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Early Apple ][ plus on the way

HoJoPo

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Feb 4, 2012
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Northern Nevada
I just purchased an early Apple ][ plus (one of the first to be shipped to Canada), system serial number A2S2 - 68931, motherboard serial number 8010. Very little use, it was bought new for a project in 1979 then never used, so it's almost like new for a 32 year old computer.

It has a 16k language card in it, Mountain Hardware clock, and disk ][ controller. The ribbon cable on the Disk ][ is the multi-colored "rainbow" version, so it's pretty early as well. Two disk ]['s are included, one with the rainbow cable, the other is missing the cable, but he's throwing in a 20 pin to 20 pin cable that should work.

I also picked up two new in box Disk ][ drives off of eBay before I found the plus, another Disk ][ card, along with another Mountain clock (which I'll put in my //e).

Now I just need to find a good 80 column card, Epson APL printer card and a good FX-80 to go with it (or possibly a Silentype, the first personal computer I worked on was a ][ plus with Silentype.)

If the other Disk ]['s weren't new in box, I'd consider taking them apart and mounting them inside a PC/XT case with a IIgs motherboard, aiming to make a system that looks like a PC XT, but is actually an Apple. I just happen to have a spare Rom 01 motherboard handy....
 

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I've ordered a Videx Ultraterm card for the ][+, and an Amdek 300A monitor to go with it. That should take care of 80 columns, now to find a Ramfactor or Apple II memory card and get it up to 1 meg of RAM....
 
I've ordered a Videx Ultraterm card for the ][+, and an Amdek 300A monitor to go with it. That should take care of 80 columns, now to find a Ramfactor or Apple II memory card and get it up to 1 meg of RAM....
I think the monitor recommended for Ultraterm is an Apple Monitor III (something about long-persistent phosphor type monitor is better suited for the refresh rate of Ultraterm at 132x24) You'll want to cool the unit with a system saver; Ultraterm draws a lot of power and is one HOT running card.

edit - the manual says Amdek 300A is supported, you're in good shape!
 
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I picked up a Ultraterm and System Saver from DrKenB, so I should be good there. Unfortunately he was out of stock on the Ramfactor, so I'll have to find one elsewhere... hopefully for less than the $100+ they seem to go for on eBay.

It looks like Appleworks 2.0 might be the latest version that will run on the ][+. I haven't found much on whether 3.0 can be made to work or not.

I looked for Monitor III's, but they were all very expensive. The Amdek 300A was only $50 at Apple Rescue of Denver.

The "A" in the model number is for amber, odd they didn't list the green or white as being compatible, only the amber one. They probably used different tubes, so it may be the other colors aren't compatible with the Ultraterm's interlaced video modes.
 
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Since the best price I could find on a Ramfactor was $120 for 256k or $160 for 1Meg, I instead decided to buy a $149 256k Transwarp card for the ][+ from DrKenB.

This will give it a 65c02 processor, which should let it run ProDOS 2.0. Oh, and 3.6Mhz speed won't hurt either... should be faster than an unaccellerated IIgs!

I will have to pull out the language card and put back in the one RAM chip... though, since the Transwarp uses its own internal memory, you can run it without the CPU or RAM on a ][ or ][+, so I might not have to worry about that.

EDIT: Hmm... it says on the ][+ it emulates the 16k language card, but doesn't say whether the additional RAM is usable or not without another peripheral card to shadow. Interesting beasty if it doesn't allow the use of the remaining RAM on the ][+.

Oh well, I can always use it in my IIe if I have to...
 
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Ouch, for that kind of money I sell mine :)

I think the 256k on TW maps to Aux on IIe, and probably isn't usable on a II+. I do wonder how poking around RAMWorks softswitches on a II+ with TW would have any effects...
 
Good news, checked out the AppleWorks 3 expander manual, and it will patch AppleWorks 2.1 to run on the ][ plus, and it will support the use of 64k of the Transwarp for Appleworks desktop.

The Transwarp does support the soft switches to bank switch an additional 64k on a ][ plus. I wonder if ProDOS will see it and set up a /RAM3 ramdrive like it does on a 128k //e?

I decided to pull the trigger on a Ramfactor card for $129, fully populated (1 megabyte) with manual and software. It's also been tested and verified to work... the 256k one for $120 is "AS-IS", untested. Nice thing about the Ramfactor is I can play with it in any of my Apple II systems, might see just how fast a //e is with Transwarp running Appleworks off of a Ramfactor card (the //e already has a 1MB Ramworks III in it as well).
 
Well, it's a 1980 vintage ][ plus, not quite so early. 8010 on the motherboard is October, 1980 (of course, d'oh!) It's a date code, not a serial number....

So it's definitely the 68,391st ][+ built. ;) Probably the original motherboard and drive. There's a second, off-brand drive included, from the description it may be a Rana, I'll have to wait and see (it's on its way, maybe by next weekend...)

Hooked up my new in box Disk ][ drives today to my //e, both drives worked fine, and they appear to be new. The dealer did prep them by applying the Drive 1 / Drive 2 stickers. These drives have the gray cables, not the rainbow ones, so they are later in the production run, maybe into //e territory (serial numbers 409527 and 409731, drives match their boxes.) The cables on the drives are stamped with 48 82, which means week 48 of 1982, the week of Thanksgiving (November 21st through 27th).

Both passed diagnostic testing without problems. Drive 1 was -4 on the speed test, drive 2 -40. So, if I'm going to use them, I'll need to adjust the speed on drive 2, and clean/lubricate them both. But for now, they, along with the Disk ][ controller, are back in their boxes in the closet. Of course, I could put them on the ][ plus and have four floppy drives on it... but that's probably two more than necessary.

Now to test my Applicard and see if it works, using the CFFA 2000 to transfer the images to disk on my Woz IIgs right now....
 
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Well, it's a 1980 vintage ][ plus, not quite so early. 8010 on the motherboard is October, 1980 (of course, d'oh!) It's a date code, not a serial number....

So it's definitely the 68,391st ][+ built. ;) Probably the original motherboard and drive. There's a second, off-brand drive included, from the description it may be a Rana, I'll have to wait and see (it's on its way, maybe by next weekend...)

Hooked up my new in box Disk ][ drives today to my //e, both drives worked fine, and they appear to be new. The dealer did prep them by applying the Drive 1 / Drive 2 stickers. These drives have the gray cables, not the rainbow ones, so they are later in the production run, maybe into //e territory (serial numbers 409527 and 409731, drives match their boxes.) The cables on the drives are stamped with 48 82, which means week 48 of 1982, the week of Thanksgiving (November 21st through 27th).

Both passed diagnostic testing without problems. Drive 1 was -4 on the speed test, drive 2 -40. So, if I'm going to use them, I'll need to adjust the speed on drive 2, and clean/lubricate them both. But for now, they, along with the Disk ][ controller, are back in their boxes in the closet. Of course, I could put them on the ][ plus and have four floppy drives on it... but that's probably two more than necessary.

Now to test my Applicard and see if it works, using the CFFA 2000 to transfer the images to disk on my Woz IIgs right now....

Still a nice find, even if they aren't as early as you thought, the ][ and ][+'s are getting harder and harder to find in good condition.

I recently added a //e and duodisk to my collection (as well as another Disk II which will probably go on my ][+). Next on my list is to try to find a Monitor /// for my ][+. Maybe even pick up a few more CFFA's, or a CFFA for the ][+ and Microdrive for the //e.
 
Well, my ][ plus is in the US, but Canada Post doesn't seem to be tracking it... hopefully it'll show up by the end of the week.

I received the Amdek 300A and RamFactor card today, both work OK hooked up to my //e. The Amdek needs adjusted, the screen is a bit small in the center of the display with 2" black borders all the way around it. Shouldn't be too hard, I used to fix cockpit displays for the F/A-18 Hornet, and I have the proper non-conductive tools for adjusting CRT displays. I'm going to wait until I get the ][ plus and UltraTerm card, then I'll adjust the display for 40, 80 and 132 columns.

My //e is fully populated right now:

AUX: AE Ramworks III with 1 MB of RAM
Slot 1: Apple Super Serial
Slot 2: AE Datalink 2400
Slot 3: Applicard CPM Z-80 card with 64K of RAM
Slot 4: AE RamFactor with 1 MB of RAM
Slot 5: Apple Superdrive 3.5 Controller, with two drives (one 1.44mb, one 800k)
Slot 6: Apple 5.25 Controller with two A9M0104 drives
Slot 7: R&D Automation CFFA V1.4 with 128MB flash card

Everything works, the system can see and utilize it all. Played around with the Ramfactor, split it into 400k for DOS 3.3 and 624k for ProDOS, and it works fine. Appleworks 3.0 properly IDs it as a ramdrive. The Amdek 300A looks right at home atop the //e, better than the platium Apple Color Composite that I have for it (since it's a beige second gen //e, with the black lettered tan keyboard).
 
Actually, I don't think it's clear necessarily that the "8010" on your board is a date code. If it were, it would be 1980, *week* 10, so March 1980. But those codes are, as I understand it, usually in the other order (year-week). My old ][+ has a handwritten "8050" on it.

I originally interpreted that as December 1980, but this one at myoldcomputers.com, which has a motherboard that is in every other respect like mine (but in an Apple ][ non-plus case), has a handwritten "8068" on it, which clearly can't be a date code.

My much newer ][+ has a machine-printed date code, and it is in week-year order (4682), and another new one I recently acquired says 1782.

My older board shares a lot of characteristics of the ][ non-plus boards (green slots, memory select blocks), but I've come to the conclusion (based on the small breadboard area in the lower right corner of the board, and the "N" pattern instead of a chip two spots to the right of the 6502) that it was always an Apple ][+, not an upgraded ][. Which actually would mean that the "Apple ][" displayed at myoldcomputers.com is too.

I don't understand the serial numbering scheme on mine. This older one (board 8050) has a old-style label, model A2S1016, SN A2S2-1497165, which seems impossibly high. My newer ones have lower serial numbers, on new-style labels, board 1782, model A2S1048, SN A2S2-412783, and board 4682, model A2S1048A, SN A2S2-542439. Even if somehow the pan with the label parted ways with the board on the earlier system, the label style is still older on the old one. The subtleties of the serial numbering are still beyond me.

Anyway, the point is that at least that one on myoldcomputers.com can't be a date code, and it looks like my "8050", so it is quite possible that these handwritten codes (particularly where they couldn't be in week-year order) are actually sequentially numbered.

Also, from the small images you posted, it appears that yours also has the dark green slots, and the 16k memory select blocks. I can't tell if there's a chip under your Disk ][ card, but if there is, that makes it older. If the space in the lower right corner of the board (hard to see when it's in its case) under the keyboard is pretty large then it is a particularly old board. There are some images of the "rev-0" board on Mike Willegal's site that show the large breadboard area.
 
Unfortunately, my ][ plus has been stuck at the USPS International Sorting Center (ISC) in San Francisco since Tuesday. USPS doesn't have any information, it may be backlogged at customs, but at least it isn't being held by customs yet... oddly, USPS says the shipper has to do the trace to find out what's happening. Hopefully he'll look into it next week.

I did notice the card slots seem to be the older style, and that the back panel doesn't have the metal EMI shield that the later plus models have. I suppose it's possible that it's an earlier ][ motherboard that was sent to Apple for upgrade / repair, and they then used it to build a ][ plus, or it was swapped out as a dealer repair. The 8010 on the board is hand-written, not machine printed.

I do have the Ultraterm card, RamFactor and Transwarp to install in it once it gets here. RamFactor and Transwarp were tested good in my //e, but I haven't tested the Ultraterm yet (it should be fine though, got it from DrKenB).

Anyone know what the extra leads from the Mountain Hardware Apple Clock are for? I have another one here I bought on eBay that is non-functional (not recognized by the software, probably a bad EPROM), it doesn't have those external leads.
 
My ][ plus made it out of ISC and to Bakersfield today, so I may have it tomorrow. I'll definitely take a flashlight and inspection mirror to check the motherboard for the prototyping area.
 
Received my ][ plus today. It was originally a 16k model (A2S1016), upgraded to 64k (MacroTech Computer Products MEM-1). It may be an early ][ plus motherboard as it's a 16k model, weren't most 48k?

The wiring to the Apple Clock card is for a wall charger for the attached 7.2V NiCad battery. So I'll definitely need to find a replacement 7.2v NiCad for it.

The prototyping area is not present in the front right corner of the motherboard, there are a couple of blank DIP pads there instead. The slots are black, not the light green as on the original Apple ][ motherboard.

It has one original Disk ][ (with rainbow ribbon cable), and an odd clone Disk ][, consisting of a cloned mechanism in a stamped aluminum case, with no discernible manufacturer's markings. Unfortunately the clamping mechanism broke on the clone in shipping, so I've ordered a replacement Disk ][ with a low serial number from Apple Rescue of Denver. Oddly, the one I just ordered has a removable rainbow ribbon cable, and the one I received with the ][ plus has a fixed cable... looks like Apple had a couple different manufacturing lines going, as there are removable serial numbers on both sides of the non-removable I received.

I'm going to have to hit it with some rubbing alcohol, as the previous owner was a smoker, but other than the odor it's not too bad. Now to get to playing... :)
 
Found the revision number under the Slot 4 connector... it's a Revision 4 Apple ][ plus motherboard.

I wonder what glitches (other than the color killer) I have to look forward to. :D

It boots and works fine, though the drive isn't reading very well. It probably needs cleaned after exposure to cigarette smoke.
 
Just a small note of little consequence, but I mentioned that my own machine had "green slots" and it does, but they aren't the bright green/teal kind from the original Apple ][, but rather a very dark green. I suspect that if you look closely at yours, you'll find that they're not really black, but also a dark green, just because all of the old-style slots I've seen in pictures of old ][+es have been this kind of "forest green" color. I'd have to double-check, but I also seem to remember seeing what I took to be a revision number through the bottom hole in the slot 4 connector, I don't remember if it is "4" but that sounds right, I'd have to look again. It seems, our ][+es are close siblings, since everything you've posted about yours here seems to match mine as well (but yours is the older sibling). I hope I have the same good luck with mine that you've had with yours; I haven't actually tried to power it up yet because I need to replace all of the motherboard standoffs and I've been distracted by other machines. But in my collection, it's easily the oldest, so I'm quite looking forward to trying.

Also, incidentally, I'm also looking forward to succeeding just so I can go post a snarky note about it at the NZVCF, where the auction that eventually got me this machine was mocked. :) http://classic-computers.org.nz/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=522
 
Yes, they are actually a dark green, I thought it might be a reflection off of the green motherboard. Sounds like they're nearly identical rev. 4 boards, close siblings for sure.

I did have a bit of a scare, the power light needs a solder reflow on the keyboard, sometimes you have to fiddle with it a little to get it to light. It's not the light bulb itself, I have popped off the cap and made sure the bulb leads are in their little tubes. Anyway, while fiddling with it, the computer suddenly powered off. It wouldn't restart, and I was wondering if I'd fried the power supply. Then I remembered, as a switching supply it probably has a breaker-bar circuit, wait for a bit with the power off and it'll reset. Sure enough, after a couple minutes, it started right back up. Though I did unplug it from the motherboard and reconnect it, so maybe that was it....

It's been working fine ever since though. I haven't had a lot of luck getting the AE patched Appleworks 1.3 to load properly on it, but I haven't tried it with the Transwarp installed yet either. I've been having too much fun in the past few days tinkering with my new
(to me) //c system with Z-RAM Ultra III.

Since there was mention of 1979 production Apple ]['s with rev. 3 motherboards, it's likely that some shipped with rev. 4 boards as well, making it so there's no difference other than the Integer BASIC / Applesoft ROMs between a ][ and ][ plus of the era. The motherboard serial number being as low as it is, my ][ plus may very well be one of the first Apple ]['s of any stripe shipped to Canada.

With the cost of A2S1 Apple ]['s so high, I think my ][ plus will remain a fine earliest Apple in my collection, unless I stumble across a real bargain.

Oh, and as to the floppy drive ribbon cable colors, the gray cables have a built in RFI shield, needed to meet FCC requirements. Apple went into production with the RFI version in April of 1981, if I remember correctly, so any Disk ][s with the rainbow ribbon cable predate that.
 
Actually, I'm curious now about the serial number. What does yours say on the label on the pan? As I'd mentioned earlier here, mine what looks like an extraordinarily high serial number but on an old label, and I'm wondering if yours does too. Mine says A2S2-1497165. It seems to me this can't really mean this is the million-and-a-halfth Apple ][+ produced, but I'm curious to know if your label has the same quirk.
 
The bottom label on mine reads A2S2-68931, I'm not sure why yours would be so high with such an early motherboard.

My ][+ is working fine, I have a PC transporter in it now to add 3.5 drive support and a 768k RAM drive, which makes it load Appleworks very quickly. I also picked up a Saturn 128k clone card, it works fine in slot 0, and doesn't require the cable to one of the motherboard RAM chips like the 16k card did.
 
Huh, interesting. Well, that's pretty consistent with what I would have expected I think, having a couple of other reference points (A2S2-65001/8006 and A2S2-149143/8102). I've got an absurdly long rundown of labels and date codes posted here. I also noticed that right here on the non-forum part of this site, the Apple II Plus box has a serial number like mine written on it, near 1.5 million. So, there are a couple of these weirdo serial numbers out there. (I wonder if they all start "149xxxx"? So far I have a sample size of 2.)

My 8050 has some RAM problems that I need to troubleshoot, but I haven't really had time yet. Later this summer, I hope. Glad to hear yours is working well.
 
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