Goodwill Apple ][e haul & Questioms

[Airshack]

Thirty-one years ago I sold the Apple ][e which got me through college for a new Mac SE.

Today was a very good day for me at Goodwill in Phoenix!

Any tips on identifying that large memory card?

Where do I start down the modern upgrade rabbit hole? Any must-have cards/enhancements?

 

I'd really like to see better quality video output.

Edited July 22, 2018 by Airshack

[Omega-TI]

Did you know there is an F18A upgrade for the Apple?

[spacecadet]

The memory card is the standard 1MB Apple II Memory Expansion Card. It's a nice find, though - in a IIe, that's almost definitely all that you'd ever need, maybe more than you'd ever need these days.

 

Get a CFFA3000 while you still can: https://shop.dreher.net/shop?olsPage=products%2Fcffa3000-remote

 

Watch for this thing to come back in stock, which it does periodically: http://www.a2heaven.com/webshop/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=142

[Airshack]

Did you know there is an F18A upgrade for the Apple?

No. Link pls!

 

 

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[Airshack]

The memory card is the standard 1MB Apple II Memory Expansion Card. It's a nice find, though - in a IIe, that's almost definitely all that you'd ever need, maybe more than you'd ever need these days.

 

Get a CFFA3000 while you still can: https://shop.dreher.net/shop?olsPage=products%2Fcffa3000-remote

 

Watch for this thing to come back in stock, which it does periodically: http://www.a2heaven.com/webshop/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=142

I have the FloppyEMU already for my Mac Classic. What will I gain with CFFA3000 over the floppy EMU?

 

 

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[spacecadet]

I have the FloppyEMU already for my Mac Classic. What will I gain with CFFA3000 over the floppy EMU?

 

Not that much, although I have a Floppy Emu also and still bought a CFFA3000. What you do get is more convenience, since you can select your images from a menu interface and not from a small LCD on an external device. But, it might not be as easy to do on a IIe - on a IIGS (which is what I'm using it with), you can easily access the menu at any time, even within games or apps, but I don't think that works on a IIe.

 

The CFFA3000 is also faster since it's not relying on the slower external port, but that may or may not be all that important to you. I never found the Floppy Emu all that slow.

[Airshack]

So...is the remote relevant with the Apple //e?

 

 

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[Airshack]

Due to the //e’s expansion slots I expected multiple VGA/HDMI output options from such a large community.

 

Coming from the TI side. Understand there’s an F18A option for Apple? At first mention that seems weird.

 

 

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[The Usotsuki]

Well, there's a couple different TMS9918 cards...

[Osgeld]

I have a F18A card if you want it (the maker gave me one after helping them with a thing, but I dont have an apple to put it in)

 

its only the card you will have to find the 2 chips (the F18A and a logic chip) thing with those cards is its not a replacement for the stock video, its just a side option, the original incarnations were "arcade boards" and I dont think much of anything supported them

[Airshack]

So this is a video card adding new capability to the Apple //. Not interested. I’d like to find a way to enhance legacy software output.

 

 

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[0078265317]

Not bad for 5 dollars and 99 cents. My goodwill is expensive.

[spacecadet]

So...is the remote relevant with the Apple //e?

 

The remote lets you change between disk images without entering the menu. It's relevant if you use any programs that require either a side 1 and side 2, or a program disk and data disk, especially. Even on my IIGS, where I have access to the menu at all times, I find the remote very useful.

[Osgeld]

So this is a video card adding new capability to the Apple //. Not interested. I’d like to find a way to enhance legacy software output.

 

 

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its not really new the concept has been around since the TMS9918 ... but its not used much

[Grimakis]

CFFA 3000 offers a large benefit over the EMU. For Floppy EMU, it can emulate the Smartport device, but you would need a disk controller card capable of that. These are expensive. Otherwise you are relegated to 140k images only.

 

CFFA can emulate SmartPort and Disk ][ at the same time.

 

A VGA add-on board from

 

http://www.a2heaven.com/webshop/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=152

 

It attaches to a card you don't have, the RamWorks II/III. They are worth getting though, as they can add 1MB of RAM to the system, and replace the 80-col card already in your system.

 

Also an HDMI card was announced at Kfest, but it won't hit production till the fall.

 

Additionally, you have sound cards like the Mockingboard, and Z80 coprocessor cards for running CP/M like the Softcard.

[spacecadet]

CFFA 3000 offers a large benefit over the EMU. For Floppy EMU, it can emulate the Smartport device, but you would need a disk controller card capable of that. These are expensive. Otherwise you are relegated to 140k images only.

 

CFFA can emulate SmartPort and Disk ][ at the same time.

 

This is a nice feature but really only worthwhile on a IIGS. The 8 bit Apple II's were all 5 1/4" (140K) floppy-based machines. There was some very late software released for 8 bit II's on 3.5" disk, but I don't know of too much, if anything, that wasn't also released on 5 1/4".

 

As for hard drives, this is also nice if you have a IIGS and want to run GS/OS. But now that we have floppy emulators at all, which basically give you the functionality a hard drive would have in those days, combined with the fact that the IIe and earlier were 5 1/4" based machines, there's not a lot of advantage to having hard drive support on an Apple IIe. Unless you have an 8 bit Apple II data file that's bigger than 140K (not all that likely), then saving it to a floppy image isn't much different than saving it to a hard drive image. And while I guess there may be a few extremely late apps that I'm not aware of that would "install" themselves to a hard drive, everything I've ever used for the 8 bit II's just ran off floppy.

 

The CFFA3000 is a great device, but its biggest advantages over the Floppy Emu are mainly going to be felt on the IIGS.

[Grimakis]

 

This is a nice feature but really only worthwhile on a IIGS. The 8 bit Apple II's were all 5 1/4" (140K) floppy-based machines. There was some very late software released for 8 bit II's on 3.5" disk, but I don't know of too much, if anything, that wasn't also released on 5 1/4".

 

As for hard drives, this is also nice if you have a IIGS and want to run GS/OS. But now that we have floppy emulators at all, which basically give you the functionality a hard drive would have in those days, combined with the fact that the IIe and earlier were 5 1/4" based machines, there's not a lot of advantage to having hard drive support on an Apple IIe. Unless you have an 8 bit Apple II data file that's bigger than 140K (not all that likely), then saving it to a floppy image isn't much different than saving it to a hard drive image. And while I guess there may be a few extremely late apps that I'm not aware of that would "install" themselves to a hard drive, everything I've ever used for the 8 bit II's just ran off floppy.

 

The CFFA3000 is a great device, but its biggest advantages over the Floppy Emu are mainly going to be felt on the IIGS.

 

It would seem that way, but I've got a hard disk image of:

 

AppleWorks 5.1

ProTerm 3.1

Copy II+

ShrinkIt

Apple II Disk Utils

MouseDesk

and a number of other programs

 

my computer boots up to the Super Selector, and I can launch any of those programs with Closed Apple + <letter>

 

And all of this on a IIe. Or you can shuffle around disk images on the FloppyEMU. If all you want to do is play Oregon Trail or Choplifter, then I agree yes you can get by just emulating 5.25" drive. If you want to really customize your setup, like someone with a hard disk might have, then I think it's worth it.

[Polymorph]

 

It would seem that way, but I've got a hard disk image of:

 

AppleWorks 5.1

ProTerm 3.1

Copy II+

ShrinkIt

Apple II Disk Utils

MouseDesk

and a number of other programs

 

my computer boots up to the Super Selector, and I can launch any of those programs with Closed Apple + <letter>

 

And all of this on a IIe. Or you can shuffle around disk images on the FloppyEMU. If all you want to do is play Oregon Trail or Choplifter, then I agree yes you can get by just emulating 5.25" drive. If you want to really customize your setup, like someone with a hard disk might have, then I think it's worth it.

 

To add further support for the CFFA, there has been considerable effort in recent years to port 5.25" floppy games to run under ProDOS. For example:

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/collections/san_inc_prodos/

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/collections/usotsuki_prodos/

 

So these can be installed and run from a hard disk too.

[Grimakis]

 

To add further support for the CFFA, there has been considerable effort in recent years to port 5.25" floppy games to run under ProDOS. For example:

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/collections/san_inc_prodos/

ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/collections/usotsuki_prodos/

 

So these can be installed and run from a hard disk too.

ProDos complilations are pretty good. One that stands out is the Broderbund compilation. Prince of Persia if you run 140k .DSKs, you need a Boot Disk and the actual two games disks. However there are .POs that not only contain PoP withot any need to change disks, but every other Broderbund title as well.

 

Is the CFFA3000 reaching its maximum potential on a IIGS? Yes. Its still much more useful on a IIe than the EMU in my opinion. The EMU I view as more of an accessory for the //c or the Mac 128k/512k