Keatah Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 What, IYHO, is the necessary hardware to have a great fantastic authentic Apple II experience. With focus on both today and good nostalgia (for those of us that were there) from back in the day? I propose something like.. Apple II+ and Apple //e consoles 2 Disk II drives for each console with standard Disk II controller 64K/80column card for the //e 16K RamCard for the II+ Hayes Micromodem AppleCat II modem TimeMaster II H.O. Mockingboard Floppy Drive Emulator SuperSerialCard CFFA3000 TG Products Joystick Apple Joystick TG Products Paddles AMDEK color monitor 1084S monitor CP/M card RF modulator Grappler printer interface LowerCase chip Videx keyboard enhancer Epson MX-80 dot-matrix printer 5 boxes of floppy disks (or more) Stack of early Apple II manuals and other documentation ..granted all that can be rather expensive today, especially in the time that's necessary to clean it all up and make it look new again. But it's rather comprehensive covering a lot of the then contemporary hardware. Hardware that captures the early experience and air of discovery. Hardware that captures a sense of wonder and a preview of what the future would bring. But surely everyone has their favorite bits of hardware that should be added. What is it? Discuss! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 The most my Apple //e (platinum, so 128K stock) had was the AppleColor Composite //e, two Unidisks, a Super Serial Card, an ImageWriter II and Z80 card. A joystick and a Mockingboard would've been nice too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Adamson Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 (edited) Enhanced IIe or IIgs. 128k 80col card if a IIe. BMOW FloppyEmu. One real floppy drive if you have old disks laying around, otherwise not needed. Mockingboard or Phasor clone if you like Ultima III-V. Real CRT monitor (no LCD); 15KHz analog RGB monitor if IIgs, otherwise any color composite. Some kind of small joystick (CH made decent ones, or rewire a cheap PC stick). Edited August 8, 2020 by Lee Adamson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) Mine is much simpler... For me, there are two good choices. Setup 1: Apple //c Green 9" CRT monitor with stand. External 5.25" floppy drive. Joystick Serial cable and some floppies.... (For ADTPro) Optional: Mouse if you want to use MouseDesk/Apple II Desktop, GEOS, etc.. Mockingboard 4c (Ok, this isn't authentic, but this modern add-on to get Mockingboard Sound on the //c is nice. Haven't done that one myself yet..) Setup 2: Apple //e 64k 80 Column card (or RAMWorks or similar card..) Duodisk (preferred) or 2 DISK ][s with appropriate controller card. Color CRT monitor Super Serial Card (SSC) Mockingboard Joystick Serial Cable and some floppies (For ADTPro.. Note: You could skip the SSC if you want to go audio for creating disk images.) Audio cable (Apple Game Server Online is pretty impressive.. Optional: Mouse card and mouse if you want to use Mousedesk/Apple II Desktop, GEOS, etc (and here you'd want a RAMWorks or other RAM expansion and make sure that //e is an enhanced //e) System Saver fan/power plugs.. OK, no reason for this other than I always liked the design... ? For me, (at least currently) the Nostalgia is mostly about games so I don't see the need for printers, modems or much more RAM. I also like floppies, so haven't felt the need for a CFFA, BOOTi, BMOW, etc.. Although those are all REALLY NICE.... I also avoided the earlier Apple ]['s, like the plus. While nice, I think of those more as collector machines than daily retro drivers (tho they can be). Also, the //e and //c seem to be really stable machines. Fewer chips, etc... Now, did I suggest these options only because they closely match the two setups I currently have and I'm justifying my choices??? Of course not... er.. um.. well.. They are good choices!!!! Edited August 14, 2020 by desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 (edited) Authentic... But how authentic? For fully blown old school hardware, I'd go for this setup: Enhanced Apple //e 2 Original Disk ][s Apple Monitor ][(Monochrome Green Phosphor) 64k/80 Column Card Any Hayes modem Silentype(with card) If anything that includes a proper Apple ][ counts as authentic, Apple //e Platinum RGB Card Apple RGB Monitor Mockingboards Apple joysticks and paddles Two Unidisks two Unidisk 3.5s Profile Super Serial Card CP/M card ImageWriter(with card) BMOW FloppyEmu Mouse card and mouse Some kind of WiFi modem Our Apple IIs are gonna need a hell lot of card slots. Edited November 11, 2020 by bluejay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DistantStar001 Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 I assume that my setup counts as authentic, considering that it hasn't changed much since the 80's. Personally, I've always been a little minimalist in my setups, but here it goes... Apple //e (enhanced) [Sometimes I use an un-enhanced //e depending on the game] 80/64 card Slot 1: Grappler Printer Card Slot 2: SuperSerial Card (was for a printer but reconfigured for ADTPro) Slot 6: 2 Disk ][ Drives Slot 7: 3.5 in UniDisk Drive CH Joystick or Apple Paddles Apple Monitor /// (Green Phosphor) Optional: TV with composite input or Apple Color-Composite for software that needs color Aux cable to load games from the Apple Game Server I also have a //c and IIgs which I will typically use with my Color-Composite. But my go to has always been my //e. (I also have an additional platinum 5.25 and 800k for the IIgs) As for everything else, don't get me wrong, I'd love to get my hands on an Floppy EMU, CFFA, CP/M, Mockingboard etc... But those have always felt like fun little add-ons to me and not particularly necessary for my old school enjoyment. Also... On 8/14/2020 at 9:25 AM, desiv said: Green 9" CRT monitor with stand. I'm Jealous!!! I've always wanted one for my //c. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 It does. An "authentic" Apple II setup is really anything built around old original hardware. An "authentic experience", more or less, means generating the same aura of fun and discovery like we had back in the day. With the flavor of vintage hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byte Knight Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 (edited) Great lists! I would add the wifi modem such as the WiModem232 to the list since since there aren't too many phone line BBS's up any more, and AFAIK none that are run on Apple II's. The VidHD card is pretty cool too for emulating the old monitor look, scanlines and all, on a modern monitor. Edited November 15, 2020 by Byte Knight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted November 15, 2020 Author Share Posted November 15, 2020 I made a shortened essential hardware list: Apple //e console 1 or 2 Disk II drives + controller card Flash storage solution 64K/80column combo card Joystick & Paddles Some sort of monitor 5 boxes of blank disks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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