Surprise owner

[nd2003grad]

Hello...I never expected to be posting here, but I just picked up an Atari 800XL and I think this guy had no idea what he was doing...because he also gave me an Apple IIc for 50 total. Photo below.

 

It has no power cord. Questions:

 

1. Is it easy to locate a power supply for a reasonable price?

 

2. Is there any sort of multi/flash/hard drive option for this computer?

 

3. Can this plug into a CRT tv?

 

Thanks!

 

[shoestring]

Nice score.

 

You can find plenty of power supplies on eBay but I would try to contact a trusted member here. Bad/faulty supplies can damage a working machine.

 

I use lotharek's sio2pc and couldn't be happier, it's compact and works in conjunction with software on your PC to mount and load tape, disk and executable images via the device. He also sells sio2sd, maybe someone else can recommend that as I have no experience with it, but it looks great.

 

I'd recommend a CRT television with composite or Philips/Commodore monitor. These computers were designed for a CRT.

 

Edit: Apologies, I just realised you were asking questions relating to the Apple.

Edited June 29, 2016 by shoestring

[The Usotsuki]

3. Can this plug into a CRT tv?

 

Yes - it has composite out and a headphone jack.

 

Sorry I can't answer the other questions. I don't know anything about the //c power brick or whether any hard drive solutions work with the Smartport. :/

[david__schmidt]

1. Is it easy to locate a power supply for a reasonable price?

 

Maybe, for various approximations of "easy" and "reasonable." They don't usually come up for sale on eBay by themselves, but there are plenty of hacks around to wire up your own. There are replacements such as these available:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/c-LAPTOP-STYLE-POWER-SUPPLY-BRICK-FOR-APPLE-IIC-75-90-watts-18-00-S-H-/221294478704

 

2. Is there any sort of multi/flash/hard drive option for this computer?

 

You're in luck - a year or two ago, the answer was "no." Now, it's better:

http://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/

http://tulip-house.ddo.jp/DIGITAL/UNISDISK/english.html

[Ed in SoDak]

I have a well set-up IIc that was given to me. Mouse, extra drives, printer, Apple color monitor, power supply, full set of cables, lots of software and all the manuals. Everything except an ancient modem, which I probably couldn't use much if it was there and besides, I have the "correct" modem from some other score.

 

Luckily, it was all well-taken care of and everything works! It's an old-school geek platform you probably will need to crack a manual or two and read up some to make full use of all it can do. But the info available lets you delve way deep into the inner workings, if that's your bag.

 

Mine looked great on the Apple composite monitor and also on a 17" LED cheapy flatscreen. If you have a "regular" old TV with composite, that will work or feed the cables into the composite input of a VCR and use the antenna RF output to feed an even older TV, but picture quality will diminish.

 

Other than the factory power brick being a fancy switching supply with protection circuits and safeguards, the power requirements are pretty simple. All you really need is +15 Volts DC at 1.2 Amps to pins 5&6 of the connector, with ground going to pins 2&3. Everything else the IIc needs powerwise is derived by the internal regulator circuit. I could probably hack wires to a rechargeable drill battery and run it off that! No doubt the "correct" supply is best and safest, but the basic requirements are simple with only a single voltage needed for power.

 

Here's some snips of the supply info from the Apple IIc reference manual I found online.

-Ed

Edited June 29, 2016 by Ed in SoDak

[nd2003grad]

Thank you all!

[+sm3]

These are not cheap, but this website has a microSD disk drive emulator for the Apple II (line), Macintosh and Lisa computers: https://www.bigmessowires.com/shop/ I've got the model b for my IIc and IIc plus. It works great!

 

You can find new Apple IIc power adapters on eBay. Here is one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/c-LAPTOP-STYLE-POWER-SUPPLY-BRICK-FOR-APPLE-IIC-75-90-watts-18-00-S-H-/221294478704/

 

When I first got my Apple IIc I used ADTPro to download software and make real floppies: http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/

 

If you decide to go the ADTPro route, I'd suggest getting your cables from here: http://retrofloppy.com/products.html as these are sure to work with ADTPro.

[The Usotsuki]

A plus these days is that some of us have been porting some of the old games which couldn't be made into single-file cracks, so that they can be put on 3.5" disks, hard drives, CF/SD cards, etc.