HELP: Apple IIe hardware questions

["mingle" <maiau@ozemail.com.au>]

Hi,

I'm new to the IIe (picked one up last week). It's a late-model IIe (1986)
with
colour composite monitor, mouse and 5.25" single floppy drive, but with no
manual or software.

I have a few questions, to which I couldn't find any simple answers:

1: There's a flat black toggle switch under the front of the keyboard, near
to
the right-hand side. It attaches to a two-pin header on the front of the
motherboard. What function does it perform?

2: Inside, it has a number of expansion cards fitted. Once if which is
labelled
"64K RAM/80 Column Card". How do I activate 80 column mode from within
BASIC?
Which commands can I use to change text colour from within BASIC?

3: When I switch it on, the floppy drive rattles away and seems to look for
a
bootable disk. When I hit CTRL-Reset it drops into BASIC. How do I format a
floppy disk/perform a directory on a disk?

(If anyone can point me to a FAQ or suitable website, that would be great)

Apologies if these are bozo-questions, but I am a newbie! :-)

Any help greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Mike.