In an effort to bring together owners, hackers and folk who appreciate the early efforts of Apple Computers Inc. I thought it would be a good idea to start this thread. It may bring back memories of your first experiences with computers in general as well as with Apples. Some of us were introduced to Apples in school, others in the workplace, and some just picked them up as hack projects. Let's hear form you all. Maybe we can get some new insights and ideas for projects, hacks, or new uses for an old favorite.
My first Apple II was in my workplace. We were tasked with computerizing our reporting system for fire/rescue/hazmat incidents and were given a bunch of Apple IIe machines in 1986 that were no longer needed by another directorate on base. Except for myself, nobody at that time was computer-literate in our department. The Fire Chief assigned the position of Data Processing Officer to me. I had to almost instantly become familiar with both the hardware and software (which I had never used before) in order to
develop a reporting system customized to our needs, an inventory system for the department's equipment and supplies, and a spreadsheet to track usage of different extinguishing agents, expendable supplies, fuel, etc.
After thoroughly cleaning, reassembling and testing the 6 complete computers and 3 sets of software. (AppleWorks 1.0, DOS 3.3, Copy II Utilities, Apple Utilities Disk) and squirrelling away as many spare peripherals as possible, I proceeded to use AppleWorks to compose the needed documents that we needed.
The really nice feature about Apple IIe computers was that we didn't fall victim to the many bugs and viruses that the IBM/PC folks did. Also our data was fairly secure in that it would only operate on our machines. This saved a bunch of time and money by not having to develop a lot of security programs and buying extra hardware.
The Apple IIe's were very durable and able to perform under adverse conditions, such as temperature changes, dust, and smoke. One of the computers was assigned to the Fire Apparatus Driver/Operator who had to make a daily status report on the condition of the engines in the department. His machine was located in the apparatus bays (garage) and thus exposed to dust, diesel soot and sudden changes in temperature. Never did these computers fail. And we got them second-hand!
Another computer was assigned for training. This one was used to draw (primitive) building pre-plans and floor layouts. (All this back before good graphics were readily available.) Yet even those not familiar with computers were able to master basic line-drawing using keyboard charachters such as - _ / \ ^ v, etc.
Training templates were made up and the disk files/images locked (a neat feature back in the day) yet one can work the locked file without permanently altering the file, thus not able to make mistakes. A lot of fun and learning took place after hours using these computers to draw other things without fear of hurting anything.
The Apple ImageWriters that we had were bulletproof and used easily available ribbon cartridges.
I enjoyed working with these computers so much that later in '86 I bought one for myself to mess with at home. This was after buying a brand new PC! I still have my trusty Apple IIe plus quite a few others. (IIe, //c, Platinum //e and several enhanced //e's) I still use my Apple IIe series of machines for projects around the home such as inventorying my antique toy collection, my automotive parts, and writing and tracking of parts orders for my antique train repair business that I started after retiring. The machines are rock solid and
run like the Energizer Bunny! I've also hacked and 'hot-rodded' a couple of my IIe's. The open architecture of these computers makes hacking a breeze! There is so much potential, even against today's technology, that the old Apples still have!
My uncle gave me an Apple IIe back when I was in middle school to use to write papers for homework and school projects. As I got older I learned how to do a little programming on it. I also picked up an Apple DOS Programmers Manual and an AppleSoft Tutorial Manual. When I have spare time I still play around writing little programs. I now have an old Apple IIc that I am trying to work out a hack for. I use my Apple II computers for word processing and programming. They are a lot easier that using my PC for that. We also had Apple IIe computers in my middle school when I went there, but that has been a few years ago as I am in college now. [:D]
My First Apple II was a IIe my dad got it from a guy who had bought a IIGS for 300$ He got it because of all the educational software and we used it for about 8 years for homework & games untill a MMU pin oxidized and by then we had gotten a PC.
Well, nice thread, woogie - too bad it was already dying when I found it.
Here is my story:
My first Apple is really not much to speak of, it was a resurrected machine built from a cache of parts somebody gave me - somewhere around 6 cu. ft. of Apple II junk and all I have to do was yield 1 working machine and I could keep the rest. Fun project, that. Total of 3 good machines yielded, I still have the remaining 2, and some odd number of rev 0 boards, ROM Language cards, fabs from unconstructed RAM card clones, drives, etc. - I spray-painted it black mostly because after having gotten to know a B&H II+, that was my dream machine, and a painted Apple II+ was a next-best.
But my love affair with the machine was years before I landed my own gear.
Roll back to around 1981-1982. I was about 14-15 then, and a TRS-80 geek to boot. I could program circles around people twice my age in Level II BASIC, but got no respect. I hung around the local Radio Shack during the summer for access to a disk-based system, and even talked several people into buying, just for the priviledge of being there. A buddy of mine who was even sharper than I was said to me once: "how about you come to this club I go to? It's right by your house, once a month." Turns out this is the local AppleII "copy club" near L.A. Airport, meeting at a S&L somewhere on Sepulveda, right by my house, as advertised.
I was met with a room full of Apple II hardware - games, games, games, more games, and copy programs, nerds, hardware. I was in heaven! The closest I had to this sort of thing was the computer lab at school, which was a couple of dozen TRS-80 systems all networked together through this cassette port switch/distribution hub. Only one machine had disk drives, and all of us who had the teacher's respect fought over it all the time. Here I am in a room full of Apple II machines, most of them fully loaded, and any time someone crossed the room to see about getting something or other from someone else, there I was "can I use your machine?" "Sure, no problem, long as when I get back you release it to me again."
My friend and I were the youngest there - and none of these adults we were hanging with had the same old condescending attitude I knew everywhere else. From then on, once a month I spent hours with these guys, and every time went home with a migraine from all those monitors and TV sets all buzzing around me - somehow the TRS-80s never did that to me, but I didn't care - next time I went I had a box of diskettes, and built up quite a collection before the CPM/86 nerds took over. And because this crowd was so friendly and gneerous, I knew as much about the Apples as I did the TRS-80s, one of which I owned, and spent every day after school being part of the elite group in the school's computer club.
Some years later I turned up with the hardware I mentioned earlier, and already had a software library from years before - badly damaged by time, but was also augmented by my stpedad's diskettes, too - he had a II+ for a while and eventually sold it, but found a boatload of floppies later and gave them to me - original (not pirated like my old disks) copies of DOS3.3, Pascal, Toolkit, some WP called Executive Secretary, and others - that old copy of Apple Pascal is a very dear friend of mine - it was my first best friend in the world of structured programming, and C can go fly a kite.
Today, I have a substantial collection of antique microcomputer artifacts, including all that Apple II hardware, my old TRS-80 and two of its twin brothers and a couple of its cousins, a //e Platinum, a IIgs (which I have a project going on), a badly abused Altair with the 8800b faceplate (but a 3rd-pty cabinet the assy won't fit), a few Macs ranging from a "Classic" (2nd-gen 512) to a 9600, a Osbourne, a Xerox 820-II, tons of CP/M and S-100 stuff. On my desk right beside my P4 is my first-owned TRS-80 I and the Apple IIgs. That poor old II+ has a floating pin omewhere in it, and on my only rev 7 board - but someday I'll have time to pull it out and fix it up again. Maybe sometime soon - my homebrew IDE drive boots ProDOS...
Hey,
My first Apple product wasn't an Apple. It was a Laser 128 clone that I bought from Central Point Software in 1988. Had an external floppy and an ImageWriter II. Long story short -- in the spirit of Woz -- I threw it out of a fourth floor window in Brooklyn. Like I mentioned, it's a long story. When I do think about that machine -- which I do when I see the Woz quote -- I remember a sub game that I played on that machine. You just don't see sub games anymore. In '84 to '86 I worked on an underground magazine in Richmond, Va, that used a IIe to typeset all the pages in markup language and then modemed it to a service bureau that would deliver the slicks for pasteup. Pretty rad for the time.
William
Great to see this thread still gets some attention.
wish it got more. There are a lot of Apple II folks
out there and it would be interesting to hear their
stories.
Ah yes! I remember the TRS-80. I had a Model III which
did have a disk drive (2 actually) system. I even had
a matching line printer that came with it. The hard-
ware is long gone. (Gave it to a hacker) But I still
have the original software package for it. I NEVER
throw software away!
Check the Buy/Sell thread here from time to time and
you might be able to score some more software for your
Apple.
The Apple II may have been my first experience with a computer (that I could actually touch). A friend's father had one in his den and he'd occasionally let us use it to play Zork I - this lead to a fascination with Infocom games and later much hunting for the PC versions. The thing I remember most about the Apple was that it had two external 5.25" drives that were sitting inside a home-built wooden enclosure. A piece of wood with two drawer knobs was fitted in front of the drives to keep dust out.
The guy was a dedicated Apple user. He'd cut up a bumper sticker and a Mac ad and pasted them to the from of that homemade drive cover. It read "I'd rather be diving a Macintosh" :mac:
-Tom
I think I'm just about set software-wise for now. More interested in getting my hack project un-stuck. That would be an off-topic comment though, haha.
Nice machine, the Model III. Have one running NewDOS/80 on a 3.5" floppy. But my heart still belongs to my trusty old Model I (which could do the same, but currently isn't).
Hello. I'm new here. My name is Walt. I remember when I was in grade school in 1980 we had Apple computers in our school. I liked them so much that I got one from a man down the street who used them in his work. He had several so he gave me one that wa extra. He also gave me some Apple programs that let you make business letters, spreadsheets and data-bases. It was called Apple Works. My computer had a green screen, 128K of memory and a disk drive that had two drives in one case. It was called a Duo-Drive I think. Anyway, I used it to write my homework and later book reports on. It taught me how to type. As a matter of fact, one of the programs my friend gave me was called Typing Tutor. It worked real good for me. My Mom was glad that I got the computer on my own becasue we didn't have that much money back then and she couldn't afford it. I paid my friend back for the computer by cutting his grass and doing yard work for him that summer. I used that computer for years and it recently broke down. I gave it to my friend who is a geek and he says that I need to just replace the disk controller and it will be OK again. he is going to try to locate a controller. I use a PC now but would still like to have the Apple work again. I think it would be neat to have an antique working computer. I would use it in my work shop to keep tool inventory and lists on. I'm not sure what else I can use it for now days because there is much more that newer computers can do. Maybe some of you all might have some suggestions.
My first II was a //e that a friend of the family saved from the scrap heap at his workplace back in '88. Was your standard early Revision B //e with a Monitor ///, two disk ][ drives, an Epson MX-80F/T printer, and the somewhat rare numeric keypad //e. Also had a Saturn Systems 128KB RAM card installed, which blew up, shorting out the 74LS05 chip on the disk ][ controller card - twice.
After the second explosion, I upgraded the machine to a IIgs, using the upgrade kit. Also added an Apple 3.5 drive, CH Products FlightStick, and, eventually, a GS-RAM Ultra with 1MB on it. Also added the ADB mouse to it. Was a nice machine. Sold it in '95, since I hadn't used it in a year, and had moved on to a couple Macs (a Mac Plus and a IIsi 5/80).
Fast forward to late January 2001. After having numerous Macs, I decided to trade two of my spare machines for another //e. This time, an enhanced //e with two disk ]['s, Monitor //, and Kensington System Saver. After numerous purchases on eBay and locally, I was up to three //e's, one being the aformentioned machine, another that I got from cvd-support off eBay, which was an early //e that had been upgraded to enhanced status, and, a third, which was an early unenhanced //e that I got for $10 from a guy in Tacoma, WA. Also added a IIgs system to the foray, as well as a Laser UDC card with two Apple 3.5 Drives for the second //e. Gave the first //e which, by this time was equipped with a duodisk and the Monitor //, to a friend of mine who still has it. Kept the second one and installed all the cool stuff in it, like an AE RAMWorks II, SuperSerial card, Franklin Z80 card, AppleMouse //e card with mouse, the Laser UDC, the disk ][ controller and two disk ]['s from the first of the three, and, a Thunderclock Plus. Also purchased another numeric keypad //e and a Color Monitor //e for it. Had that machine up until last summer, when I stupidly sold it. The third one was donated to Goodwill, along with a Mac IIsi, a Centris 610, and some other parts, in September '01.
In June '02, I gave the IIgs to a guy from Yakima, WA.
Last summer, about a week after I sold the //e, I came across a II+ with two disk ]['s, a KSS, and a numeric keypad II at a thrift store. Bought it. Needed RAM, and some work on the drives. Fast forward to last week. The friend mentioned above received 5 Apple II+'s with a whole bunch of peripherals, including 8 disk ]['s, three hard drives (2 20MB Siders), a B-Sider tape drive, various cards, and, some remote keyboard assemblies. He kept some of the cards, the software, two of the disk ]['s, and, one of the Siders. The rest was all mine if I wanted it. Took them home, and found that all of them worked. Gave one away to a friend, and sold two, plus my first II+, which became a parts machine, to another guy. Still have a couple left. One, which I am keeping, and another that I'd be interested in trading for an early Revision B //e...
-J
Seeing as this is my first post here, I thought posting in this topic was most appropriate...
I first used the Apple II in 2nd grade at school in 1992. The school had a lab of Apple IIgs computers which they used to teach students typing and also had students playing games like number munchers if they finished the days lessons early....
I also had a friend at the time who had a IIgs. We would mess around in paint programs and play games on it a lot... Considering my dad was allways too paranoid to let me touch his 286 I generally looked forward to going to this friends house a lot as he always wanted to do something with the computer.
I remember almost getting caught when he brought some of his games to school and we snuck into the lab to play them durring recess. we played a lot of Zany Golf.
After I moved in 96' it had already been a few years since I had last had access to an Apple II of any sort.... So when I first learned of emulation in Junior High in 1998 one of the first emulators I ever downloaded was Bernie II the rescue... I got a lot of games off the fairway and set up a bootable GS OS disk image and messed around with that a bit.
Then after inheriting a Commodore64 in 2000 I got to thinking... this is pretty fun having the real thing... and by 2001 I got a base Apple IIgs system for cost of shipping.
The first thing I did was get it running and play Zany Golf and Arkanoid II on it.... I played for almost 8 hours straight before I realized the sun had gone down and I wasn't going to get much sleep before I had to go to school.... oops?
Since then I've added a lot to the system. It now consists of:
Apple IIgs ROM 01
IIgs Monitor
Original stock IIgs Keyboard and mouse
two 5.25 drives
SuperDrive card with one AEHD+ drive and one 3.5 drive
one 3.5 drive on the smart port for superdrive incompatible games and utilities.
8MB Sirius RAM card
Apple High Speed SCSI card
350MB drive, 2.2GB ORB drive, Apple CD ROM drive
LanceGS ethernet card (IRC and websites ala IIgs and cable modem.. cool!)
Transwarp GS accelerator card with 32k cashe running at unknown speed(need to find out and possibly speed it up with some new parts)
I was born in '85 and growing up I had several times that I got to use the apple ]['s When I was a kid, I had a broken apple ][ that I used to play w/. I was a dud... No worky at all.. But I thought it was cool. Then my dad brought one home when I was in first grade...
])
It ws a used one. And it even had the monitor stand with the Heat fan... The one that was a u-shape and had the fan on the side... The fanb was broken. But i loved it.. Pooyan, all those Ed. games and "Choplifter" Still my favorite game today. I was using an apple )( c in Junior high to write my first poem on, then a short - story, God- I think I still have that disk... anyways. Apple ]['s are so useful that the highschool that I went to is still using them to run the CNC Mill and the CNC Lathe. I still find myself using the ][ Simulator's today (Mostly to play Choplifter, I also still have that disk) I also have a rare 4 slot 5.25" disk drive. It came with it's own special card to run it. Used to have a 5MB hard drive. that used a double-height drive( and was from hand to elbow length-wise), A modem for the apple. (Used to dial into bulliton boards with it) An 80-colunm card. A 128K upgrade.. A 6502 Chip. a cassette deck with auto positioning mechanism (came with a special card To talk between the apple and the deck) apple composite color monitor (now used as a cheap tv on an old VCR) I think that's it,
P.S. Most of the stuff came from my dad's work that used industry components to ( mostly hand and special made Because ther was little use outside the company... Plus it was never supposed to leave the company doors [but it did
So that was my experience
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5390
Kewl comments on the Apple II days guys! Let me tell you how I got
into the Aple II game..... This was way way way way way way way back in the early 80's , it was x-mas time and it seemed every kid on my block got a //e or II+ for x-mas , I wasn't as fortunate to get a //e , but I got a new Apple II+ , started out just like everyone else , typing in little programs that you got from your Local Magazines , trying to learn as much as possible , especially when it came to 6502! Now.. Back in the 80's I grew up in the Southern Cal area , around H.B. , Southern Cal was a hot spot for Hackers/Crackers , etc.... We had a a local Computer Store in town called Computer Wave , and ofcourse there were others , but this store was kewl , because it was always full of people playing games and what not in the store , and I was fortunate to meet some pretty kewl guys that were really into Apples! Turns out I was invited over to one of their house on the weekend , I believe it was , yep , that's it , any how , went in , went up stairs , and I couldn't believe what I saw! There were Apples all over the place , some having between two drives , up to 6 drives hooked up with penulte copy , fast copy , you name it! Guys just coping warez for each other , this turned out to be a warez party! It was awsome , and I ran into some pretty big time Crackers at that party , The Freeze , Dr. Micro , met the Jerk , etc... If it it wasn't for these types of people at the party , I would never had much interest in the Apple. I learned as much as I could from these guys , even going as far as to modify the heck out of my II+! It was great , replaced the F8 Rom with a Interger Rom! Hit RESET and it went automatically into 6502! Awsome for Cracking! And ofcouse I have to mention my awsome Apple Cat modem with the 212 upgrade card! This was the you know what , when it came to calling boards and what not! I just wish I never got rid of the apple :O( , had over 1000 Floppys , tons of mods were done to the II+ including putting in Lower Case mod , write-protect switch on the drives , so all you would have to do is flip the switch on the drive , and trip it into thinking the floppy was clipped when it wasnt! Really kewl stuff .. Two of my buddies ran two of the best boards around in So. Cal , The Planet Dune and The Simalrilion! All I know is if I could go back and do it all over again , I would!
Man , those were the days.............
A2forever.
Back in 1978 a guy at work convinced me to go to a music store in downtown Chicago where they sold Apple ][ computers. There were no computer stores then. The only person who I knew with a computer owned a Radio Shack Model I. But we figured the Apple ][ would be better because it had color! So we went to the music store and we each paid a month's salary ($1200 I think) for an Apple ][. Our serial numbers where in the 6000 range, because the Apple ][ had only been in existance since 1977. Our model was right after the ROM change. Previously HiRes graphics was only 4 colors (black, white, green, purple). But with the ROM change, ours also did orange and blue in HiRes. All that was available was the computer itself. So my TV set became my monitor. Programs were loaded and saved using cassette tape. We wrote our own programs, though a few came with the computer like Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. I remember reading in the owners manual that you would no longer need television because you had a computer. Boy, that was a prophetic statement! A couple years later the Disk ][ because available, and was a huge improvement over cassette tape. Also by then the green screen monitors became available, but I stuck with the TV set for a color display. Eventually I paid about $800 to get an RGB color display. Around this time also, the Apple ][+ came out. If you had an Apple ][ (non-plus), you were able to buy an Applesoft card for Slot 0 which had the ][+ ROMs. Then you could choose to boot into the ][+ mode from the card, and use Applesoft BASIC. Or you could still boot from the original motherboard ROMs in ][ mode, and use Integer BASIC. This was done by flipping a switch on the card.
In later years I bought a 2nd Apple ][, a couple //c's, and several IIGS's. I still have all of them, though I now use my many Macs.
Jim Nichol
I ordered my Apple II in late 1977 and got it in February of 1978. It had a serial number in the 1200's. I loved it - a real mind toy. It eventually led me to wanting to be a programmer which is what I've been doing professionally for the last 22 years. I lost my Apple II in 1984 in a burglary and never replaced it. I've had a couple of Power Macs since then and I've worked with Intel pc's since 1986, but nothing was ever as much FUN as that old Apple II.
"Some do, some don't. Some will, some won't. I might."
Hey! With so many of these critters around why don't you just get another one? You might even be able to find one with a low serial number like your original one. Try eBay or the different Apple sites that buy and sell Apple II hardware and software.
Yeah, they're out there. I had #780 for a while, and currently have #1421, which was an original Apple ][ that has been upgraded, sadly, to a ][ plus.
-J
I was born in 1979, and went to school in Palo Alto. I remember, in 2nd grade, I had no idea what a computer was, and when I went in for the first time in class, I saw an Apple IIe, and had no clue what it was. I had herd of typewriters, and TVs, and thats what it looked like. A typewriter and a TV. I asked my teacher what it was, and she said it was a 'computer'. About a month later, we started playing educational games on it, and before I could say 'Apple computers rock' I graduated from 2nd grade!! I couldn't beleve it. Hoping my 3rd grade class would have an Apple, I walked in to find nothing but an old electric typewriter. I then forgot about apples, and went on to middle school, only to see during recess, a janitor carrying an Apple II on a cart. I ran up and saw that he was... THROWING IT OUT? I told him I wanted it, and he didn't let me have it. I wish I could have saved it. After school, I went home, and said to my mother that I wanted an Apple Computer. She sighed, and said she'd talk it over. About a week later, it was my birthday. With an Apple II on the mind, I ignored all the other presents I opened, untill... they were all gone. None left. No Apple II! I felt like I was forgotton. After the party was over, everyone had left, and all balloons had come loose and flown away, I was inside, watching TV. Then my dad came downstairs, and turned it off. He told me to come upstairs. With no miricle on my mind, I came up and looked inside, and there on my desk was a weird shape covered with a fabric cloth. Underneath, I found an Apple IIe! Woohoo! It was in peices--I mean, not hooked up to work--for my parents both knew nothing about computers. I looked at the manual, and it told me how to start it up, and play on it. My Apple IIe came with an greenie monitor IIe, and a single Disk II drive. It had been bought used from a university, and had 'STANFORD' scratched out on the top of it. I still liked it. Like most other people, I learned to type with a typewriter in 3rd grade, but I perfected it with the Apple. It came with AppleWorks, and Typing Tutor, and the Sierra adventure game, 'Mission Astroid'. I could never beat Mission Astroid. Fast Forward 2003 and I forgot about Apples, and had gotten IBM PC compatible things. I hated them, but I had no real choice, cause all the software I use runs on it. I went to a computer museuim as a work party, and looked in the exibit. I looked, and looked, and then... I turned to my right and saw an Apple II (no letter). I went back home later, and a couple weeks later, bought an Apple II off ebay. I sold that one, and got another, witch was lost in the mail, and got refunded. I am bidding on another one, and winning on ebay. I'll post on my blog if I win it!! APPLE II FOREVER!!
Born in 1986, I worked on Macs before I ever worked on an Apple II. My grandparents and parents owned a newspaper, so as far as I was concerned, a Mac was just something you had in the office.
But my first Apple was years later. I was 10 years old, and we'd just moved. After the paper, my Dad had owned a Mac store for a while, and when we moved, a lot of the older repair parts came with us. Out of those, I assembled a //e. It never has had a case, and I re-soldered a Mac plus keyboard into one that'd work with a //e, after spending was too long testing each connection to map out the keys.
I've stuck mainly with emulators, and I suppose that I did use a few Apple II's in school, but the first time I ever actually had one, and cared about it in the least was then. Maybe I'm just spoiled that I've grown up with Apples around constantly, so I never thought about having them, but that particular computer started me programming and was the first thing I ever soldered that wasn''t just playing around.
I remember seeing a Family Circus strip in the early 1980's about little Billy being chased by Pac-Man. I had no idea what they were talking about, as I had never even heard of video games then.
Then when I was in Grade 5, the teacher brought in an Apple ][, and got out a game called TaxMan. I thought it was actually about running away from the tax collecter, then I saw it was a game just like Pac-Man. That was the first time I ever saw a personal computer - but us kids weren't allowed to use it.
When I was in Grade 6, the school library got an Apple ][e. The students in math class were each assigned two or three half-hour sessions per week to go and use it. I COULDN'T WAIT FOR IT TO BE MY TURN!!! We had to do our assignments, which were simple Applesoft Programs that printed out names in a certain order. I still remember some of the names - Tina, Gwen, Lucy.
When we were done our assignments, we could play games. That's when I discovered HARD HAT MACK!!! I LOVED IT!!! Even though it took me forever to figure out how to play it. I amused myself by continually banging the little bell on top of the tower with my head.
We also could run the "Introduction to the Apple" disk - which included a maze game where when the guy (or was it a rabbit?) ran into a wall, it would go BOOF, SPLUT, SPLAT, etc., and then glare at you. It was fun learning how to use the ESC key, the arrow keys, etc.
Around the same time, my older brother convinced my parents to buy him an Apple ][e. In December, 1983, it cost $2000 Canadian. (WOW!) I was always on it, except I had to pay him 25 cents for each time I used it.
When my brother went to university in 1986, he got an IBM XT and I inherited the Apple. I moved it to my room and I was on it all the time, playing games or writing my own cheesy Applesoft games (though my friends at school thought my games were neat).
When I was in junior high, I ALWAYS looked forward to computer class. I remember hacking in to the typing tutor program that the teacher used to grade our typing skills. Magically, I could type 100 words per minute!!! That showed them for using an Applesoft typing program!
Also in Grade 8 or 9, we were introduced to the Macintosh. Using a mouse to draw!!! TOO COOL!!! We were always fighting for time on it.
In high school, Grade 10's computer class was learning AppleWorks. I was awed at how you could transfer the same data between a word processer, a spreadsheet, and a database - what a concept!
In Grade 11, we were back to learning Applesoft. Of course, I aced that class. Of course, for the final project, I wrote a game.
In college, the Apple stayed home and I only used it whenever I visited. Eventually, I stopped using it altogether. I think its gathering dust in my parents' basement, along with scores of floppy disks and old manuals.
I was thrilled to find an Apple ][e emulator and use Applesoft again! Talk about a time warp!
Well, thanks for your time. Sorry for bringing back an old thread.
Thanks for bringing back this thread, Alberta! What a great subject!
My first 6502 machine was a Commodore 64... okay, not an Apple II. When I was just out of high school, I worked at Showbiz Pizza Place, and one day in late 1981, we received these "games" called "Billy Bob's Talking Computers". These were large arcade setups hiding Apple ][+'s, and after hours, my friend Steve and I would get around the programming and into BASIC... at which point we discovered that you could modify the program (silly people... wasn't write protected). We also discovered that if you added "!" before a sentence, the speech synthesizer would speed up... the more the faster.
My first real Apple ][ was, well, a Laser 128. That was in 1997, AFTER I got a Lisa! I wanted an Apple ][ since 1977... twenty years, not bad.
Wish I still had that Laser 128... sweet little machine.
Rob
As per my opening line up top...That was the slogan when Apple
II's were "new" and "cutting edge". It seems that it is STILL a
good slogan and actually true! I wonder how many IBM PC's are
still being used compared to the Apple II family of computers!
Apple II's have what amounts to a "cult following" and that's
great in my book! It just shows that old computers still have
uses and even a little sentimental attachment with their owners.
Wouldn't it be neat if Apple would make a commemorative limited
run of an Apple IIe with maybe some upgraded features like a
higher resolution and color (VGA maybe) and sound?
I know that concept may sound foreign to some of you, but I am
involved in another hobby (antique toy tains) and the manufac-
turers DO make commemorative runs of old items for collectors
and operators, so this would not be an "original" idea. Maybe
some of our hackers out there would be interested in doing a
project like this as there are certainly a LOT of Apples out
there that could be remanufactured/hacked/upgraded and resold
as reproductions/re-issues.
Thank you all for your stories and comments! Keep the thread
going!
APPLE II FOREVER!
woogie
"Wouldn't it be neat if Apple would make a commemorative limited
run of an Apple IIe with maybe some upgraded features like a
higher resolution and color (VGA maybe) and sound?"
That would be awesome. I'd be first in line to buy one, or maybe even two
I'm sure the Woz would be pleased.
What is truly exciting is the notion of learning from what made (and still makes) the Apple II stand out: its simplicity, its openness, its "obedience" (i.e. user hits reset, the machine resets without asking questions). These same principles can be applied in a new machine designed with new technology to address the problems we must all experience using large, bloated operating systems like Windows.
Think of (for example) 16 Apple II's running under one hood, with one monitor and one keyboard, with the same bells and whistles of modern PC operating systems, but without the bloat, the crashes, and the wait times. Why not learn from the past AND use new technology?
Such a machine would be the logical offspring of the Apple II, though without the Apple logo. It will one day become a reality. It would be rather fun, in fact, to have a tech brainstorm.
Hmm, very interesting to read all the previous posts.
I recall when I use to live in Newton, MA back in 1970's we moved there from Colorado... and I met a friend named Raines Cohen. I was 11 and computers were not really something I thought about.
I changed schools and was in the library and bumped into Raines. Computer terminals were starting to be introduced in the library and we started to talk and I found out that he had an Apple II. My dad had just recently purchased an Apple ][+ and added the Disk ][ and bumped the memory from 16k to 48k. In those year many kids like my friend Raines were sharp and doing a lot of programming. Raines I recall was debugging for spreadsheet program - I think it was Louts 123 or something... I unfortunately was a user and played games and learn to use the applications. Never got a monitor and use the family color tv for all the games and the little programming I did. My dad did not see me programming enough and eventually sold it.
During this sametime I use to go with Raines and his dad to Mitre Corp. (the same place where they develope for DOD military projrcts) They allowed an Apple User Group to meet there. They would copy free programs and such and this is where I first heard that Apple was going public for $8 a share if I recall correctly. I got home and told my parents to buy some but of course being a kid they paid no mind to me... they sure were sorry later.
Another item that was neat was that my buddy Raines had decided to start a user group himself. Being such an industrious kid he formed N.A.K. Newton Apple Kids... the paper (Boston Globe) sent some one to cover the story and I was invited to join prior to when they were scheduled to come over.. got our photo in the Globe. After that I moved to NYC and I used various computers from Atari 400/800/800XL/1200XL, Commodore 64, IBM XT/286/386/486/P/PII/P3/P4 and now Mac Color Classic/PowerBook Wallstreet and the entire line of Apple PDAs from MP100/110/120/130/2000/2100 and eMate 300.
And finally I just got an Apple ][e.
Unfortunatley I'm running out of space and if anyone is interested in an Apple ][e just purchased from the original owner with original boxes and most of the paper work and disks and a few extra cards installed just contact me.
ebaysh@gmail.com
Hate to let this go but the if I have to I'd rather let it got to a person truly interested in it. If not it'll be on eBay soon.
It's a functional computer which I have booted up and run a few programs with. I have original disks for the OS and CPM card and disk with the manual and original box for that too. RANA Drive with box and some of the original sales receipts from 1984. Pictures by request as it needs a little clean up but other than that it's pretty clean and I have ALL the port caps also. All stock with no modifications. The box for the Apple ][e has the matching serial to the machine with original packing material. Apple Green monitor which is bright and clean.
You might also want to list this on the
Buy/Sell/Trade threads here at Applefritter.
I'm buying the system from him.
I've been all over the Apple website and it's as if Apple wants to pretend it never sold an Apple II. At least they list the Mac XL in the system specs (though they apparently forgot it was ever called Lisa). It's as if they've re-written history so the universe begins with the Macintosh (Job's bio even lists him as a co-founder, but fails to mention Woz). Never mind that the Apple II was solely responsible for the Macintosh (nee Lisa) being able to be developed in the first place. Or that the Apple IIe was sold until well into 1993. It's like Stalin re-writing history by cutting pictures of people out of photographs. Wow.
P.S. my first computer was a Macintosh (128k), though the first computer I remember using was a Tandy TRS 80 -- the Apple II was the "good" computer next to it and you had to get to it early if you wanted to play on it. No real work was ever done on them to my recollection. That happened when I discovered the Macintosh.
Actually Apple still acknowledges the Apple II with every web posted stock related statement, at least as of about two weeks ago. Wozniak is not mentioned.
Mutant_Pie
Yes, you're right, that's the same language they use on Job's official bio (they sure don't mention the Lisa though do they?). But with the paucity of accessible info elsewhere on the site (you really have to search hard in the TIL archives and know what you're looking for), that's like devoting a paragraph to the American Revolution in an American history book. Thank God the internet keeps this important legacy alive for new generations to explore!
Apple post-1984 is a very different company from before. There are just another big corporation now, not the creative paradigm-shattering mavericks that gave us the Apple I, Apple II line, Lisa, and early Mac. I'm not sure we'll ever see that again in our lifetimes in any industry.
I just got my first apple II. I recently brought home a 20 year old IIgs for fun. It needs a psu and some cleaning...
Wow, reading all these Apple memories sure do bring back my venture with Apple. anyways heres my story.
Ive used an Apple from 1983 thru to 1994 (11 yrs in total)
Our first computer was a Apple //+ clone, it wasnt purchased from a store because at that time, APPLE stores didnt exist where i lived. My dads friend actually purchased all the components from his connections and he built our computer. The //+ was used heavily by myself, my brother, and my dad. My brother and me mainly used it for games, but my dad used it to learn Machine Code (aka HACKER) he outfitted the //+ with a wildcard, and a WATSON/INSPECTOR peripheral card just to hack and copy purchased software that he borrowed from friends. I also remember my dad going to a slew of APPLE group meetings and there he networked himself with the right people, and that resulted in us having a slew of diskettes filled with the latest hacked games and utilities every other week. It wasnt until my dad got a hayes compatible 300baud modem that i got exposed to the BBS scene and also the many ASCII EXPRESS file share sites. This is also where i met alot of local apple users and learned alot about programming. My main programming experience was programming from scratch a BBS system I eventually finished and put online for a few weeks. I remember i had 3 other people use my program to setup their own BBS sites.
1988 thru to 1994 - i personally bought a used //e system for about 800 dollars, and continued with the scene, until cars and girls became my only interest. Last known enhancement i did with that //e system was purchase a ramworks card and installed a 10mb external hard drive with prodos.
Im 37 yrs old now, and the computers are still with the family, albeit collecting dust. I did turn on the //e 2 yrs ago because my neice at the time needed to be entertained. I had applecider spider running for her. I currently have a p4 machine but recently just installed AppleWin emulator on it, and slowing learning to program again.
Apple ][+ clone 48k
- 2 5.25" quentin disk drives with toggle switch to copy backside of disks
- wilcard peripheral card
- Watson/Inspector (locksmith) peripheral card
- hayes compat. 300 baud modem
- integer card
- z-80 card
- Koala drawing Pad (next best thing to a tablet)
Apple //e
- 2 5.25 disk ][ disk drives
- 10 mb external hard drive IDE
- AE Ramworks (i think had 256k on it)
- system saver fan
- apple mouse
- AE 2400 baud internal modem card
Apple ][....the original gamer!
Hallo,
I just saw this thread - great idea !
So, this is my first Apple and it is still in use - Internet/ email/ wordprocessing and printing with a HP Deskjet with "Times Roman"
http://www.applefritter.com/node/10904
First time I saw a Apple II was in school at the beginning of the 80's ... then I bought mine in the middle of the 80's ... I used it - also when I got my first PC's - because a Apple II has got a special soul - that I never found at any other computer - also not at the modern Apple
....
During my work at the University at the end of the 90's I just decided to put the Apple away - I read in the internet about Paul Guertin's ADT - that was the start of the new Internet/email - life of my Apple II ...
Now it is my fastest internet connection - better than DSL -
no pic's - no time 
He can communicate with my Windows XP PC's - surfing Internet ... what do I want moreover ...
Apple II Forever !
Greetings
(noob to this forum here.)
I can't remember exactly when I became interested in computers, but I do remember my first (our family's first) computer was an Apple II clone made somewhere in Asia. The bootup says, "Computer ][" instead of "Apple ][". My sister and I bugged our parents for a computer and my father was willing to spend money for it. The Apple II clone (purchased in the summer of '86) didn't have all the bells and whistles, but it was great and I am very thankful for my father to buy it for us. For a while, all we did was play games: Lode Runner, Montezuma's Revenge, Rescue Raiders, Bruce Lee, Hard Hat Mack, Moon Patrol... you name it, I played it. This Apple clone had a UNIX/PC keyboard and it would spit out strange words like LIST, RUN, HOME and so forth when the F-function keys was pressed. And thus it began my long journey into computer programming.
The clone eventually burned out. A capacitor blew out one night and it started acting strange afterwards. The computer stopped functioning around 1989 or so. Of course, I bugged my parents to buy another computer, but my father refused. He said I should be focusing my attention more on my school work than on computers, even though I did well in school. The only other time I got to play with the Apple II was using it in school. We did Logo "programming" and played Oregon Trail. There was also the Accelerated Reader program which graded students on the books they've read. My fifth grade teacher, who was/is a huge Apple fan, had her personal Apple IIGS in her classroom. At that point, I knew I wanted one. I also knew that whatever I wanted to do in life... computers would be involved in it. While most grade school buddies talked about the cool stuff like Nintendo or collecting comic books, I talked about computers (which wasn't as cool.)
Later on, my best friend's family owned a IIGS and I was all over it. I thought it was strange that they have such an awesome computer, yet they weren't as interested in it as I was. I eventually found out that the price tag was around $2,400 USD for the whole system. It was a lot of money back then and it's a lot of money now (based on bls.gov's inflation calculator ~$3,900.)
Computerless, I read books on Applesoft BASIC programming, Apple InCider/A+ magazine and borrowed my friend's IIGS owner's manual. There was a book written by the Beagle Bros. in the library that I always checked out. I've also read the IIGS owner's manual from front to back... about 6 times. These two books were my bible and I read them religiously. The multimedia capabilities featured on the manual was simply amazing (or so it seems.) I remember looking at a picture (in the manual or some other Apple IIGS literature) of someone hooking up a camcorder to the IIGS and it was displaying what was captured from the camcorder to the monitor. Years later, I figured that it's not likely technologically possible to hook up a camcorder to the IIGS and display life-like quality video or image onto the Apple II monitor. It doesn't really matter. It's not like the Apple II games (or any other 80's video games for that matter) had the exact quality images or videos as shown on the box. But those artist renditions on the package did sold the games well. At any rate, my aunt gave me her family's Apple IIe around 1992, a genuine Apple.
It's not an Apple IIGS I drooled over, but it was better than not having a computer. Although the computer came with new games I never played before, I've spent countless hours typing away BASIC programs from the Beagle Bros. book as well as exploring tricks with PEEKs and POKEs. I've written a 1/6th working version of Tetris in BASIC on my own (it went as far as dropping and landing square blocks.) Had there been Apple 6502 assembly language books in the public library, my version of Tetris would have been a lot better looking and more responsive. Hours of typing and staring at the Apple monochrome "green screen" affected my vision. I was becoming nearsighted and needed glasses. Time came for a serious computer for high school and my father decided it was better for me to use a PC than a Mac. He's right. Time for a change. I was no longer programming BASIC, but C/C++. I did learn about various PC hardware, while the Apple IIe sat in closet and collected dust.
6 or 7 years passed and I became interested in the Apple IIe/IIGS again. By that time, there were numerous diehard Apple II fans online willing to share various resources available. Of course, I downloaded AppleWin and collected disk images of games. The emulator didn't feel exactly the same, but it suffice. These disk images made me think about what I've programmed. Although the Apple IIe in the closet works, the Apple "green screen" monitor flips vertically until I have banged the side enough to make it still for a while. I also had disks that mysteriously "zapped". What was once a working computer game, was no longer readable by the disk drive. I wanted to immortalize my BASIC programs written around 1992-93, so I decided to use ADT to transfer it onto the PC before anything bad happens to these floppy disks. It also came into attention that there weren't any GS emulators that worked well with me and sooner or later, the IIGS may be extremely difficult to find... even on eBay.
I searched on eBay and found some deals, but the shipping cost was more than what I was willing to pay for. Fortunately, someone decided to put his IIGS on Craigslist and I was lucky enough to find it in time (before the Craigslist listing expired.) He was in the vicinity of where I live and the deal was great. We made our exchange. He was meticulous about what he was going to sell me (which things worked, which didn't, made sure the IIGS was actually a IIGS, etc) and I assured him that I took his word for it and there was no need to check out everything. I know that these things don't last forever and it's perfectly fine that some of these things don't work. I handed him $50 and he thanked me. I replied, "Oh no, thank you!" After plugging everything in together, the IIGS worked. My childhood dream of owning this $2,400 machine is finally fulfilled... all for $50!
I'm still trying to find ways to transfer disk images to and from the PC to the IIGS. The Super Serial Card (transplanted from my old IIe) would produce garbage transmission and the IIGS modem connection to the PC COM port would not work. My guess is that the cable I have is meant for the ImageWriter printer (and not for null modem connection.) I will eventually get a compact flash/CFFA drive for the IIGS as well as replace the old battery on the motherboard.
Despite being older and having a very busy schedule, I'm still passionate about the Apple II as I was 17 years ago.
Glad to see the Apple II spirit alive after
so many years! Yes, they still do perform a
function even against the new "cutting edge"
technology. Apples really are "forever".
Let's keep hearing from you Apple owners out
there!
Greetings,
I got started with computers back in 1979. A friend of mine from high school showed me his computer, a TRS-80 Model I Level I with 4k of ram, a black and white monitor and a tape drive. He convinced me to buy the TRS-80 Model I Level II. The big difference between the two? the Level II had 16k of memory!
In 1980 another friend convinced me to look into buying a computer she had used in college. A local computer store had a sale going so we went to check it out. I came home with an Apple II+ with 48k of ram, one disk II disk drive, several games and the DOS 3.3 System Master Disk, and a video adapter so I could plug the computer into my TV because I couldn't afford a monitor. All of that set me back $1500. I sold the TRS_80 system and never looked back. A couple years later I added an additional 16k of ram and got a color monitor for the II+.
In 1985 I bought a IIe with 128k ram, 2 Disk II drives, green screen monitor and an Epson printer, I sold the II+ and the green screnn monitor. Then in 1992, while stationed in Alaska courtesy of the Air Force, I bought a used IIc with 640k ram and a green screen monitor. In 1994 I bought a used IIGS with 4MB of ram, 1 5.25 drive, 1 3.5 drive, a 50MB hard drive and the RBG monitor.
I eventually got rid of everything but the IIGS. In 1995 I bought my first Mac, a 6115CD. Since then I've bought three more Macs, my current one is a Mac Mini.
In 2003 I ended up frying the IIGS, and thinking that I'd never use a II again just tossed it out along with all the software I had accumulated over the years. Then about 6 to 8 months later I discovered Apple II emulation software for the Mac and began rebuilding my Apple II library in disk images. Aug of last year I was at an estate auction and saw an Apple IIe system there (as it turned out it's an enhanced IIe). I bid $5 for it and won it. It came with 128k ram, green screen monitor, 2 of the newer 5.25 drives, a mouse, an Imagewriter II printer and about 70 disks with some software. Shortly afte getting the computer home I started to wonder if there might be a way to transfer the disk images on the Mac to the IIe, so I began searching the web for information. With help from people on comp.sys.apple2, and other hardware I got through Ebay, I'm now happily transferring the disk images I downloaded from Asimov, and other sites on the Web, back to real 5.25 disks to use on the IIe.
I've also got another IIc system on the way that I bought through Ebay. My Mac is nice but in the long run I still think the Apple II is the better system. Apple II Forever!
Dean
Here is an earlier posting about "My First Apple II" that I still have to this day:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/9956#comment-30149
Prior to purchasing the Apple II+, I had "played" with a friend's Apple II+. We were 13 years old and programmed games in Applesoft. Prior to that I had used an Apple II to play games that were loaded off of cassette tape.
I was born in 1977. Which I found out, that the Apple ][ came out the same year as "Star Wars" "Smokey and the Bandit" as well as I. when I was fourteen the school I was at had an Apple ][ and //e. The Apple //e was my favorite computer. Now from eBay I've got an Apple ][e.
This is great testimony to the durability and longevity
of a piece of "modern electronic" gear! Most of this
stuff was meant to live a relatively short time and then
be thrown away. In another FEW short years these will be
considered true antiques! Apple Computer should be proud
of what they have accomplished! Not only that, but Apple II
machines have a stronger than ever "cult following" in the
form of numerous clubs and users groups!
Many Apple II cpomputers still survive today with many
government agencies due to their ruggedness and simplicity
of operation. The software programs are ultra-compact, yet
still accomplish the same tasks that many PC-based packages
do today only the PC-based programs are huge and require
MUCH more memory and processor power!
Yes, I, too, am still using my original Apple //e that began
as an Apple IIe and has been upgraded and hacked to do a
few more "modern" things. It's kind of like the Energizer
Bunny...just keeps going and going and going...
The fact that Apples are easily hacked/modified/upgraded
by their owners is also wonderful. Most newer computers
whether they are Apple or PC's are now basically "sealed
units" that have proprietary architecture and are almost
impossible to alter/upgrade.
Many programmers and software engineers got their start
on Apple II's.
"Apple II Forever!"
The very first t
I'm actually only 14 years old, and I take a great interest in computers! My very first computer was an old HP Pavillion 98 back in '98! New for the time, it still sucked. It crashed a year later, and my parents fixed it, and by then, needed it for going back to college. So I spent months pleading, begging for a Commodore 64! It was like a dream when on my birthday, April 2001, i opened a box to see a C64 with a Seikosha printer, a 1541 disk drive, a monitor, a modem, (300bps) and a box of software. But that all eventually got put to secondary use when I was in the 8th grade (2007) I noticed that in the storage room for out Tech lab (which was also the Shop) there were piles of Apple computer stuff! I asked for it, and got a permission form from my principal for an "Obsolete Technology Release" I took it all home, box by box (ON THE BUS none the less!) When i sorted it, I had about 2 hundred 5 1/4 floppies, and about 124 3.5 disks. I also got a 3.5 disk drive and 2 5 1/4 drives. One box was full of all sorts of manuals, to everything i could think of! I got lots of ImageWriter II color ribbons too. SO then i went to my parents (who were given a reason to show their deep concern for my mess of boxes in their living room) and asked for the computer of my dreams, THE APPLE IIGS!!! So, Christmas of 2006, i recieved an Apple IIgs Rom 3 with an RGB monitor, a new 3.5 disk drive, keyboard, mouse, and system software! It was heaven when i found out it was all new and never used...Old stock in a school building! Well, to top that off, 2 days later my parents presented me with a box. I opened it and was greatly shocked to see APPLEWORKS GS 1.1!!! It was new, and never used or opened. It was still shrinkwrapped. I made 5 copies of all the disks and hid the original box in a safedeposit box at the bank.I now regret I opened the Guide to AppleWorks GS. Now, in 2008, i'm planning for a CF internal Hard Drive for all my software, some more RAM (I only have 2 megs) and a good printer. (Either an ImageWriter or a Personal LaserWriter) I'll love you 4 ever Apple!
(And im only 14) I'm proud, lol
Hey Taylor, that's awesome, there is an Apple IIe sitting at a school I am going to try to get, the schools have a lot of old computer things! I'll love APPLE FOREVER!!! LONG LIVE APPLE!!!