Apple ][e - Getting started

[idendy@island.net (dante)]

A friend of mine rescued an Apple ][e from the dumpster the other day (Yes,
the dumpster - blasphemy!) Anyhow, he dried it out and got it cleaned up,
and it seems to work. When we turn it on, all we see is "Apple ][" at the
top of the screen, and "Check disk drive" at the bottom. We've got no disks
or anything, so I'm hoping this is what we're supposed to see. Yes/No?

Do I need a boot disk here? What kind of disks does it use? I can see it's
a 5 1/2 inch floppy, but what size/format are we talking about? What OS
does it use? (Not that it would help, but I'm curious). Is it possible at
all for me to use my PC to access the software and write it to a disk?

If and when we get it running, how does one go about programming it? I
recall from my younger days with my VIC-20 that I could just sit down and
start bashing out BASIC right at the prompt. Is the Apple][ similar, or
would I need to find more disks for this as well?

I have absolutely no experience with these machines at all, and haven't
been able to find any FAQ's/WWW sites with this kind of information.
Anything that could help get me started would be greatly appreciated.

dante