Looking for a few early Apple II owners (serial numbers prior to 5000) to ask some questions.
I was fortunate enough to pick up a fairly early Apple II recently but there are a couple of interesting differences I am wondering about...
The first is that the keyboard (1 piece) is attached with studs & nuts rather than screws... Is this normal for the super early Apple II's?
The next is the RAM jumpers - this one has (literally) two pieces of wire in the jumper slots rather than jumper blocks. Again, is this normal or did someone just lose the blocks and go old school?
The power supply is not happy, preparing to send that to Mr. John Morris for him to work his magic. Other than that so far everything is working perfectly (rev 0 motherboard) except for a couple of sticky keys which are slowly starting to behave the more I use it.
Jennifer
Jennifer,
Check my early keyboard page for information on keyboards - your system probably has a "second version" keyboard, which uses a different bracket (not pictured) than earlier ones.
http://willegal.net/appleii/early-a2-keyboards.htm
The RAM configuration jumpers possibly were replaced by hard wiring, if/when the memory was upgraded. At the time, many owners upgraded their own memory and made their own jumpers, rather than use Apple supplied blocks, but I've seen at least one system with sockets removed and wires soldered directly to the motherboard.
regards,
MIke Willegal
Awesome reference page! Thank you Mike!
I think you are right, I have the second version keyboard. Least it all works!!
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
Is it this Apple II you've won ?
If it is that unit, the seller is a crook...I was watching the auction for the better part of a week; with three days left, the auction ended (probably because it didn't rise above 410 or so) suddenly showing as sold. The only explanation given was "the auction ended, I relisted it and it sold." The auction was not over yet; it still had three days to go...silly; would have probably sold for more! If I had seen that "buy it now" price I would have bought it on the spot...seems like it was engineered for a very narrow window of opportunity...
I was going to bid on that computer as well... until he ended the auction abruptly. Like you said, this computer could have easily sold for twice his relisted BIN asking price lol. $1749.99 is cheap for a REV 0 Apple II.
Yeah so I have no idea what they were thinking. Early on in the auction I contacted them and told them (since they appeared clueless about the value) just how rare and valuable this machine was being all original. They did not believe me - and I tried twice to explain it to them.
The only thing I can think is they panicked when they saw the current bids hovering around the $400 mark - and decided to go with a buy it now auction instead. So in that regard I do have to agree they didn't abide by the spirit of the auction set up as they should have kept the auction going and accepted whatever they wound up getting. (Which would have assuredly been more than the buy it now)
A couple of friends here at AppleFritter have contacted me privately saying they saw the buy-it-now price as well, but didn't pull the trigger. (Hi guys!!)
So I dunno what they were thinking... A combination of panic/greed? I dunno.
So yes, I was the lucky buyer of this computer.
Here is the second email I sent them on 8/29 after they responded with disbelief to my first email regarding the rarity and value:
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Dear online_professionals,
Please believe me. The ROM in the F0 slot is dated 7805 - which is the 5th week of 1978. Based on that it would probably have been built sometime in February or March of 1978. (hard to believe, I know) The 4 digit hand written number at the left rear of the motherboard will tell us more if you can send that to me.
The add on cards could have been added anytime so those dates really aren't terribly important as these things go. If that is the original motherboard, it will likely be a Rev 0. There were (later on) also Rev 2, Rev 3 (last socketed RAM select) Rev 4 (last with non-socketed RAM select) and then several revisions after this.
You can tell the ROM chips in the motherboard are Integer based as the ROM D8 wasn't populated when they were Integer ROMs - the ROM D0 is actually the "Programmers Aid" ROM which you rarely see.
The card with the red switch on the back contains the Applesoft ROMs which allows you to run Applesoft Basic which allows (among other things) floating point operation, whereas the Integer Basic these came with did not.
I have been an Apple fanatic since 1978, when I bought my first one - and I have several (understatement) now. I assure you, this is a rare beast and if you could prove it all worked (boot it, show all keys work, etc.) you would likely see upwards of $5,000.00 for it. There are 4 of the Apple II's on eBay currently, your's is the one that will likely garner the best price/attention due to the vintage.
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So guessing that since the power supply didn't work (needed a lot of work, more than just replacing the capacitors) they panicked...
I dunno.
Jennifer
As Jennifer and I discussed previously, I too was watching this from the first hour it was originally listed. When it showed up in my ended auctions (before it was supposed to be up) I figured someone made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Lo and behold when I clicked the link in my eBay app it had the "View Relisted Item" item link and there she was for less than $2000!!!!
Only problem was I didn't have $1000 to spend on it, let alone $2000!!!!!
I assumed it would disappear instantly at that price.
So I watched as the minutes and hours (was at least an hour or two)ticked by until she sold.
So glad the sellers made it available at a price that a true Apple lover could snag it at.
Now if I could just get the next one for about $500........ :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
Zan
Thanks Zan, I appreciate you chiming in. So it was available for over an hour before I spotted it - I would have thought it would sell immediately at that price too!
I actually asked the seller why they did this, I swear this is their reply: "I was encouraging a fast sale."
Jennifer
Now if only they had been encouraging a "dirt cheap sale" I'd have been in like Flynn!!
Zan
Congrats, you got a good deal! It looks fairly clean as well.