Hi all,
I have been asked to repair this apple II, prior to sale.
Apparently its on of the first units imported into Australia, its serial number is A2S1 6010, which makes it relatively early (as least in Australian history)
It sounds like a dead power supply which are trivial to repair. I am seeking more information about the unit, but it contains chips dates 1977 and 1978, suggesting it was build mid to late 1978.
The motherboard has a hand written serial? number of A675 or 4675, this doesn't fit any of the numbering schemes i know of, ie week 46 of 1975 cannot possibly be.
I would appreciate any comments about its age and potential value.
Thanks and Cheers, Martin...
It isn't a rev 0, as it has the color killer modifications. Most likely a rev. 1 given the low serial number. The motherboard/case serial number gap seems larger than normal (should only be about ~300 apart for a machine of this age, I think). So, I'd guess that the MB serial number begins with an A rather than a 4, but I have no idea if Australian boards were numbered differently. Of course, if the MB number begins with an A, it is hard to guess when it might have been produced. It has Applesoft ROMs, so it could be a later board and could even have been a replacement for an earlier board, in which case it might be as late as a rev 3. Pictures taken directly above the upper half of the MB with the cards and the CPU removed could help with identification. The power supply has a very late serial number compared to the case or the board, so it has probably been replaced before (perhaps when the selectable voltage power supply became available).
As to value... who can say? If early Apples are rare in Australia, it might fetch a much better price than in the US. But demand is probably smaller, so it might go for less. In the US, depending on exactly what the motherboard rev is and the amount of caffeine that the bidders have consumed before the last 30 seconds of the auction, somewhere between $1000 and $2000 most likely.
Thanks Billw.
When I get the machine I can/will check the part number under the CPU, the size of the Protoyping area etc.
I agree its not a REV 0 board, I don't really know when Apple IIs were imported into Australia. I was under the impression it was the Apple II Europlus being the first model, as we use PAL TV standard the USA NTSC models could only be used with a monochrome monitor.
I bought my original unit in 1978 and it was a Europlus. This I'm told is a plain Apple II, as the owner told me, one of the first imported.
Stay tuned.
Cheers, Martin...
One fact to recoognize are the still installed RAM-selection Blocks ( 4k vs 16k )!
This indicates the board to be a realy earlier version.
It also seems that the previous powersupply has been replaced with later version
( or replacing 110 Volt US supply with european version of 220 V supply )
another fact : the metal topped RAM chips.... in later versions only the plastic cased chips have been used / distributed...
so for more detailed guesses several other pictures would be needed to get
conclusions about the entire unit...:
picture of case label,
picture of powersupply label,
picture in detail of the rear half of the mainboard without the inserted cards
picture of the keyboard ( one or two-piece keyboard )
closeup to the RAM-chips
In fact it might be a earlier version that was later upgraded to applesoft...
often the users in old days with integer ROMs upgraded to the later Applesoft chipset....
also detail of the used keyboard ( raised or non-raised Power light )
sincerely speedyG
Very Nice System, and Very Interesting... I have an Apple ][, with a Rev-03 Board, and an Apple ][+, with a Rev-01 board..
I would guess the Board Number is 4675, it looks like the type of Four with a closed top, rather than a Right Leaning A.. But.. IF it truly is, it should be a Rev-0 board... Unless they renumbered a later Board, or unless Apple mixed Rev-00 and Rev-01 Boards before switching to the YYWW numbering format..
My Apple ][+ has a Rev-01 MotherBoard, with the AppleSoft ROMs.. IT won't boot at this time, ( missing chips ) but that is a valid combination of components and Mother Board.. The Rev-01 and Rev-03 Copyright Dates are 1978. The Rev-00 Boards seem to have a Copyright Date of 1977.
Apple Computer was notorious for swapping out Mother Boards of Units under Warranty. That is most likely what happened to my Apple ][+. It went in with a Rev-07 or so Mother Board, and came out with a Rev-01 Mother Board.
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This Unit appears to be a standard NTSC Apple ][ Mother Board, but that Card in Slot #03 looks very interesting.. I wonder if there is PAL Support on it..
My Apple ][, came with a Modified A2M004 Power Supply, that is Dual Voltage.. The Serial Number looks correct for Machines of that era..
For this Unit's Power Supply Serial Number, it must have been replaced, at least once..
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I agree with billw, the price of $1000.00 ( USD ) to 2000.00 ( USD ) could be obtainable for this unit.
The portions of the Case looks in nice shape, if the rest looks as nice and the Lid too, it could be restored to an original Apple ][, if ROMs could be obtained. Or left As Is, since many were modified in this exact way..
I have been following eBay Auctions on Apple ][ and Apple][+ for the last couple years, looking at the final Sale Price, and what the various Parts and their Serial Number were.. With asking other people about my Apple ][, and looking at the recent eBay Auctions, I figure I could get $1200.00 ( USD ) to $1500.00 ( USD ) for it.
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Please post pictures of all the Items SpeedyG mentioned... You can look at my Photos to see some of what is Important to see. I really enjoy seeing different Apple ]['s and how they are configured, and determine if it was a Stock Configuration, or if it was changed Later..
MarkO
Thank you all for your comments.
The machine is shipping to me in the next few weeks.
Once I have it I will post more pictures and hopefully we can more accurately identify what it is and what it might be worth.
Cheers, Martin...
Hi Martin, did you ever get this machine for repair? Wonder if you ever got it working.
Tim
Hi Tim738,
No unfortunately, the guy went very quiet, and I've been too busy to chase him, a real shame as it looked very interesting.
I might just email him one more time and see if he responds.
Cheers, Martin...
Hi all,
this machine is currently listed on eBay as it turns out..
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171939717392
Could be a good buy especially in Oz..
Cheers, Martin...
I wonder what the end price will be.
Any idea what the red led is that's been added to the case?
double post
Tim738,
I suspect it will go for $700+ maybe more.
Looking at the interior, I would suggest the RED LED is a CAPS lock indicator as it seems to find it way back to the game port, i would imagine it uses one of the annunciator outputs to show Uppercase v's Lowercase. I also suspect the blue card is a Zardax 80 column card and that is consistent with the upper/lower case indicator.
Cheers, Martin...
Some of the Revisions 1 up to 4, but without seing the serial, i'd say somewhere in later part of 1978, making it either rev 2-3 possibly. The serial on board itself is strange..
The Applesoft ROM's clearly say week 23, 24 etc of year 1978.
AUD $1825 it went for.
Hopefully who ever bought it can post a few more pictures and details when they get it. Be interesting to find out more about it.
I helped drive that price up but it went beyond what I could do (with the shipping to US added in of course)
Didn't expect to get it and it went for about what I figured ($1250-$1500)
which was out of my price range. Never the less it was fun to give it a shot!
I've found myself drawn to the more esoteric and interesting stuff lately (The history of this machine, the "A675" mobo which I can only guess means "Australia..." but who knows?)
Fun to watch what happens to the old machines too. I've had a blast fixing mine up and moving them to the next person (two REALLY nice guys bought the Rev 0 machines I sold)
Be interesting to see if this one shows up in photos after it is cleaned up.
Zan
I wouldn't be surprised if someone reading these forums ended up buying it. Hopefully there will be more photos to come.
It would have looked good sitting at my place but there will be others ( I hope)...
I would have loved to restore it on behalf of the seller, I just got too busy and let the communications lapse.
Finding a replacement key for the keyboard (I'm assuming Datanetics) will be a challenge.
The PSU is probably just a recap.
Pity about the case mod for the caps lock LED.
I thought about offering $500 before it went up on eBay.
It might not be that rare globally, but in Oz, its one of the first ever imported from what I know about it.
Cheers, Martin...
Hi Martin,
That 80 column card is a Vision-80 card made by Zofarrie Enterprises (Ken Thompson and Harry Harper) in Sydney, sold as the Vista Vision-80 card in USA. I wrote the Visicalc and Applewriter pre-boot utilities for it in an earlier life!
Zardax was one of the many word processors that used it.
I watched that auction too and was pleasantly surprised to see it jump to over AU$1800.
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
I actually own one, as I used Zardax as my word processor when I was doing my study in TAFE.
Still have it, with other bits and pieces, one day I will get the time to restore all of my old Apple gear.
Yes, its good it went for that price, its quite rare in Oz. I would loved to have been given the opportunity to restore it, but I'm sure its gone to a good home.
With that level of involvement with the Vision-80 card, I am guessing you are based in Oz?
Cheers, Martin...
Hi Martin,
Yes I'm in OZ, grew up in Sydney, now located in Blue Mountains.
I went to School with Ken Thompson who was the brains behind the
Vision-80. Harry Harper then manufactured and sold the card.
I was in London from 1980 to 1982, we imported and sold that
card all over the UK and Europe. The sales died when the Apple
IIe came out. Gee, we were on the crest of a wave then...
Laurie