The Apple ][ of my eye

[binaryprose]

Hi Guys,
way back in 1987 I was given an Apple ][. At the time did nothing with it and put it in my parents attic where it stayed until last week. I have a few question that I am hoping you can help me with.

1) What model do I have. I think is very early as it has the serial number

A2S1 - 3307

Any idea what I have?

2) What's the best way to test it, should I clean up the motherboard and vac out the power supply before I turn it on for the first time.

3) can you recommend an modern monitors that should work with it?

Thanks in advance for your help

Regards
Steven

 

[David Schmidt]

Hi Guys,
way back in 1987 I was given an Apple ][. At the time did nothing with it and put it in my parents attic where it stayed until last week. I have a few question that I am hoping you can help me with.

1) What model do I have. I think is very early as it has the serial number

A2S1 - 3307

Any idea what I have?

Neat story. Either this is true, and that's pretty neat - you've got a very early Apple II. Or you are fishing for attention or for price advice on something you've bought. Forgive me for being skeptical - but we see a lot of notes like this here. First time post with a really good machine - please forgive me, but it looks a little fishy. That's the last I'll say about that, and will continue assuming this is legit.

2) What's the best way to test it, should I clean up the motherboard and vac out the power supply before I turn it on for the first time.

Don't worry about dust. If mice have taken up residence, clean that out. If it looks decent inside, one or more of three things will happen when you plug it in and turn it on: either 1) it'll work, or 2) it'll need attention from one or more chips that need replacement, and/or 3) the filter capacitor in the power supply will pop and blow bad-smelling smoke at you.

3) can you recommend an modern monitors that should work with it?

Any monitor with a composite-in will work. Look for a yellow RCA jack on the back of it.

 

[binaryprose]

Are we all so cynical?

I'm a 49 year old nerd. I've have loads of old kit, but being a British most of it is UK based (Acorn/Sinclair etc.). The Apple ][ never really made it big over here.

I was given this by a friend in the FORTH user group back in 1987, and as I knew nothing about Apples I packed it away..

you can follow the story on my facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/steve.james.9066

I was hoping for some friendly advice, and help.....looks like I picked the wrong site

has the site been rebranded
MacAccusations

With Regret
S

 

[Donoban]

I'm a 49 year old nerd. I've have loads of old kit, but being a British most of it is UK based (Acorn/Sinclair etc.). The Apple ][ never really made it big over here.

I was given this by a friend in the FORTH user group back in 1987, and as I knew nothing about Apples I packed it away..

you can follow the story on my facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/steve.james.9066

I was hoping for some friendly advice, and help.....looks like I picked the wrong site

has the site been rebranded
MacAccusations

With Regret
S

Don't take it personally, any new account on any forum will generate some level of scepticism.

Stick around, I think you'll enjoy this forum. Plenty of people with expert knowledge that are happy to share.

 

[David Schmidt]

Don't take it personally, any new account on any forum will generate some level of scepticism.

Stick around, I think you'll enjoy this forum. Plenty of people with expert knowledge that are happy to share.

Too late, I fear - it seems I scared him over to AppleFritter, where he posted the exact.same.thing.:
http://www.applefritter.com/content/apple-my-eye

The phrase that gets my spidey senses tingling: "Any idea what I have?" It ranks right up there with "Any idea how much this is worth?"

 

[binaryprose]

What the.....

Are you guys for real...? i never mentioned money.

let's go though this in stages.

1) I live in the UK (That's the United Kingdom) Not the USA...
2) The Apple was never big over here...In fact I have only ever seen 2 in use in the real world.
3) The Apple ][ had a long life span, with many iterations.
4) Maybe you guys can tell at a glace what the spec of any given Apple ][ is...but I cant...

I was hoping you get a response along the lines of

"Yeh Steven.....nice to hear you found an Apple ][. if you want to find out what version you have without turning it on. I would open the case, look at the ....... see if there is a mark on the .... or check the ...."

get the idea..!

but no....

All I wanted was some advise as a non US based non Apple user...

Oh and

David...you have mentioned money twice now.....? interesting that.....?

 

[David Schmidt]

Are you guys for real...? i never mentioned money.

Not guys - just me. And no, you didn't mention money. I'm just saying what typifies fishing expeditions, and you accidentally fell into one.

So - we have one picture on AF. Can you give us any more detail? The important part of the motherboard is the left-rear corner, where you'll see some number stamped or written in (what appears to be) sharpie pen. That will give you and us a very good idea of what you really have.

Next, a wider shot of the entire mobo will help identify any modifications that we can warn you about before you turn it on.

Finally, a nice shot of the keyboard is also interesting as there are lots of different keyboard models that went through time.

Most often, machines are an amalgam of parts, some of which were replaced over the years. There is no one part that says categorically what an Apple II is; it's important to take a look at the sum of the parts.

 

[MacTech68]

My input:

The keyboard seems to be a later type, going by the flat "power" indicator light on the keyboard.

The badge on the top case isn't EuroPlus which I would have expected in a PAL country.

I'd be ensuring you check the voltage rating on the rear, near the power socket, before letting ANY power near it.

Some more photos will help to determine what you have, and what condition it's in.

Depending on it's condition, it can be MANY, MANY frustrating hours to get it operational (there are a few threads here that are testament to that). My question to you would be, what is your intention? To get it fully functional for personal use, if so, what are you expecting it to do? If it's to sell, and you're not familiar with Apple IIs, you may be better off selling it "as-is", since a collector will be able to deal with it's faults and quirks more readily.

 

[binaryprose]

Here are some (bad) pics

Thanks. here are a few pics, taken in poor light hope this helps...

Regards
Steven

 

[tevion5]

Guys, calm the heck down. We are all clearly interested hobbyists.

I have found MacRumors to be the BEST community for discussing and getting help on vintage Apple tech. This section, the 'Collectors Forum', as well the very active and charmingly passionate 'PowerPC Forum' are really great communities.

I have learned a lot here from people like Intell and AnonymousFreak. I find the site layout very clear and has a much more involved group of people than 68K LibArmy or AppleFritter.

Please choose to stick around if you are a collector.

 

[David Schmidt]

Slot 0: ROM card; given full population of ROM already on the mobo, the card likely has Integer ROMs on it. A serial number (starts with 341-) on one ROM from either mobo or card will identify which is where.
Slot 1: Printer card
Slot 6: Disk II card
Slot 7: Perhaps PAL card given the country of origin and analog parts we can see from behind.

 

[binaryprose]

Wisdom

Thanks for your calming words...

In the UK we have a sitcom about a hicksville town that is openly hostile to outsiders.. the catch phrase the store keeper always uses is..

"This is a local store for local people....THERE'S NOTHING FOR YOU HERE"

I was beginning to feel that way about MacRumors.

Thanks for proving me wrong

----------

Thanks....I guess the next question is should i take out any cards before i fire it up...

 

[MacTech68]

Slot 0: ROM card; given full population of ROM already on the mobo, the card likely has Integer ROMs on it. A serial number (starts with 341-) on one ROM from either mobo or card will identify which is where.
Slot 1: Printer card
Slot 6: Disk II card
Slot 7: Perhaps PAL card given the country of origin and analog parts we can see from behind.

I'm going out on a limb - taking a wild guess - the printer card is an Epson or Epson clone.

And yes, slot 7 does look like it's got an RF modulator on it and probably additional PAL colour circuitry.

If you can get the cards out (pull them straight upwards) and get some in-focus pics of them they can be identified more precisely.

The power supply is odd since it doesn't seem to have the usual red and white sticker on the top. If it IS an original Apple power supply, it's been worked on since there seems to be a large screw head on the side (just above the bottom of the PSU case) - from the factory, the bottom access panel on the powersupply was riveted on.

The keyboard is the later two part type.

I'm not up with the motherboard serial numbers, but the motherboard still has the 16K RAM jumpers. However, it's probably the last revision. If you've ever taken a 40 pin IC out of a socket, there is a number silk-screened under the 40 pin 6502 CPU. If you've not done it before, I'd be hesitant to suggest removing it.

Can we get a pic of the rear of the power supply (where the power socket is) and a pic of the whole top of the power supply (the big gold coloured box) ?

EDIT: Yes, take all the cards out before powering it up. You have a better chance of it powering up. We call it a "minimum configuration"

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Sadly, you're not far off. But you will be accepted as a towny sooner or later. :-D

Looks like a nice system, to get back on topic.

As others have said, to test it, you can plug it in to any "composite in" device, including a TV that has the yellow "video in" RCA-jack port.

Here's my Apple ][c connected to my HDTV:

 

[binaryprose]

all the connectors seems to have a fine layer of oxide on them.....does any one advise/experience of cleaning them some kind of spirit..?

I know i should really turn it on...but i want to make sure i've done everything i can to ensure that i don't accidental damage it. tThe last time it was powered one was 1987..the last time me (and you i guess) had a proper leader..;-)

Regards

 

[David Schmidt]

I'm not up with the motherboard serial numbers, but the motherboard still has the 16K RAM jumpers.

It looks like the jumpers are soldered down, which is later than the socketed ones. I can't quite tell from the picture, but that's the impression I get.

If you've ever taken a 40 pin IC out of a socket, there is a number silk-screened under the 40 pin 6502 CPU. If you've not done it before, I'd be hesitant to suggest removing it.

Agreed, that can wait for initial power testing. One thing I'd suggest doing is gently push down on each socketed chip to make sure all legs shift just a bit so that they have a chance to rub off some of that oxide and make contact. You'll hear some creaking and such, but it's all good.

 

[MacTech68]

It looks like the jumpers are soldered down, which is later than the socketed ones. I can't quite tell from the picture, but that's the impression I get.

Here too. I'm suspecting this machine had a replacement motherboard. It's not the final version since it's not an RFI version, but the serial number of the motherboard seems to indicate week 36 of 1982, yet the model/serial number on the bottom of the case indicates a much earlier machine, and the badge on the top indicates a much earlier machine too.

Even if the motherboard serial number was just a consecutive numbering system, the soldered memory jumpers indicates a much LATER motherboard than that.

One thing I'd suggest doing is gently push down on each socketed chip to make sure all legs shift just a bit so that they have a chance to rub off some of that oxide and make contact. You'll hear some creaking and such, but it's all good.

I concur with this. Apple II tech's bag of tricks #1 - reseat all socketed chips by pushing on them.

 

[tl01]

Wondering what ever happened to his computer!!?

 

[mryingster]

Wondering what ever happened to his computer!!?

I keep getting burned by not noticing the original post date. I thought this was going down recently! Oh well. I do wonder what happened. The fact that he hasn't posted anything else in nearly 2 years leads me to think that maybe something fishy was going on? Well, maybe someday we will get closure...