Questions tagged [apple-ii]

The Apple II series of personal computers and related software and hardware. Use [apple-iigs] for the Apple IIgs in particular, or [apple] for Apple hardware in general.

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer series designed by Apple's Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The series was introduced in 1977 and produced until 1993. It was Apple's first mass-market product, and extremely successful, with sales growing exponentially for the first 5 years. When first introduced, its color support was noteworthy for such an inexpensive (at the time) computer.

Software available for the Apple II includes games, BASIC and other interpreters, and a variety of business and practical programs, including VisiCalc, which introduced the idea of the "spreadsheet" to the microcomputing world.

Peripherals include displays, tape and disk storage, modems, and a large variety of expansion cards, some of which contain additional processors to allow the Apple II to run software designed for architectures other than its own 6502.

Please avoid spelling the name as ‘apple ][’. Such spellings are harder to search for, as search engines tend to ignore punctuation marks and use them for other purposes.

This tag should be used only for questions about the Apple II, the Apple II+ (and Europlus and J-Plus), the Apple IIe, the Apple IIc, and the Apple IIc Plus, and software and peripherals for these machines. For questions about the Apple IIgs, use the tag.

For questions about Apple II assembly code, use the and tags in addition to this tag.

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How can I programmatically tell which version of Apple II my code is on?

There are minor and major differences between the many Apple II models. I would like to detect whether my 8-bit assembly language program is running on a II, II+, IIe (enhanced or not), or ///, and which ROM version if on a //c or IIgs. Also, are…
Nick Westgate
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What makes slot 7 of the Apple ][ unique from 1-6 and how was this used?

In the Apple II, there are three unique slots (depending on model): Slot 0 (on the ][ / ][+) which is typically used for language cards. "Aux" slots in the //e and IIgs, typically used for memory expansion. Slot 7 on all of them. Slot 0 was…
bjb
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Did the Apple IIe Platinum include all feature enhancements from the Apple II line?

Not including the Apple IIgs, did the Apple IIe Platinum include all enhancements made by Apple? For example, the first Apple IIe couldn't utilize the Double Hi-Res mode from what I understand. In fact, there was an "Enhancement Kit" for the IIe…
cbmeeks
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Quick way to tell how much RAM an Apple IIe has

What is a simple way to tell how much RAM an Apple IIe has? The main RAM is fixed, but Aux RAM can vary. I'd like a solution that can be typed quickly from the keyboard: the context is that I'm asking a Craigslist seller about the machine they're…
zellyn
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How to write the Apple ][ HIRES pages to disk to make screenshots?

The Apple ][e had 2 HiRES video pages, HiRES animation involved switching between the 2 pages and redrawing the screen. A really early way to take an in game screenshot was to dump the computer with the programmers reset and then make a 2 separate…
Rowan Hawkins
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Apple IIe problem (can’t save and load files anymore)

I recently bought an Apple IIe at an auction. It was extremely cheap but worked. I have no experience with such old computers. I just started the computer and wrote some BASIC programs for fun. Everything seemed to work fine (multiple times). I…
Samuel
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Was the Apple II ever sold in kit form?

In the June 1977 issue of BYTE magazine I saw an advertisement stating you could order an Apple II and it had a price list. One of the columns was titled "Apple II Board-only". The price for that column was significantly less than the "Apple II…
cbmeeks
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Why didn't Apple II / II+ 80-column cards use slot 7?

Based on a previous question about how slot 7 on the II / II+ was unique as it had two video signals on it that other slots lacked, I am curious why the slot wasn't taken more advantage of. But that aside, I used a few 80-column cards for the…
bjb
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How did the Address Decode for Apple II Expansion Cards Work?

How did the Apple II decode the addresses for the expansion cards? From The Apple Story: Alan Baum helped a lot. I already had some address decoders on the board that decoded every 16th and every 256th I/O address. Alan realized very clearly…
Omar and Lorraine
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Did the Apple ][ ever ship with the Autostart ROM

Did the Apple ][ ever ship with an autostart ROM from the factory or were they all the older ROM with Trace/Step? My guess would be that once the ][+ started shipping then new Apple ][ production (well at least once the non-autostart ROMs ran out)…
PeterI
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Why was Brøderbund's RWTS18 incompatible with the Laser 128?

The V-Tech Laser 128 is an Apple II clone. This machine uses a clean-room copy of the Apple II BIOS and was intended to be compatible with Apple software. However, Brøderbund's games stored with the RWTS18 filesystem didn't run on this machine. I…
wizzwizz4
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How did the Lazer Systems Graphics Plus board work?

The first two Apple II models (the ][ and ][+) were unable to display lower case on the text screen. Some 3rd parties made lower-case adapters that replaced the character ROM (e.g. Dan Paymar's popular device). The device from Lazer Systems (a/k/a…
fadden
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How is the Apple II text flash mode timed?

On the Apple II, there are three 40 column text modes: normal (white on black), inverse (black on white) and flash. A text screen can contain a mix of text in all three of these modes. Flash mode is roughly a 0.5s delay between cycling text between…
bjb
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Apple II bus: IRQ and DMA priority

One of the weirdest misfeatures of the Apple II - and perhaps the dumbest thing Woz ever designed - is the vestigial priority system for IRQ and DMA on the Apple II expansion bus. Each slot has four pins devoted to this system: an input and output…
fluffysheap
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Where can I find the awesome programs from Apple II's Beagle Bros's Uncle Louie's two-line programs contest?

Back in the old nostalgic 1980's there were these very cool guys making fantastic programs for the Apple II, the Beagle Bros. Among the very cool stuff they publish there were these amazing two-line programs which could do unbelievable things with…
Arc
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