Apple IIc (//c)

Apple II computers weren't much popular in Poland. In USA they were widely used and there was much software developed for it. The first Apple II was a 6502-based computer with Integer BASIC. The cause of its popularity was possibility to expand system unit with boards. However the IIc (C for Compact) was not expandable as older Apple IIs.
Apple IIc had quite good graphics capabilities for its time, and 1-channel speaker. In Apple II series storing data and programs on floppy disks became common. As first Apple II computers had cassette interface, IIc doesn't have one.

Manufacturer Apple Computers

Origin U.S.A
Year of unit 1986
Year of introduction 1984
End of production 1990
CPU MOS 65c02
Speed 1MHz
RAM 128K
ROM 16kB (Basic)
Colors: 16
Sound: One-channel built-in speaker.
OS: Applesoft BASIC, ProDOS, Apple DOS 3.3.
Display modes: Text: 40x24, 80x25
Graphics: 40,80x48x16, 140,280x192x16, 560x192x2		  
 

 

Media: Built-in 5.25" FDD
External 5.25" FDD		  

Power supply:

7-pin DIN Male:

6,7 - Not connected
3,5 - Signal Ground
2 - Shield ground (may be connected)
1,4 - +15V DC (unregulated), 1.2A
I/O: Composite monitor (RCA)
RGB monitor (Apple flat panel)
Joystick/mouse
External FDD
2x serial ports
Earphone jack

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Possible upgrades: Memory upgrade slot.
 
 
 
     
Software accessibility: Easy (TOSEC, dedicated sites)  

My unit came with a strange DIY power supply. This power supply is made in universal casing and contains transformer, diode bridge and capacitors - nothing more. No regulation, no stabilization. Voltage output is 13.75V DC. Computer works properly even if it drops to 12.75. There's another winding on transformer giving 120V AC to monitor.

Contents: Starting Making system floppies Mouse Serial Communication Links

Starting:

You can boot it to BASIC or boot it with floppy disk. By booting it from floppy, you can load Basic-like EsDOS or ProDOS.
TO BOOT TO BASIC: Turn it on without floppy and quickly press Ctrl-Reset.

Making system floppies:

See ADTPro in Links section. You will have to make a serial cable to connect your comuter's serial port to Apple.
http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/bootstrap.html - see "Starting from bare metal".
Few hints about procedure described in link above:
Remember to type the letter "B" in "14B" or "10B" in lower case!
Another thing is getting a disk image to Apple II, called Receiving - you just need to establish connection, run ADT on Apple II and use Receive command typing file name (file in PCs working directory, which can be set in ADTPros menus). PC will act as server to Apple II. But remember to INITialize or FORMAT (in ProDOS, ADTPro command letter F) all disks before writing!
If your bootstrapping went OK, but you can't receive and it stops on block 1, you should fiddle with connection speed - not only lower, for me it hung with 9600bps but worked well in 115200. If you change it in PC remember to do the same thing on Apple side.
In esDOS, if you format a floppy, it becomes automatically bootable.
In ProDOS, you have to Receive a bootable floppy.
Remember that NIB floppy images are nibbled (half-byte) images and they may contain copy-protected data impossible to write using Apple IIc's drive!
Remember, these disks are written on one side, by cutting a write protection hole in them symetrically you can flip it and format second side of disk to be used.
Most programs just boot off the disks when computer is started with them.

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Mouse

Here is brief description of mouse pinout. Connector is DB9 female on the computer:

1 - Mouse ID - ?
2 - +5V
3 - GND
4 - X direction (TTL)
5 - X move (TTL)		 6 - not connected
7 -Mouse button
8 - Y direction (TTL)
9 - Y move (TTL)
 

As you can see, it's not possible to connect my universal mouse to it. You need at least to build a phase detector to drive direction inputs. More, I don't know should I short ID to ground, 5V or put some data here.

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Serial communication

The computer has 2 serial ports, one for printer and one for modem. They can be used to communicate with PC COM port. It's accessible via DIN 5 female socket:

1 - Handshake out (DTR)
2 -Ground 
3 -Handshake in (DSR)
4 -Data out (Transmit, TxD)
5 -Data in (Receive, RxD)

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Links:

http://adtpro.sourceforge.net - software and cabling to transfer data from/to Apple II
http://www.virtualapple.org/ - Games to download. GONE - archive has been deleted. Try with file names.
http://web.archive.org/web/20130107234016/http://www.retrocpu.com/apple-ii/games/ - More games descriptions
ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/ - Big games and software archive.
http://web.archive.org/web/20130405064741/http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/basement/lead.html - Smaller software archive
http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/ - Archive of Apple II related texts (archive link if something doesn't work).
http://www.umich.edu/~archive/apple2/ - More software!
http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ground.icaen.uiowa.edu/ - Another software acrhive.
http://web.archive.org/web/20100413152530/http://apple2info.net/ - Some useful programs.
http://www.callapple.org/ - General site about older Apple computers. Blog, but worth looking at.
http://www.applevault.com/ - Some scans and software
http://apple1.chez.com/Apple2cDskArchive/index.htm - Nice site about Apple IIc
http://web.archive.org/web/20160306094749/http://www.apple2scans.net/ - Scans of Apple-II related books and documentation.
http://web.archive.org/web/20090602032152/http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/A2FAQs4MAJORSITES.html - Archived link list.
http://www.angelfire.com/80s/apple2/ - Here you can see original game covers
http://web.archive.org/web/20130506052746/http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/appleii/dos.html - DOS and ProDOS Guide
http://www.1000bit.it/scheda.asp?id=2 - Scanned Manuals.

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