Making headway but hit a few snags..

Tonight I got started and started taking inventory and installing some of the upgrades I picked up. It was fun - but I didn't have a heap of time to tinker too much....

I am missing the SCSI port screws which allow me to mount the connection to the case as well as allow the cable to screw in to the port. I will see about picking up a few.

Snag#1 - No SCSI terminator in sight. I didn't get one shipped with the hard drive so now I have to dig through some parts drawers or just order one. 

Snag#2 - 3.5 diskdrive has some issues. It will not eject at all. I have to paper clip it to eject a disk. bummer. I will take a closer look later, maybe there is something I can do (?)

Here I am installing the GGlabs 4MB ram card. This was painless and easy as can be.

Snag #4 - There is a reason why there is a IIgs power supply outside, on my deck, in the snow. :(

While showing my son the virtues of retro computing (for me).. and giving a bit of a history lesson on the IIgs - POP... Pooffffff The original psu smokes pretty bad - much to my teenager's amusement. As I disconnect power, smoke fills the house with a horrid smell. I was ready for it and quickly got my replacement psu out of its packaging and replace it on the fly, all is well again in the world. Why I didn't do this right off the bat was stupid - but I was eager to try out the new-to-me RGB monitor and give it a whirl. This quick change-out also reminded me that I need to get the battery taken care of as well - more things to order.

It is now 11PM and time to clean up a bit and call it a night. I will regroup a little and sort out solutions tomorrow.

I did get to boot into System 6.0.1 for the first time in ages, from the floppy System disk. So small victories tonight but still much to do.

Amassing Parts and Quest for an A2M6014

I have been on a journey to collect parts for my new IIgs. It has taken a few weeks but by this weekend I should be ready to get to work. I am still waiting on a few other solutions such as an Uthernet II card from A2retrosystems.com and a compact flash/usb/SD mass storage card for taking care of disk images and transferring files easily. (I -just- missed my opportunity to grab one of the last CFFA3000 cards last week)

By far the most difficult item to acquire really has been an original IIgs RGB monitor, the A2M6014. I sat through a few ebay auctions only to get sniped in the end time and time again. I finally bit the bullet and paid quite a bit for one from online Apple retro vendor, Apple Rescue of Denver. Oof that was painful, but I was in a moment of defeat after I was sniped again last Saturday evening on ebay so I pulled the trigger. Apple Rescue of Denver were excellent to work with and they let me know that they were putting my monitor through its paces for a day or two to make sure it was good to go. Hopefully in a few hours it will be at my doorstep safely/damaged-free and I will be ready to spend my weekend getting my IIgs operational.

So here is what I have:

New PSU from REactiveMicro

2sonic Stereo 2-ch sound card form REactiveMicro

Original Apple SCSI card (new in box) - Likely to upgrade in the future, price was right and it will get me started.

Apple lacie external SCSI hard drive

Uthernet card for getting my IIgs online (in transit)

Kraft joystick

More cables than I really needed (SCSI terminators, RGB cables, ADB cables, etc.)

Apple IIgs System 6.0.1 3.5" floppies

Apple 5.25" drive

Apple 3.5" drive

Original Apple desktop mouse (ADB)

* Still trying to get an original IIgs keyboard which also has been eluding me on ebay for a reasonable price. However I will just use my Motorola StarMax keyboard I already have for now

GGlabs 4MB Ram Card ( I likely will upgrade to 8MB eventually)



Needless to say my office is a hot mess! Shipping peanuts and boxes everywhere. I will update this post later tonight with photos once I have some order and reason in my tiny office, right now its pretty insane.

No idea what is in store for me - hopefully all goes well but it has been over 25 years since I used an Apple II so it is essentially like I am flying blind. However the Apple II community is awesome and friendly as I have already met some people that are eager to help me out when I get stuck - and I am sure that I will.

An old friend

I am a retro computing enthusiast and over the years have mostly focused on Amiga machines as well as classic Mac hardware. However lately I have had the bug to revisit some computers that took me back to my childhood in the early 80's which were the Commodore 8-bit line of computers and the Apple II.

I decided to go for it and keep my eyes peeled for an Apple IIgs that was fairly low priced and build up a nice machine, bit by bit. It didn't take me long to find a decent deal on a stand alone IIgs - ie. just the computer, not even a power cord. This seems to be the most common way you can pick one of these awesome 16-bit computers. It seems as though as soon as a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and floppy is added to an auction the pricing gets outlandishly out of control. When all is said and done I plan on sinking some cash into this project - but for some reason dropping $500-2k on a setup all at once, it is something I couldn't stomach. I am going to just take my time, clean up this baby and add as I go, for me that seems like half the fun.

I need to develop a plan of attack with my future IIgs setup and I will think about it more but right now - no time for that, the IIgs arrived several days early. I just tore open the box and this is what I have before me, warts and all. :)

Ehhh... not so bad. Obviously some yellowing and oh man... what is that on the top of the case!?!? Coffee? Soda? yikes....

Well it turns out that I am ok. I cracked open the case and other than some of this nasty goo on the front top and bottom of the machine its really just effecting the casework.

Judging by the missing slot covers on the back there were some cards installed but at one point but essentially this is a stock Rev 1 IIgs circa 1987/88. The motherboard is clean and free of dust and the psu looks clean.

I held my breath as I looked under the power supply to see if there was battery leakage..... nope - still doing o.k. and zero leakage. That's good news - but I certainly need to deal with this soon. (adding to my mental list)

In looking at the back of the machine to familiarize myself with the ports available I see some interesting stickers applied... braille.

Ok now on to the "goo" and my first order of business - removing that gunk. :) 'Harder work than I thought and still have some work to do. Using some Q-tips and 91% Isopropyl alcohol. I am likely going to have to use a small brush as well.

So yeah more work ahead of me in getting it a bit cleaned up. After making sure the alcohol evaporated totally I grabbed my trusty 19" LCD TV and used the composite video-out from the IIgs to the AV input of the TV. I plugged her in and and flipped the switch... I heard the beep, green power light lit on the computer and instantly I had video output. Looks like she's good to go. 

Thanks for checking out my first post. I have a few things on order that I have to wait on still as well as sorting out what I am going to do for mass storage/hard drive and monitor and many more things. I also am not sure if I am going to retro-brite this machine initially, but I am will be revisiting that idea in the future.