| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 apple_iii_small.jpg | 86.5 KB |
After taking out the motherboard and power supply revealed no obvious problems-- the interior of the machine was squeaky clean and dust-free after 30 years of storage-- I powered it up for the first time.
Everything works perfectly!
The computer came with a Monitor /// in an unopened box, an external Disk ///, and boxes of dealer-oriented material, including AppleFile ///, VisiCalc ///, and AppleWriter ///, with disks and training manuals. There was a box of miscellanea as well which included full manual sets for Apple ][ and Apple /// Pascal, which warmed the cockles of my heart.
The only thing I noticed is that both floppy drives seemed rather loud-- they may obvious scraping noises as they seek, although they seem to work perfectly. Perhaps there's something inside I should lubricate...
Where did you score that beauty?
Awesome x3. Very good looking machine. Congratulations! Would you be willing to take a few more HQ pics? This would be great for archives; pictures of a mint new Apple III.
I got this today from Jim Thomas, a retired Apple engineer who received it new as part of some company promotion around 1982-83. It's been sitting in his garage in boxes ever since. He's moving to Davis, CA and wanted to get rid of it; I was happy to oblige.
I'll take lots more photos when I get back to Reno (drove down to San Jose to pick it up).
Thanks!
Excellent! This is good to know because I was hemming and hawing about opening up a ///+ unit out of concern for the power supply. Capacitors (sometimes) don't age well when not used occasionally.
It's great that these old systems are so resilient against the ravages of time. Try that with a new system today. The flash firmware would probably be dead. But more likely the validation servers and online non-sense new PC's go through would probably be out of action.
Apple /// drives tend to be louder and more "echo-ee" than their Disk II counterparts. I wouldn't worry about it other than a little bit of exercising usage. At least mine are. Describing noises through words is so imprecise I wouldn't make a recommendation to start greasing things up without hearing it in person or an HQ youtube video.
Checking the power supply is simple: just remove all the screws around the periphery of its metal bottom plate, including the two small ones at the rear, and it flops right out- there's enough slack in the cable to the motherboard so that you can set it on the bottom plate of the upside-down computer.
Think about how the entire power supply fits in an unventilated aluminum enclosure. Wonder.
Good to know about the floppy drive-- they sounded a lot different from any of my Apple ][ drives. Hey, can the first-generation metal-cased Disk ][s be used with an Apple ///? The ribbon cable seems to be the same...
You'll find it's just a little bigger on the ///. There's an extra signal or two since you can daisy-chain four drives. But that's the only difference. The mechanics are the same; just the analog board is different.
That /// is so bright, I have to wear shades (reference to '80s song). You should have made an unboxing video - probably the last one for a ///. Great find...
I also noticed - I have the exact same lean-to desk for my //e.
WOW!!!! What a Fabulous Machine in Fabulous Condition...
This Machine is Museum Ready!!!
Make sure in the "event of your demise", that it is taken care of..
MarkO
I see there's a ///+ keyboard upgrade kit on eBay.
I don't suppose there's any advantage (other than cosmetic) to this upgrade?
I like the ///+ or ][e Keyboard better... Personal Preference.. and this unit is Pristine, as is!!!!
Yeah, but it's $300. I can afford it easily enough, but am not sure it would be worth the money except that maybe it would be nice to have a spare keyboard around. Apple /// keyboards are not exactly common.
In other news, I did order one of those Apple /// clock upgrade kits for $15. It comprises the National Semi clock chip, a battery holder for 3 "AA" batteries, and a cable that connects the holder to a weird little device that at first guess is designed to be fit over a coin-cell battery holder.
I've been unable to find any documentation on how to install this kit. Any ideas?
dramsey,
The installation instructions should be inside the kit.
Steven
Yeah, Steven, they're not. The "kit" consisted of a foam pouch containing the clock chip, the battery holder, and the weird thing. No instructions at all. I did look.
UPDATE: I contacted the seller and he admitted he forgot to include the directions, but sent me a PDF file, so it's all good.
Check: http://apple3.org/Documents/Manuals/Sun%20Remarketing%20Do-it-yourself%20Guide%20for%20the%20Apple%20III.pdf
Page 22
It's not that bad to install, just be careful inserting the chips. That's the hardest part of the installation.
Jay
Installing the clock kit was simple; I was just nervous because of the difficulty of replacing any parts I might damage while doing it.
But it's done and it all works. Now I'm getting the CFFA3000 going.
Oddly, although I owned an Apple /// for some years back when they were current, I'd forgotten that they must boot from their internal floppy-- there's no way to boot directly from a ProFile, CFFA3000, or anything else. Which is slow and inconvenient, but there you go...
dramsey,
Wow!
A VERY NICE LOOKING UNIT!
Don't miss the Follow Up Post..
Lots of Apple /// pictures
MarkO