What are /r/apple2's favorite Products & Services?

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Learn basic. It should be pre-loaded onto the system, but you do have to switch it to basic mode, I think.

It's a good beginner language and you can learn simple programs that does things like calculations, displaying messages in different colors and ways, drawing sitck figures and (if I recall correctly) can even animate them.

Here's a link to the Apple II manual

And here's a link to a Basic manual so you can learn

Apple ][ wasn't cartridge-based, so I'm not sure why you say "ROMs." In any case, it seems the Apple versions are hard to find, I suppose because these mainly got published via companion disk to a magazine (Softdisk).

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My guess would be that the DOS versions are going to be easier to locate. For example: http://www.myabandonware.com/game/dangerous-daves-risky-rescue-1z1

I usually use one of these https://smile.amazon.com/Wiha-26810-5-7-Inch-Precision-Lifter/dp/B00433SJB2

They slip between the socket and the chip, so if you're careful you don't apply too much pressure to the board. You can use a small screwdriver, but they are harder to get a good angle on and don't provide the nice lift that the extractor does.

Take a look at Softline magazine. It was rather thin, but had quite a few really great article series on writing games (usually in basic) specifically for the APple II (usually). One series showed you how to write text adventures. Another explained how to write a wire-frame 3D maze (and eventually showed you how to do a filled maze, using assembly language). Really one of my favorite magazines from back in the day. It inspired me to write my longest and most complex BASIC program ever... an adventure game featuring a full sentence parser.

Archive.org and several other sites have the full run of this magazine.

Atari archives has the most famous BASIC Games book by David H Ahl.

That was indeed an absolute classic. Might even have been the first real-time game in which action takes place on the side screens.

Also a major influence on the modern masterpiece Spelunky.

Dang! I'm sorry I misled you. Abandonia has 1-3 (though you'll want to be familiar with dos box).

You also can play Wiz 1 online! Just google it. Never mind--I'll do it for you.

There is indeed a French version on Archive.org https://archive.org/details/Apple_Logo_II_Introduction_Prog_French

and https://applelogointroduction.wikispaces.com/home has an older English version.

Comparing the 2, you're missing one chapter about sound and music it seems.

GraForth may not have been the best Forth implementation, but it certainly was better than ASM. Even today, there are stack-based languages like Factor (and even Postscript if you think about it, although probably nobody but Don Lancaster actually makes pictures by writing Postscript manually).

Here's how you do that.

First, look at this product on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Oiyagai-Female-Connector-Adapter-Replacement/dp/B07FD2CDZY/ . See how on the sides of the connector, there's hex nuts with threads inside them? Your disk drive connectors have thumbscrews which screw into those threads. Can you picture it?

Now then, so what you need are the little screws with the hex heads with the threaded centers, AND THEN the little nuts that screw onto those from the back. In other words, you need these: https://www.amazon.com/Sutemribor-Female-Spacer-Standoff-Assortment/dp/B075K3QBMX/ and this kit will last you a lifetime.

So knock out one of the backplate cover plugs that is sized exactly for this connector, which is either #1, #2, #3, or #4. Bring the connector to the hole from INSIDE the computer, screw it in from the outside of the computer with the brass head on the outside (you're gonna need some little wrenches or sockets for this), and tighten them down snug. Now you can connect your drives and use the thumbscrews to attach them to the ports the way Woz intended.

The hole you're using is intended for DB-25 -sizes serial ports.

Good luck!

Congrats on the purchase! I don’t have an answer regarding checking out the vintage hardware part of your question, but I did learn assembly back in the day from this book.

An approach to debug this kind of issue is freeze spray. Remove the cover to expose the components. Let the monitor warm up and exhibit the problem. Use a can of electronics freeze/cold spray to shoot and cool individual components until the problem goes away.

A product like this. Should come with a straw to help focus the spray: https://www.amazon.com/BW-100-Freeze-HFO-1234ze-Non-Flammable-Aerosol/dp/B089M4Y7NX/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=freeze+spray&qid=1606442054&sprefix=freeze+spray&sr=8-5

I used an eied emulator dongle to avoid having to power on the monitor before the computer with the VidHd, this works perfectly for me. (As a bonus, I can power up before turning on the monitor without issues now, and use a hdmi switcher as well).

I think this is the correct link, although there are lots of other brands. You want an eied dongle with 1080p as the default resolution, at that will be presented to the vidhd when it starts up and asks.

https://www.amazon.com/EVanlak-Passthrough-Generrtion-Thunderbolt-Splitters-1920X1080/dp/B07YMS18T7?pd_rd_w=xyPPs&pf_rd_p=a28133ec-5b85-4edc-a86d-b84ff70773f5&pf_rd_r=MWCBJJMW4EXSRSTJYKQJ&pd_rd_r=c1bfa495-cc8c-4e13-87b0-ea5121bb55c6&am...

I saw the 8-BitGuy video as well and this does sound like the same problem.

One thing to try: Don't plug/unplug the cable but jiggle it a little and see if there is a position where the video clears up. This would be another indicator that the connector needs some attention.

As for a favorite video cable, the composite cables are all pretty much the same. Find a quality one in the length you need. Here's a 3 foot one on Amazon with Prime for $5.49:

https://www.amazon.com/Cmple-1-RCA-Composite-Subwoofer-Digital/dp/B003UW91BE/

You don't need to spend a lot of money on this kind of cable.

Good luck!

Emulation on your Android phone or tablet while you shop for real hardware and save up for an accelerator to have a good experience.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.froop.app.kegs

I've done this with a Monitor //c - it's a lot of fun to play with.

The converter I bought is a Monoprice LKV2000 - Monoprice doesn't seem to sell it, but the same thing is available under a lot of different brand names - this looks like the exact same unit. It's onscreen menu is a bit fiddly but can adjust overscan and sharpness and I was able to get it good enough. I did have to run it at 640x480, as any resolution higher than that is more detailed than what NTSC video can do.

One catch with the Monitor //c - I imagine the Monitor II is the same - is that it's not designed to handle a full-color composite signal apart from what an Apple II puts out, so you get some pretty nasty dot-crawl.

In the nVidia drivers I was able to set the saturation for that monitor all the way to the bottom which made the output full monochrome.

Serial console is a whole other thing which I've done as well, and it work very well too. ADTPro's website is a good place to start as it goes over the cabling you'll need, and how to move software (ie a terminal emulator program) over to the Apple II.

I'm using a Pyle Audio PLHR70 backup camera monitor for use in cars. It's a 7 inch monitor, has good color reproduction and supports direct composite from the Apple IIe. Also, it's under $50. Only issue is that you'll need an external power supply, I'm hoping to possibly build a special connector type that would allow me to power it directly from the Apple II in the same way that the disk drives are powered.

Link to the product: https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLHR70-camera-Monitor-Reverse/dp/B01BECUNCC

Link to a demo video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujs0isHC1nU

I have this paired up with my IIc.

It works great with the IIc, fantastic image. However, it doesn't like the video from my IIe very much (I get crawling distortion and it switches blending modes). The IIe video is fine on my 40" LCD TV and tiny composite TV.

I do wonder if I can tweak the IIe video just a bit to make it work better with this display. Make an adjustment or replace a cap. After all, the IIc displays great on it and the circuitry is pretty much the same.

I'm also kind of hopeful that since it takes composite that the VGA port will sync 15Khz, but haven't tried it yet.