Re: Newbie Questions

[Gabriel Morales <Togega@Yahoo.com>]

Stephen Granger asked:
> 
> 1a) Do I need a system disk to start a IIe?  If I turn the thing on w/o a
> disk in the drive, the drive keeps spinning.  I remember the "old" computers
> (commodore, atari, etc) used to start BASIC automatically.  Since this IIe
> doesn't, can I assume its broken?

Yes, unless you just want to fiddle in BASIC or Assembly Language. You can
start BASIC by pressing Control-Reset, but then you can't Save anything. You
would need a System Disk (or at least a Startup Disk) if you wanted to program
in BASIC. However, most games & programs will boot up by themselves.
> 
> 1b) if I need a system disk, where do I get one?  How about a comm program
> to download stuff from the internet?  (There's lots of educational software
> out there my wife can use at school...)

Well, try http://www.sunrem.com/ or some other vender. Maybe someone else can
provide you with more sources...

About the Internet, I wouldn't know about that- since I don't have my //e on
the Internet.

> 
> 2a) When I do the self test, it says " *RAM 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0".  The computer
> has an expansion card in it - looks like 8 ram chips.  When I pull it out,
> everything is fine.  Do I need this expansion card?

Is it the one all by itself- in the center?- If it is, then that's the factory
standard card that lets you view text in 80-rows at a time (PR#3) and gives
you more memory. Keep the card, it's very useful.