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Along came a IIGS, Part I

Mezrabad

Entry posted by Mezrabad

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Okay, back some time in the closing days of 2008 an AtariAger was looking for an Emerson Arcadia 2001 and was offering an Apple IIGS in exchange. I've always wanted one of those, so I went for it, traded my extra Arcadia (I had to keep one if my chronogaming ever makes it to 1982) a few boxed commons and maybe one scarce (I was feeling generous, and I really did want to mess around with an Apple IIGS).

 

So, sometime in January, the exchange was made and a happy IIGS began its life in my home. So, why get a GS?

 

Well, for one, it's essentially a beefed up Apple II. I've wanted an Apple II since I knew of its existence. Of course, the desire to have one because it was new and interesting in 1980 has been replaced by the desire to have one because I can now most easily afford it. Also, the 12 year old I was in 1980 still clamors for it. I appease this clamoring by getting the IIGS, in the reasoning that somehow, using the GS, I'll get to play some Apple II games.

 

So, I have it. I scavenge a power cord from some PC-thing and plug it in--this is nothing but the IIGS unit, by the way--I plug it in and turn it on and hear a low pitched >dunk<. It takes power without screaming or smoking, and there's a little light glowing on the front of the box. Oookay, so far.

 

The back of the machine has some connections with tiny little icons. One of the connections looks like an RCA plug, so I'm thinking "RF". Fortunately I have an RF connector on my VCR, so I pilfer an RCA cable from something in the living room, hook it up to the GS, plug it into the Game switch, turn on the VCR, turn on the TV, turn on the GS...>dunk<...no picture.

 

Unplug the RCA from the game switch and plug it into a yellow video input on the front of the VCR, change the input selector and.. hear the >dunk< but this time I get a picture! A black background with an oscillating cursor and a message "Check Startup Device".

 

Okay, this is a good sign. It probably means I need some kind of disk drive with an operating system in it, but it's a start.

 

I figure a couple of obvious things I'll need. A disk drive, a keyboard and maybe a monitor. The TV will work for a while, but someday, I'll need a real Apple monitor.

 

So, I go to Goodwill Computerworks. I haven't been there in a few years, but I remembered that they used to have a lot of Apple II stuff on their shelves, as well as some IIGS stuff. I start looking around... nothing but a monitor cable with an Apple logo on it for $3. It might be useful someday, so I get it. At checkout, I ask the counter person about Apple II stuff and they say... "Well, not for sale, but you could take a look in the Museum..."

 

This Goodwill has a museum dedicated to early computing--a quite nice one actually. It's the first time I've ever gone out shopping for computer parts only to find that what I was looking for was not just no longer available... it was enshrined as a part of a museum exhibit. True story.

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EricBall

Your TV will be as good as an Apple monitor, although 80 column text may be hard to read. There's also an RGB connector ( http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/apple2/faq/16-...GB-monitor.html ), but it's interlaced at TV frequencies; which most VGA monitors won't handle.

 

It looks like the GS had an external floppy drive which connected via a 19 pin D connector. Without that you have a doorstop. (Although it looks like benheck http://benheck.com/04-14-2008/apple-iigs-o...hardware-laptop used one of these http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa-card-review/ to add a CF card interface to a GS.)

 

Personally, I'd go for the Apple //c since it has a built-in floppy. Of course, I didn't keep my collection of Apple ][ software.

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Mezrabad
Your TV will be as good as an Apple monitor, although 80 column text may be hard to read.

 

The TV is okay, but as you say, 80 columns of text is hard to read. I won't know if I can tolerate it until I get something running.

 

It looks like the GS had an external floppy drive which connected via a 19 pin D connector. Without that you have a doorstop.

That is something I had yet to find out in back in January, but I do eventually learn.

per this, a C= 1084 will work.

I saw that and am kicking myself for only having an Amiga Monitor, Model 1080. It works great with my C=64, but, unless I've missed the information somewhere there's no way to just plug in the Apple IIGS to it, not with out getting out a soldering gun. Not ready for that yet, when the TV produces a serviceable picture.

 

Alternatively, I've got SCART input going into my TV's BNC RGB input. I know there's a IIGS to SCART cable out there. It would be easy to pick that cable up and I would expect my Sony PVM would do a good job (like it does with the Saturn, the PS2 and the Dreamcast I've got it working with.)

 

The only "rule" here is that I cannot bring another CRT into my home, without first getting rid of four old VGA's for which I have a project planned, but that's another subject.

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Nelio
It's the first time I've ever gone out shopping for computer parts only to find that what I was looking for was not just no longer available... it was enshrined as a part of a museum exhibit.

 

Kind of depressing. The good news is that at least there are museums and several communities dedicated to these old systems. Sometimes I wonder if in 40 years most of these communities will be gone and future generations will be left with just the museums and Wikipedia articles.

 

four old VGA's for which I have a project planned, but that's another subject.

 

Chrono-LAN-partying?

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Mezrabad
On 4/15/2013 at 8:22 PM, Nelio said:

Chrono-LAN-partying?

 

I'd wanted to do some sort of Lava-Lamp sort of display going up from one monitor to the one above it but I didn't know how to accomplish this and I lacked the motivation to find out how. The conversation in my brain is as follows:

 

My Brain: "Hey, you have some of these things that you can either throw out, sell or do something cool with."

 

Me: "oh, yeah, I have an idea for doing something cool with them!"

 

My Brain: "Okay, good enough reason to keep them for years while they get dusty and you only retain a vague memory about what you'd wanted to do with them!"

 

Five years after deciding not to throw things out, my (ex-to-be) wife asks: "Hey, why do you still have these?"

 

Me: "Oh, hmm, I don't know. I think I wanted to do something cool with them."

 

My Brain: "Yessssssss.... yesssssssssss..."

 

(I've since discovered that this is an ADHD thing... kinda...)

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