simbalion Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Well, my ad on CL has had no bites so far. Hopefully they haven't ground up all the Apple II computers in my region yet. There is an Apple ][ for sale near Newark, OH for $75, but it looks filthy and has not been tested. Not really willing to travel that distance and pay that much for a unit that might not work. I am going to do a little traveling tomorrow, so could run across something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Well, my ad on CL has had no bites so far. Hopefully they haven't ground up all the Apple II computers in my region yet. There is an Apple ][ for sale near Newark, OH for $75, but it looks filthy and has not been tested. Not really willing to travel that distance and pay that much for a unit that might not work. I am going to do a little traveling tomorrow, so could run across something. If I see one come in I will let you know, it would be alot cheaper than $75 also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 If I see one come in I will let you know, it would be alot cheaper than $75 also Thanks! I will adopt any you find as long as my money holds out. Got parts here at least, just need a working example or two (depending on version) and some periphials and of course, software. I have a box of disks or had some, but can't find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ledzep Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 My main Apple II is a IIgs with a CFFA 3000. I have a II+ with a language card, an 80 column card, super serial card, and a CFFA board in case something doesn't run on the IIgs. I also have a Laser 128, 2 IIc+'s, an enhanced IIe with 2 disk 2's (from the II+), an Apple III, and a Franklin Ace 1000. Man, talk about nostalgia. A couple friends in high school had Apple ][s, can't remember if they were ][es or ][+s. I was always an Atari 800 guy, something about the Apples I didn't like, but I was always impressed by the room inside and the ability to slot in expansion cards. Seeing this thread and the pics sends me back to that time. I remember watching "Tron" the first time and seeing that Apple /// that Flynn was typing on, thinking it was so damn cool. I had no idea that it wouldn't take off like the Apple ][s did. I wonder why those didn't take off, they seemed more serious and powerful than the Apple ][s. Certainly none of those early Apples is "worthless". But there are a lot of young mindless people out there who don't know the value of anything older than 10 years (unless it's a car or a guitar) who wouldn't think twice about trashing an old 8-bit computer. But then they ditch smartphones and TVs older than 2 years so what do they know. If those old Apples became trendy, like vinyl record/'70s clothing trendy, then you see them scrambling to recover old gear and pretend to be educated about the value of those classic computers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I remember watching "Tron" the first time and seeing that Apple /// that Flynn was typing on, thinking it was so damn cool. I had no idea that it wouldn't take off like the Apple ][s did. [b] I wonder why those didn't take off, they seemed more serious and powerful than the Apple ][s.[/b] Look up info on the III, they make the Coleco Adam look reliable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ledzep Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Look up info on the III, they make the Coleco Adam look reliable. Ya, there is that aspect. I read up on the history of it on Wikipedia (I know, I know, but you have to start somewhere). Very interesting how they screwed themselves by making the Apple ///s backwards compatible with the Apple ][s but only up to 48k and without access to the better hardware internally, simply because they wanted interest for the Apple ][ to die off so everyone would buy the Apple ///s. Stupid move. And then trying to cram too much inside the case forcing them to use boards with traces that were too narrow. I don't understand when companies do that. They'd figured out the Apple ][, it was reliable and popular, then they create the sequel to that as though they'd never laid eyes on an Apple ][ before in their lives. I wonder about that alternate universe where Apple didn't blow that opportunity and the Apple /// really took off. Of course that's the same alternate reality that has arcade games (real arcade games, dammit, with vector screens and dedicated unique controls) remaining popular for longer and The Crash never happened so that the Vectrex and Atari 5200 weren't kneecapped before they had a chance. Damn you, Reality. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnusfalkirk Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 IMHO the biggest reason the Apple III was a failure was that Woz wasn't in on the design process, and of course Jobs demanded ridiculous things from the design team that they were stupid enough to try and do instead of telling him that his demands would result in a sub par computer. If he had let the design team do their job, without interference, maybe the III would have been successful and instead of Macintoshes we'd all be using Apple X's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Yah - leave it to typical corporate dims to make "great" decisions and push pet projects through, no matter how good or bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 It seems to me that the Apple II series started getting shunned because of Jobs Macintosh project. Even the IIGS was purposely handicapped so it wouldn't compete with the Macintosh line. In my opinion, the II series was shaping up to be the far superior product line and Jobs didn't like that. I think Apple might have done better if they had kept two good lines in development instead of crippling one for the other. Yes, Macs are nice and I think would have done well whether them II series and its decendants were there or not. Apple would have had multiple options for the home and business user to choose from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnusfalkirk Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 The one thing you've got to remember is that the Apple II was Woz's creation, Jobs was out to get rid of it as quick as he could, that's why they came out with the Apple III in 1980. Had the III succeeded the II would have ended at the II+ but since the III flopped Jobs had to reluctantly allow the II to be upgraded. Jobs continued to look for ways to get rid of the II, that's why the Lisa was created, but it was ridiculously expensive. The Lisa GUI migrated to the Mac, but the with only 128k it was just a toy. To me the Mac didn't become a viable computer until about the mid 90's. I still would have preferred that they left the II line going but if wishes were horses beggars would ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 At the time, my roommate had an early Mac. 512k and 1 floppy. It was terrible to use... Of course, I had an Amiga and was biased, but I couldn't see how it could succeed and I had love the Apple II line. However, given a 2nd drive its much less painful and with more RAM and a hard disk, it gets pretty decent. I have a Mac Classic now and kind of like it for what it is.. But I do wonder what would have happened if they would have just continued the II line. The IIGS was really interesting.... Who knows... desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 On a happy note, I will be going to look at six Apple II series units along with three monitors and some disk drives tomorrow or Sunday. They whole lot can be mine for $40 if I want them. My want ad has finally panned out it seems. A victory for the Apple ][ Brotherhood! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Get them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 On a happy note, I will be going to look at six Apple II series units along with three monitors and some disk drives tomorrow or Sunday. They whole lot can be mine for $40 if I want them. My want ad has finally panned out it seems. A victory for the Apple ][ Brotherhood! Sweet, save 'em! If you're looking to get rid of some of them, get ahold of me. I have an e, but might be interested in a Platinum if there's one in the bunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 All I know right now is that they are IIs, probably IIes since they were from a school. I think a couple might have keys missing on the keyboards, but I have two donors with good keyboards if these machines all work and the keyboards match up. I DO plan to share the riches if I can get them working as I only need one or two IIes, though might keep a II or II+ if any are in that group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 (edited) And the haul for $40! Seven Apple IIes, two are Platnum models. Ten Apple Disk drives and two generic and what appear to be Apple compatible disk drives. Also five monitors, three of the Apple II green monitors and two color monitors. Also found what appears to be a monitor stand, an Apple II Image Writer and a box of ribbons for the printer. Also for $10 more, I got two nice looking antique radios from the same guy and he showed me a big surplus place that could possibly get more of these computers and parts in. Edited January 26, 2013 by simbalion 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Yes, those are Apple monitor stands. They come in handy, wish I had another one. An 800XL fits right under one so I can switch easily between my C64 and 800XL. I hear they're handy for holding up Apple monitors too LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 Well, these were all in an unheated garage, so will give them a day or two to warm up before I start cleaning and testing. One monitor has a note on it mentioning that it has a vertical roll problem and one of the Apple IIes was gutted out except the main board and keyboard, though I did find the power supply right before I left. The Apple IIe Platinums look complete, but the video out connectors are rusty, so I will have to do alot of cleaning to get those going. I hope to get most of them working and then plan to keep one complete Apple IIe, a Platinum and at least one each of the monitors and of course a few disk drives. After that, any working units and set-ups will be offered here for what I have in them, perhaps a little more for some pocket change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnusfalkirk Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Fantastic buy for all of $50 bucks! Hope it all works well after you've let it warm up. Is the printer the original ImageWriter or the ImageWriter II? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ransom Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Nice find! You should be able to put together a great system from all of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Fantastic buy for all of $50 bucks! Hope it all works well after you've let it warm up. Is the printer the original ImageWriter or the ImageWriter II? It is an Imagewriter II. It powers up and cycles, then the error light comes on. I think MIGHT have an original Imagewriter around somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yell0w_lantern Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 The one thing you've got to remember is that the Apple II was Woz's creation, Jobs was out to get rid of it as quick as he could, that's why they came out with the Apple III in 1980. Had the III succeeded the II would have ended at the II+ but since the III flopped Jobs had to reluctantly allow the II to be upgraded. Jobs continued to look for ways to get rid of the II, that's why the Lisa was created, but it was ridiculously expensive. The Lisa GUI migrated to the Mac, but the with only 128k it was just a toy. To me the Mac didn't become a viable computer until about the mid 90's. I still would have preferred that they left the II line going but if wishes were horses beggars would ride. I hadn't heard this before. I pictured Jobs as wanting to milk Woz for all he was worth since Jobs was more of the opportunistic businessman. Why did he want to cut out Woz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Because Jobs was an asshole. Don't get me wrong - I liked the guy and he was cordial in casual conversation. And I'm glad he invented iTunes. But engineers (woz) and business suits (jobs) don't mix. Never have, never will. The proof is all around you, from mis-designed shit consumer gadgets to Nasa's fuck-up with Challenger. Unfortunately, the managerial types are closer to A personalties than the submissive engineer/technician; and thus they win unless presented with hard proof. Which reminds me, engineers spend 25% of their time pleasing management or finding a way to do so. And yet, engineers need a slap in the ass in order to make things easy to use. Otherwise they tend to dive into a rabbit hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thegoldenband Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 And I'm glad he invented iTunes. Wellllll... (I remember when iTunes came out -- I'd been using SoundJam MP and when I tried iTunes my reaction was basically "Wait, isn't this just...?" But I always found the sound quality of SoundJam MP subpar when compared to some of its competitors, especially Audion.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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