Re: II+ (amazing what you forget in 16 years!)

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Sam P writes ...
> 
> Apple IIplus was the first computer I ever worked on (in 1982), but I moved
> on to IIe, IIc, IIGS, Mac, PC, etc...
> 
> Anyway, long story short, friend had a II plus laying around and gave it to
> me.  It has a language card, but no other cards.  I also have a couple of
> 5.25" drives, the newer model (same as my IIgs will use) but no controller
> card.
> 
> Now the questions:
> 
> 1) I'm realizing how much I've forgotten:  How do I get into Applesoft
> without booting from a disk?

     A II+ with no disk drive attached will BEEP and immediately start
Applesoft BASIC-- you will see the "]" Applesoft cursor and be able to
enter BASIC program lines. You can, also SAVE and LOAD (and BSAVE and
BLOAD) programs on cassette tape. 

>  I want to test the keyboard, etc.  Right now,
> all I get is 10 vertical bars on the monochrome monitor when I turn it on.

     The bars indicate that you have not made it through the RESET
routines. Most likely, a ROM or the 6502 have one or more pins which
have become gunked with corrosion and are not making contact. Another
possibility is one or more gunked RAM chips.

     My usual approach is to remove and lightly sand pins of ROM's,
RAM's, 6502, ... IC's which have been blackened with corrosion. George
Rentovich came up with an easier way to do the cleaning:

>>

     Tarn-X works great for removing oxididation from chip pins without
a lot of work or risk in harming the chips.

     Soak the chips in a shot glass until all black oxidation is gone;
then, remove the chips and put them in another shot glass with alcohol
to rinse. I use a third shot glass with alchol again to be sure and,
then, take out the chips and let dry.

<<

     If you remove any IC's for cleaning, be sure to mark the IC and
motherboard with whiteout or marker pen on the keyway end of the IC to
help avoid resocketing backwards.

 
> 2) Anywhere I can get parts, such as disk controller card, 80 column card,
> etc.

     You can buy this stuff from vendors listed in our FAQs "Main Hall"
file, from sellers advertising on the comp.sys.apple2.marketplace
newsgroup, at thrift shops, at school sales, and at local computer club
swap meets.


 
> 3)  How much can I make this to be like a IIe?

     It is not all that difficult to match or surpass an unenhanced IIe
_if_ you like to mess with hardware. For example, you can swap in a
custom character PROM to get display of upper and lower case, swap in a
new keyboard and custom F8 PROM to get lower case input, extend the
monitor, etc.. Coming up with a conversion to an enhanced IIe would be a
good deal more bother. 

     Really, the Big difference between the fun we had doing this stuff
in the early 1980's and now is that you can just buy an _enhanced_ IIe
with extended 80-column card, upper/lower case KB, double-hires graphics
support, ... for $30-$40 or so. If we could have plopped down $50 and
gotten an enhanced IIe in 1982, we would have done it and, very
possibly, left the II+ alone. (Well, maybe the II+ would have gotten
souped up anyway-- hard to say now.) 


> 
> 4)  Anywhere to get copies (preferably electronic) of the manuals for this
> wonderful relic?

     The places mentioned above are good sources for manuals, too. As
fas as I know, the Apple II Reference and other manuals are not yet
available for downloading. ByteWorks (505-898-8183;
http://hypermall.com/byteworks/  email: mikew50@aol.com) may have copies
of some early II/II+ manuals for sale.


> 
> 5)  Am I stupid?  Should I just give it the heave ho?  I took it mainly for
> nostalgic reasons, and hate to get rid of it now that I have it.

     The II+ runs piles of software including many great games (it and
the plain II are the _only_ Apple II's that can run some oldie
programs). Keep it, get it working, and add a composite color monitor
plus a Controller and couple Disk ][ drives. Whether or not you
eventually add a IIgs, you'll have loads of fun with the II+.



Rubywand