Questions tagged [apple-ii]
For questions about the Apple II series of personal computers, and related software and hardware. For questions about Apple hardware in general, use the tag "apple"; for questions about the IIGS in particular, use the tag "apple-iigs".
136
questions
6
votes
1answer
234 views
What Apple System Monitor/Integer BASIC ROM features were removed in the Applesoft II/Autostart ROM?
In spring of 1978, Apple took the updated 6502 BASIC from Microsoft,
fixed some bugs and added some new commands, and released it as
Applesoft II. This was soon released as a ROM set (shipped
standard ...
10
votes
1answer
694 views
On what Apple II and II+ keyboards can the ']' character be generated?
It had long been my impression that while brackets [ and ] could
be displayed by the Apple II, the standard Apple II keyboard was not
capable of generating them.
Some time ago I noticed that on this ...
14
votes
11answers
4k views
Late 1970s and 6502 chip facilities for operating systems
I'm quite unfamiliar with how operating systems used to be written but its clear to me that operating systems were clearly written for these systems. I'm particularly interested in how operating ...
3
votes
0answers
197 views
What's the first use of the term, “1977 Trinity”?
The term "1977 trinity" has been used, here on Retrocomputing
SE and elsewhere, to refer to a set of three computers that
started shipping in mid- to late-1977: the Apple II, the TRS-80 Model
I and ...
2
votes
1answer
98 views
What are the screen editor commands for MIT LOGO for the Apple II?
I'm playing with MIT LOGO for the Apple II (1981). When I
type TO GREET :NAME and hit ENTER it drops me into the "MIT LOGO
screen editor." What are the commands I can use here to edit, save,
etc.?
10
votes
2answers
1k views
Small RAM 4 KB on the early Apple II?
Most of the reference material for the Apple II that I have seen refers to the 4116 RAM chip which held 16x1 kbit. This provided 16, 32 or 48 KB in banks of 8 chips. The Apple II motherboard layout ...
5
votes
2answers
314 views
Build a hardware clone or emulator of Apple II?
These days we are constantly seeing low-cost boards that have huge power (raspberry pi, various arduino-like microcontrollers.)
I am hoping I could make, or get, a clone or emulation of an Apple II ...
6
votes
2answers
414 views
Where can I find the Applesoft line-drawing algorithm?
I’m trying to make some graphics in Processing that look just like what I’d get on an Apple //e. I think the info I seek is in the ROM disassembly but I can’t find anything by googling. I'm also ...
3
votes
0answers
249 views
How do Apple II BASIC compilers compare? [closed]
Programs like The Beagle Compiler allow AppleSoft BASIC or other Apple II BASIC variants to be compiled. How do the compilers compare in terms of speed, compatibility, and features?
1
vote
1answer
162 views
What word processing software was used by the Apple //e outside of Australia? [closed]
I did enjoy the software that schools provided with the Apple //e in the late 1980's. My memory of word processing software was:
Zardax
Multiscribe
I was in the Australian school system. So other ...
27
votes
5answers
7k views
Why did the Apple IIe make a hideous noise if you inserted the disk upside down?
When I began high school in 1987 all the computers in the lab were Apple IIe desktop computers. A question has haunted me since then:
if you inserted a floppy disk "upside down" the Apple IIe would ...
3
votes
3answers
213 views
Is there any tool to convert .DSK to mp3 file?
I was looking into the Apple II disk server (See below for background information) and curious if there is a tool that can actually convert .DSK image to .MP3 file, as the underlying c2t only supports ...
7
votes
2answers
161 views
What combinations of modifier keys can you detect on an Apple II?
Apple II computers other than the IIgs (which uses ADB) have a hardwired keyboard combined with the paddle/joystick ports for input. What combinations of modifier keys can you detect? I know that the ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
Why does this Apple //e drops into system monitor when booting?
I recently purchased an Apple //e online as well as a BMOW Floppy Emu in order to emulate some disk images. After working with it successfully for awhile, this monitor consistently appeared in lieu of ...
10
votes
3answers
869 views
Did Apple bundle a specific monitor with the Apple II+ for schools?
Sometime in 1980 (or maybe 1981) my school district purchased its first batch of Apple II+ computers. I remember vividly they had absolutely no idea what to do with them, and so the machines were ...
20
votes
1answer
2k views
Why was it possible to cause an Apple //e to shut down with SHIFT and paddle button 2?
Looking at the MAME driver for the Apple //e, I noticed an interesting comment:
NOTE: On real IIe and IIe enhanced h/w, pressing SHIFT and paddle button 2 will short out the power supply and cause ...
9
votes
1answer
346 views
How did the Zip Chip and RocketChip accelerators work for the Apple II?
Though there is already a similar question on the site, this one is more specific to these chips and their technical implementation.
There were two accelerators for the Apple II series that were drop-...
6
votes
1answer
172 views
Why does the Apple IIgs FPI chip buffer the A14 address signal to the ROM?
In the Apple IIgs computer, the address and data buses of the 65C816 CPU connect directly to the onboard ROM, except for A14, which, according to the schematic, is routed through the FPI ASIC. There's ...
9
votes
1answer
565 views
Why wasn't the Z6 version of the Infocom Z-machine ported to the IIgs?
Infocom ported their Z-machine to nearly every viable platform in the 70s and 80s. Zork runs on around 18 different 8/16 bit platforms using earlier versions of the Z-machine. Why was Z6 the graphical ...
6
votes
2answers
475 views
Why did the Apple IIc perform badly in the market?
The Apple IIc was a compact version of the Apple II that eschewed internal expansion slots in favor of having the popular expansion options already built in, and saving cost and weight. Apple expected ...
5
votes
2answers
106 views
Does the Apple IIgs FPI assert /CROMSEL for *write* accesses to the extended ROM space?
The FPI (fast processor interface) ASIC in the Apple IIgs generates the /CROMSEL chip-select signal, which is used to select a ROM in the memory expansion slot. Obviously the /CROMSEL signal must be ...
3
votes
1answer
202 views
How much RAM did the first version of Oregon Trail on the Apple II require?
The later iterations of the series could have hundreds of kilobytes of RAM, but the original Apple II had 4K in the minimum configuration and 48K maximum (the latter using 16kbit chips which were ...
4
votes
0answers
143 views
What would happen if the DHR jumper was enabled on a Rev A Apple //e?
The Apple //e originally did not support Double HiRes graphics (DHR). The engineers realized they could double their hires and lores X resolution shortly after the introduction of the machine, so the ...
2
votes
1answer
150 views
How to transfer file from one disk to another in Apple //e (Applewin)
For the nostalgia, I'm going through Apple Pascal - A Hands-on Approach using AppleWin.
There are four disks, pascal0 through pascal3, and for some reason pascal0 is missing a file called SYSTEM....
12
votes
1answer
755 views
Was the Spartan by Mimic Systems a real product?
I was flipping through an old copy of RUN magazine and came across an advertisement for a product called "The Spartan" produced by Mimic Systems. I had forgotten about this product completely, but I ...
21
votes
2answers
530 views
Why did Apple remove booting from external drives in later IIc ROM versions?
Apple II computers don't come with DOS in ROM, but rather need to boot from a floppy disk to make the disk drives usable. The IIc was the first Apple II that came with a built-in disk drive, so ...
3
votes
1answer
200 views
A game where you could sell body parts for cash
Ages ago I played a scifi game on the Apple IIgs where you could sell body parts for cash. The game involved travel between planets and selling parts of yourself was a last ditch option to raise money ...
3
votes
2answers
247 views
Why not make more use of the video generation logic?
The Apple II is famously built around its video generator. Conveniently, addresses are generated which scan all of the video memory and somehow spits the contents onto the screen.
Its occurred to me ...
44
votes
13answers
16k views
How was it back then in 1984, when the Apple II had color, and the new Macintosh didn't?
I imagine it being a huge downgrade for some, not to have color on the Macintosh. Macintosh games were black and white in the beginning, while Apple II had color.
I'm especially interested in ...
19
votes
2answers
2k views
Why did the original Apple //e have two sets of inverse video characters?
According to Apple II Technical notes Mouse #6, updated January 1989,
In unenhanced Apple IIe computers, the alternate character set contained two sets of inverse uppercase characters. In the ...
7
votes
2answers
512 views
Did any Apple II games use a “timing resistor”?
A science-lab program for the Apple II (I forget the name) had a board that plugged into the joystick port and included a "timing resistor". While I don't know what the program actually did with the ...
3
votes
1answer
316 views
Why did SAM on the Apple II use its own DAC?
From the comments on this question, the SAM on the Apple II seemed to use some proprietary hardware to produce the waveform. (I am not counting the option to produce a horrendous 1-bit PWM using the ...
39
votes
3answers
4k views
How did Apple ][ basic programs protect against listing?
I seem to recall from my high-school days that certain Apple ][ programs protected themselves from being listed and therefore modified.
If you tried to do it, the machine would simply reboot.
How ...
16
votes
1answer
2k views
How do accelerators and CPU cards work on the Apple II?
An Amiga 1200 exposes the entire CPU bus on the expansion port, so that an accelerator only needs to assert BR which causes the onboard CPU to stop all computation and electrically disconnect from the ...
4
votes
1answer
228 views
Why did PAL Apple //e motherboards have the AUX slot inline with Slot 3 instead of near the power supply?
The Apple II architecture supported 7 memory-mapped expansion cards which could be optionally installed towards the rear of the motherboard in individual expansion card connectors. On the Apple //e, ...
6
votes
1answer
474 views
Trying to identify an Apple II space trading game
I'm trying to identify a game I remember from my first exposure to computers (the Apple II at secondary school back in the late '70s).
I remember two games I really enjoyed, the first a Star-Trek-...
13
votes
2answers
3k views
1980s game with a guy with an axe on a flying disc
I'm trying to identify a game I remember from the 1980s. The game was shown from a bird's-eye viewpoint (or maybe isometric?), on Apple IIe, IIRC.
You controlled a guy with an axe, who was ...
10
votes
1answer
802 views
Help identify old Apple game from 80s (Apple II, Apple IIGS)
I am trying to remember the name of a game I played on Apple II or Apple IIGS.
From what I can remember, the beginning of the game you are looking for your lost uncle or something. You to another ...
5
votes
1answer
306 views
Recent article about using Apple II for security purposes
I'm looking for the article for a project. It is fairly recent, may have been a news article, or a blog. It in turn might have referenced a scholarly paper.
Anyway, the gist of the article was that ...
5
votes
2answers
533 views
Is there any benefit of using an Apple Language Card in an Apple IIe?
From what I understand, the original Apple Language Card was basically a RAM expansion card for the Apple II and Apple II+. This expansion increased the on-board RAM by 16K. Normally, if you needed ...
3
votes
2answers
334 views
Labor input for manufacture of early personal computers
In the early days of personal computers, manufacturing was not as automated as it later became, and a factory would often consist of people sitting at tables placing components by hand.
I'm ...
35
votes
7answers
8k views
How did Apple fail to tap the business and scientific markets?
Currently reading an excellent book called Blue Magic: The People, Power and Politics Behind the IBM Personal Computer, which is just what it says on the tin; highly recommended to anyone who wants to ...
8
votes
3answers
837 views
How specific was the Apple II floppy disk controller?
One of Wozniak's greatest inventions was the Apple II floppy disk controller, which allowed Apple to avoid going the Atari/Commodore route of making each disk drive a computer in its own right; ...
10
votes
4answers
2k views
What are the rules for Applesoft BASIC formatting for code?
What are the rules for Applesoft BASIC formatting for code? I've been doing some BASIC coding and noticed that:
10 input "some question?"; name$
Will be reformatted as:
10 INPUT "some question?";...
5
votes
1answer
325 views
1980's ROM used which exp(n) algorithm?
In 1980's ROM (Apple IIe, Commodore 64, VIC-20, ...) which algorithm is used to compute exp(x), and where do the coefficients below come from? (Chebyshev, Remez, Pade, ...)
.byte $71,$34,$58,$3E,$...
2
votes
1answer
165 views
Turn off Apple IIe sound
Is there a way to disable sound output on the Apple IIe from Applesoft Basic? Can't seem to find this in any of the documentation or online.
Update: Found this
From http://www.calormen.com/jsbasic/...
4
votes
0answers
250 views
Cost of Apple II switching power supply
Apple went to the trouble of designing a switching power supply at a time when they were still quite new and not widely used for consumer electronics, perhaps because Steve Jobs liked the aesthetics ...
9
votes
4answers
649 views
Columns of text in early microcomputers
As discussed in some previous questions here, 80-column text was established by IBM as the standard for business computing as early as the sixties, but monitors capable of displaying that resolution ...
3
votes
1answer
303 views
Contiki on Apple IIe without Uthernet card
Can I run Contiki on my Apple IIe without an Uthernet card? For example, I was thinking that I could run my Raspberry Pi to emulate a network card through the serial port as a null modem. Any ...
8
votes
2answers
512 views
How did the Microprofessor II have space for a Chinese font in the ROM?
There's an Apple II clone from Taiwan which apparently forgoes the text mode and just has a graphics mode because it's simpler that way to render Chinese writing.
It had a 16K ROM, of which 12K is a ...
