38 replies to this topic

[tisaperfectdayelise]

I would have put this in the 'Thrift Finds' thread, but I had some questions that I didn't want lost in the shuffle.

At any rate, I posted an ad on Craigslist, seeking an Apple II (be it IIe, IIc, IIgs, etc). In grade school and junior high, these were the computers that we used in the lab in school, and I had some projects saved on 5.5" floppies that I've been curious about for the last few months now. Assuming that (being that I live in a relatively small town, and these computers went out of vogue almost twenty years ago) I would have no trouble finding abandoned machines that were destined for the dumpster, I was a little surprised to only get two responses.

The pictures attached are of the first response. A IIgs CPU, matching monitor, original ADB mouse, working 5.5" and 3.25" disk drives, a Gravis joystick, an Image Writer II printer with sealed ribbon cartridge, and a slew of games, educational, and productivity software. The only thing he couldn't find was the keyboard, which isn't a biggie to me, as I've got a few ADBs sitting around.

The guy who owned this was really anal retentive, and (not only) had backups for all of the software, but also had the manuals stored in plastic folders within a binder. He charged me $60 for the lot, and I can't help but feel like I got a good deal. I don't know much (if anything) about the Apple II market these days, and I have no clue if there is any collector value to any of this stuff. Frankly, it doesn't much matter to me.

Questions:

1) I'm toying with the notion of implementing small flash drive on which to store the OS and all of the software. Has anybody around here done that?

2) The extended memory card is installed, and is completely full. How does one check the total system memory (other than deciphering what's written on the chipset and multiplying by 32)?

3) I don't recall this machine having great game ports. In fact, I thought the Apple conversions that I had played as a child were generally the inferior iterations. True? Untrue?

Here's what I found. I actually forgot a crate of software in the car (most of which is still shrinkwrapped, but is mostly educational software).

Edited by tisaperfectdayelise, Tue Feb 9, 2010 8:34 AM.

[save2600]

Great haul! The IIGS is a cool, curious little system. Always wanted to play around with one, but never had the chance yet. I know the Apple scene is VERY much alive though, but haven't paid attention to 'em in, well... forever. lol Maybe Google to get answers on that Flashcard you seek. About the old Apple games question being inferior though... I'd have to agree with that. Especially in the sounds dept. as they were pretty non-existent or consisted of a few beeps and boops. lol Computers with built in speakers generally sounded that way. Games I remember as a kid being excellent though were Conan, Moon Patrol, Sammy Lightfoot and Pinball Construction Set. Wizardry was also available for the system. I'd have to monkey around with one again today, but I think the arcade translations got much better by the mid 80's with some games looking better than the Atari 8-bit ports IMO.

[Ransom]

The Apple ][s had good sound if they had a Mockingboard, at least when playing games that supported it.

[DaytonaUSA]

Very nice, but if you could, please get your new baby away from that giant magnet amp.

[tisaperfectdayelise]

Oh eff...

You know, I consider myself a marginally adept guy.....

...but I didn't even think of that. Thankfully, the magnet is against the wall, and a few feet from the disks....oye.....what a dunce....

DaytonaUSA, on Tue Feb 9, 2010 11:24 AM, said:

Very nice, but if you could, please get your new baby away from that giant magnet amp.

[Allan]

Most of the IIGS only games are on this site.

http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/

Allan

[jimarm]

You can buy a compactflash/ide type drive for apple ][ machines at...

http://www.reactivem...?products_id=32

Jim

[tisaperfectdayelise]

jimarm, on Tue Feb 9, 2010 2:53 PM, said:

You can buy a compactflash/ide type drive for apple ][ machines at...

http://www.reactivem...?products_id=32

Jim

Thanks, Jim!
That won't come cheap....But what a nifty add-on!

[Ransom]

jimarm, on Tue Feb 9, 2010 2:53 PM, said:

You can buy a compactflash/ide type drive for apple ][ machines at...

http://www.reactivem...?products_id=32

Jim

Hmm. Makes an Apple ][ suddenly tempting again. Thanks for the link!

[JamesD]

I have a 4MB RAM card and a CFFA Compact FLASH interface in mine. Very cool!
The CFFA board is out of production at the moment but the author is working on an updated unit that also has floppy emulation.
http://dreher.net/?s...ppleII/main.php

[Ransom]

I sent an email expressing interest in that new board. Thanks for the heads up!

[The_Laird]

Should thsi not be in classic computing?

[fiddlepaddle]

The_Laird, on Tue Feb 9, 2010 5:53 PM, said:

Should thsi not be in classic computing?

Yeah, I thought so too, so I just ignored it and didn't read any of the stuff you guys wrote.

[Mirage]

I think you got a very good deal on that gs. Very cool systems, much moreso, I think, than the previous Apple ][s... a much more advanced machine. I'd love to get my hands on one someday. I only have a ][e right now.

[JamesD]

I think this is the same RAM card I have in my IIgs. At $50 its a bargain.
http://www.brielcomp...rdpress/?cat=10

If you want an ethernet card:
http://www.a2retrosystems.com/

[darthkur]

You most definitely got a great deal on all of that. The GS is a nice little system that, admittedly, I don't give enough attention to. Then again I don't have the very nice assortment of software you received in that package. A note of advice though; I'd move everything away from that bass amp. Especially disk drives. It would be a shame if your media was wiped out by the magnetic field put out by that 15in speaker.

[Hatta]

Very nice haul. I got one myself a couple years ago, with an imagewriter and the original boxes for $25. I love it when people don't know what their "old junk" is worth.

You're right, the II is not the best system for games, especially not arcade ports. Still it does a pretty good job. Loderunner is great fun on it. And it's the system you want if you're going to play old RPGs (Ultima, etc.). The IIgs is really a score because of the IIgs specific games. Thexder is awesome. Crystal Quest is great. There's a really beautiful port of Arkanoid. A lot of Sierra's AGI games got released on the IIgs with music that's unavailable on any other platform. And if you like the MacVenture games (Deja Vu, Uninvited, etc) you can play them in color on the IIgs.

So yeah, well worth having. Well worth $60 or more. You should be sure to check out ADTpro, so you can dump disk images over a serial cable to a real disk. Will save you tracking down real games. Though I hope you got a bunch of floppies with the computer, as they're getting harder to come by and more expensive.

You might also want to get a classic Mac. With the right version of AppleShare you can mount a disk from your a classic Mac, or even boot from it. I have Wolf3d on my Mac hard drive, and mount that over the network, runs just fine (4mb ram required). That won't work for plain Apple II games though. I'm going to have to get a CFFA card when they become available again.

Edit: oh you had a question no one answered yet. I forget the exact key combination... it's either apple-option-reset or apple-shift-reset. One just reboots the machine, the other reboots into the service menu. From there you can check your RAM size, set up a RAM disk, change the system speed, etc.

If you google a bit, you can find the original user manuals that came with it in PDF form. Apple was really thorough, and covered most of the important things you will want to do with the computer. There's even an intro to Apple Basic. When was the last time anyone sold a computer that came with a programming tutorial?

Edited by Hatta, Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:06 AM.

[tisaperfectdayelise]

I moved the computer and the disks far away from the amp. Good eye on the size, darthkur! I don't know what I was thinking. Apparently, I saw the only few square inches of free surface in my tiny apartment :-)

I haven't yet gone through and tested all of the disks again, and, quite frankly, I'm afraid to. It appears as though most of the software library is available in one form or another, so I should be able to recreate them, should anything tragic have happened.

I do, actually, have a classic mac. It's in storage at the moment, and I think it's a PowerMac 7600 running OS 8.6. It's got a floppy drive and and ethernet adapter, so I should be able make some new disks for the IIgs when needbe....I just hope mine still work

Edited by tisaperfectdayelise, Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:26 PM.

[desiv]

tisaperfectdayelise, on Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:24 PM, said:

I do, actually, have a classic mac. It's in storage at the moment, and I think it's a PowerMac 7600 running OS 8.6.

Side note: That's an interesting phrase above.

When you said "classic mac" and PowerMac in the same sentence, it threw me.
For me, Classic Mac is 680x0.

Great find with the IIGS btw. It's one I don't have and have been interested in.

desiv

[tisaperfectdayelise]

desiv, on Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:48 PM, said:

tisaperfectdayelise, on Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:24 PM, said:

I do, actually, have a classic mac. It's in storage at the moment, and I think it's a PowerMac 7600 running OS 8.6.

Side note: That's an interesting phrase above.

When you said "classic mac" and PowerMac in the same sentence, it threw me.
For me, Classic Mac is 680x0.

Great find with the IIGS btw. It's one I don't have and have been interested in.

desiv

Hehehehe, well, when I think of 'Classic Mac,' my mind definitely wanders to pre-PowerPC days. However, I thought that's the classic he meant Provided I can remember all of that TCP/IP/Open Transport BS and can find the drivers, I think that will be best option for grabbing old disk images from the web. I do, however, remember having a terrible time making vintage disks on that 603 machine (both computers wanting to reformat, etc)...hmmmm.....

[thefcpguy]

I also have a IIgs setup with a 4MB RAM upgrade and a compact flash card for storage. It's good fun! http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ is a great site, as mentioned above. Definitely give Zany Golf a spin if you want to see what the GS is capable of (the GS standing for "graphics" and "sound," of course).

[thrax]

That's a very good price for the system. Sometimes when someone requests things on CL they charge higher since the poster obviously wants it. So 60 for a full system less a keyboard with some well cared software is a good deal.

[Goochman]

The original Mac was called the Classic Mac once the Mac SE came out IIRC

[desiv]

Could be confusing, as Apple released a Mac called the "Mac Classic" about that time.
I always called the original Mac a Mac 128 back then.

desiv

[akator]

The Mac Classic was released in the 90s, years after the Mac, Mac 512, Mac Plus, Mac SE, and Mac SE/30. Here's a good source for general Apple and Mac history.