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A great dumpster dive, but now I have questions!

Submitted by knexkid on May 14, 2008 - 11:35pm. Apple II

Hi,
Today I was out and about, and I was able to rescue an old Apple II GS out of the trash! I was able to fire it up and it tries to boot from the floppy drive, but says no boot device. It has a monitor, 3.5", and 5" floppy disk drives. I have two questions (Sorry, I have no experience with Apple computers):

1. I have no input for it. Do I need a special keyboard or mouse. Where can I get one? Can I use my standard PS/2 keyboard?

2. More complicated, where can I get old software for it. I would love to get some old games or something for it. Can I download such things off the internet? I assume I would have to put them on a floppy disk. I only have a Windows XP PC (With a floppy drive). Can I download such software? Would I need a special program to properly format a disk to be read by the apple II GS? Thank you so much for you input!

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david__schmidt's picture

Re: A great dumpster dive, but now I have questions!

Submitted by david__schmidt on May 14, 2008 - 11:56pm.
knexkid wrote:
Today I was out and about, and I was able to rescue an old Apple II GS out of the trash!
Awesome!
Quote:
I was able to fire it up and it tries to boot from the floppy drive, but says no boot device. It has a monitor, 3.5", and 5" floppy disk drives.
Cool. You're ready to go.
Quote:
1. I have no input for it. Do I need a special keyboard or mouse.
Yes. Well, you don't really need a mouse. But you do need a keyboard. You can use any old Apple ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) keyboard you happen to have (or find via eBay, etc.).
Quote:
Where can I get one?
eBay. Friends with big attics. Craigslist. You name it. Just not at a computer store.
Quote:
Can I use my standard PS/2 keyboard?
No.
Quote:
2. More complicated, where can I get old software for it. I would love to get some old games or something for it. Can I download such things off the internet?
Yes. Visit http://www.virtualapple.org/ to try out software; scroll to the right on the page to download the virtual disk image, suitable for running in an emulator or transferring to the IIgs.
Quote:
I assume I would have to put them on a floppy disk.
Yes.
Quote:
I only have a Windows XP PC (With a floppy drive). Can I download such software? Would I need a special program to properly format a disk to be read by the apple II GS?
Yes, you can download the software - but your PC can't write disks that the IIgs can read. You need to get the virtual images down to the IIgs to write for itself. Start here: http://adtpro.sourceforge.net

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Thank you so much, that is sp

Submitted by knexkid on May 15, 2008 - 2:45am.

Thank you so much, that is spectacular. But now until I can get a keyboard, I can't do much. Also, I will now need to find a serial cable to transfer the disk images, but thanks so much!

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niteshooter's picture

You're most of the way there,

Submitted by niteshooter on May 15, 2008 - 12:54pm.

You're most of the way there, old Mac ADB keyboards and mice will work with the GS. The computer booted from a system file loaded on a floppy with the program you wanted to run.

As for SW, maybe with luck your local second hand store though the one's around here don't. Also eBay and perhaps a local MUG or club....

Kevin

» Lisa -> G4 500dp
Portable -> Pismo

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