Apple II plus questions

[Brave Dave]

1.Does an Apple II only work with a old style tv/monitor?

 

2.what do I do after I turn it on and see apple II on the screen

 

3. Where do I connect the floppy drive

 

thanks

[Christophero Sly]

1.Does an Apple II only work with a old style tv/monitor?

 

2.what do I do after I turn it on and see apple II on the screen

 

3. Where do I connect the floppy drive

 

thanks

1. More or less.

 

2. To really do anything useful, you first need to connect a disk drive. The Apple II needs to load a DOS and higher level languages from disk. *EDIT: I forgot BASIC was in the ROM.

 

3. On the Apple II plus, the disk drive would connect directly to the disk controller card installed into one of the onboard expansion slots, usually slot 6.

[CGQuarterly]

An Apple II of that vintage will work with any monitor or TV that has a composite video input. Without a disk drive, the computer boots into BASIC mode, which means that you can start typing in a BASIC program. You can also access a built in mini-assembler if you know how to program in 6802 assembly language. So yeah, get a disk drive. You need a floppy controller card. If there isn't one in the computer already then you will need to buy one. They're cheap.

 

Chris

[Streck]

1.Does an Apple II only work with a old style tv/monitor?

 

Like Jibbajaba said - anything with an RCA video-in. New TVs still have this.

 

 

2.what do I do after I turn it on and see apple II on the screen

 

Well, if you don't have a disk drive connected, you should be at a prompt. From here, you can program in BASIC (or 6502 assembly), and manipulate the hardware directly.

 

This is the best beginner's guide for Applesoft BASIC programming that I've seen:

 

http://www.apple-iigs.info/doc/fichiers/touchapplesoft.pdf

 

There's also the original "Red Book" manual if you're interested in a lower-level look - you can skip the sections referring to Integer BASIC, since you have a II Plus:

 

http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/Apple/Apple%20II%20(Redbook)%20Reference%20Manual%2030th%20Anniversary.pdf

 

The assembler discussion starts around page 68.

 

 

3. Where do I connect the floppy drive

 

Here's a good set of instructions for installing your floppy drive (ignore the stuff about clamps):

 

http://www.1000bit.it/support/manuali/apple/instdisk2/inst_disk2.htm

 

When you get the drive connected, and start working with disks, here's a reference for DOS 3.3:

 

http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=DOS#Commands_quick_reference

 

Lastly, here is the Apple II Reference Manual, which goes into technical detail about the entire machine:

 

http://macheaven.net/MH_Manuals/apple_ii.pdf

[CGQuarterly]

There's also the original "Red Book" manual if you're interested in a lower-level look - you can skip the sections referring to Integer BASIC, since you have a II Plus:

 

http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/Apple/Apple%20II%20(Redbook)%20Reference%20Manual%2030th%20Anniversary.pdf

 

Wow. That's a really sweet PDF recreation of the Red Book. I actually have one of those. It's amazing that the Apple II once came with such a cheesy manual.

 

Chris

[Brave Dave]

Thanks to all that replied, it is working on my modern tv. Just one question though how do I get the apple to load a floppy from the drive? Is it supposed to play automatically or is that where the dos boot disk comes in handy?

[Hatta]

Usually the disk will boot when you power the Apple II on with the disk inserted. Otherwise it will load DOS from the disk and you'll have to run it manually with commands like "catalog", "load"/"run", or "bload"/"brun".

 

I have this book. I refer to it all the time, see if you can find a copy. Never could find a PDF.

[Hatta]

Usually the disk will boot when you power the Apple II on with the disk inserted. Otherwise it will load DOS from the disk and you'll have to run it manually with commands like "catalog", "load"/"run", or "bload"/"brun".

 

I have this book. I refer to it all the time, see if you can find a copy. Never could find a PDF.

[Streck]

Thanks to all that replied, it is working on my modern tv. Just one question though how do I get the apple to load a floppy from the drive? Is it supposed to play automatically or is that where the dos boot disk comes in handy?

 

Well, many/most disks include their own DOS and are therefore self-booting. Other disks don't, and to access the contents on those you'll need to first boot a DOS 3.3 disk, then swap it out for the other disk and do a CATALOG. (ProDOS is different, but if you're working with a II Plus I doubt you'll deal with ProDOS much anyway.)

 

 

I have this book. I refer to it all the time, see if you can find a copy. Never could find a PDF.

 

Yeah, I really wanted to link to a PDF of that in my massive list - it's definitely the best general beginner's guide to the Apple II that I've seen - but I guess it's a little thick for someone to spend the time scanning it.

 

 

Also, I know this wasn't asked, but if you're interested in acquiring more software for the Apple II than what you already have (and if you happen to have a serial card of some kind, and some spare disks), ADTPro is by far the best way to do it. You can just download images from the Asimov archive and transfer them over.

Edited September 14, 2010 by Streck

[Hatta]

Yeah, I really wanted to link to a PDF of that in my massive list - it's definitely the best general beginner's guide to the Apple II that I've seen - but I guess it's a little thick for someone to spend the time scanning it.

 

There are a lot of Apple II books I haven't been able to find as PDFs. All the Commodore stuff you could want is available on Bomb Jack. For Atari's there's a huge torrent of books available. For Apple II, you can find any of the technical manuals you want. But I haven't found a good selection of books.

 

This is the best resource I've found. Some good books there, but not as comprehensive as what I've found for other 8 bit computers.

[Brave Dave]

Thanks again guys, just one more question I can't seem to get the apple to load any disks from the drive. When I turn it on the drive comes on and makes alot of noise, when I press reset to get to the basic prompt the drive just turns off. Any suggestions/comments?

[desiv]

What disk(s) are you putting into it, and is it a bootable disk?

When you turn it on with a bootable disk in it, it should make a lot of noise. :-)

But after a bit (not too long usually, they had some FAST boot programs on the IIs), the computer should load something from the disk by itself.

 

If it doesn't, it's not a bootable floppy, or your disks/drive aren't working...

 

Have you cleaned the drive head? (A floppy cleaner is nice to have..)

 

desiv

[Nukey Shay]

Yup...DiskII drives were anything but quiet. The computer is having problems locating a DOS on the disk...the "under the hood" program that makes disk operations usable. As you've noticed, pressing reset abandons the attempt...no DOS or bootable program has loaded.

[Brave Dave]

Hey guys got another question about the drive ][. Is it supposed to be spinning because my drive is not spinning. I am guessing it is broken.

[Nukey Shay]

Should be spinning right on powerup. Also the clackity-clack sound from the R/W head as it bumps to the track0 position to search for DOS. If the disk is invalid or any other problem prevents that, it will be followed by VERY loud grinding sounds...but the spindle should be spinning the entire time.

[The Usotsuki]

Boot firmware calibrates the drive head to track 0 by shifting it back 40 times (slams it against the wall a few times causing the distinctive clicking sound), loads the first sector off the disk at address $0800, and jumps to $0801.

 

If it can't read a boot sector it'll keep trying until it can. Hitting Ctrl-Reset will abort and put you at the FPBASIC prompt.

 

ETA: Floppy drive controller is connected to Slot 6. You need to be careful not to insert the cable backwards, you could fry the controller and/or the drive.

 

Also - Apple ][ uses regular composite monitors. But it's slightly off from NTSC so it might produce a "rolling" image on a monitor if it's too strict.

Edited October 21, 2010 by The Usotsuki

[madmax2069]

You can connect the Apple II to a VGA monitor if you have the proper hardware to convert the signals to VGA. A side effect of using HDTV or VGA monitor is that it does not produce the best looking color picture because most if not all of the colors produced use a dithering method, but B&W gets by just fine for the most part.