Re: what do I do?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

atomaton writes ...
> 
> I was given an apple IIe.  I have a color monitor and a 3.5 floppy drive.
> It looks sweet.  Everything turns on and I get lights.  However I have no
> software.  I have never used and apple IIe.  I turn it on  and it just
> displays "Apple //e" at the top.

     It looks like you have an Enhanced Apple //e.


> How do I get this thing running?

     Most IIe software is on 5.25" disks; so, getting a couple 5.25" drives and a
5.25" Disk Controller card (in Slot 6) will be a big help. You may already have
such a card even if you did not get the drives. Steve Buggie (buggie@unm.edu) is a
good source for the drives and, maybe a controller card. One way to run stuff is
to stick a bootable diskette into Drive 1 and turn On the computer.


> Is there an archive of software out there that I can suck down, throw on a
> floppy and get running?

     There are several large archives of software. Since you currently have no
software at all, your best bet is to contact a local Apple II users' group or
email a regular poster on this newsgroup requesting some 'getting started'
diskettes. (Usually, it will cost $3 - $5 for diskettes plus postage.)


>  what operating system will this run?
 ....

     Mainly, DOS 3.3 and ProDOS.


     You can find some IIe info and related info about DOS's, etc. at several
places, including ...

http://www.grin.net/~cturley/A2.FAQs.and.INFO/CSA2.FAQs/Csa21MAIN1.txt
ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/Faqs/Csa21MAIN.txt
http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/A2FAQs5MAINHALL.html




Rubywand