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The Cabin >> 8 Bits and Beyond >> Giving old shells a new life
http://www.hondosackett.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1480549229

Message started by Hondo I. Sackett on Nov 30^th, 2016, 6:40pm

Title: Giving old shells a new life
Post by Hondo I. Sackett on Nov 30^th, 2016, 6:40pm

I've acquired some old computers that had not been stored well. Originally I thought about just fixing them up but I have an idea, of which I'm sure has been done before, but to rebuild them with multi core pi boards and make them into usable, modern machines. I'll attach pics of what I am using.

Title: Re: Giving old shells a new life
Post by Hondo I. Sackett on Nov 30^th, 2016, 7:01pm

Having sizing issues. Will fix and attach others later

Title: Re: Giving old shells a new life
Post by Fernando on Nov 30^th, 2016, 10:12pm

It's a Apple IIe. Test it with Zero Cards in it. If it works, it should pop up into Apple Soft Basic:

1)
Apple IIe

] (flashing cursor)

or 2)
Apple //e

] (flashing cursor)

- - - - - -
1 is the older Apple IIe/II+ ROMs which runs on a 6502 CPU.
2 is the enhanced Apple //e ROMs which runs on a 65C02 CPU.

Some IIe's can have a 65C02 CPU and IIe/II+ ROMs from a cheap/poor boy upgrade.

You can look at the Think Classic's Apple Section:
https://www.thinkclassic.org/viewforum.php?id=6

or the 68KMLA Apple Forum section:
https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/forum/8-apple-i-lisa/

If it turns on without the cards, then you are ahead of the game. Most Apple issues are from their cards. Then you can get ADT-Pro (?) to boot it from a PC as a boot media.
http://adtpro.com/configserial.html

EDIT:
I have several Apples and Apple Clones. Getting then fixed up and running can get you a pretty penny for them; check out the prices on ebay, they can be ridiculous! One of my apples, has a "RocketChip accelerator" making it about the same as a 50mHz 486DX or 35MHz Pentium. That baby if I had to sell it would go for at least $5grand because of that chip. Transputer and ZipChicp are another two you need to look out for. They are in place of the 6502 and a couple on a card in Slot 0 or 1 (Slot 1 in the IIe as it does not have a Slot 0).

Title: Re: Giving old shells a new life
Post by Fernando on Dec 1^st, 2016, 11:53pm

I was checking some of the Apple II prices on ebay. All I got to say is Damn! The cheapest is $300 for a IIe. IIc, depending on which one start at $200, with the IIc+ at around $500 with prices up in $1200 range from there. Apple II/II+ start at $500 and go to the $2500 range.

It is a matter of getting them up and running, and cleaned up. Plus floppy Disks with software Apple DOS 3.3, ProDOS and AppleWorks is just the beginning. More software brings up the price. Rare cards brings up the price. It's a seller's market if you can get in, I can give you all the technical advice I have and if I can get one of them running (they are running, just need an old composite monitor for it), I can copy some basic software when I find the disks.

I got a crazy idea... I have one of those LCD Screens for the R-Pi, and it has a composite input. They sell for under $45 (as low as $25 in some places) all they need is a case and cables to connect them to an Apple, preferably a IIc. Such a screen could go for $80 - $120, depending on how cheap one can make the frame for it. If we had access to a 3D printer, it can be 3D printed and put together.

Like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-inch-LCD-Screen-Display-Monitor-for-Raspberry-Pi-Driver-Board-HDMI-VGA-2AV-/221464798105

or this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Inch-TFT-LCD-Monitor-Touch-Screen-Driver-HDMI-VGA-2AV-for-Raspberry-Pi-US-/121762136526

Title: Re: Giving old shells a new life
Post by Fernando on Dec 4^th, 2016, 10:41pm

Got 2 Vic20s from a friend who is cleaning out his father's place since he's passed on.

The issues with them is that the keyboards are broken - an issue with the cheap plastic Commodore uses, and they are funked up dirty! Don't know if they turn on because I only have 1 power pack for them from my Vic20. I will have to look at the boards and see what looks working on them.

With the Commodores, from the PETs to the Amiga 500 (at least), they used a cheap step down transformer to get it to 12V or so and have the motherboard do the power regulation (old Apple 68K PowerBook Laptops do this as well).

At least with the Apple IIs, the Power Supply does all the switching and regulation. This is where the weakest link is at. Everything else should work on the Apple IIs you have. There are 6 wires on the Apple II PSU: 5V, -5V, 12V, -12V and 2 Grounds. It is a 45watt unit. At best, it will not turn on or turn on with bad voltages. That would require a recapping of the PSU. If it goes up in smoke, its the line filter at the beginning of the PSU circuit on the 120VAC of the circuit. Its rare for them to go, but they do go.

Everything else on the Apple II is simple to fix. Believe me... I fix Macs and they are simple when you have the right tools and they have 8X the wiring for being a 32bit system. The Apple is 8Bit and has fewer wires. And cleaning the case is simple.

Title: Re: Giving old shells a new life
Post by Hondo I. Sackett on Dec 5^th, 2016, 2:30pm

I'll see what I can do. Have 3 apple III monitors as well. Was going to gut them and turn them into all in one desktop machines. Also have a radio shack all in on trs-80 (I think that's what it is) a commodore 64 and a commedore 4 plus I was going to make into pi machines. As long as they have sat, who knows. Gotta pop them open first. I got a Atari fro. Him years ago that was in the same barn. Turned it on and it caught fire. A mouse had eaten the coating off every wire in it. If they weren't so damned heavy I'd send you the lot to see what you made or could make of it. That radio shack one is idea for a pi machine, though.

Title: Re: Giving old shells a new life
Post by Fernando on Dec 5^th, 2016, 7:09pm

If the TRS80 is all in one piece, it is a Model III or Model IV. They are interesting C\PM machines, with graphics, which most C\PM are not known to have graphics as graphics commands are not in C\PM.

Just take one machine at a time and work them.