Apple IIe
Saw an Apple IIe on Facebook Marketplace, and was mildly surprised. Vintage computers don't show up locally all that often, so I kept tabs on it. It started at $300, then rapidly went down to $70 over a few days. Christmas I decided to pick it up.
It was advertised as non-tested but made noises like it worked. Figured even a broken Apple IIe for $70 wasn't a bad deal (especially since I wouldn't have to pay shipping) so I snagged it Christmas day.
Turns out my haul was:
Apple IIe 128K with 80 column card, super serial card. (works fine)
DuoDisk (working fine)
Apple Monitor II (monochrome green, working fine)
Image Writer II (missing a piece on the back, haven't had a chance to test it.)
I borrowed some Apple floppies from a friend to test the unit, and so far as I can tell it all works fine. Used the outstanding Apple Disk Server to create a ProDOS floppy with utilities via the cassette port, and even the disk drives are fine (CopyIIPlus says they should read 200ms, both are within 1ms of that.)
The real score is that a friend's kids have been staying with us a few nights a week while they handle some issues at home. One of them is a typical preteen boy video gamer, and he showed some interest in "that old computer." Powered it on, showed him BASIC, and had him writing his own programs by the end of the night. Despite being brought up on Minecraft and Call of Duty, that monochrome green screen was still addicting as hell because *he* was writing the programs that ran on it.
I've already ordered a sealed box of floppies, serial cable, and serial<->usb adapter. My next plan is setup A2CLOUD and/or ADTPro so I can get it online and start grabbing more software. There's some BBS's (yes, as in dial-up, except they all use telnet now) I visit, so it'd be nice to try and get onto those with the Apple IIe. Of course there's games to play (I'm a huge Wizardry nut, and have been fiending to play it on the original hardware.)
Reproduction Mockingboards aren't unreasonably priced, so I'll have to get one of those before moving onto Ultima. Also want to get the IIe enhanced kit, and an "official" color monitor. I'm using a small Trinitron when I need color, but I honestly prefer how sharp things are on the monochrome green screen.
I'll keep everbody posted.
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