Re: WANTED: Apple III info

[spector@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article mouse@furry.misty.com (furry one) writes...
>
>Mitchell Spector (spector@vax2.concordia.ca) wrote:
>: 
>: 	Although I've heard the same about there being no character set
>: in ROM, there still seems to be something there. When you cold-boot an
>: Apple III, there's the built-in font for the Monitor I mentioned above,
>: as well as when the "? Retry" message appears after the disk drive gives
>: up scanning for a boot disk. If the keyboard lamp is burned out, a 
>: diagnostic routine runs in a endless loop, of which also uses a built-in
>: text font.
> 
>So THAT'S why it does that :)  I didn't even think that the burnt out
>keyboard lamp would have anything whatsoever to do with computer operation.

	Yes, in fact Apple purposely designed it this way, to malfunction
when the power light-lamp burned out. This was some sceme created to force
owners to take their Apple III's to service centers, thus making more money
for Apple. The whole machine was designed to be user unfriendly -- wires 
connecting to motherboard are too short and are not labeled/color coded,
there's no access to motherboard without unscrewing base pan (due to short
wires and such, resealing an Apple III is a bit tricky).

	Fixing it is simple. Remove the screws under the keyboard extension
and lift up the plastic cover. Once you've changed the light-lamp, the 
internal 5.25 will boot rather than that annoying RAM diagnostic test.
I've been unable to find replacement mini-lamps (those used in //e's and
Apple IIIs) so I clipped the pins on a common LED and stuck that in. Works
fine, it lights up the "Power" indicator and the internal drive spins up at
cold-boot.

>Is there any place I can get (quickly, and for free, preferably) Apple
>/// boot disks?  I rescued an old Apple /// from a school's dumpster,
>and there wasn't any software for it.

	Alltech Electronics sells the latest version of SOS and the
Apple II emulation software for $5. You might also want to try contacting
Dave Ottilini or Seth Mize of the WAP group, they have a vast collection
of (now) public-domain Apple III software titles. There's also an Apple III
FTP site you might want to try. You can of course download Apple III software
packed as 140k Apple II ShrinkIt archives if you have an Apple II handy...

>  mouse@furry.misty.com ()__() || And I am the Iconoclast, an unconventional
>      Michael Kelly      (oo)  || eccentric who marches to a different
> Hatfield, Pennsylvania ==()== || drummer. *WHACK*  Er.. But you may call me..
>                                                       ..Noodle Noggin.

Mitchell Spector
m_spect@pavo.concordia.ca / spector@vax2.concordia.ca