Why still using an Apple II for daily work?
Well, the Apple II is an extraordinary computer. The Keyboard is very comfortable to use. There is so much perfected software for every task you want to solve. The slots make him intelligent and give the possibility to add still new hardware to it. And I think one of the reasons why we are all here: It has a special atmosphere that makes you love it.
So I like to use it for tasks in my ordinary work and private life.
What can you still do with the Apple II?
Here I would be happy to read about your ideas and solutions for that. Not the vintage part, collecting a.s.o.. The daily work part.
I still use it for calculations (sheet’s), note’s and word processing.
How to use the Apple II for current task’s?
1.) Note’s
On my IPhone and my Laptop I use Evernote a lot. There I collect documents and note’s according to my different company project’s and for my private life.
I also love to use Visicalc for note’s. It is easy to use and clearly arranged.
But for using the Apple II together with Evernote on the IPhone and the Laptop it is importand to synchronize VisiCalc note’s with Evernote.
Therefore I use the “Scanner & Translator” App. It can grab every text from the monitor of the Apple II, copy it and paste it directly into Evernote. This is easy and great!
2.) VisiCalc Sheet’s
For my work and also for private task’s I use a lot of sheet’s. VisiCalc is still great for this job. I’m not doing something in nuclear physics, I’m just doing property development with my company and need some bookkeeping for my private use a.s.o.. Therefor VisiCalc is still good as Excel!
I develop and manage my sheet’s on my real Apple II and then I can send them via ADTPro to my Laptop. There I can use them on an emulator. I always create with CiderPress also ProDos disk images for using VisiCalc Advanced with 80 Col. on the emulator. So I can use the sheet’s on my Laptop or just print them into a text document – AppleWin is doing that really very good – and print this on every modern printer.
3.) Word Processor
To use a word processor on the Apple II is still a great feeling - whatever you like to use Appleworks or Apple Writer 1.0.
Here I also send the work with ADTPro to my Laptop and can copy&paste it with AppleWin directly to Word, Evernote, in an Email or something else. Print it with AppleWin. Or I use the “Scanner & Translator” App to grab the text directly from the Apple II Monitor.
Not for much to be honest.
My excel sheets take long enough to calc on a quad core i7. I have spreadsheets so large that they don't fit in 8GB of memory, much less one 8MB.
I'll tell you what I do use it for.
1. BBSing
2. Terminal for my headless server.