Gifted an Apple II Plus

[ubersaurus]

Recently I've been reading that Break Out book about Apple II game developers, and it's had me kind of thinking of picking up a unit. As luck would have it, a friend of mine has a spare system (a II+) that he's giving me over Thanksgiving. He's not entirely sure what the card or RAM loadout is in the machine (since he's basically just stuck to his newer unit, a GS).

 

Never having owned an Apple II, I've got a few questions - what cards should I track down (or make sure it has already) to get this thing into the ideal game playing shape for its type? How can I figure out what RAM configuration it is? My understanding is that it maxes out at 64k of RAM with the language card in slot 0, though there are third party cards that go beyond that - is that the case, and do they work with the last batch of games that require that much memory?

 

There's a flash cart style solution for it too, right? I'm not really interested in dealing with the floppy drive any more than I have to.

[AMenard]

There are both CF card solution and SD floppy emulation available if you look around. The A2+ ram can be extended with addons card in slot 1-7:

 

http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=RAM_Cards#Apple_.5D.5B.2B_.26_.2F.2Fe_Compatible_RAM_Card_Examples

[david__schmidt]

Never having owned an Apple II, I've got a few questions - what cards should I track down (or make sure it has already) to get this thing into the ideal game playing shape for its type? How can I figure out what RAM configuration it is? My understanding is that it maxes out at 64k of RAM with the language card in slot 0, though there are third party cards that go beyond that - is that the case, and do they work with the last batch of games that require that much memory?

You want to be sure it has a 16k memory ("language") card in slot 0. That gets you up to 64k, and is the max requirement any game that will run on a II+ has. While you're there, turn it on and make sure you hear a "beep" - that will indicate it's alive. No beep (assuming the speaker is good and connected) is a bad sign. As is a loud bang and smoke coming from the power supply - which is altogether likely to happen if it's been sitting all this time.

[Ransom]

A loud bang and smoke are far more exciting than just a beep, but I hope you get that sweet, sweet Apple ][ beep!

 

Post pics when you have the machine.

[Keatah]

Get in on the CFFA3000 list, likely to be the last year produced. Meantime learn ADTPro and Apple Game Server.

 

You'll benefit from a Super Serial Card. And a Disk II drive + controller card are really the essence of what helped make the Apple II as successful as it was. If anything, get a drive and clean it up. There's things you'll eventually want a real disk for - like nostalgia.

 

Its likely you have 48K going. Take a pic of the inside and we will tell you straight away. Get the 16K RamCard/LanguageCard.

 

---

 

On the PC side of things, Get AppleWin emulator, and Ciderpress. These two utilities will greatly expand your ability to manage and prepare disk images for real hardware and emulation. Throw in Copy II+ and you'll become a goddamned wizard at file handling!

[ubersaurus]

I want to say he's at least powered it up and it worked, but it's probably been over a year. I'll be sure to note when I get my hands on it what shape it's in! I'm not too broken up about being unable to play those late release 128k games (not really keen on too many early computer RPGs), so this should be just fine... and I love the idea of getting my future offspring to play Oregon Trail the proper way!

[Keatah]

I would say why not get a jump on the gun and get started with AppleWin today. There is minimal or no install/configure, and it's going to run 97% of the software available for the II. You'll learn the conventions, and all that. Unzip, clip'n'drop a disk image, and that's about it.

 

Only downside is you'll be getting your nostalgia blast this way and not on real hardware. Consider that carefully.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Keatah

[c0op3r]

also come check out the Facebook Apple Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/

[Keatah]

Facebook has some interesting tidbits of oddball information. I'd join, but.. facebook..

 

Having said that, I think, I believe, you'll get the best answers here or on applefritter, possibly even Comp.sys.apple2.. All kinds of experts here on these forums. And they're FORUMS, means we can exchange files and screenshots very easily. AA is really starting to pick up. And that's a good thing.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Keatah

[The Usotsuki]

Oregon Trial's minimum config is a 64K ][+, so you'll be able to run it just fine. Does hit the disk more often than on a 128K machine though.

Edited November 14, 2017 by The Usotsuki

[ubersaurus]

Got the computer and it seems to have had some work done that maybe someone here can explain. First the cards in the slots: there's a printer interface and a disk interface, but also a Prometheus Mem-1 in slot 0 and something else I don't recognize - says YKH Interface on it and one of the chips says something like "vid2 inverse" on a sticker.

Additionally, there seems to be a daughter board ending in a headphone jack connector on the main board (connected to the mystery card) and some black cables coming out near the keyboard. The Prometheus is also connected to the top left ram socket. My friend when he gave it to me said that Oregon Trail (a 64k game) doesn't seem to load properly (though that could be an issue with the floppy drive), and also that the F key sometimes won't work and that space bar will randomly double space. Other than that and the mystery mods it seems to be pretty standard. Any thoughts?

Edited November 27, 2017 by ubersaurus

[Keatah]

These are all standard upgrades of the day:

0- 16K memory/langauge card bringing the system total to 64K.
1- Grappler+ parallel printer interface card. IMHO one of the better and more friendly ones of the day.
2-
3- Generic 80 column card. Likely compatible with Videx brand.
4-
5- Disk II controller card.
6-
7-

 

Funky board to the side- SoftSwitch mod for the 80-column card in slot #3. Standard stuff..

 

I assume that there is also a lowercase chip at the front of the motherboard? The area under the space bar.

 

Traditionally the Disk II controller card plugs into slot-6. It'll work fine in slot-5, just that some "exotic" tools or utilities are expecting it in slot-6 by default.

 

I also see some wires connecting push-buttons to the Grappler+ board. I don't know what the fuck those do. I don't off-hand recall any mods like that. The only thing I can think of right now is they're in parallel with the switches and would allow for a convenient way of overriding them. Given better photos we might be able to determine what those extra push-buttons really do - as the schematics for that card are available.

 

These are manuals for the cards. You should be able to use Videx documentation for the 80-column card. And the Microsoft RamCard manual should suffice in lieu of original the Prometheus manual. All 16K cards with the ribbon cable connected like that are mapped the same way and allow you use INTEGER BASIC, put DOS in hi-mem, do other languages, or even try out a microscopic sized 60-sector RamDisk!

 

I also see a silver RF modulator

 

Additionally I see what looks like a Shift-Key mod. One that is not fully installed.

 

A correctly installed (and industry accepted) SK mod is simple - a jumper wire from Pin24 of the 25-pin keyboard encoder board connector -to- Pin1 of H14 (or Pin4 of J14, they're electrically the same). That's it!

 

A properly installed SK mod enables Pin1 of H14 or Pin4 of J14 to detect when the shift key is pressed, via software reading. This means the gameport's 3rd (and mostly un-used) button connection is used to tell "special" software that SHIFT is pressed. What is this "special" software? Ohh.. About a billion word processors of the day and most 80-column card firmware. The Apple's existing onboard ROM firmware knows nothing of this!

 

Section 6, Page 4 of the Videx VideoTerm manual talks about it as well as the last 2 links. Also, the Videx LowerCase manual has a small test program you can type in to determine *IF* you have a lowercase chip on the motherboard. Page 2-4.

 

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/video/videx_lower_case_chip.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/video/videx_soft_video_switch_manual.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/video/Videx%20Videoterm%20Installation%20&%20Operation%20Manual_alt.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/io/Orange%20Micro%20Grappler%20plus%20Printer%20Interface%20-%20Operators%20Manual.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/io/Orange%20Micro%20Grappler%20plus%20Printer%20Interface%20-%20User%27s%20Guide.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/storage/memory/Microsoft%20RAMCard.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/storage/memory/Microsoft%20RAMCard%20-%20Manual.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/storage/memory/APPLE_Language_Card_Installation_Operation_Manual.pdf

https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Project/Chips/Videx%20Lower%20Case%20Chip/Manuals/Videx%20Lower%20Case%20Chip%20-%20Manual.pdf

https://archive.org/details/II_II-Shift-Key_Modification

http://www.macgui.com/blogs/?e=482

Edited November 28, 2017 by Keatah

[Keatah]

I hope that all made sense. If you need anything clarified just ask away. Now, on to memory!

 

How can I figure out what RAM configuration it is? My understanding is that it maxes out at 64k of RAM with the language card in slot 0, though there are third party cards that go beyond that - is that the case, and do they work with the last batch of games that require that much memory?

 

Count the number of 4116 chips.. Ahhyes.. looks like you have 3 banks of 8 chips each for 48K on-board memory. You also have a 16K memory card in slot 0. Combined together this gives you the maximum standard memory of 64K.

 

There are cards for the II+ that can indeed go to 256K, 512K, 768K and 1024K like so:

 

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/hardware/storage/memory/Apple%20II%20Memory%20Expansion%20Card%20-%20User%27s%20Manual_HiRes.pdf

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.com/pub/apple_II/documentation/advertisements/applied_engineering/AE%20RamFactor%20-%20Brochure.pdf

 

..but they are not compatible with the //e's upper bank-switched memory area at 64K-128K. So therefore the "last batch" of game software requiring 128K won't work. You'll need to move into a //e for those.

 

Page 2 of the Apple Memory Expansion card manual tells what you CAN do. This means making RamDisks for ProDos, or expanding the Appleworks Desktop. Mostly boring productivity stuff like patched CP/M crap. And fast-booting ProDOS stuff.

 

---

 

I often feel the heyday of action gaming on the Apple II occurred during the waning years of the II+ and early years of the //e. The bulk of the action games were written with 16K-48K in mind. With the sweet spot being 48K. By the time the DISK II became popular everyone had 48K or 64K. You really needed 48K to do anything with disks.

 

The 6502 didn't quite have enough oomph to drive action games requiring 128K. So it all kinda started slowing down from that point. But it did have enough gas to manage 8MB for RamDisks and DataBases and other productivity stuff like record keeping!

 

The combination of accelerators and extra RAM and all was still an expensive gig. And still somewhat proprietary. So no special games for that mix either. Then 16-bit and PC came to market. And people started losing interest in things Apple II. Especially Apple themselves.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Keatah

[ubersaurus]

Noted!

 

I gave it a test drive this afternoon. The 0 button on the keyboard doesn't seem to work, any advice on getting that humming? I also noticed Raster Blaster would load and just sort of hang on the demo screen, which is kind of annoying. Choplifter and Oregon Trail loaded up just fine though (the paddles are a terrible way to control Choplifter - any way to get a joystick going on a II+?)

 

There is indeed a chip underneath the keyboard, and I can go in and grab another photo of the 80 column card if it'll help identify what the heck the push buttons do.

[Keatah]

Well, you can try resoldering/checking the key switch itself, or trace to where it goes to the encoder board and check/clean the 25pin single-row stake connector. Use your DMM to see whether the key-switch is opening and closing as you jam on it. Back in the day I'd lift the keycap off, and dabble a bit of contact cleaner in there, like DeOxit or something. I've also disassembled the switch and cleaned them by hand. And I've replaced individual switches outright. You desolder it and un-snap it from the metal frame. So you have several options. But first test with DMM.

 

Then you'd have to pull out the schematics (or eyeball it) and go up to the encoder and see the signals there. We can talk about that if you get that far.

 

As far as doing a joystick, well, you just buy one and plug it in. Just like the paddles. I prefer Suncom, CHproducts, Kraft, or especially my fav, TG Products. You can even get adapters that allow DB9 VCS joysticks to connect to the gameport - though they are often ridiculously priced on fleabay, just "because". There are several projects published in magazines of the era and newsletters, too, that tell you how to make your own adapter. It's just a few wires and socket and resistors. That kind of thing.

 

Apple II and II+ are definitely hobbyist friendly and made to be worked on. A good balance between finished consumer product and hobbyist rig.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Keatah

[Keatah]

There is indeed a chip underneath the keyboard.

 

There are lots of chips under the keyboard. If you mean the encoder card, no, the lowercase character set ROM would be on the motherboard. It looks like a standard ROM chip from a VCS cartridge. You'll need a good flashlight to see in there. It might help to remove the encoder board and set it aside, or take all the screws out and lift off the casing.

 

Or try running this and see if you get lowercase.

 

10 HOME

20 FOR X=0 to 254

30 PRINT CHR$(X);

40 NEXT

50 END

[Keatah]

And I can go in and grab another photo of the 80 column card if it'll help identify what the heck the push buttons do.

 

It looks like the two pushbuttons are wired into the Grappler+ Parallel interface/printer card. But the more photos the better. Can't ID what can't be seen.

[ubersaurus]

Got a CFFA card and went to boot this computer up without a disk preloaded in the Disk II drive, and discovered that it doesn't seem to boot into anything but a black screen. Hitting the buttons doesn't seem to change anything - it'll beep if I push ctrl+reset, but that's it. Any suggestions on what I should look at first to diagnose/fix this issue? I can't actually access the CFFA menu without anything to type on, it seems.

Edited August 5, 2018 by ubersaurus

[ubersaurus]

Update: worked after removing the grappler and 80 column cards. Not sure which one was causing problems but I don't have a pressing need for either, so into the box they go.