the xt guy
Experienced Member
For a guy whose got a lot of different PC computers, I went and did something radical and bought my first Apple! It is an Apple II plus, with two floppy drives, a disk card controller and a memory expansion card (I assume, to bring it up to 64K.)
I always been somewhat curious about the Apples, although what made me want to get it was that I wanted something older than my IBM 5150 (it is the first version with the Apr 1981 bios and the 16-64K motherboard). This IBM dates back to August 1981. I wanted something older than that, and the Apple II+ seemed like a logical choice. By getting the II+, I'm not duplicating anything I've already got, in a chronological sense.
I've already got almost too many PC's and I don't have the space to start collecting Apples, but I do have enough room to collect one. This is going to be it.
The original Apple II's are selling for prices too high for me to justify (over $500 on Ebay) while the Apple II plus models are still going for cheap (25 or 30 bucks).
Althouh I am, and will always be a dedicated PC guy, this does give me a chance to learn something about Apples.
I've been reading whatever I can find on the 'net about the Apple II plus and it seems many expansion cards were made for the IIe and won't work in the II+. So I have to be careful what I get will work in a plus.
For the moment, I don't have anything else (although I am getting a monitor and some disks in the very near future.) I don't even have an Apple DOS diskette to boot it with.
I'm really not interested in the Apple as a gaming machine or a kids educational toy. I'm planning to put a CP/M card in it and hopefully an 80-column card as well. A 3-1/2 inch disk would be an interesting addition as well but not avsolutely necessary.
I'd be likely to run apps such as Wordstar or Visicalc on it.
Several questions then, to start: The floppy drive cables are oriented just like those on a PC, right? The red stripe on the cable goes to pin #1 on the drive controller card. (I know if the cable is put on backwards, or displaced over by a row of pins, it will blow the drive and probably the card as well.)
My other question is: Which version of Wordstar will work with the II plus? I don't want to get a version which needs a IIe to run.
I always been somewhat curious about the Apples, although what made me want to get it was that I wanted something older than my IBM 5150 (it is the first version with the Apr 1981 bios and the 16-64K motherboard). This IBM dates back to August 1981. I wanted something older than that, and the Apple II+ seemed like a logical choice. By getting the II+, I'm not duplicating anything I've already got, in a chronological sense.
I've already got almost too many PC's and I don't have the space to start collecting Apples, but I do have enough room to collect one. This is going to be it.
The original Apple II's are selling for prices too high for me to justify (over $500 on Ebay) while the Apple II plus models are still going for cheap (25 or 30 bucks).
Althouh I am, and will always be a dedicated PC guy, this does give me a chance to learn something about Apples.
I've been reading whatever I can find on the 'net about the Apple II plus and it seems many expansion cards were made for the IIe and won't work in the II+. So I have to be careful what I get will work in a plus.
For the moment, I don't have anything else (although I am getting a monitor and some disks in the very near future.) I don't even have an Apple DOS diskette to boot it with.
I'm really not interested in the Apple as a gaming machine or a kids educational toy. I'm planning to put a CP/M card in it and hopefully an 80-column card as well. A 3-1/2 inch disk would be an interesting addition as well but not avsolutely necessary.
I'd be likely to run apps such as Wordstar or Visicalc on it.
Several questions then, to start: The floppy drive cables are oriented just like those on a PC, right? The red stripe on the cable goes to pin #1 on the drive controller card. (I know if the cable is put on backwards, or displaced over by a row of pins, it will blow the drive and probably the card as well.)
My other question is: Which version of Wordstar will work with the II plus? I don't want to get a version which needs a IIe to run.