Re: HELP: Apple IIe hardware questions

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

"mingle" <maiau@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

>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?

Perhaps the "color killer" for the PAL IIe.  If you flip it and
color graphics turn grayscale, you know that's what it is.
Naturally, this can't be tested without some software
running!

>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?

Type PR#3 and press return.

>Which commands can I use to change text colour from within BASIC?

You don't.  The character generator does not display color
text.  You'll need to create text sprites and then write a
program to display them to the graphics screen to get
color text.

>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?

Unlike an 8-bit Commodore, the operating system must
be loaded from disk (like on a PC).  You will not be able
to format disks from BASIC without first loading the
operating system.

Check out http://www.allelec.com/ Alltech Electronics
which sells the Focus hardcard for the IIe.  It comes with
the OS already installed and a library of freeware and
shareware.  They also sell the OS (ProDOS) on floppy,
but the hard disk drive is more functional of course.
Your choice.