//e info needed!

[Dave_and_Deanna@lamg.com (D. R. Bayless)]

I found a dusty Apple //e and monitor sitting out by someone's curb the other
day, in a "you want it? take it!" fashion (I did, so I did) but I haven't had
any experience with non-Mac or Newton Apple computers, so I'm not sure where
to start. I'm going to get the cable to attach the monitor tomorrow, but I
don't think the monitor works. I plugged it in and pressed the power switch,
but there was no sign of any background glow from the screen, even with the
lights off, and the LCD over the switch remained black. It's a "green
phosphor" screen, for what it's worth. The //e itself looks okay inside, but
I'll need a working monitor before I can tell for sure. Can it be hooked to a
standard NTSC set like the Timex Sinclair and Commodores?

There's two large ports in the back of the //e: a 19-pin attached to a card
called "I/O controller 655-0101-B" with a 1983 date, and a 25-Pin attached to
a card called "Super Serial Card II 670-8020-A," and a "Memory Expansion AIIE
80Col/64K" card in the internal Aux Connector slot. I assume since everything
else has a 1981 date on it, that the I/O controller is the only upgrade to
the system. Is that for a joystick? Can it use an ImageWriter II printer
through its serial port? Is there any OS in the ROM, and if not, how does one
obtain one? Where's a good site for downloading shareware for it? Where can
you attach external (800K? 400K? 5 1/4"?) drives, and where's a good place to
get them? There's ports on the back, left to right, for video, tape in, tape
out, and something else. What is it? What inexpensive upgrades do you suggest
for this old 'puter, assuming it works? What else haven't I asked that I
should?

I'm not going to replace my Quadra with this, but I want to be able to use it
enough to get a taste of the whole "Apple // experience." It just sounds like
something fun to do, and as a staunch supporter of everything Apple, I should
really get rid of this pre-Mac gap in my knowledge. I had just downloaded a
//e emulator less than 24 hours before this actual piece of computing
hardware fell into my lap, so it was really good timing. Any help will be
appreciated. Thank you for even reading down this far.

Deanna Bayless