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Apple ][ appreciation thread


darkjedi

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Been cleaning up this little Apple ][ EuroPlus ahead of getting ready to move it on (because I've got a //e and //gs, and reaalllly don't need this one. Also need to raise funds to buy a new PSU for my //gs, but that's yet another story)), but wanted to take a moment to say just how much I appreciate how well these things are built.

 

Originally came to me after being stored in a garage for some 15-20 years, but other than some dirt was in pretty good shape - ignoring some of the interesting mods made to it by the original (and only!) owner. Namely a turnkey power switch and disabling the internal speaker in favour of an external one:

Apple_12.thumb.jpg.97cdd43cc1e976782690df2902b34322.jpg

 

Figured that it was going to be nearly impossible to cleanly remove the speaker mod, decided to go the other route and at least get it wired up properly. New wire and some crimp plugs later and the internal speaker was wired back up again, but can still be detached if someone needs to take the case off to work on it:

 

IMG_1715.thumb.jpg.b0648fc794f7238e1b9c92c670682bec.jpgIMG_1868.thumb.jpg.252fb6e66018583f90813a23737a3c0e.jpg

 

Next step was fixing up 3 keys that weren't working. By some stroke of luck, there was a baggy with 6 NOS key plungers in it inside the box! From what I understand, Apple ][ key plungers are known to build up junk inside and lose continuity. While I could've removed the old ones and spent time trying to clean them, having some NOS switches made life far, far easier!

IMG_1700.thumb.jpg.a928fd81e1248abdc27e578b896a74a7.jpg

 

At this point decided to give it all a test while deconstructed... Something something hipster?

IMG_1699.thumb.jpg.c1ad5d6d249e6867340713b0b050a547.jpg

 

Buuuut we had an issue. The speaker wasn't working at all - not the internal, or external. Re-checked all my wiring and found it was all behaving right, which meant poking around the mainboard to see if I could find what was the fault. This is where the service manual was a godsend, because there's two ICs that could be at fault - K13 (74LS74) or F13 (74LS138). Thankfully Jaycar stock both (and spared me raiding my scrap arcade boards), which meant a quick trip down to grab one of each. Taking the shotgun approach, popped the LS138 out first and replaced it - and turns out this was the fix. We had sound!

 

Other than some shenanigans with a good 70-80% of the disks I have here for the Apple ][ being dead, it's one nicely working 48k EuroPlus. While it almost certainly is the reason the Apple ][ was widely cloned, I definitely appreciate that almost everything on the mainboard is an off the shelf component, labelled and documented very clearly - something you can't say for the Commodore 64! Next up after this is an Apple //e, which should be a fun little exercise in itself.

 

Who else has had the pleasure (or displeasure as the case might be) of fixing any of the 8-bit Apples?

 

Apple_02.thumb.jpg.b49ce1e6a5651c10b3fb9ce6d2c2e66f.jpgApple_03.thumb.jpg.3e1321cedf751933d38f1df27a9b9721.jpgApple_07.thumb.jpg.109fe5e1f2694febce7a94c3f21e1674.jpg

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Looks awesome :)

 

We had a lab of these in Yr 11 + 12. it was a race to get time booked on them for lunch breaks and recesses before the other nerds.

 

in a group task we wrote a text and graphic adventure game on Apple II in Yr 12 for the unit 'computer games and simulations' - this was back in 1984.

 

Thanks for the memories !

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Very nice. Looks like you’ve got a rev 4 1980 model with the memory type switches and the raised power light. Also yours has shiny keys, at some stage they swapped to textured matte key caps. Mine is a later 1982 one ‘rfi’ board, matte keys etc. The manuals are nice too, I don’t have any of them. My mission is to get mine working with my Tasman Logo Turtle!!

It’s so crazy to think at one time Apple computers didn’t even have screws and you were expected to user upgrade it. Not anymore.

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I've got a few, they were the first computer I used at school and being interested in electronics I loved the way you could pop the top and add your own homebrew interface cards. I made an I/O card that was in the old ETI magazine and still have it today. I made a servo driver board that has long since disappeared.

My Apple IIs are my favorites and I now have a IIEuroplus, IIE, IIE Enhanced, Platinum IIE, //c and Rom1 IIGS. Yes I've got a thing for the Apple II range.47a71a040160701f4ecece6004242b6b.jpgceb7f7ae317c3bcd8080c492d0ce4dfa.jpg9e9d81cce48b8bf5c94829f9ea4ecc27.jpg62b44d64c63ccb072664656717667968.jpgc2086d18b2664a4b78e80e2647bcb892.jpg1fe0e75b6a1b250a14883779066018cd.jpg76cf6dd23ba0012e432898bd204ef18b.jpg7232948d0df0a6230379c0fc6b52efd4.jpg

 

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Edited by BIG Trev
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Very nice. Looks like you’ve got a rev 4 1980 model with the memory type switches and the raised power light. Also yours has shiny keys, at some stage they swapped to textured matte key caps. Mine is a later 1982 one ‘rfi’ board, matte keys etc. The manuals are nice too, I don’t have any of them. My mission is to get mine working with my Tasman Logo Turtle!!

It’s so crazy to think at one time Apple computers didn’t even have screws and you were expected to user upgrade it. Not anymore.

Please let me know if you ever want to sell your turtle. I've been after one of these since we used one in high school back in the early 80s.

 

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

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in the last couple of weeks I bought a IIe (enhanced) job lot with mono monitor (green), disk ][, 128K/80col, 5.25 slim, 50 disks, books and joystick &

platinum IIe with 80col and disk interface.

I believe I have enough parts for 3 complete machines.

might list the left overs when done for all you apple 2 connoisseurs to help complete yours.

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in the last couple of weeks I bought a IIe (enhanced) job lot with mono monitor (green), disk ][, 128K/80col, 5.25 slim, 50 disks, books and joystick &

platinum IIe with 80col and disk interface.

I believe I have enough parts for 3 complete machines.

might list the left overs when done for all you apple 2 connoisseurs to help complete yours.

 

Neat. My platinum is poorly with missing keys and bad ram. I'd also be after various docs/disc/parts/joysticks/cards as mine are pretty bare.

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Neat. My platinum is poorly with missing keys and bad ram. I'd also be after various docs/disc/parts/joysticks/cards as mine are pretty bare.

 

I’ve got a third party disk card you’re more than welcome to. You still in tassie at the moment?

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Oh cool, I’ll give you some bucks since you’ve given me plenty already. If you ever need some parts I might have some.

Didn’t make it to Hobart this time, Andy came up to the North west instead. Btw that’s a good price you’ve got on your Apple on eBay. That boxed pal card for instance isn’t easy to find at all. I think I’ll do the ntsc reversible mod to get colour for one of mine. I’ll put a switch in I think as it’s just the crystal and a few jumpers.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

No the link didn't work [emoji852]

 

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

Jeez the PM section is weird. Anyway I'll just post it here. I think mine might be the RS232 version, but I don't know what the Apple II version looks like.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/MFFjf6uHEpygfpobA

 

Also this guy is the reason that I'm even going to try to get it working. He did a great job of archiving and documenting everything.

http://lukazi.blogspot.com/2016/05/tasman-turtle-restoration.html

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It’s an insane price + post. But I’m in no rush to move it anyway...

 

I'm going off what 'people' seem to be willing to pay on the sold ebay listings. Especially with the boxes and an early europlus. *I* wouldn't pay that much of course ;) Still can't believe how much c64's go for now. It's possible Aus doesn't care as much about Apple II's as we were mostly c64?

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Picked this up a few weeks ago. The PVM is temporary until I can get the original composite monitor working ( suspected dead flyback ).

 

Still no colour with the PVM even though it handles NTSC and PAL signals.

 

https://www.aussiearcade.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=146255

I think you're going to have fun getting two of those drives working on a IIE.[emoji6]

 

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

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