I got an apple IIc for free, and it has some problems I'd like to fix, if possible.
One: it's missing a few keys (where can I get Apple II(c) keys?)
Two: the 'U' key responds to presses once in a blue moon. (I've taken the keyboard out to look at it, but I don't see any easy way to get at the individual keys' circuits)
Three: It won't boot from a floppy. I downloaded the software from apple.com, and it tells me it can't load ProDOS, which I've looked up, and found out it means the drive has read enough of the disk to know that it's ProDOS, but something is wrong with either the drive or floppy that won't let it read the rest of the data. I inserted the floppy to an OS 9 machine, and the files show up fine, including ... (can't remember the name) a file that one site told me must be visible for the disk to load. SO! I'm thinking that there's something wrong with the floppy drive. (Where can I get an Apple IIc floppy drive, or if someone has another idea what might fix the problem, I'd appreciate it.)
Finally:
Does anyone know if the Apple IIc will work with www.startty.com, and have a pointer on directions how to set it up, if so? (I already got an account, I don't have an ethernet to serial converter yet, though (waiting to be sure it would work)).
What software did you get at apple.com? IIRC, the only A2 stuff there was some boot disks that only ran on the IIgs.
Firstly, I tried booting from a disk that came with the IIc, titled "Apple II, Your Tour of the Apple IIc Plus" (yes, it's an Apple IIc "Plus", didn't mention/notice it before), which says "*** UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS ***", which I assumed was a bad floppy disk, so I downloaded "Apple II System Disk 3.2", not sure if I got it directly from apple.com or not, can't find it there, now, but then their archives never seem to have links updated very well, it seems to me. I could have gotten it from a secondary site.
What that means is that the disk is formatted with ProDOS, but doesn't include the ProDOS kernel (a file named "PRODOS") or the ProDOS-enabled BASIC language (a file named "BASIC.SYSTEM"). In essence, it's not a bootable floppy; but is otherwise perfectly healthy.
Yes, they both have contained both of those files:
Me: "...including ... (can't remember the name) a file that one site told me must be visible for the disk to load."
That would be "PRODOS", from what I'd read. Nothing told me about "BASIC.SYSTEM", but it's on both, as well as the aforementioned kernel.
Mounted Disk Name (additional info):Disks' contents
UTILITIES (System Disk 3.2, that I Disk Copied):
BASIC.SYSTEM COPY.ME FASTCOPY.SYSTEM LAUNCHER.SYSTEM PRODOS SETTINGS SYSUTIL.SYSTEM UTIL.0 UTIL.1 UTIL.2
TUTOR (Apple II Youre Tour of the Apple IIc Plus (came with computer)):
BASIC.SYSTEM BRUSH.GPH CARDS.GPH CHART1.GPH CHART2.GPH EFFECTS EFFECTS.ASM FOLDER.GPH J01.GPH KEYBOARD.PIC MONTAGE MUSIC1.GPH PRODOS STARTUP TITLE.GPH TITLENC.GPH APPLE.PLAY/ AT.WORK/ BASIC/ INSIDE.STORY/ LEARNING/ MENU/ PRESENTING/
Most everything written for the Apple IIe or //e
will work for the IIc, IIc+ and //c. See if you
can locate some software for a IIe and run it.
It should boot up and run nicely. Usually IIe
software packages come up for sale/trade more
often than software tailored specifically for the
IIc series. Really no difference.