Help! I finally got me an Apple IIe!

Welcome to the Apple world... For software, I would start browsing at this site:

https://archive.org/details/asimov.apple.archive.2013.03

Hi Chris, and welcome to the apple a2 world!

first of all, you have a great system to start with, although the grappler card is useless unless you plan on getting a printer for it.. imo, i would take that out of the slot and just shelf it. As for software, google ADTPRO. With this, you can bootstrap your A2e with a modern computer and start your software collection. ADTPRO is your first step.

I'm mainly a Commodore user (flame suit on!)

Meh, no flame suit needed here lol. Most of us like commodore as well. They have uses.

It's a IIe with the 6502 chip - so I take it it's not enhanced and is the 40 col with 64K.

Once I get an operating system for it and am certain it works ok, I wouldn't mind installing the 80 column / 128K upgrade kit. Are these easy to find?

Its definitely not enhanced. You can find NOS enhancement kits on ebay every now and then, but they are usually over priced. You can try contacting "ReactiveMicro" to see if they have any enhancement kits left over.
However, Reactive has been on a hiatus for a while now.

Here's the enhancement kit they use to sell:

http://www.reactivemicro.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_29&products_id=55

I'm sure they still have a few kits left, you just have to contact them to be sure.

When I turn it on, it says Apple ][ at the top of the screen and Drive 1 just keeps spinning.

It sounds like it is booting fine. Have you tried the computers self test? (Press the open & closed apple keys simultaneously & turn on the computer; it will say "KERNEL OK" if it's working fine.

Hello CarLover,
first of all welcome to the community.
But please carry some respect to the rules of the community too...
starting 3 times a exactly same thread (!!!) is spaming the board and not polite....

Keep more patience !
The members in this community are spread all over the world.... so while you are awake at the same time in other
parts of the world people are still sleeping....
Not everybody is just waiting to reply to your Thread immediatly.....

besides it´s also good behaviour to first examine past threads that touch the topic....
in your case nearlly everything has been told in former threads tooo....
in such case use the "search" field at the top right corner !
if you enter the term "filetransfer",
"ADT" or "disktransfer" in that field you will get a long list of former threads
that have been related to this topic !

And not to forget, also using Google for the term "ADTpro" leads to:
http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/

Read that pages and then you will have all needed information how to pick software from various sites
for the apple II - store them at a PC and then - which options are availiable for transfer and
finally how to transfer that diskimages from PC or MAC to the Apple II.

Besides the link above to asimov the better link will be:

http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/

this is the entry point to 4 very big and 11 smaller Apple sites related to various topics and sources....
among them the second most important besides asimov is the Apple II documentation project !

its a good idea to bookmark that 2 links....

sincerely speedyG

Hi Chris,
Welcome to the wacky world of 8-bit Apple computing!

Speedy gave good advice. I would also add that when you search the discussions on this site for trouble shooting, help, or general information, that there are a couple of maintenance topics that seem to get asked repeatedly. To my mind the big one is the disk drive cleaning and speed calibrating. Even if your drives are in great shape, I would at least find these references with instructions, and book mark them now for fast future access.

Also, IMHO, if you want to preserve this machine and use it, consider getting a power line conditioner. Although it might look like it is the same, the conditioner has a significant (or several) additional function(s) beyond those of a simple power strip. Monster makes some good basic ones that are sold at the consumer level, at stores like Best Buy. Basically these things even out the spikes and drops in the alternating current electricity that comes from a wall outlet. These spikes and drops do damage sensitive electronics over time. Also, you get some greater lighting strike protection, and there's a protection guarantee for your equipment with some brands.

Mutant Pie

Transwarp - I didn't know about the self test. I just did what you said and got the "KERNEL OK" - so that assuring! Thanks for that!

Glad to hear that it past it's self test! I forgot to say earlier, welcome to applefritter.

As suggested in prior posts, you can either buy the disks with programs on eBay or get some floppies and transfer disk images. There are places like retrofloppy.com that sell cables and even disks ready with the software installed.
Hope you enjoy the world of Apple!
Javster

Hi Chris,
Also, IMHO, if you want to preserve this machine and use it, consider getting a power line conditioner. Although it might look like it is the same, the conditioner has a significant (or several) additional function(s) beyond those of a simple power strip. Monster makes some good basic ones that are sold at the consumer level, at stores like Best Buy. Basically these things even out the spikes and drops in the alternating current electricity that comes from a wall outlet. These spikes and drops do damage sensitive electronics over time. Also, you get some greater lighting strike protection, and there's a protection guarantee for your equipment with some brands.

Mutant Pie

Besides the link above to asimov the better link will be:

http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/

Also take a look at http://macgui.com/vault/

We have pictures!!!