to use the database so I could categorize my baseball card collection. Because of these experiences I feel our generation is unique in that we have seen and lived the widest spectrum of technological advancement. Great job!
I’m young so I wasn’t around when the apple 2 came out or when any of the older style computers came out for that matter so could you tell me what computers were used for before the internet came out because it’s hard to imagine a computer being used for anything else really
Amazingly computers now do what computers back then laid the groundwork for. Just to name a few things:
1. Gaming!
2. Word processing/Desktop Publishing - Being able to type out a letter in its entirety and THEN print it out was a BIG deal. We literally had to spell check manually using a dictionary (no really an actual book sitting next to us to look up words) But, we learned spelling, grammar, sentence and paragraph structure and how to avoid run-on sentences ; ) You could add graphics, clipart etc. and now schools, churches, organizations had a way of creating, printing, and distributing their newsletters. Information sharing took off.
3. Spreadsheets/Databases - Accounting was able to transition from manually written ledgers to early spreadsheets for easier calculation and accuracy. Business merchandise inventory was able to be kept in a database for easy query.
4. Graphics - My Apple IIc had MousePaint where you could draw out and print your own designs, logos, plans, etc. and then I got Blazzing Paddles which printed in color!
5. Programming - BASIC (just to name one programing language) was taught in schools and magazines and allowed you to write programs (apps). Anything from a simple conversion tool (Miles/Fahrenheit -> Kilometers/Celsius) to more complex programs tailored to your needs was possible.
6. Connectivity - Although this was before the internet, these computers were not completely isolated. If you were lucky enough to afford a modem, you could connect to a BBS (Bulletin Board System) Schools and Libraries had computers that you could dial and connect to for a virtual bulletin board of announcements, news, etc. This was early information exchange and was a game changer.
These are just a few examples and I am sure others could chime in. Anything done on a computer today started in these early days of computing. Although it may seem rudimentary to most now in comparison, for this generation it was light years of advancements when compared to doing things manually. I hope this helps.
@@AleCatGarage Do you happen to remember how to change the current drive in prodos?
Good thing I happened across this video and discovered a new CFFA3000 run was in progress. I bought my last CFFA3000 back in 2012 and it's great in my IIe, but I also have a IIgs that needs one. Of course, the Floppy Emu is a fine bit of hardware. It's the only way my IIc can boot to anything other than its internal floppy drive, and it does work on the LASER 128, albeit only in floppy mode.
Your advice about getting a IIgs is on the mark. Although I have the IIgs, two IIes, a IIc and a LASER 128EX, I can always depend on the IIgs to run everything in the Apple II series, from DOS 3.1 all the way to the latest GS/OS 6.0.4 stuff. And I can do so with real hardware or in emulation (GSport). Too bad I lack the RGB monitor for the IIgs; using GS/OS over composite in real hardware looks as nasty as it sounds.
Lmao, I love how they use GOD (!) in the commercial for the GS. Apple were never modest hehe. Great video. :)
I considered upgrading from a C64 to an Apple IIGS back in the '80s... Then I came to my senses and bought an Amiga. Really dodged a bullet there... The IIGS could have (should have) knocked the Mac in the dirt, but they ham-stung the machine because they were afraid it would cannibalize Mac sales.
Thanks for this. I've always wanted to get a little GS setup. Someday when I have more space :)
I’d try to get the Laser 128, if it were me. Better than the IIc, despite being cheaper than it back in the day. And it’s a pretty legendary computer to those of us who read 8-bit computer magazines, due to it being largely sold mail-order! I had a Commodore 64, but I wish I’d supplemented that with a Laser 128! If only I’d known how good it was! It would have been a great Apple II machine for GEOS.
I should add, later variants even optionally ram at 3.6 MHz.
I’d love a IIGS, don’t get me wrong, but I retroactively appreciate how much the Laser 128 added for such a reasonable price!
I really appreciate this video. Thanks.
Thanks for that, fascinating walk-through and much appreciated.
Apple II+ was my first computer!
I bought one in fully working condition and only two weeks later the video chip Fried
This was a great video! I would love to see dedicated videos on each system. :-)
It is really noticeable that you are reading the text you're going to say.
This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you!
You mean these computers are not new state of the are computers. I’m looking for one to play GTA V online on
Ok
You forgot the Amiga line which was able to run the same software as an Apple IIGS at a faster speed due to its similar chipset and higher speed CPU.
Question... What if instead of buying one, I wanted to pull a unicomp and make a fully compatible computer from scratch, without bios knowledge. Do you know some good rescources for that?
You'll never convince me that the best one is not the IIe platinum. Mine still runs, never replaced the ram. I'm been through 2 IIc's and I'm about done with them. The IWM seems to go out almost as often as ram.
Ram replacement is to be expected. What is the IWM?
@@Nas_Atlas Not on the IIe Platinum it's not. It's only 2 chips and it's the most reliable RAM on the whole lineup-ever.
IWM=Integrated Woz Machine IC -When it goes bad, it starts overwriting disks. Fortunately you can cannibalize old Mac motherboards that were more common than IIc
Well i have a TK3000 with 256 kb ;P
Thanks! Great vid.
I second you on the monochrome monitors. You can always switch to a color screen if you need it. Another trick I discovered on accident was when I used a //e with a LCD broadcast monitor. The broadcast monitor was able to detect the difference in the Apple video signal and automatically turned on the chroma killer (I think the color burst may be present in Text mode I never checked on a scope) giving you a monochrome monitor until you switched to color graphics.
Also, never use 80 column mode on any machine on a color monitor in color mode. These vintage composite monochrome computer monitors (especially Green and Amber) are something that should be valued, even if you always otherwise bin CRTs. This monochrome trick for 80 column composite is still valid today, but with modern computers with composite outputs such as the Raspberry Pi, you can actually disable the chroma signal (you add a line in config.txt).
Greate video. All I remember of the apple II is being forced to type on them in school. More interesting these days
I ordered the first Apple IIe because it was the one I used as a kid, and I want that exact experience again.
MY first PC was an Apple //c in 1985. Oh i dont count my Timex Sinclair. I loved my Apple //c
In 2007, I won an auction on eBay for an Apple IIgs with monitor, keyboard, mouse, 5.25 and 3.5 drives for $36. Shipping was $46.
I still have my confirmation email from eBay since it’s so unbelievable today.
It didn’t have any cards or ram expansion- but I wasn’t quibbling at that price. Still works good.
Nice informative video, I like your style🙋♂️ Apple II 4FR!!
I bought my Apple II in August 1977 after graduating from college. Remember loading floating point BASIC by audio tape. Gee willikers!!! :-)
You should do a classic macintosh buyers guide
If, like me, you are from PAL land (UK, Europe) then you will get black and white video, unless you get a colour PAL card, or get a NTSC motherboard. I have a NTSC motherboard and get colour on a CRT TV that supports PAL and NTSC. I have one of the newer floppy drives, not the disk II, and I use the website Apple Disk Server - to send Apple Disk images via a Laptop and a 3.5mm audio jack from the headphone socket to the Apple IIe's cassette IN port. The Apple formats a 5.25" disk, then writes the disk image in blocks. Amazing to see it work, especially since this thing is late 70s tech.
Such a fun machine to use in the flesh, better than using the Apple2win emulator. I could have got a IIGS, but it felt too much like a Amiga 500 and not a Apple IIe - despite being able to run IIe software. Mine's been restored, the PSU has new caps, the case and keys retrobrite done, fully cleaned, disk drive cleaned and aligned. Everything looks as good as it did in the 80s.
Why are these to F..... expensive? I see the average Apple II doing like 400-500€. It seems as widespread as a C64, yet a lot less in demand because of the lack of nostalgia with its games. A C64 does only like 64€.
Great video! This is what I come to this channel for!
Hello! Could you help me with the standoff for the 128K expansion board for the IIc? I need to know the height of the standoff. I have the expansion bard and the IIc but not the standoffs. Thanks!
Around 5:00 - There's a device produced in Japan by Nishida Radio that is amazing! It fits inside the IIc and goes between the internal drive and the controller; one wire goes out so we can select if the emulator is boot or second drive. The guy who does it has some health issues so availability is complicated. The device is, however, a masterful example of Japanese ingenuity. He also did a DVI output for the IIgs - it has a clever non intrusive installation that has some problems: it clamps on top of the Woz Video Chip and keeps both video outputs working however it keeps popping out so some sort of creativity is necessary to make it work properly.
Hope you have some videos on how to repair the CRT monitors.
Very informative video! I decided to go with a IIe
THAT was a VERY thorough and informative look into the Apple ][ line. Thank you!
There is another obscure control, apple+m. This will reveal the ASCII values of the formatting marks, especially the escape characters.
Do you even know that a battery has nothing to do with a ROM? Probably, not an Apple user here, it is with any other computer that you can swap the ROMs or burn EPROMs (maybe with adapter) to upgrade versions
No mention of soundcards? My ||c gets most of my retro Apple use, but I head to the //e with its Mockingboard to hear the great music in games like the !ater Ultima games.
Yeah Mockingboard is one of the few Apple II expansion cards that seems real compelling to me. (As a IIc owner that's a little difficult - though there *is* a mockingboard available for the IIc!)
If I had a 3.5" drive, would I be able to make Apple-compatible images on a Windows PC with an emulator?
I love the asthetic of the apple //c, and think that it's the right size for being a little computer to play around with in my free time, and feel like I could pretty easily keep it on my desk without it taking up to much space, but I feel like I should get the //GS just to have a more powerful machine that I could also expand. Any suggestions?
A bit late but here's my take:
I felt much the same way about the space concerns when it comes to the IIc. I have a lot of fond memories of the Apple II (and, frankly, the IIc in particular) and I want to play around with the machine, learn about it, etc. - but I don't have loads of space so I like that the IIc is a compact solution. I was also lucky enough to get a good deal on one, complete with the little 9" monochome CRT monitor and a carrying bag for the computer. (Personally I am one of those folks who feels the Apple II is best in monochrome... It just seems sort of a shame that most game software is designed for color.)
Personally I don't put much stock in the IIgs as a "more powerful" machine. It's not that much more powerful, it's sad to see the thing choke on a relatively simple game like "Lemmings". It's also not got a whole lot of native software, and personally I find a IIgs running in backward compatibility mode (Ensoniq sound chip idling while the CPU bit-bangs bleeps over the speaker, that nice RGB monitor displaying a very crisp rendition of 140x192 6-color graphics, etc...) to be mostly a pretty sad statement on how the machine failed. But that said the IIgs is a very attractive machine, and having a machine that outputs RGB is great.
Since I've got a IIc the world of expansion cards is mostly inaccessible to me. I had thought I'd be OK with that limitation but I have learned of some expansion cards I'd actually be interested in. The ones I'm most interested in would be a sound card like the Mockingboard (the most-widely supported add-on sound card for the Apple II - a couple dozen games support it), a RAM expansion, network card, and mass storage. Some of those are available for the IIc (notably, RAM expansion and Mockingboard) but due to limited space you're pretty much limited to just one of those. Also, while all these add-ons are fun the cost of them does add up - between $70-$130 for each of these modern add-on devices. I think it's worth thinking about whether it's really worth dropping that kind of money for Apple II add-ons.
To me, it's not just important to consider what these machines can do, but what they represent. The IIc mostly represents the Apple II as I experienced it as a kid. I had always thought of the older Apple II's as relics because of their big boxy cases and the older-style DiskII drives they were usually paired with, but looking at it now I feel like they may represent the Apple II at its peak - hailing from a time before the platform felt badly outdated, and also a time when the platform was meant to be open to tinkering. Looking at it that way, the IIe represents the tail end of a period of the Apple II that I mostly didn't experience, when the platform was a little less a finished product and a little more of an adventure. If anything could convince me to get a IIe, it would probably be that. But for now I'm very happy with my IIc.
Great video and thank you for keeping the technology going. These computers changed the world.
and what if I happen to have found an empty Apple IIe platinum case(using a clone keyboard) and decide to throw in a Raspberry Pi?
Great video! Appreciate your continued work on this and other topics.
I am interested in getting an Apple II to run some old Apple FORTRAN programs for a scientific demonstration. Any suggestions?
80s.... i was a 90s kid and am nostalgic for the apple 2 since it was in my schools until i graduated in 2002, in varying capacities.
Apple II GS reminds me of iphone 3GS. But I cannot say how much more powerfull the iphone 3GS is.
man, this is dangerous, I'm hyping my self for a day that could never come, We have a Apple IIc, but, the house has a history of getting robbed, so i really want to get there and rescue it, if it hasn't been stolen yet
Is that Dick Cavett in the Apple ][ commercial?
Yep, he did a few of those.
That's interesting!
By the way I recently discovered your channel and absolutely love what you do. Keep up the good work! :)
This takes me back to my childhood
disagree with IIGS is "just better".. if the form factor and limitations of the machine aren't considered part of the retro experience you may as well just use an emulator..
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I'm interested in selling my apple ll complete with printer and software in good working condition . How no idea how much to ask for can anyone help me?
i want one because its the wozniak computer and its cooler then my pc. plus i wanna do simple thigns with a computer and learn more coding. plus the old machines are cooler. and simple.
Someone posted a 1983 model E locally for $30. I'm buying it within the hour to restore and preserve it.
Did you get it?
Sounds like a nice score. Congrats!
good afternoon, I want to sell or place in a auction a new cpu and monitor in its original sealed box never opened apple iie model, do you now a place or forum to get an idea of the price?
I really need to get one of those floppy EMUs. Collecting for the apple II and mac lines are fun, but it gets frustrating when you are trying to track down little pieces here and there. I found a good condition iie color monitor, but it is missing the cover for the adjustments in front. Also I just need to find a cable from the duo to the controller card and I will have fully replicated my childhood computer. Great video, glad i found your channel recently.
The Floppy Emu is one of the best purchases I have made for my Apple II. One of the big problems today is that floppy disks have become horrendously unreliable, so I've even been backing up the ones I made when I was a kid for when they finally fail. Every time I look at my old disks, including storebought games, something new doesn't work anymore since the last time. About half those boxed games I show in this video are no longer working, but I can play them from the Floppy Emu.
I just got an Apple iiE since it's the computer I first played games on as a kid. I purchased the enhanced upgrade kit and the system came with a Taxan 80 column card. Now I just need to figure out if I need to hook the monitor to the expansion card or if I can just use the composite out. I have a Sony PVM from that Era as well so I can get a great retro experience. Cheers!
Hi Modern Classic!! So I got an Apple II plus two years ago for my birthday and just wanted to know how it ranked on your apple II list and how to fix the screen being green. I don't know if all apple II pluses were made to where The screen is green and the text is greener but if that is a common problem or if I can fix it please let me know!! great video!!
I had the Apple ][+ (still do) man, that computer was fantastic. It was so much fun back in the day. I wrote my own adventure programs in basic and created graphics using Graphics Magician by Penguin Software. 🐧 In addition I had countless “kracked” games including Castle Wolfenstein.
(I was playing CW in 1980 when I heard by TV announcer Howard Cosell that John Lennon had been shot on December 08 1980-never will forget that shocking moment)…Back to the positive, the ][+ was pure bliss.
What board revision, etc., that contains the ROM 3?
If you're asking how to tell a ROM 3 from a 00 or an 01, the easiest way is to look for the keyboard connector at the front of the board. ROM 3's don't have it. Also look for the socketed battery. You can just see it peeking out from under the power supply. (You can also remove the power supply if you're talking to a seller and he lets you.) It's much harder to tell a ROM 00 from an 01 without turning the machine on, especially since 00's could be upgraded to 01's. It's a software revision, not a hardware one. Of course, you can always tell any ROM version just by turning the machine on.
And to think I shot my 1980 Apple 2 full of holes with my AR15 a few years back thinking it was worth nothing...that was a dumb move on my part!!!
hey, the FloppyEmu guy (Big Mess o’ Wires) seems to have solved the problems with the IIc. give it a check, i will certainly now buy the FloppyEmu device for my IIc.
It is interesting that in this chart only Apple has survived as a company (Atari exists as a brand), not only survived but is the highest valued tech company in the world. In the mid 90s Apple was for sale, but no deals were ever finalized, then comes the iconic return of Steve Jobs in late 90s to reboot Apple into the company it has become today.
I heard that retro brightening doesn’t last long.
That Choplifter is one of my favorite games.
Terrific video about Apple IIs
You are so right about the IIgs. I grew up on a IIc and lusted for a IIgs. The IIgs was the dogz balls to a 1987 suburban kid...but if your ‘rents just shelled out for IIc in 1984...and are still paying it off on the AppleCard...they don’t want to hear your BS whining.
Damn those graphics were so good and that sound was...unreal!
Yeah, so as an adult...I just bought 2...one as a backup.
You get the classic 8-bit Apple II experience if you want it, but in GSOS you have the first full color, mouse-driven GUI on a PC...EVER! (Earlier GUIs were either monochrome or left out the Mouse).
The Mac was overpriced and ran a sharty black and white version of....well...GSOS.
And that software designed just for the IIgs? WOW. It still impresses, especially the sound chip. It was a full bore MIDI experience in 1986...a decade ahead of its time. No shit.
It is a piece of computing history and is a better PC than any early era Mac...
It was so good they had to stop marketing for it and limit CPU upgrades because businesses started buying them for their graphics and sound work...and they were supposed to be buying Macs.
It was the best Apple II of the 1980s...unquestionably.
I hope to get an apple 2+ with a apple 3 monitor and an apple 2+ disk drive
13:00 The Apple IIgs monitor (RGB) is a RGB monitor with some clock rate that is common on old Arcade machines. I think SONY PVMs work.
In the early 80s we could turn on our tv switch the jerrold converter to one of the channels on the bottom and watch video games, we could also call in ( the line was always busy ) and get to chose what video game you wanted to play using a touch-tone phone ( modem ) thanks the the Apple II. Two games I remember was a defender-type game and star trek.
I'm a zoomer but I spent hours upon hours playing games and programming in BASIC on my dad's old Apple II//c. I think all of those games were pirated off of suburban BBSes. I was devastated when I woke up one morning to find it thrown away. Someday I definitely want to own my own, and maybe even the dot matrix printer again too. It was so much fun.
Interesting review. I was a PC person back in the 80's and I recently got a couple of old clones, monitors and some boot disks and games on diskette. Until my wife told me to "get rid of that junk". Now I have to be content with DOSBox on my laptop and downloading games from Abandonia, which is ok :-)
Can a apple ii gs run without the cmos battery ?
Ok... my first computer was a IIci (I really wish I still had it, for purely nostalgic reasons). Yes, all 5 megs of it’s Ram and 20 megs of it’s hard drive space. But where is that on the list? Doesn’t it have more in common with other models than the ones listed here?
Sweet16 on an eMac is good enough for me, I checked the prices of Appe IIe cards for my LCIII though, way too expensive!
YOU WILL boot from the device Steve Jobs WANTS YOU to and YOU WILL LIKE IT! 😁
I got a 2c and i LOVE it. I would say a later 2c ROM rev 3 and a second 5.25 with a couple packs of disks and adtpro is your best shot. Ill also say i do like to push my computers and limitations of old systems are a soft spot for me personally. I adore for instance the sinclar 1000 i got for free lol.
I had a //c and got it the same year you got yours. Mine had an AppleColor Composite monitor (ooh la la!) AND an Apple ImageWriter II (ooh la la-er!). As for the monitor, I experienced the "color bleed' spoken of here regularly. My friend had one with your monochrome monitor and it was much easier to look at for most things. My main addiction was Print Shop and games (the order of obsession change regularly. Ah, the days when we had to get productivity software that matched both the computer AND the printer.
My dad built an Apple ][ kit into a printer casing. It had a disk drive, a joystick, and a green phosphor Zenith monitor. I miss playing with that. Never had any problem with yellowing, since the casing was already yellow and was metal besides.
This was the first video I watched when I decided I wanted to own an Apple II again to relive my childhood. It was a tough choice but this video helped ... I now own 9 different Apple II's! XD
In 2005, I bought a complete IIe system (platinum) with two disk drives, printer, display, mouse, software, and all, for $26. I guess I should consider myself lucky. I think I'm going to go home and fire it up this weekend to see if it still works. I have no idea where the software is, so I guess I'll need to look into getting one of those disk drive emulators!
You have brought back many memories for me. I built a Heath Kit Computer before buying an Apple //e. I went to buy and Apple ][, but the //e had just been released and was actually cheaper and I used the difference in price to add a memory card bringing the memory up to a massive 128K. I had a serial and parallel part card and amber monitor, later replaced with an Apple Color Monitor. I became something of an Apple ][ guru, programming in machine language as well as the built in basic and later Apple Pascal and Beagle Brothers Basic. I upgraded to a llGS and yes I did get the later ROM upgrade. I also had an Apple SCSI card with a 30 megabyte RODIME hard drive that I got on sale for $800. I also had 4 megs of ram upgrade. as well as both the 5 1/4" and 3.5" floppy drives with the mod that allowed me to use the 1.2 meg double sided disks. Unfortunately, I lost them all when we flooded with Salt water during Hurricane Isaac in 2013. Your videos almost convince me to spend the money and replace my old system, but the immense cost of replacing all I had is a severe impediment. I had all the books, including the very expensive Apple Development Series. I knew the Peeks and Pokes of both the older Apple //e models as well as the newer llGS Rom. One more upgrade I did was the WDC 65816S processor which if memory serves ran at a whopping 12 or 14 mhz, which would not slow down less than 4 mhz and made a lot of older //e games unplayable.
The Apple IIc does not have a cassette port so you can’t load programs with say a iPad and load them from a website for example.
I just bought a apple 2c a2s4100 today at a garage sale and know nothing about them.... Just occurred to me i hope there is not a password... After watching this i feel i am in over my head lol
There's not going to be a password. There are just commands you'll need to learn to be able to do anything, but that's the same as any early to mid 80's computer.
@@ModernClassic I got it up and running but it says Check Disk and won't read the disks, The inner disk drive sounds like it makes all the right noises ... The outer drive blinks red 1 time real quick and does nothing else...
You can only boot from drive 1. If it's making kind of a "dubububububub" noise and not a horrible "waaaaah!" noise, then try just cleaning the heads. That usually works. You'll need to open the drive up, then just use a Q-tip dipped in alcohol to clean the heads.
my dream...a IIGS but almost impossible to find in Europe.
Ebay
Buy? I found mine in a dumpster
I’ve always wanted a IIgs! Hopefully some day. I had a II+ back in the day (which I’ve recently reacquired). My dad had the IIe. But yeah, IIgs, I covet... my precious.