Author Topic: Recently found an old Apple IIe  (Read 11067 times)

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Offline Tigarion

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Recently found an old Apple IIe
« on: Tue, 14 April 2020, 11:18:15 »
Yesterday, I was at my friend's house, and he told me that he had a vintage computer inside his shed. So, we went inside, and found an old Apple IIe. We got it out, turned it on, and it works. We were able to get it to the Command Prompt screen, and able to type in it, but we don't have any floppy disks with programs on them yet, so we're going to have to wait to test and see if the computer can still run programs on disks. pics of the computer included below.
(also, I apologize if this has been posted in the wrong place. If it has, please direct me to the correct sub-forum)
« Last Edit: Sun, 30 May 2021, 23:56:31 by Tigarion »

Offline ergonaut

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 16 April 2020, 03:08:51 »
I think there are expansion cards for it that allow you to use SD cards or USB sticks. That way, you can download all sorts of disc images from the internet (Asimov archives) and use them on your //e.

Offline Tigarion

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 16 April 2020, 07:28:34 »
Oh, cool, Thank you!

Offline TacticalCoder

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 16 April 2020, 10:02:49 »
Yesterday, I was at my friend's house, and he told me that he had a vintage computer inside his shed. So, we went inside, and found an old Apple IIe.



That is really cool, very nice find! I think you'll have more luck if you look for help/disks/whatever on old Mac forums (someone can probably ship you a floppy to test the drive).  For example https://68kmla.org has a sub-forum dedicated to Apple I, ][, /// and Lisa.


There are many YouTube vids as to how to clean/restore/future proof these old computers. Cleaning the disk drive helps a lot (there are tutorials about that too).


As a sidenote during this lockdown I dug out some old computers I had and cleaned them and tried them: Atari 600 XL (still working fine), Commodore C128+disk drive (badly needed cleaning but still working, 80% of my 30+ years old floppy disks are still working too), Macintosh Classic (screen was all garbled: cleaned the mobo with waper+soap, all good now), Macintosh Performa 460 (I think it works but don't have video cable to test), ZX Spectrum (broken), Texas Instrument TI 99/4a (kinda works but screen/display issue: haven't looked into it yet).  Still have an Amiga 500 somewhere in a box in a garage: need to find it.
HHKB Pro JP (daily driver) -- HHKB Pro 2 -- Industrial IBM Model M 1395240-- NIB Cherry MX 5000 - IBM Model M 1391412 (Swiss QWERTZ) -- IBM Model M 1391403 (German QWERTZ) * 2 -- IBM Model M Ambra -- Black IBM Model M M13 -- IBM Model M 1391401 -- IBM Model M 139? ? ? *2 -- Dell AT102W -- Ergo (split) SmartBoard (white ALPS apparently)

Offline Tigarion

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 16 April 2020, 12:46:19 »
Nice! Thanks for the information! I'll be sure to check out the tutorials, and the subforum you linked to

Offline rowdy

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #5 on: Fri, 28 May 2021, 21:05:21 »
Awesome find!

Just over a year later ... did you end up doing anything interesting with it?
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 29 May 2021, 20:56:48 »
wow thats cool

Offline Tigarion

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 30 May 2021, 01:49:02 »
Awesome find!

Just over a year later ... did you end up doing anything interesting with it?

Sorry about the reply being a bit late, I've been in the car a lot the past few days. But, to answer your question... Eh... not particularly. The most interesting thing that I did was that I borrowed it from my friend for a couple weeks so I could have the command line displayed on a TV in my r/modelm photocontest entry (https://www.reddit.com/r/modelm/comments/hjq6ze/grey_white_and_blue_photocontest/). As for what happened after that, I'm not sure. I assume my friend still has the Computer, but I haven't talked to him in a while, and he was interested in selling it, so I don't know for sure.

Offline rowdy

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 30 May 2021, 05:30:53 »
Awesome find!

Just over a year later ... did you end up doing anything interesting with it?

Sorry about the reply being a bit late, I've been in the car a lot the past few days. But, to answer your question... Eh... not particularly. The most interesting thing that I did was that I borrowed it from my friend for a couple weeks so I could have the command line displayed on a TV in my r/modelm photocontest entry (https://www.reddit.com/r/modelm/comments/hjq6ze/grey_white_and_blue_photocontest/). As for what happened after that, I'm not sure. I assume my friend still has the Computer, but I haven't talked to him in a while, and he was interested in selling it, so I don't know for sure.

Great picture, but the only vintage computer I know of that had "]" as a prompt was the Apple ][, and you could not connect a Model M keyboard to it :p

Love the picture on the desk though :)
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline Tigarion

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 30 May 2021, 09:28:28 »

Thank you! Yeah, lol, I couldn't connect the Model M to it, but at least I could make it look like it was connected, which was fine with me.
Also, if you're curious about the picture, it's called "SSKy's the limit" (https://i.redd.it/v96l5ygkyo151.jpg) and was the winning picture for the first r/modelm photocontest.

Offline rowdy

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Re: Recently found an old Apple IIe
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 30 May 2021, 17:00:24 »

Thank you! Yeah, lol, I couldn't connect the Model M to it, but at least I could make it look like it was connected, which was fine with me.
Also, if you're curious about the picture, it's called "SSKy's the limit" (https://i.redd.it/v96l5ygkyo151.jpg) and was the winning picture for the first r/modelm photocontest.

Thanks! :)
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ