Is this Apple iie working?

[tevion5]

I'm buying an Apple iie off a guy nearby and its come with the original apple disc drives and monitor. However he has no software with him.

When it powers on it comes up with "Apple iie" in the centre of the screen and that's it. Would I be correct in assuming this is normal just like a Macintosh, that it needs a system disc in order to actually boot up and do anything?
Would it be sensible to assume it is working fully?

Also if i did get my hands on a disc to try it out before I buy, how would I go about it exactly? I have a Macintosh 512k and know how to run software from discs on that, but never anything like an Apple ii. The closest would be DOSbox . Do I just put the disc in and turn it on and be presented with prompts? Will I need an OS disc before I can run third party software?

Thanks.

 

[David Schmidt]

You can't create a disk for the Apple II without an Apple II. Until you get it home... you can hit Ctrl-Reset to get to a command prompt and test the keyboard, at least. But if it gets to the point where it clears the screen, puts up its name, and beeps - it's already 95% of the way there.

 

[tevion5]

You can't create a disk for the Apple II without an Apple II. Until you get it home... you can hit Ctrl-Reset to get to a command prompt and test the keyboard, at least. But if it gets to the point where it clears the screen, puts up its name, and beeps - it's already 95% of the way there.

Thanks very helpful

If I had let's say PACMAN on a 5 1/4 inch floppy, would that be all I need to run the game using something like the command line interface built in on the machine, or would I need some sort of system disk to do anything like a macintosh?

 

[Giuly]

Insert the disk, then power it on and watch what happens.

 

[havokalien]

Drive cleaning

I would google drive cleaning and do that before you stick a good floppy in a thirty and probably dirty 5 1/4 inch dive. Just in case.

 

[tevion5]

Insert the disk, then power it on and watch what happens.

Just like a mac then, how I like it

----------

I would google drive cleaning and do that before you stick a good floppy in a thirty and probably dirty 5 1/4 inch dive. Just in case.

Yeah apparently they smell a little so a good clean is certainly in order

 

[TheEasterBunny]

I have a few older Apple II's and am always looking for software and disks for them. I look through eBay. Most of what you find is collectables, but once in a while you find things have been used, and not so pristine you are afraid to use them. I buy stuff to use, not to put on a shelf. Here is one seller I found that doesn't seem to be selling to collectors (based on prices and their descriptions)
Enjoy!

 

[blesscheese]

there are better forums for questions about the Apple II.

Try this first:
Applefritter Apple II forum

Most of my knowledge of Apple II stuff has been forgotten, but it sounds like you need/want something like the old ADT--Apple Disk Transfer.

 

[OrganMusic]

I believe if you hit control-reset it should beep and you'll get a BASIC prompt where you can type the old:

10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"

And then

RUN

This should work with no floppies.