
When The Apple II Was New - fogus
http://apple2history.org/2014/06/11/when-the-apple-ii-was-new/
======
js2
I had a wonderfully tricked out Apple II as a kid:

• Videx enhancer providing lowercase capability.

• Apple II Plus ROMs providing Microsoft basic. The original II Integer Basic
ROMs were in an Apple language card in slot 7 with a toggle switch to activate
the original ROMs.

• 64K RAM, the extra 16K provided by a Microsoft language card in slot 0.

• Epson MX 100 via serial card in slot 1.

• Novation Applecat in slot 2.

• Videx 80 column card in slot 3.

• Microsoft CP/M card in slot 4, because Wordstar.

• Disk ][ card in slot 6, attached to a pair of Disk ][ drives, modified with
an external toggle switch to enable/disable writes, because hole punch argggh.

• Video output to both an Apple Monitor /// green screen and to Sony 13"
Trinitron TV.

~~~
smoyer
Nice! I had a Franklin ][e clone at home while I was in high school, and then
a real Apple ][e at work (during college). We built control cards that would
connect to an external box (via opto-couplers!) which could drive stepping
motors. Originally these were smaller motors, but eventually the drives
included systems that could run milling machines, lathes, etc.

One nice thing is that the bus was easy to deal with. Clock speeds were low
(all were back then) and the gold-plated edge fingers were (comparatively)
big, so you could design a card that just plugged in.

~~~
chiph
The large size of the components and connectors was a unrecognized virtue --
you didn't need a microscope and surface-mount soldering station to throw
something together. All you needed was the prototyping card, and some wire-
wrap IC sockets.

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chiph
Loved my Apple ][+ -- best computer ever because it was expandable and simple.

I bought the computer itself from a summer job I had, and dad bought the Disk
][ drive and the cheap B&W TV we used as a monitor. Later on I added an
80-column card and a RAM upgrade to take it to a bank-switched 64k.

There were hard drives for sale at the time - Corvus sold a 5mb unit for
$4900. Way out of my price range, and how could you _ever_ fill that much
space up? :)

~~~
js2
I remember drives were crazy expensive but that seems high. Supposedly you
could get the 10 MB Sider for $700 in late '85:

[http://apple2.org.za/gswv/USA2WUG/FOUNDING.MEMBERS/HOME.PAGE...](http://apple2.org.za/gswv/USA2WUG/FOUNDING.MEMBERS/HOME.PAGES/EDHEL/sider/)

~~~
joezydeco
The Corvus was 10 Megabytes for $5,350 in 1979. $4,900 for 5MB seems
plausible.

[http://www.vintagecomputing.com/wp-
content/images/retroscan/...](http://www.vintagecomputing.com/wp-
content/images/retroscan/corvus_apple_large.jpg)

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zippergz
I learned to program (BASIC, of course) on an Apple IIe. I was in elementary
school. One of my classmates' moms was a professional computer programmer, and
came in to teach us all to program. I can't imagine how different my life
might be now if she hadn't done that, and if the Apple hadn't been such an
easy and fun platform to play with.

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mp4box
Google's cached version

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XVk3yBR...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XVk3yBR1dv0J:apple2history.org/2014/06/11/when-
the-apple-ii-was-new/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk)

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declan
My first computer was an Apple IIe with the DuoDisk drive, supplemented soon
afterward with a then-blazing-fast 1200 bps modem. The Apple-branded one that
hung, kinda bizarrely, from the wall. Add an Apple mouse (I recall the
hardware took up a whole slot), a Super Serial Card, an Apple 80 column memory
expansion card, and it was a dream computer.

That is, at least until the Woz-edition Apple IIgs came along a few years
later!

Like someone else in this discussion, I don't know how my life would have
turned out if it weren't for the Apple IIe/IIgs. I likely wouldn't have
learned how to program, wouldn't have been exposed to those early glimmerings
of hacker culture, wouldn't have gone into technology journalism, and wouldn't
have left technology journalism to found
[http://recent.io/](http://recent.io/). On the downside, unlearning the bad
habits of Applesoft BASIC is a life's work! :)

~~~
joezydeco
Folklore.org has the story of the original Apple ][ mouse. It's a really great
hack (in the traditional sense of the word)

[http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Apple_II_Mouse_Ca...](http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Apple_II_Mouse_Card.txt)

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CapitalistCartr
The first computer I ever got to see and touch in person was an Apple IIe. My
buddy in the Air Force got it, and let me play on it. Wonderful li'l machine.
First time I stayed up all night playing a game, text of course.

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st3fan
I was so lucky. My dad used to work at Apple in the 80s so we pretty much got
every model since the Apple ][+ at home.

Can't remember this too well but I think I started with a ][+ with 2 floppy
drives, a Silentype (thermal!) printer and Monitor ///, paddles, joystick,
Apple's Graphical Tablet.

And tons and tons of software. Everybody copied. There was no internet, so
there was a lot of borrowing and copying of floppy disks.

Learned to program in Basic, 6502, Logo. A little bit with UCSD Pascal. I was
a kid and more interested in Captain Goodnight, Karateka and all the wonderful
text adventures that I could barely understand in English.

Good times. Maybe time to fire up an emulator and see how much I remember.

~~~
walshemj
Good lord USCD Pascal I remember having to stay late at work in the UK to ring
the Microsft helpline line in new mexico to try and diagnose a really
persistent bug.

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pjmlp
It was a nice machine, although I never saw one live.

In Portugal, the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, followed by their successors
ruled the home market.

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wazoox
I still have a 1987 Apple //c, with its original packaging and accessories:
carrying bag, 9" green monitor, additional Disk II drive, mouse, MouseDesk
software and manual, joystick, RGB TV adapter... And of course the original
cardboard box, which was already very Apple-looking (white, with fancy, large
text and nice, elegant pictures).

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autokad
despite the file systems limitations of apple dos 3.3 it was a pretty nifty
achievement

~~~
valarauca1
Big Bang theory quote -_-

Source: [http://the-big-bang-
theory.com/quotes/character/Sheldon/38/](http://the-big-bang-
theory.com/quotes/character/Sheldon/38/)

>Sheldon Cooper: You're my 15th favorite technological visionary.

>Steve Wozniak: Only 15th?

>Sheldon Cooper: It's still 6 spots above Steve Jobs. I care neither for
turtlenecks nor showmanship.

>Steve Wozniak: Yeah, I never got that turtleneck thing.

>Sheldon Cooper: One of my proudest possessions is a vintage 1977 Apple.
Despite the file system limitations of Apple DOS 3.3, it was a pretty nifty
little achievement.

>Steve Wozniak: Thanks. We were shooting for nifty. You know if you had it
here I'd autograph it for you.

>Sheldon Cooper: Don't move for 15 to 30 minutes depending on how the buses
are running.

>Steve Wozniak: (To his wife) Nerds!

:.:.:

Also His 1977 Apple ][ is running Apple Dos 3.3 (circa 1983)?

~~~
LukeShu
> Also His 1977 Apple ][ is running Apple Dos 3.3 (circa 1983)?

\- 3.3 was originally released in 1980, it was in 1983 that 3.3 received its
last bugfix release.

\- Sure, why not! Apple DOS wasn't installed anywhere, it had to be loaded
from a floppy at boot. Upgrading wasn't a big re-installation or migration.
Running DOS 3.3 isn't any weirder than it playing Donkey Kong (1984).

