Podcast Episode 7: Apple II

Listen along during your tryptophan coma from that large turkey feast as David Greelish and Jeff Salzman present our first Thanksgiving Day podcast episode, focused on the Apple II computer.You can find out more about the Apple II on the History of Personal Computing online museum at http://www.historyofpersonalcomputing.com/apple-ii/.

Links mentioned in the show include:

eBay links (you may need to scroll down the linked pages to see the full auction)

Jeff’s Picks

David’s Picks

The History of Personal Computing podcast wants to read YOUR STORY online about the first computer you received as a gift during the December holidays. If you have a fond memory of receiving your first computer during the holiday season, let us know the details. Contact us at feedback@historyofpersonalcomputing.com with your story. We will share your story on a special holiday edition of the History of Personal Computing podcast.

If you don’t mind being interviewed via Skype instead, let us know via email and we will try to arrange a recorded interview with you.

Send feedback to feedback@HistoryOfPersonalComputing.com – We really want to hear from you by email or send an audio comment! Also, as we cover these computers, we would love to receive your high-quality pictures of the machines we’ve covered, so please start sending them in. Also, please write a review on iTunes!

3 Comments on Podcast Episode 7: Apple II

  1. MarkO
    December, 6th 2014 at 3:07 am

    HoPC #07

    I have continued to find your POD Cast very enjoyable. The Apple ][ is my First Computer, and the one, ( of many ), that I spent Many Hours on, back in the Early 1980’s and now again in recent years.

    My Comments are Time Stamped, in a MM:SS format, to where they related to your POD Cast #7 of The History of Personal Computing.

    @30:10
    Ronald G. Wayne was the Third Founder of Apple Computer, ( the partnership ), and even after he left it because of a concern over his Personal Liability if the Company Failed, he still helped out Steve Jobs.
    Ronald Wayne provided an early Case Design for Apple I, as mention and displayed in his Bibliography, “Adventures of an Apple Founder” on page 142 of 313. ( I have the Kindel Version, I don’t know if the Page Numbers Match up with the printed version. )

    @35:11
    One of the additional products from Personal Software, was a program called Visa-Plot, which read Visa-Calc files and Plotted Graphics. The program was programmed by Mitch Kapor, who later went on to found the company Lotus, and marketed “Lotus, 123”, which Graphics was a key point of the product.

    @35:45
    As I Recall… The IBM Monochrome Monitor, and IBM Monochrome Video Card or later, the Herculese Graphics Card could display Blue colored Text Color with an under line, but the actual color was no different than any of the other Text colors.. Also when the Intensity Bit was set, the characters appeared Brighter, then when it was not set.

    @38:01
    Emulators, some that you didn’t mention:

    AppleWin
    https://github.com/AppleWin/AppleWin

    Runs only on Windows, comes with Apple ][ ROMs, Apple ][+ ROMs, Apple ][e ROMs, Enhansed Apple //e ROMs. Also, Mocking Board Emulation, Applied Engineering Phaser Emulation, ( Both are Sound Cards ) Apple Mouse Emulation, ( Guess what this does? ), Micro-Soft Soft Card Emulation ( Z80 Card for CP/M ), and Uthernet I Emulation, ( A third party Generation One Ethenet Adapter for the Apple ][‘s ).

    Active GS for Windows/Mac/Linux (based on KEGS 0.91 )
    http://activegs.freetoolsassociation.com/

    Seems to have ][gs ROMs Included, also a Demo from Free Tools Association, that Auto-Boots. You can change the .xml config file to have it boot the Disk Image of your choice.

    @40:45
    Browser Based Emulators are handy, but Stand Alone Emulators, don’t need an Internet Connection…

    ========================================

    Botom Line on buying Apple Computers today, the Older they are, the More Expensive they are… Here are my Two Oldest Apple ][s:
    http://tech.markoverholser.com/?q=node/11

    For the original Apple ][‘s… Some early ones were sold without Cases… So Case Serial Numbers and Board Serial Numbers don’t match Up..

    Look for these Three Serial Numbers:
    Case
    Power Supply
    MotherBoard SN or Manufacture Date ( YYWW or WWYY )
    Sometimes a date on the Keyboard an be located too..

    My Apple ][ seems to be ALL Original. All Three of the main serial numbers seem to be consistent with other Apple ][‘s I have seen on eBay that seem to be ALL Original..

    Apple, sometimes when doing Warranty Repairs would swap your whole Mother Board out for a repaired one.. I have an Apple ][+, that has a Rev-01 Mother Board, which went Out of Production over a year or two before the first Apple ][+ was released. This Rev-01 Mother Board has an Actual Serial Number, 7294, where as my Apple ][ has a Date Stamp of, 7916 ( which indicates 1979, Week 16, about APR-MAY of 1979 ).

    Apple ][
    SN: A2S1 – xxxxxxx
    Revision 0 ( Rev-00 ) Mother Board ( most expensive to buy, first 6000 or so Serial Numbers)

    Apple ][ original made up to Rev-04 it appears.
    Rev-01, Rev-02, Rev-03, Rev-04

    Apple ][+
    SN: A2S2 – xxxxxxx
    Rev-04, Rev-07, ……

    Bell-and-Howell ][+ ( AKA Darth Vader )
    SN: A2S3 – xxxxxxx
    Probably has simular Revision Mother Board to the regular Apple ][+

    ========================================

    @34:38 and @53:47
    Apple //c Plus also had Zip Technologies 4Mhz Processor in it, besides the 3.5″ Drive and Internal Power Supply, no Brick to bring along.. Yes, Apple ][‘s had X4 and X8 Processors, before Intel had the DX2 processors.

    @55:47
    A comment was made about the “Popping a Capacitor”, and having the Power Supply still opperate the Apple, in certian circumstances.. I quote Rod Holt on this matter..

    “The Apple ][ Power Supply Revisited” a response by Rod Holt, Chief Engineer, Apple Computer Inc. in MICRO Magazine, Issue 3, Page 28 ( FEB-MAR 1978 ) ( PDF Page 30 )

    “A second point needs to be made. It’s quite common to have well over a thousand dollars in semiconducters in an Apple II system. The Apple switcher is designed to protect those semiconducters under all fault conditions (including possible failure modes internal to the power supply itself). Never has an Apple II been damaged by its own power supply. In contrast, Apple can document many cases of blown RAM and other IC’s where customers have used homemade or “off the shelf” power supplies. See the sad story in EDN, November 20, 1977 page 232. There are many more such sad stories. The power supply manufacturers of the world are just beginning to see that a supply failure means much more than just an equipment shut-down nuisance. Thus it’s important to know what happens when, for example, the +12 volt supply is shorted to the -5 volt supply. What happens to the +5 volts? With the Apple switcher, all supplies neatly go to zero, and they all recover smoothly when the short is removed.”

    This Issue of Micro, as well as others, can be found at Archive.org and 6502.org:
    https://ia601803.us.archive.org/2/items/Micro_NO._03_1978-02_COMPUTERIST_The_US/Micro_NO._03_1978-02_COMPUTERIST_The_US_text.pdf
    http://6502.org/documents/publications/micro/micro_3_feb_1978.pdf

    Keep up the Execelent Work, Gentlemen!!!!

    MarkO

  2. Jeff
    December, 7th 2014 at 8:08 pm

    Thanks for the kudos, along with the additional insight on the Apple II series, Mark!

  3. MarkO
    December, 7th 2014 at 11:49 pm

    Recent Ronald Wayne info at Apple 2 Bits.

    http://www.apl2bits.net/2014/12/01/ron-wayne-document-auction/

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