Earlier quoted context omitted.
The FloopyEMU also has an LCD with menus and onboard controls to select images, change modes, etc.
They are out of stock. Do you know how often he produces them?
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My New Old Apple IIe Computer
101–107 of 107 posts
Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer
#102It's not an Apple IIe without MECC software! Including that most famous of MECC titles, The Oregon Trail , which is about as synonymous with the Apple IIe in xennials' minds as Super Mario Bros. is with the NES. I also recommend Terrapin Logo for more programming fun.
Definitely need to get a copy of The Oregon Trail. And, yes, I've been reading up on LOGO! I just read a great book called Mindstorms written by Seymour Papert (inventor of LOGO and the Turtle robot) about his educational theories behind LOGO and using computers to help children learn how to learn. I highly recommend checking it out - here are my book notes: https://www.charlieharrington.com/mindstorms
Also, there's a goofy clone called "Organ Trail"[1] on Steam which adds a zombie apocalypse theme to the original. The look and feel is quite similar.
[1]https://store.steampowered.com/app/233740/Organ_Trail_Direct...
Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer
#103It's crazy the value of vintage computers. My dad gave me an IBM XT 286 he got for nothing in the late 90's. It was for me to take apart and destroy so I could learn a bit about computers, which I did.
Now just the keyboard is worth hundreds of dollars. I was frustrated to see LGR do a repair video of the exact model I had, and the same model can go for thousands of dollars.
Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
A cheaper way for him to get started is to use his Super Serial Card with ADTPro ( https://adtpro.com ). ADTPro can be bootstrapped onto the Apple using just a null modem cable ($5-10) connected to his PC and a couple of console commands. ADTPro can then transfer disk images from the PC and write them to floppy disks. Even if he also has to buy a USB serial adapter ($10) and floppy disks, it will be cheaper than buyi…
I agree that is cheaper, but it is also more painful and slower. If you want to try out 100 different disk images, imagine writing those to 100 floppies (even if you overwrite and only purchase 10 floppies -- still a lot of time)
I don’t disagree, but there’s something magic about using old floppy drives. Even if you were a bit too young to have used them yourself, you may enjoy the experience. I think it’s worth trying even if you end up buying a floppy emulator later.
Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because there were no websites, blogs, podcasts, or other sources of information about these devices, the manuals had to be thorough. You should see how amazing the manual for my Amdek monitor is, or the Grappler + graphics card for the Apple // (allows you to print graphics from your Apple // to a dot matrix printer): https://apple2online.com/web_documents/Orange%20Micro%20Grap... If you were lucky, other authors ma…
I'm not sure dearth is the right word here. Sure the total volume of information was less, but the quality was massively higher. Sure, you might get incorrect information from BBS's or friends, but the manuals were detailed, technically accurate, and usually complete. AKA, you didn't get through reading one and go "but what about..." only to discover a dark hole. There was a bit of that, but usually 3rd parties stepp…
It was a different place and time, for sure. Many of these products were made by random small companies around the US. They sold through other small computer shops.
I often envy my friends 10 years younger than me, but at the same time, I am glad I got to experience the small B&M computer shops. I even went to an oldschool computer show at the fairgrounds once... and got ripped off on a tape drive that didn't work with my 286 lol.
Also the joy of buying random obsolete junk at mac frugals/big lots/99 cent stores when they'd get surplus. I got quite a few games that way!
The closest equivalent I can think of is my Asus motherboard. It came in a fancy box with a lot of stickers, and most importantly, a big manual of all of its features. Sure it doesn't give me an in-depth diagram, but it's better than nothing.
I was most disappointed by my newest video card. It came with.. absolutely nothing. I think it may have come with a folded piece of paper about how to install it?! The damn thing cost $500! The cheaper MSI ones come with a friggin comic book with a cute dragon in it!
Edit: The MSI comic book: https://www.geeks3d.com/public/jegx/2018q4/msi/msi-graphics-...
Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those look very cool! Though FWIW I wonder if there are differences between the breadboard memory space and IO and busses and the Apple II. I recall the graphics screen was fed from RAM at 2000-3fff, with an offscreen buffer in 4000-5fff. And there was a vertical blanking interrupt handler to hook into, so you could organize writes to screen memory when it was not being read by the video machinery, and avoid flicker.…
The Apple ][ hardware did not have a direct way to track vertical blanking. There were hacks that used artifacts in the dynamic memory refresh to sniff out when the VBI was happening. http://www.deater.net/weave/vmwprod/megademo/vapor_lock.html
Ah, thank you, that's interesting. I don't recall puzzling through that exact machinery.
But I had a IIe, not a II, and looking at resources for that- yeah, I had a rev B motherboard, and remember well working in the double hi res context, both black and white and color:
http://www.battlestations.zone/2017/04/apple-ii-double-hi-re...
So cool.
Re: My New Old Apple IIe Computer
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure dearth is the right word here. Sure the total volume of information was less, but the quality was massively higher. Sure, you might get incorrect information from BBS's or friends, but the manuals were detailed, technically accurate, and usually complete. AKA, you didn't get through reading one and go "but what about..." only to discover a dark hole. There was a bit of that, but usually 3rd parties stepp…
It was a different place and time, for sure. Many of these products were made by random small companies around the US. They sold through other small computer shops. I often envy my friends 10 years younger than me, but at the same time, I am glad I got to experience the small B&M computer shops. I even went to an oldschool computer show at the fairgrounds once... and got ripped off on a tape drive that didn't work wi…
Nice, the MSI instructions aren't even right if your assembling a PC that doesn't have a motherboard/existing graphics card. /sigh
Yah, I don't get it for many things. Windows, should come with a basic users manual on paper. It should include the global keyboard shortcuts in the back too, but it doesn't. I'm not sure anyone at MS could even write them all down at this point.
Besides that, what kills me are all the completely insane things like the xbox (which has a terrible UI) games that come on bluray, but then require internet access before you can start playing so that they can discover they need to download a 10G patch. Its like they said "hey we are going to release this game to retail channels, but we know it doesn't work so the first thing its going to do is call home to download itself" or something equally stupid.