My New Old Apple IIe Computer • Hacker News Board

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#81

Post by armadsen » Thu, May 14, 2020, 5:34 PM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #58

StillBored wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one of the old ones, its good, but the new ones look even better because you can copy images from the internet directly to it. OTOH, I also have the https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/ for that. The CFFA is better as a HD, while the floppy emu is good for just plugging into random disk ports (IIGS/IIC/laser 128).

There are other options besides the CFFA. There’s a South Korean guy named Ian Kim who makes the awesome SD Disk ][ emulator. Sell it on ebay. It has the best firmware I’ve used on these types of devices. It has an LCD screen and onboard controls and menus with which you can scroll through all images & select the one you want to load.

The FloopyEMU also has an LCD with menus and onboard controls to select images, change modes, etc.

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#82

Post by dekhn » Thu, May 14, 2020, 5:34 PM UTC

acomjean wrote: post #48

That was my exact kit growing up. My mom was a freelance translator for a time before working for data general, and she bought this for working. Like our school machines but more memory and less color.. When she wasn’t working my brothers and I could use it write papers / software and play games. A joystick would be a helpful addition. Apple joysticks are really analog (basically two game paddles together) which make…

yes, this works. it fills in using the weird apple row addressing and everything.

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#83

Post by incanus77 » Thu, May 14, 2020, 5:37 PM UTC

Awesome find. I grew up on the Apple IIe at school. I'm trying to do something like the author's rediscovery with a cheaply-found "luggable" 386 over here: https://justinmiller.io/posts/2020/04/26/project-386-part-1/ So far, it's proving much more difficult.

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#84

Post by acomjean » Thu, May 14, 2020, 5:39 PM UTC

fuball63 wrote: post #67

Regarding the games you can type out in BASIC, there's a book called "BASIC Computer Games" I got at the library once, and there's an online page that has a decent collection of them: http://www.moorecad.com/classicbasic/index.html They are in MS Basic, but it might be a fun exercise to try to port them. I recently rescued a IBM PS/1 and a Macintosh Plus from my grandpa's basement, got a similar response from family/…

The applesoft basic manual is on archive.org

This one is a pretty good primer:

https://archive.org/details/ATouchOfApplesoftBASIC/mode/2up

there are others (archive.org is a good resource for these things.)

https://archive.org/details/applesoft-tutorial/page/n37/mode...

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#85

Post by acomjean » Thu, May 14, 2020, 5:45 PM UTC

whatrocks wrote: post #51

raverbashing wrote: post #50

$95 for a new power supply? Should have shelled out for a soldering iron or station, pliers, new caps, which might have ended up cheaper in the long run (or not)

Yeah, I acknowledged my shame with this decision in the post. I did buy this $15 radio kit to "practice" soldering: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YHZE0G , but I've already somehow oxidized my solder iron's tip to the point that it won't heat the solder anymore. I would love a dummy's guide to soldering (YouTube or books) recommendation if you have one! (Although, I'm sure practice, practice, practice is going…

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guide-excellent-solderin...

The video is good basic intro, though it has a slightly strange vibe.

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#86

Post by bobochan » Thu, May 14, 2020, 5:47 PM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #8

The easiest and fastest way to get software onto your new beloved: Search the internet for the FTP Apple Asimov server (there are http mirrors if you don’t want you use ftp). This is an archive of many thousands of Apple diskette images and software. Download stuff from the archive onto an SD card. Then purchase an SD to Apple disk emulator card (plugs into one of those 7 slots and emulates an Apple disk drive). You…

Does anyone have a source for a Super Serial Card, or similar that would work with this? I have had my //e since '83 and deeply regret that I never picked one of those up.

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#87

Post by acomjean » Thu, May 14, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

IIE (//e)? Manuals are available on archive.org. you can browse with their page by page thing, but if you scroll down they're available a pdfs.

and the owners manual, very pracitcal nuts and bolts, but informative (150 pgs).

https://archive.org/details/apple-iie-owner-manual/mode/2up

The reference manual is low level but helps in understanding the machine.

https://archive.org/details/Apple_IIe_Reference_Manual_HiRes...

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#88

Post by chihuahua » Thu, May 14, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

To me, the most surprising thing about this story is that Steve Jobs allowed a device to be made with lots of expansion slots!

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#89

Post by bdowling » Thu, May 14, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

bobochan wrote: post #86

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #8

The easiest and fastest way to get software onto your new beloved: Search the internet for the FTP Apple Asimov server (there are http mirrors if you don’t want you use ftp). This is an archive of many thousands of Apple diskette images and software. Download stuff from the archive onto an SD card. Then purchase an SD to Apple disk emulator card (plugs into one of those 7 slots and emulates an Apple disk drive). You…

Does anyone have a source for a Super Serial Card, or similar that would work with this? I have had my //e since '83 and deeply regret that I never picked one of those up.

There are a few Super Serial Cards listed on eBay right now. Your deep regret can be fixed for about $20-60.

Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer

#90

Post by jonahbenton » Thu, May 14, 2020, 6:10 PM UTC

Terretta wrote: post #77

jonahbenton wrote: post #42

Great piece. Haven't seen Beagle Bros mentioned. Their awesome catalogs: https://stevenf.com/beagle/contents.html Also haven't seen mentioned Pinball Construction Set- an absolutely amazing piece of engineering, by Bill Budge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Construction_Set Last I checked, Budge was still working- for Google- on the V8 runtime. Think he is on twitter. And while there are a lot of 6502 assembly…

Came here to mention Beagle Bros. In particular, for this: > Other than AppleSoft BASIC (which was written by Microsoft! For Apple!!), which is burned into a ROM chip on the Apple II, there's also some sort of built-in assembler that you can access by typing this into the BASIC prompt: CALL-151 > I believe this is where I'll be able to do some of the more Commodore 64-like peeking and poking directly at memory. I hav…

GREAT find with that big tip book. Remembering that now.

Oh sweet nostalgia, just give me a little more of your time.