Misplaced Pages

#919080

102-640: The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e ) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer . It was released in January 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus . The e in the name stands for enhanced . It is the first Apple II with built-in lowercase and 80-column text support, as well as 64K RAM, while reducing the total chip count from previous models by approximately 75%. Improved expandability combined with

204-668: A home appliance than a piece of electronic equipment, and the case can be opened without the use of tools. All models in the Apple II series have a built-in keyboard, with the exception of the II GS which has a separate keyboard. Apple IIs have color and high-resolution graphics modes , sound capabilities and a built-in BASIC programming language. The motherboard holds eight expansion slots and an array of random access memory (RAM) sockets that can hold up to 48  kilobytes . Over

306-494: A BASIC variant called Integer BASIC . Apple eventually released Applesoft BASIC , a more advanced variant of the language which users can run instead of Integer BASIC. The Apple II series eventually supported over 1,500 software programs. When the Disk II floppy disk drive was released in 1978, a new operating system, Apple DOS , was commissioned from Shepardson Microsystems and developed by Paul Laughton, adding support for

408-555: A DOS, and with Wozniak inexperienced in operating system design, Jobs approached Shepardson Microsystems with the project. On April 10, 1978, Apple signed a contract for $ 13,000 with Shepardson to develop the DOS. Even after disk drives made the cassette tape interfaces obsolete they were still used by enthusiasts as simple one-bit audio input-output ports. Ham radio operators used the cassette input to receive slow scan TV (single frame images). A commercial speech recognition Blackjack program

510-473: A European IIe). In order to access the local character set and keyboard layout, a user-accessible switch is found on the underside of the keyboard — flipping it will instantly switch the video output and keyboard input from the US character set to the local set. To support this, special double-capacity video and keyboard ROMs are used; in early motherboards they had to reside on a tiny circuit card that plugged into

612-574: A breakout cable which connected to the back of the card, the user could attach up to two UniDisk or Apple 5.25 Drives , up to one UniDisk 3.5 drive , and a DE-9 Apple II joystick. Many of the LC's built-in Macintosh peripherals could also be "borrowed" by the card when in Apple II mode, including extra RAM, the Mac's internal 3.5-inch floppy drives, AppleTalk networking, any ProDOS-formatted hard disk partitions,

714-563: A built-in disk controller that could control external drives, composite video (NTSC or PAL), serial interfaces for modem and printer, and a port usable by either a joystick or mouse. Unlike previous Apple II models, the IIc had no internal expansion slots at all. Two different monochrome LC displays were sold for use with the IIc's video expansion port, although both were short-lived due to high cost and poor legibility. The IIc had an external power supply that converted AC power to 15 V DC, though

816-446: A built-in music synthesizer that far exceeded any other home computer. The Apple II GS evolved the platform while still maintaining near-complete backward compatibility. Its Mega II chip contains the functional equivalent of an entire Apple IIe computer (sans processor). This, combined with the 65816's ability to execute 65C02 code directly, provides full support for legacy software, while also supporting 16-bit software running under

918-547: A click through a built-in speaker; all other sounds (including two, three and, eventually, four-voice music and playback of audio samples and speech synthesis) were generated entirely by software that clicked the speaker at just the right times. The Apple II's multiple expansion slots permitted a wide variety of third-party devices, including Apple II peripheral cards such as serial controllers , display controllers, memory boards, hard disks, networking components, and real-time clocks . There were plug-in expansion cards – such as

1020-529: A fair bit of newer software — mostly productivity applications and utilities — required the Enhanced chipset to run at all. An official upgrade kit, consisting of the four replacement chips and an "Enhanced" sticker badge, was made available for purchase to owners of the original Apple IIe. An alternative at the time, which some users chose as a cost-cutting measure, was to simply purchase their own 65C02 CPU and create (unlicensed and illegal) duplicates of

1122-791: A new OS. The OS eventually included a Macintosh-like graphical Finder for managing disks and files and opening documents and applications, along with desk accessories . Later, the II GS gained the ability to read and write Macintosh disks and, through third-party software, a multitasking Unix-like shell and TrueType font support. The GS includes a 32-voice Ensoniq 5503 DOC sample-based sound synthesizer chip with 64 KB dedicated RAM, 256 KB (or later 1.125 MB) of standard RAM, built-in peripheral ports (switchable between IIe-style card slots and IIc-style onboard controllers for disk drives, mouse, RGB video, and serial devices) and, built-in AppleTalk networking. The final Apple II model

SECTION 10

#1732772023920

1224-507: A new baseboard. New metal sticker ID badges replaced those on the front of the Apple IIe, rebranding the machine. Retained were the upper half of the IIe case, the keyboard, speaker, and power supply. Original II GS motherboards (those produced between 1986 and mid-1989) had electrical connections for the IIe power supply and keyboard present, although only about half of the units produced had

1326-455: A separate slot, the card is closely associated with slot #3 of the seven standard slots, using some of the hardware and firmware functions that would have otherwise been allocated to slot 3, because third-party 80-column cards such as the Sup'R'Terminal had traditionally been placed in slot 3 on the earlier Apple II and Apple II Plus machines. Therefore the user can enter 80-column mode by issuing

1428-505: A similar function, and some types of 80-column cards were available for the older Apple II models, which do not have a dedicated slot for this card. Soon after the release of the Apple IIe, 80-column text support became a basic requirement of many software packages. Later, 128 KB (and therefore the Extended card) became a minimum requirement for major programs. All versions of the extremely popular AppleWorks require 128 KB of memory. In

1530-453: A time, by turning them over and notching a hole for the write protect sensor. The first disk operating systems for the Apple II were DOS 3.1 and DOS 3.2, which stored 113.75 KB on each disk, organized into 35 tracks of 13 256-byte sectors each. After about two years, DOS 3.3 was introduced, storing 140 KB thanks to a minor firmware change on the disk controller that allowed it to store 16 sectors per track. (This upgrade

1632-599: A time, the Western Design Center (the company that designed the 16-bit 65C816 processor used in the Apple II GS ) also sold a 16-bit 65C802 processor that was a drop-in, pin-compatible replacement for the 65C02 that made the full 16-bit 65C816 instruction set available to the IIe, but using the same 8-bit data bus as the 65C02; however, this upgrade was insufficient, by itself, to allow II GS software to run, as II GS software additionally required

1734-406: Is emulated using Macintosh QuickDraw routines, it is sometimes unable to keep up with the speed of a real Apple IIe, especially in the case of slower host machines. With a specialized Y-cable , the card can use an actual Apple 5.25, Apple UniDisk 3.5 and Apple II joystick or paddles. The Apple IIe Card is thought of as an Apple II compatibility solution or emulator rather than as an extension of

1836-472: Is made of dyed plastic mold in a slightly darker beige with a simplified snap-case lid. The other noticeable change is a new keyboard, with more-professional-looking print on darker keycaps (small black lettering, versus large white print). This was the first cosmetic change. In March 1985, the company replaced the original machine with a new revision called the Enhanced IIe. It is completely identical to

1938-802: The Reset key. The auto-repeat function (any key held down to repeat same character continuously) is now automatic, no longer requiring the REPT key found on the keyboards of previous models. The machine came standard with 64  KB RAM , with the equivalent of a built-in Apple Language Card in its circuitry, and had a new special "Auxiliary slot" (replacing slot 0, though electronically mapped to slot 3 for compatibility with earlier third-party 80-column cards) for adding more memory via bank-switching RAM cards. Through this slot it also includes built-in support for an 80-column text display on monitors (with

2040-502: The Apple II J-Plus (Japan). In these models, Apple made the necessary hardware, software and firmware changes in order to comply to standards outside of the US. The Apple II Plus was followed in 1983 by the Apple IIe, a cost-reduced yet more powerful machine that used newer chips to reduce the component count and add new features, such as the display of upper and lowercase letters and a standard 64 KB of RAM. The IIe RAM

2142-551: The Apple IIGS computer was introduced in September 1986, Apple announced it would be making an upgrade kit for the IIe. The upgrade cost US$ 500, plus the trade-in of the user's existing Apple IIe motherboard and baseplate. Users would bring their Apple IIe machines in to an authorized dealership, where the 65C02-based IIe motherboard and lower baseboard of the case were swapped for a 65C816-based Apple II GS motherboard with

SECTION 20

#1732772023920

2244-534: The Apple III in 1980; the company intended to clearly establish market segmentation by designing the Apple III to appeal to the business market, leaving the Apple II for home and education users. Management believed that "once the Apple III was out, the Apple II would stop selling in six months", cofounder Steve Wozniak later said. By the time IBM released the rival IBM PC in 1981, the Apple II's technology

2346-429: The Disk II , attached via a controller card that plugged into one of the computer's expansion slots (usually slot 6), was used for data storage and retrieval to replace cassettes. The Disk II interface, created by Steve Wozniak , was regarded as an engineering masterpiece for its economy of electronic components. Rather than having a dedicated sound-synthesis chip, the Apple II had a toggle circuit that could only emit

2448-513: The Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs . The video controller displayed 40 columns by 24 lines of monochrome, upper-case-only (the original character set matches ASCII characters 0x20 to 0x5F) text on the screen, with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a TV monitor, or on a regular TV set by way of a separate RF modulator . The original retail price of

2550-777: The Z-80 SoftCard – that permitted the Apple to use the Z80 processor and run a multitude of programs developed under the CP/M operating system, including the dBase II database and the WordStar word processor. There was also a third-party 6809 card that would allow OS-9 Level One to be run. Third-party sound cards greatly improved audio capabilities, allowing simple music synthesis and text-to-speech functions. Eventually, Apple II accelerator cards were created to double or quadruple

2652-465: The 1983 IIe being the most popular. The name is trademarked with square brackets as Apple ][ , then, beginning with the IIe, as Apple // . The Apple II was a major advancement over its predecessor, the Apple I , in terms of ease of use, features, and expandability. It became one of several recognizable and successful computers during the 1980s and early 1990s, although this was mainly limited to

2754-628: The Apple II GS in 1986, the platform took on the look of the Macintosh user interface, including a mouse. Much commercial Apple II software shipped on self-booting disks and does not use standard DOS disk formats. This discouraged the copying or modifying of the software on the disks, and improved loading speed. The first Apple II computers went on sale on June 10, 1977 with a MOS Technology 6502 (later Synertek ) microprocessor running at 1.023  MHz , 4 KB of RAM , an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and

2856-466: The Apple II and II Plus, the IIe has a variety of different-sized openings, with thumb-screw holes, to accommodate mounting interface cards with DB-xx and DE-xx connectors (removable plastic covers filled the cutouts if not used). Although the lower IC count improved reliability over previous Apple II models, Apple still retained the practice of socketing all ICs so that servicing and replacement could be performed more easily. Later-production IIe models had

2958-604: The Apple II line. The Apple IIe keyboard differed depending on what region of the world it was sold in. Sometimes the differences were very minor, such as extra local language characters and symbols printed on certain keycaps (e.g. French accented characters on the Canadian IIe such as "à", "é", "ç", etc., or the British Pound "£" symbol on the UK IIe) while other times the layout and shape of keys greatly differed (e.g.

3060-638: The Apple II series looked similar, featuring much clean white space and showing the Apple rainbow logo prominently. For several years up until the late 1980s, Apple used the Motter Tektura font for packaging, until changing to the Apple Garamond font. Apple ran the first advertisement for the Apple II, a two-page spread ad titled "Introducing Apple II", in BYTE in July 1977. The first brochure,

3162-424: The Apple II was sold as a finished consumer appliance rather than as a kit (unassembled or preassembled). Apple marketed the Apple II as a durable product, including a 1981 ad in which an Apple II survived a fire started when a cat belonging to one early user knocked over a lamp. All the machines in the series, except the IIc, share similar overall design elements. The plastic case was designed to look more like

Apple IIe - Misplaced Pages Continue

3264-524: The Disk II became available in 1978, tape-based Apple II software essentially disappeared from the market. The initial price of the Disk II drive and controller was US$ 595, although a $ 100 off coupon was available through the Apple newsletter "Contact". The controller could handle two drives and a second drive (without controller) retailed for $ 495. The Disk II single-sided floppy drive used 5.25-inch floppy disks ; double-sided disks could be used, one side at

3366-518: The European IIe, is the Auxiliary slot physically moved in location so it is in line and in front of slot 3, preventing both slots from being used simultaneously for full-sized cards. A few third-party cards are affected by this; some European cards plug into both slots simultaneously and are thus unusable on American IIes, and some American cards do not fit into the case of European IIes because

3468-550: The European location of the Auxiliary slot leaves less room for them. During approximately the same time period that the Platinum IIe was being produced (1987), Apple released an alternative machine for the European market. It reused the original Apple IIe case mold and keyboard, but both were redyed in the platinum color scheme—including the metal ID badges which were recolored from dark brown to platinum, blending them into

3570-668: The Gemini, which is heavily based on the Mega II , first used in the Apple IIGS computer to emulate the Apple IIe. The Gemini duplicates most of the functions of a standard Apple IIe, minus RAM, ROM, video generation and CPU. Many of the built-in Macintosh peripherals can be "borrowed" by the card when in Apple II mode (i.e. extra RAM, 3 1 ⁄ 2 -inch floppy, AppleTalk networking, clock, hard disk). It can run at either standard 1 MHz speed or an accelerated 1.9 MHz. As video

3672-595: The II GS has more in common with mid-1980s systems like the Atari ST , Amiga , and Acorn Archimedes . Despite the introduction of the Motorola 68000 -based Macintosh in 1984, the Apple II series still reportedly accounted for 85% of the company's hardware sales in the first quarter of fiscal 1985. Apple continued to sell Apple II systems alongside the Macintosh until terminating the II GS in December 1992 and

3774-431: The II GS 's firmware and specialized hardware. Apple II Apple II ("apple two ") is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The first Apple II model , that gave the series its name, was designed by Steve Wozniak , and was first sold on June 10, 1977. Its success led to it being followed by the Apple II Plus , Apple IIe , Apple IIc , and Apple IIc Plus , with

3876-658: The IIc itself will accept between 12 V and 17 V DC, allowing third parties to offer battery packs and automobile power adapters that connected in place of the supplied AC adapter. The Apple II GS , released on September 15, 1986, is the penultimate and most advanced model in the Apple II series, and a radical departure from prior models. It uses a 16-bit microprocessor, the 65C816 operating at 2.8 MHz with 24-bit addressing, allowing expansion up to 8 MB of RAM. The graphics are significantly improved, with 4096 colors and new modes with resolutions of 320×200 and 640×400. The audio capabilities are vastly improved, with

3978-443: The IIe as the best educational computer above $ 1000, citing Apple's strong early commitment to the market and large number of third-party education-related peripherals. In production from January 1983 to November 1993, the Apple IIe remained relatively unchanged through the years. However, there was one significant motherboard update, a major firmware update and two cosmetically revised machines. These revisions are detailed below. At

4080-580: The IIe in November 1993. The last II-series Apple in production, the IIe card for Macintoshes , was discontinued on October 15, 1993; having been one of the longest running mass-produced home computer series, the total Apple II sales of all of its models during its 16-year production run were about 6 million units (including about 1.25 million Apple II GS models) with the peak occurring in 1983 when 1 million were sold. Unlike preceding home microcomputers,

4182-479: The IIe was "like having an Apple II with all the extras built in ... with a variety of exciting new features and capabilities" for about the same price as the Apple II. It found the computer to be highly compatible with the Apple II and praised the quality of the documentation for developers and beginners. The review concluded, "Congratulations, Apple Computer, you've produced another winner". InfoWorld ' s reviewers, Apple II Plus owners for four years, wished that

Apple IIe - Misplaced Pages Continue

4284-492: The IIe's price were lower but stated that it "does give you more for your money, however". They also found compatibility to be very high, and concluded that "we are generally pleased with the changes Apple has provided with the IIe". Creative Computing said in December 1984 that the IIe and IIc were the best home computers with prices above $ 500, with the IIe better for those wanting expansion cards, color graphics, and educational and entertainment software. The magazine also chose

4386-710: The Platinum IIe and II GS . Unlike the IIe IIc and II GS , the IIc Plus came only in one version (American) and was not officially sold anywhere outside the US. The Apple IIc Plus ceased production in 1990, with its two-year production run being the shortest of all the Apple II computers. Although not an extension of the Apple II line, in 1990 the Apple IIe Card, an expansion card for the Macintosh LC ,

4488-559: The RAM soldered to the system board rather than socketed. Despite the hardware changes, the IIe maintained a high degree of backwards compatibility with the previous models, allowing most hardware and software from those systems to be used. Apple provided technical information on the IIe to hundreds of developers before its release, and claimed that, as a result, 85 to 90% of Apple II software worked with it. BYTE wrote in February 1983 that

4590-455: The US. It was aggressively marketed through volume discounts and manufacturing arrangements to educational institutions, which made it the first computer in widespread use in American secondary schools, displacing the early leader Commodore PET . The effort to develop educational and business software for the Apple II, including the 1979 release of the popular VisiCalc spreadsheet , made

4692-468: The addition of a plug-in 1K memory card, via bank-switching of 40 columns) and could be easily doubled to 128 KB RAM by alternatively plugging in Apple's Extended 80-Column Text Card . As time progressed, even more memory could be added through third-party cards using the same bank-switching slot or, alternatively, general-purpose slot cards that addressed memory 1 byte at a time (i.e. Slinky RAM cards). A new ROM diagnostic routine could be invoked to test

4794-408: The average user, it had the negative effect of lowering the available bandwidth to the socket, which is often used by specialized devices for such purposes as measuring temperature, controlling a robotic device, or even simplistic networking for data transfer to another computer. In such cases, the specialized devices were rendered useless on the Platinum IIe unless the user removed the capacitors from

4896-458: The board. There were no firmware changes present, and functionally the motherboard was otherwise identical to the Enhanced IIe. This final model of the Apple IIe (which was not sold in Europe) was quietly discontinued on November 15, 1993, which (following the discontinuation of the Apple II GS a year earlier) effectively marked the end of the Apple II family line. In March 1991, shortly after

4998-403: The case lid. Additionally, the sticker over the keyboard power indicator was labeled "65C02" rather than "Enhanced". Internally it used the same (newer) motherboard found in the Platinum IIe with reduced chip count. Notably absent is the numeric keypad and standardized keyboard layout found on the Platinum IIe. This cosmetic reissue of the classic IIe, with new motherboard and new coloring scheme,

5100-516: The command PR#3 or IN#3 in the BASIC prompt. The "extended" version of the card features a jumper block (J1) that when installed enables the double high-resolution capability. Since early "Revision A" Apple IIe motherboards are incapable of supporting the bank switching needed for the enhanced graphics mode, the block needs to be removed to disable the feature. As with many Apple II products, third party cards were also produced that perform

5202-411: The company for 80-column support, but Apple delayed improving the Apple II because for three years it expected that the unsuccessful Apple III would be the company's business computer. The 80-column cards were the alternative. The cards go in the IIe's Auxiliary Slot, which exists in addition to the seven standard Apple II peripheral slots present on all expandable Apple II series machines. Although in

SECTION 50

#1732772023920

5304-498: The computer especially popular with business users and families. The Apple II computers are based on the 6502 8-bit processor and can display text and two resolutions of color graphics. A software-controlled speaker provides one channel of low-fidelity audio. A model with more advanced graphics and sound and a 16-bit processor, the Apple II GS , was added in 1986. It remained compatible with earlier Apple II models, but

5406-749: The computer was US$ 1,298 (equivalent to $ 6,500 in 2023) (with 4 KB of RAM) and US$ 2,638 (equivalent to $ 13,300 in 2023) (with the maximum 48 KB of RAM). To reflect the computer's color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing was represented using rainbow stripes, which remained a part of Apple's corporate logo until early 1998. The earliest Apple IIs were assembled in Silicon Valley , and later in Texas; printed circuit boards were manufactured in Ireland and Singapore . An external 5 + 1 ⁄ 4 -inch floppy disk drive,

5508-716: The computer's speed. Rod Holt designed the Apple II's power supply. He employed a switched-mode power supply design, which was far smaller and generated less unwanted heat than the linear power supply some other home computers used. The original Apple II was discontinued at the start of 1981, superseded by the Apple II+ . The Apple II Plus, introduced in June 1979, included the Applesoft BASIC programming language in ROM. This Microsoft -authored dialect of BASIC, which

5610-437: The count down to a total of 24 chips. A solder pad location on the motherboard, present since the original IIe, for (optionally) making presses of the "Shift" keys detectable in software, is now shorted by default so that the feature is always active. Next, in a move to reduce radio frequency interference when a joystick plugs into the motherboard's game I/O socket, filtering capacitors were added. While this made no difference to

5712-402: The course of the Apple II series' life, an enormous amount of first- and third-party hardware was made available to extend the capabilities of the machine. The IIc was designed as a compact, portable unit, not intended to be disassembled, and cannot use most of the expansion hardware sold for the other machines in the series. The original Apple II has the operating system in ROM along with

5814-466: The design to better compete with the Xerox 820 . "Now it appears that when Diana is ready for release, it will offer features and a price that will make the Apple II uncompetitive", the magazine wrote. "Apple's plans to phase out the Apple II have also been delayed by complications in the design of the Apple III", the article also said. After the Apple III initially struggled, management decided in 1981 that

5916-415: The disk drive. The final and most popular version of this software was Apple DOS 3.3. Apple DOS was superseded by ProDOS , which supported a hierarchical file-system and larger storage devices. With an optional third-party Z80 -based expansion card , the Apple II could boot into the CP/M operating system and run WordStar , dBase II , and other CP/M software. With the release of MousePaint in 1984 and

6018-504: The end of the rail – and read and execute code from sector 0. The code contained in there would then pull in the rest of the operating system. DOS stored the disk's directory on track 17, smack in the middle of the 35-track disks, in order to reduce the average seek time to the frequently used directory track. The directory was fixed in size and could hold a maximum of 105 files. Subdirectories were not supported. Most game publishers did not include DOS on their floppy disks, since they needed

6120-675: The features of the later model Apple IIc ) and the Apple IIe Platinum (a modernized case color to match other Apple products of the era, along with the addition of a numeric keypad ). Some of the feature of the IIe were carried over from the less successful Apple III , among them the ProDOS operating system. The Apple IIc was released in April 1984, billed as a portable Apple II because it could be easily carried due to its size and carrying handle, which could be flipped down to prop

6222-415: The final revision of the Apple IIe, often referred to as the Platinum IIe, due to the color change of its case to the light-grey color scheme that Apple dubbed "Platinum". Changes to this revision were mostly cosmetic to modernize the look of the machine. Besides the color change, there was a new keyboard layout with built-in numeric keypad. The keyboard was changed to match the layout of the Apple IIGS , with

SECTION 60

#1732772023920

6324-500: The further continuation of the Apple II was in the company's best interest. After 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 years of the Apple II Plus, essentially at a standstill, came the introduction of a new Apple II model — the Apple IIe (codenamed "Diana" and "Super II"). The Apple IIe was released in January 1983, the successor to the Apple II Plus . The Apple IIe was the first Apple computer with a custom ASIC chip, which reduced much of

6426-468: The horizontal resolution and increases the number of colors from the 6 of standard High-Resolution to 16. In order to support this, some modifications had to be made to the motherboard, which became the Revision B. In addition to supporting Double-High-Resolution and a rarely used Double-Low-Resolution mode (see specifications above) it also added a special video signal accessible in slot 7. Apple upgraded

6528-556: The latter two (including the return of the Mini-Assembler —which had vanished with the introduction of the II Plus firmware). Although it affected compatibility with a small number of software titles (particularly those that did not follow Apple programming guidelines and rules, used illegal opcodes that were no longer available in the new CMOS-based CPU, or used the alternate 80-column character set that MouseText now occupied)

6630-571: The lines of the Commodore Datasette was never produced; Apple recommended using the Panasonic RQ309 in some of its early printed documentation. The uses of common consumer cassette recorders and a standard video monitor or television set (with a third-party RF modulator ) made the total cost of owning an Apple II less expensive and helped contribute to the Apple II's success. Cassette storage may have been inexpensive, but it

6732-490: The machine up into a typing position. Unlike modern portables , it lacked a built-in display and battery. It was the first of three Apple II models to be made in the Snow White design language , and the only one that used its unique creamy off-white color. The Apple IIc was the first Apple II to use the 65C02 low-power variant of the 6502 processor, and featured a built-in 5.25-inch floppy drive and 128 KB RAM, with

6834-427: The memory it occupied more than its capabilities; instead, they often wrote their own boot loaders and read-only file systems. This also served to discourage "crackers" from snooping around in the game's copy-protection code, since the data on the disk was not in files that could be accessed easily. Apple 80-Column Text Card VisiCalc and Disk II made the Apple II very popular in small businesses, which asked

6936-415: The most notable improvements of the Apple IIe is the addition of a ASCII -equivalent printable character set and keyboard. The most important addition is the ability to input and display lower-case letters. Other keyboard improvements include four-way cursor control and standard editing keys ( Del and Tab ↹ ), two special Apple modifier keys (Open and Solid Apple), and a safe off-to-side relocation of

7038-606: The motherboard design is much cleaner and runs cooler as well, with enough room to add a pin-connector for an (optional) external numeric keypad . Also added was a backport-accessible DE-9 joystick connector, making it far easier for users to add and remove game and input devices (previous models requiring plugging the joystick/paddles directly into a 16-pin DIP socket on the motherboard; the IIe retained this connector for backwards compatibility). Also improved were port openings for expansion cards. Rather than cutout V-shaped slot openings as in

7140-467: The motherboard for faults and also test its main bank of memory. The Apple IIe lowered production costs and improved reliability by merging the function of several off-the-shelf ICs into single custom chips, reducing total chip count to 31 (previous models used 120 chips). The IIe also switched to using newer single-voltage 64x1 DRAM chips instead of the triple-voltage 16x1 DRAM in the II/II+. For this reason

7242-451: The motherboard free of charge. In later years Apple labeled newer IIe motherboards with a "-A" suffix once again, although in terms of functionality they were Revision B motherboards. In 1984, Apple revised the case and keyboard. The original IIe uses a case very similar to the Apple II Plus, painted and with Velcro -type clips to secure the lid with a strip of metal mesh along the edge to eliminate radio frequency interference . The new case

7344-414: The new features made for an attractive general-purpose machine to first-time computer shoppers. As the last surviving model of the Apple II computer line before discontinuation, and having been manufactured and sold for nearly 11 years with relatively few changes, the IIe was the longest-lived computer in Apple's history. Apple Computer planned to discontinue the Apple II series after the introduction of

7446-515: The old discrete IC-based circuitry to a single chip. This change resulted in reducing the cost and size of the motherboard. Some of the hardware features of the Apple III (e.g. bank-switched memory) were borrowed in the design of the Apple IIe, and some from incorporating the Apple II Plus Language card. The culmination of these changes led to increased sales and greater market share of home, education, and small business use. One of

7548-629: The original II in terms of electronic functionality. There were small differences in the physical appearance and keyboard. RAM prices fell during 1980–81 and all II+ machines came from the factory with a full 48 KB of memory already installed. After the success of the first Apple II in the United States, Apple expanded its market to include Europe, Australia and the Far East in 1979, with the Apple II Europlus (Europe, Australia) and

7650-499: The physical plug connectors factory-soldered in. The upgrade kit proved unpopular as it did not include a mouse; the keyboard did not mimic all the features of the Apple Desktop Bus keyboard; and some cards designed for the Apple II GS did not fit in the Apple IIe's slanted case. In the end, most users found they were not saving much, once they had to purchase a 3.5-inch floppy drive, analog RGB monitor, and mouse. For

7752-526: The previous machine except for four chips changed on the motherboard (and a small " Enhanced " or " 65C02 " sticker placed over the keyboard power indicator). The purpose of the update was to make the Apple IIe more compatible with the Apple IIc (released the previous year) and, to a smaller degree, the Apple II Plus. This change involved a new processor, the CMOS-based 65C02 CPU, a new character ROM for

7854-452: The release of the Macintosh LC series, Apple released the PDS slot-based Apple IIe Card for the Macintosh . By plugging this card into a Macintosh LC (and later models incorporating an LC PDS slot), through hardware and (some) software emulation, the Macintosh can run most software written for the 8-bit Apple IIe computer. This miniaturized computer on a card was made possible by a chip called

7956-571: The reset key moved above the ESC and '1' keys, the Open and Solid Apple modifier keys replaced by Command and Option and the power LED relocated above the numeric keypad. Gone were the recessed metal ID badges (showing the Apple logo and name, with "//e" beside it) replaced with a simpler "Apple IIe" silk screened on the case lid in the Apple Garamond font. A smaller Apple logo badge remained, which

8058-412: The revision A to have authorized dealers replace it with the revision B motherboard. Shortly after the "Revision A" motherboard's release in 1983, engineers discovered that the bank-switching feature (which used a paralleled 64 KB of RAM on the Extended 80-Column Card or 1 KB to produce 80 columns using bank-switching) could also be used to produce a new graphics mode, Double-High-Resolution, which doubles

8160-464: The rounded "a" of the logotype echoed the "bite" in the logo. This logo was developed simultaneously with an advertisement and a brochure; the latter being produced for distribution initially at the first West Coast Computer Faire . Since the original Apple II, Apple has paid high attention to its quality of packaging, partly because of Steve Jobs ' personal preferences and opinions on packaging and final product appearance. All of Apple's packaging for

8262-526: The serial ports, mouse, and real-time clock. The IIe card could not, however, run software intended for the 16-bit Apple II GS . Mike Markkula , a retired Intel marketing manager, provided the early critical funding for Apple Computer. From 1977 to 1981, Apple used the Regis McKenna agency for its advertisements and marketing. In 1981, Chiat-Day acquired Regis McKenna's advertising operations and Apple used Chiat-Day. At Regis McKenna Advertising,

8364-414: The socket. In some countries these localized IIes also support 50 Hz PAL video instead of the standard 60 Hz NTSC video and the different 220/240 volt power of that region. An equivalent of the "PAL color card" for the earlier Apple II Europlus model was integrated into the motherboard of these IIes, so that color graphics are available without the addition of a slot card. Another difference with

8466-462: The team assigned to launch the Apple II consisted of Rob Janoff , art director, Chip Schafer, copywriter and Bill Kelley, account executive. Janoff came up with the Apple logo with a bite out of it. The design was originally an olive green with matching company logotype all in lowercase. Steve Jobs insisted on promoting the color capability of the Apple II by putting rainbow stripes on the Apple logo. In its letterhead and business card implementation,

8568-462: The text modes, and two new ROM firmware chips. The 65C02 added more CPU instructions, the new character ROM added 32 special " MouseText " characters (which allowed the creation of a GUI -like display in text mode, similar to IBM code page 437 ), and the new ROM firmware fixed problems and speed issues with 80-column text, introduced the ability to use lowercase in Applesoft BASIC and Monitor, and contained some other smaller improvements (and fixes) in

8670-453: The time of the Apple IIe's introduction, and well into the first few months of production, this motherboard shipped with all units. Graphics modes supported are identical to, and limited to, those of the Apple II Plus before it (Double-Low/Double-High resolution is not supported). This revision logic board is also incompatible with a small number of newer plug-in expansion slot cards. Under a free service upgrade program, Apple advised owners of

8772-461: The updated ROMs using re-rewritable EPROM chips. When Apple phased out the Enhancement kit in the early 1990s, this became the only available method for users looking to upgrade their IIe, and remains so right up until the present day. An Enhanced machine identifies itself with the name "Apple //e" on its start-up splash screen (as opposed to the less-specific "Apple ]["). In January 1987 came

8874-479: Was already four years old. In September 1981 InfoWorld reported—below the PC's announcement—that Apple was secretly developing three new computers "to be ready for release within a year": Lisa , Macintosh , and "Diana". Describing the last as a software-compatible Apple II replacement—"A 6502 machine using custom LSI " and a simpler motherboard—it said that Diana "was ready for release months ago" but decided to improve

8976-509: Was also slow and unreliable. The Apple II's lack of a disk drive was "a glaring weakness" in what was otherwise intended to be a polished, professional product. Recognizing that the II needed a disk drive to be taken seriously, Apple set out to develop a disk drive and a DOS to run it. Wozniak spent the 1977 Christmas holidays designing a disk controller that reduced the number of chips used by a factor of 10 compared to existing controllers. Still lacking

9078-508: Was available, after some user-specific voice training it would recognize simple commands (Hit, stand). Bob Bishop's "Music Kaleidoscope" was a simple program that monitored the cassette input port and based on zero-crossings created color patterns on the screen, a predecessor to current audio visualization plug-ins for media players. Music Kaleidoscope was especially popular on projection TV sets in dance halls. Apple and many third-party developers made software available on tape at first, but after

9180-431: Was configured as if it were a 48 KB Apple II Plus with a language card. The machine had no slot 0, but instead had an auxiliary slot that could accept a 1 KB memory card to enable the 80-column display. This card contained only RAM; the hardware and firmware for the 80-column display was built into the Apple IIe. An "extended 80-column card" with more memory increased the machine's RAM to 128 KB. The Apple IIe

9282-434: Was entitled "Simplicity" and the copy in both the ad and brochure pioneered "demystifying" language intended to make the new idea of a home computer more "personal." The Apple II introduction ad was later run in the September 1977 issue of Scientific American . Apple later aired eight television commercials for the Apple II GS , emphasizing its benefits to education and students, along with some print ads. The Apple II

9384-527: Was frequently cloned, both in the United States and abroad, in a similar way to the IBM PC. According to some sources (see below), more than 190 different models of Apple II clones were manufactured. Most could not be legally imported into the United States. Apple sued and sought criminal charges against clone makers in more than a dozen countries. Originally the Apple II used Compact Cassette tapes for program and data storage. A dedicated tape recorder along

9486-444: Was moved to the right side of the case. Internally, a (reduced in size) Extended 80-Column Card was factory-installed, making the Platinum IIe come standard with 128 KB RAM and Double-Hi-Res graphics enabled. The motherboard has a reduced chip count by merging the two system ROM chips into one and using higher-density memory chips so its 64 KB RAM can be made up of two (64 Kbx4) chips rather than eight (64 Kbx1) chips, bringing

9588-523: Was only available in Europe, and therefore also had regional differences mentioned above. It has been rumored that a small number of these machines were made available in the Canadian and US markets, using the standard North American keyboard and motherboard (photographic evidence of this North American variant can be found in some period Apple II magazines). This hybrid platinum model is somewhat rare. When

9690-473: Was possible for software developers to create a DOS 3.2 disk which would also boot on a system with DOS 3.3 firmware. Later, double-sided drives, with heads to read both sides of the disk, became available from third-party companies. (Apple only produced double-sided 5.25-inch disks for the Lisa 1 computer). On a DOS 3.x disk, tracks 0, 1, and most of track 2 were reserved to store the operating system. (It

9792-420: Was possible, with a special utility, to reclaim most of this space for data if a disk did not need to be bootable.) A short ROM program on the disk controller had the ability to seek to track zero – which it did without regard for the read/write head's current position, resulting in the characteristic "chattering" sound of a Disk II boot, which was the read/write head hitting the rubber stop block at

9894-502: Was previously available as an upgrade, supported floating-point arithmetic, and became the standard BASIC dialect on the Apple II series (though it ran at a noticeably slower speed than Steve Wozniak's Integer BASIC). Except for improved graphics and disk-booting support in the ROM, and the removal of the 2k 6502 assembler to make room for the floating point BASIC, the II+ was otherwise identical to

9996-477: Was released. Essentially a miniaturized Apple IIe computer on a card (using the Mega II chip from the Apple II GS ), it allowed the Macintosh to run 8-bit Apple IIe software through hardware emulation , with an option to run at roughly double the speed of the original IIe (about 1.8 MHz). However, the video output was emulated in software, and, depending on how much of the screen the currently running program

10098-491: Was the Apple IIc Plus introduced in 1988. It was the same size and shape as the IIc that came before it, but the 5.25-inch floppy drive had been replaced with a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -inch drive, the power supply was moved inside the case, and the processor was a fast 4 MHz 65C02 processor that actually ran 8-bit Apple II software faster than the II GS . The IIc Plus also featured a new keyboard layout that matched

10200-486: Was the most popular machine in the Apple II series. It has the distinction of being the longest-lived Apple computer of all time—it was manufactured and sold with only minor changes for nearly 11 years. The IIe was the last Apple II model to be sold, and was discontinued in November 1993. During its lifespan two variations were introduced: the Apple IIe Enhanced (four replacement chips to give it some of

10302-524: Was trying to update in a single frame, performance could be much slower compared to a real IIe. This is due to the fact that writes from the 65C02 on the IIe Card to video memory were caught by the additional hardware on the card, so the video emulation software running on the Macintosh side could process that write and update the video display. But, while the Macintosh was processing video updates, execution of Apple II code would be temporarily halted. With

10404-470: Was user-installable as two PROMs on older controllers.) After the release of DOS 3.3, the user community discontinued use of DOS 3.2 except for running legacy software. Programs that required DOS 3.2 were fairly rare; however, as DOS 3.3 was not a major architectural change aside from the number of sectors per track, a program called MUFFIN was provided with DOS 3.3 to allow users to copy files from DOS 3.2 disks to DOS 3.3 disks. It

#919080