Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

8 posts / 0 new
Last post
gsmcten's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 5 months ago
Joined: Oct 4 2005 - 18:52
Posts: 2629
Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

This is the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/original-Apple-II-Apple-A2S1-computer-needs-work-/190799893871?pt=US_Vintage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item2c6c8f556f

I thought I might bid on this particular machine, since the price was right, but as I looked at the final picture showing the bottom pan and the Apple II label and Serial number, I noticed something odd.

There seems to be some sort of haze(?) around the label.
This makes me think that it was Photoshopped some how.

So I toss it out to the experts...

Am I wrong? Smile

Offline
Last seen: 4 weeks 14 hours ago
Joined: Oct 9 2011 - 12:54
Posts: 1353
Re: Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

In the comments he mentions he copied the serial number sticker picture to make a single picture of the bottom because eBay has a 12 picture limit.

Btw, this does look like a partial Frankenstein machine. The keyboard is wrong. But for the most part it has the right powersupply and motherboard and ROMs. Most have the wrong power supply. The "mods" look easily undoable.

At least it's not like the one up there now that has potential to be a perfect machine with a Rev2 motherboard. But the owner fixed it all wrong and in some cases are not reversible.. He damaged some of the power supply holes on the supply by using screws and not rivets (a rivet gun is $15) and a then he used a Dremel to modify the power supply case to fit the wrong switch (The right switch is a about $3).

gsmcten's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 5 months ago
Joined: Oct 4 2005 - 18:52
Posts: 2629
Re: Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

Corey,

You see...this is another example of what I was saying over in "This Is Laughable".
I see things like this all the time.

"Is it Live...Or is it Memorex?"

Smile

mmphosis's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 2 days ago
Joined: Aug 18 2005 - 16:26
Posts: 442
Re: Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

One of those wires is the Shift-Key Modification.

Offline
Last seen: 7 years 9 months ago
Joined: Jun 11 2011 - 21:57
Posts: 109
Re: Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

Looks legit to me. I'm not sure what would be wrong with the keyboard. It looks like the right style of keyboard for a serial number in the 20000s.

Offline
Last seen: 4 weeks 14 hours ago
Joined: Oct 9 2011 - 12:54
Posts: 1353
Re: Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

Actually in the 20,000s it should be a Datanetics keyboard, the Apple II only came with Datanetics branded Keyboards. Depending on the time an Apple II should have a Datanetics keyboard with a separate encoder board or the raised power key with or without the edge connector(earliest have an edge connector) but still has datanetics keyswitches. The datanetics keyboards have a metal stiffener running on the top and bottom (except the very early ones with the edge connector which only had it on the bottom). When the Keyboard Company (formally Datanetics corp) moved to the snap in switch keyboard and RFI edition keyboard, the stiffener was no longer needed since the switches sat in a frame or it was a one piece setup. Can't tell exactly but based upon the color of the pcb, it looks like an RFI edition keyboard one piece, a later edition. They came in two different color PCBs.

Actually this seller seems very legit. Said it came from a recycler, talked about the pic limit...
Both sellers of this one and the one with the dremel'd out powerswitch have been pretty upfront about their systems. It's not like they claimed it was all original and the powersupply, motherboard and keyboard were swapped with II plus parts (That one sold about 3 weeks ago for $2000 on a buy it now even after I pointed it out to the seller and he wanted $800 from me for the system which was essentially a case, I declined and bought a whole apple II fixer-up for less).

MarkO's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 months 3 weeks ago
Joined: Dec 10 2011 - 16:26
Posts: 689
Re: Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

I am not an Apple ][ or Apple ][+ Expert, but I own one of each.

Other than the keyboard with the "flush" power key, it looks just like my Apple ][ ( [Link 1] [Link 2] ). All the Serial Numbers seem to in the Proper Range.

It is possible there was a Keyboard Failure under warranty and it was swapped out. Resulting in the Newer style Keyboard.

Offline
Last seen: 4 weeks 14 hours ago
Joined: Oct 9 2011 - 12:54
Posts: 1353
Re: Another Apple II (Original?) on ebay

Thats the thing. Apple was pretty mass produced that parts were just swapped out on the II series. That's what makes an original unmodified system so rare. Back then no one cared if you had the original keyboard, they just wanted one that worked.

The early keyboards died, the early powersupply switches went, and so forth. Motherboards died and were swapped out. Those that survived intact were either retired early and put away or the owners simply fixed them on their own (hopefully not hacking them to a fix, but actually ordering the replacement part that broke not the whole assembly that broke like an apple dealer would swap out).

This is why I was so excited about my rev 4 Apple II, while its only a rev 4, everything matches, everything is original as it came from the factory. Getting it to work while maintaining that originality is another story. It's been very tempting while reviving the keyboard to just throw another keyboard in so I can sort out a ram/addressing issue, but then the temptation to not swap it back becomes too high.

Cheers,
Corey

Log in or register to post comments