So a while back I asked about a character generator (2513) for an early rev0 I have. Well, thanks to the responses I located one, and my system now works, although the video is a bit jumpy/fuzzy. I am not sure if that is the monitor I am using (Dell flat screen) or some other chip that isnt quite happy.
The Apple II is serial number 25, and I took a whole bunch of pictures of it, inside and out and thought others might like to see them.
Since the pictures below - i have removed the lower case mods and replaced with the 2513, and also cleaned it up a little.
There are a few albums of different 'poses' of the II at http://mickeyd73.imgur.com/
Thanks
That is one beautiful rev.0. The white Synertek 6502 and Integer Basic ROMs look brand new, definitely the nicest examples of those ICs I've seen. The thing that impresses me the most is the sticker showing this unit was owned by the "Berryessa School District", which I assume is the same Berryessa in San Jose, CA just a few minutes from Cupertino. I wonder what story is behind the school being one of the first Apple customers? You should definitely keep that sticker on there, as I have a feeling that is an important part of the history of that machine (and perhaps the story of Apple as a start-up company as well.)
Congratulations on owning such a wonderful early Apple II!
Howie
Thanks.
I actually got it from the Berryessa school district in around 1996. I worked for a small company in San Jose, California that repaired mainly Apple IIs for schools, and when I saw this computer I asked them to let me know if they ever were going to get rid of it. Long story short, they did and I ended up with it. The other folks at the company I worked for then laughed at me for wanting it. It was basically going to end up in the trash.
I have no idea how they acquired it. The company i worked for serviced most school districts in San Jose, and that was the lowest most unusual II i ran across.
Could be either one. The ICs to the right of the RAMs (just outside the white square around the 3 rows of RAM ICs) control video. Pressing down on them may have a positive impact.
You can adjust the video pot to increase/decrease the signal. Rev 0's lack all the little video fixes/tweaks of the later boards, though. I think I recall video may be unstable normally on those boards.
I will check those. I did re-seat all those chips, and checked for any corrosion. I do have a rev7 board for 'spares' for testing, but have not been able to really make any improvement on it. Pressing lightly down on all the chips had no change. I will take a closer look at those chips.
One other thing I am not too clear on (i am not much of an apple person) - when i first turn it on, i get a screen full of garbage. I press control-reset and it drops me to the '*' monitor. Then when I press control-B and enter it takes me to the > prompt (integer basic). From what i understand this is how it should operate. It never shows 'Apple ][' at the top of the screen. I think that only happened in later non-integer basic roms, is that correct?
I checked the red book and it seems to describe the boot sequence I see.
thanks!
Yes, that's correct. Do you have The New Apple II User's Guide?
That is one awesome Rev0! Thanks for sharing.
One observation - with that early of a unit, if you have the original unaltered keyboard, you should be able to invoke a reset by pressing reset alone - the control-reset was implemented in later keyboards.
regards,
Mike Willegal
Well Miked73, congratulations on the eBay sale for almost 15k. I was out around 4K, my wife would have killed me. This really was a great condition Apple II, hopefully the new owner can find a toggle supply and correct missing key cap. Please be very careful when shipping this, those ventless cases are fragile and will crack into pieces. It will cost you more than the $20 you quoted for shipping. Double box, peanuts and all that.
Everyone else...
So we finally have more than one good data point on an eBay sale of a ventless Apple II. The last ventless Apple II was pretty much perfect at 25k and this one is missing a correct supply and key cap with some school engravings on the case for 15k.
Pretty amazing...
Cheers,
Corey
Thank you. I was extremely careful with packing it up. Double boxed, air packs, etc. The shipping was definitely more than 19.99, but I figured it would be. I do miss it tho, but I think it went to a good home.
Before selling I did try and see if I could make the video better with the trim pots and swapping chips (being extremely careful). I have a II+ I was comparing with and the II+ (later rev 7) displayed text and graphics really nicely on the dell flat-screen I was using. I even tried using the 4 pin connector for composite video but that didn't seem to work well - the video kept blinking in and out.
I was too afraid to dive too deep into it, I didn't want to do any harm than good.
I'm a little curious regarding your Apple ][ Rev 0 ...
If you type "CALL -1184" from the > (integer) prompt, do you NOT get "Apple ][" at the top of the screen?
I have a Rev 0 which exhibits this exact same behavior. Turn it on, screen of garbage. Press reset and it beeps and drops me to the monitor prompt. CTRL-B to Basic and things appear good. I ran the standard memory test on it from the monitor mode and it passed with no issues.
Do I have a boot problem that I need to figure out I am wondering?
The Red Book I am looking at says it should beep and display a screen of garbage (usually "?" marks) but leave me at the monitor prompt.
Jennifer
That's normal for a rev-0. You get a screen full of characters or white blocks which turn into characters (depending if it's a hot or cold boot). You reset the processor and land into the Woz monitor.
That's normal for a Rev 0. The original Apple II didn't have the auto-start feature that the II Plus has. When you first fire up a 6502 CPU, it is in a frozen state. You think need to send a reset signal to the CPU, and it starts to run.
Thank you guys!
I was a little worried
Jennifer
Hi,
I was the lucky winner of this auction and I really like this Apple II Rev. 0. Thanks again to Mike.
If someone would like to sell any II Rev. 0 or related documentation, cassettes etc. and do some negotiation, please send me a PM.
Everything is done with confidence.
BTW: I am still looking for original cassettes and documents and other material related to Apple-1. For any offer please use PM.
Every vintage computer from 70's is interesting and I've got some computer to trade, if necessary.
Thanks,
Achim