Apple ][ Restoration Project

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Apple ][ Restoration Project
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I've been going over one of the original Apple ][ models, cleaning it up and getting it into a usable state to add to my wall of systems.

 

I've had this for forty years, but in the last two decades, it's seen some daemons. The little machine was completely choked with dirt, dust, and soot. Thus far, I disassembled and cleaned every component, and I have started a deep clean of the keyboard. 

 

I decided to do a bench test on it, and, after 40 years, it still works perfectly. The video connector could use a reflow, but other than that, no issues thus far. 

 

I'm not entirely sure how many of these were made--I recall 50,000 being touted--but this is unit number5,969, with PSU number 5,874. 

 

While that I think, should put it in 1977-78, when I recall that we first got some of these, the logic board is dated 1979 and the ICs show a date of 1980, so we may have done a logic board swap on it years ago. 

 

Here are some photos of the board, the power supply, and it booting to ROM. 

 

Once I finish the KB assembly, I'll fit it with two Disk ][ drives, a Microsoft Softcard, a serial card, a RAM card, and perhaps something random that it can use. That list is what came out of it, so it may as well go back into it. I'm thinking to use a Monitor /// with it, as I have a few of those, and it would look decent next to it. 

 

The case is in decent condition, with some suntanning and other age marks, but to me, that adds a level of character to these old machines. 

 

If any of you note anything distinct about it, please do share. (This system is not for sale; will never be for sale.) 

 

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Last seen: 3 days 20 hours ago
Joined: Apr 13 2006 - 22:28
Posts: 147
Looks Like Motherboard Upgrade

That motherboard is a Rev 7 Apple II+ RFI motherboard (the last revision of the Apple II+ motherboard).

 

If this is in a case marked "Apple II" and not "Apple II Plus" then it is almost certain that a motherboard swap occurred at some point.

 

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Last seen: 1 year 10 months ago
Joined: Mar 31 2020 - 19:55
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I'm sure that we upgraded it,

I'm sure that we upgraded it, twice. I have earlier boards, but I see no reason to swap one in, as they would not be any more original. We likely updated it to a ][+ so that it wasn't a different base, or to circumvent some sort of design fault, when we were writing software for them.  Also, proper use of the Disk ][, as the original ][ board had issues with them, and didn't autoboot without modification. 

 

Apple used to send boards to us, so we just used them. This was originally a 'Rev 0' machine, in any event. 

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