Hey Adrian, great[est] video for me, being your brother and having shared that very APPLE ][+ during those early days of computing! I must say I was touched watching this video! It really brought me back, just seeing you pop open that Apple ][ top and pulling cards! We both started our Information Technology careers because of the use of these early computers and that proves one thing loud and clear: our parents knew, that putting computers in the hands of young kids was a positive thing for our future. Remember just how expensive (relatively speaking) computers were at the start in the 70’s and early 80’s and for many families it was a stretch. Thank you Dad and mom as I know you will read this comment, it was the right thing to do for us back then, look at us now! I love that Adrian is now the digital custodian of these amazing first steps of information technology. Also Adrian, about the yellow stains, I know what that is. It’s a smoker that was using that computer for years. In my PC hardware days we saw a lot of this type of discolouration, it’s just a smoker’s machine. Use a heavier solvent if you want to go back to the original colour. Thanks again for this video, Adrian, it was awesome to watch! eBXo
I was too very lucky to have a Dad that worked at 'a large telephone research facility'. They had a group of guys that would hack and build their own Apple ]['s from scratch, and so my Dad got involved with them and we 'built' ours. I still have it. I'll mention more about it in a separate comment below, but just wanted to say yes, I too started my career in this way as well. I was programming 6502 assembler in High School, which I was able to then breeze through the Assembly Language class in college. I ended up getting a BS and MS in Computer Science, and have been working as a Software Developer ever since. It's also a reason why I work with kids and STEM projects in my local schools and community. When their faces light up because their program or their little robot starts working, it transports me back to the fun times I had when I was their age. One other thing you are right on as well. It was not cheap back then. I'm not sure what we spent on the A2+, but when I went to grad school, my dad forked out 3000 dollars for a fully-tricked out Gateway PC at the time. Because of that, when my Dad needs a new machine or any kind of technical support, it is provided by me, no cost. He always asks me how much the stuff costs, and I tell him don't worry about the cost. That is my thanks to him.
Smoking was one source of the yellowing, another I’ve seen was sunlight exposure if the computer was sitting for years on a desk adjacent to a window. Another thing I forgot to mention in my other comment was that the primary reason for not putting the monitor on top of the drives was because some monitors had enough RFI to cause I/O errors or not allow the drives to boot or read at all.
I never said having the monitor on top of the drives destroyed any diskettes. It just caused temporary read errors (I/O errors) sometimes, which would go away if you moved the monitor further away or off to the side. Customers having problems didn’t want to hear that since Apple always showed the monitor on top of the drives in their ads, although they eventually did start recommending against it. The drives originally had no shielding and had no ground connection to the cover, or to the metal lower chassis of the drive either. Some brands and models of monitors didn’t cause any problem, others did. Also remember many folks were using small TV’s for a display on the Apple ][, if they didn’t have an 80 column card and were likely playing games mostly anyway. Actually the 5.25 inch floppy’s were notoriously hard to destroy though except through physical damage or exposure to an actual degaussing coil or bulk tape eraser.
I think Stewart deserves a big round of applause; not only was his packaging technique one of the best I've ever seen, but the tone of his letter was very humorous. However, I'd also like to mention how awesome I think Adrian's father was, without whose encouragement of young Adrian we might not have had this exceptionally great youtube channel.
Just further proof of how genuine and honest Adrian is. This man's character is what finds me always checking my subscriptions list for a dot next to "Adrian's Digital Basement", in the hopes that Adrian has posted another new video for us. This guy is the real deal and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, is what keeps me coming back for more. Thank You Adrian! Fred
@@electronicengineer Absolutely, that's why I watch Adrian's digital basement. What a genuine, honest and modest man. Compare that to the 8bit guy: "Nah, don't send me all this crap, I don't have enough space, I don't have enough time. Why should I say thank you to people who spend a lot of time and effort to send me stuff for free? Too bad that I have to make these damn UA-cam videos and deal with these annoying watchers. It would be so much better if UA-cam just gave me the money without all the nasty work. And oh, I got a super rare computer. Let's just randomly put in paperclips at any of the connectors. And while I am at it, let's dremel into the case. Whatever, I don't know what I am doing, anyway."
My first computer was a VIC20 also. Loved that thing and programmed for hours and hours. In college I scored an Apple 2E, and also have such a great time with my apple cat modem and programming and running a BBS from my room in our rented house filled with electrical engineers and software guys. Such good times!! Lots of programming with the assembler Merlin?? spent a lot of time pouring thru the Rom of that computer. Steve Wozniac was a genius programmer and I modeled my coding style after him.
I love your enthusiasm for that computer and the story of your own personal background with it. Those early computers are always very dear to us as we continue our careers. As for the yellowing, I found the Apple IIs can be restored to their natural color very easily with some gentle retrobrighting (some combination of hydrogen peroxide and sun--or you could even just try sun exposure and see if that helps since it doesn't seem super yellow). Looking forward to the repair and restoration video!
Thanks Noel! What is interesting -- is this machine is definitely painted. Apple switched from painting their computers to just having the plastic be the color they wanted some time while making the IIe... and I don't see how retrobrite could possibly work on a painted machine.
I got teared up reading the note. This was a great episode. Stuart you are a great dude. Adrian I'm glad I found your channel when I did. I was bored with a lot of the other "retro" guys on here. You're legit, super knowledgeable and fun to watch.
Hi Adrian, much respect to your dad. My story is similar. Back in 1981 I begged my dad for a ZX81 for Christmas. My friends were getting Vic20s and other higher end computers but I knew what we could afford. Christmas day came and a ZX81 is exactly what I got. From there I progressed through Acorn BBC Electrons and BBC's and then into PC's When I left school I started by career in I.T. and I am still doing that today. All through the support of my dad and the leap he took on buying me that ZX81. I also spend as much time using the old 8Bit computers, I buy then whenever I can and have my loft space pretty full with ongoing projects.
Watching you restore this Apple II+ while This Does Not Compute simultaneously restores a trashpicked Apple IIe has warmed my heart. These machines were fulcrums of our childhoods. These are the best videos. Thanks for keeping them alive and sharing your experiences.
Adrian, yours is one of the best if not THE best hands-on vintage computing channels on UA-cam (honestly you should have 100x the subs you do, and I drive everyone I know with even a passing interest in old tech to your channel), so trust me when I say that I do not lightly "insist" you do anything but...I insist you play some Wizardry! (Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord will suffice), Lode Runner, Choplifter and Temple of Aphsai on it ;) Those were my favorite games to play in Computer Class back in 7th grade (which would've been...84ish or so?), although I did like writing programs in Logo.
Definitely up there for sure. Although he sticks to overviews mostly, they are quite detailed enough to give a really good impression of the machines. Even for those of us who really get into the nuts and bolts of these things.
For me it was Load Runner and Ultima II/III,IV. I didn't play Choplifter much, I thought it was too hard, and I wasn't a real big joystick user. Wizardry was mysterious for me, as it was written in Pascal. I didn't get into Pascal until high school and I recall it required the 80 col card. In the day some games were purchased while others were copied. Wizardry, I think, had copy protection. I Logo, wasn't much a part of the curriculum, but I did recall maybe a unit which included it, a day or two worth of instruction, that was it, in Summer school. Otherwise I had BASIC, Advanced BASIC, and Assembly for classes.
Great video Adrian. I used a II+ at the public library on Saturday mornings in downtown Syracuse NY back in the early 80’s and had one for awhile in the mid-90’s. It was the Bell and Howell black one. I started with computers when my Dad bought me a Timex/Sinclair 1000 in 1983 when I was 13 at Wegmans grocery store of all places and went from there. Just love this channel!
Catching up on this. I LOVE your t-shirt. This is the same story as me -- I had a vic 20, then a ti 99-4/a, then the Apple ][+ .... I loved my ][+ .... The IIgs was nice, but it didn't have the same joy that the ][+ did. Even at 52, I can still remember so many pieces of the zero page, the ROM entry points, and all sorts of stuff from 40 years ago! It's really amazing how it shaped my life. Hardware projects and programming, even cracking copy protection (like The Newsroom) and swapping software with friends. So much fun. Can't wait to watch the rest of the series. I gotta find one of those shirts.
This was just so wholesome. Thank you for sharing your stories, Adrian! I did not grow up with these computers, my first machine already had Windows 95 on it, but I am learning a lot and I am happy that you share this fascinating period of computers with us. Thank you, fantastic video!
I might have teared up a touch around 6:00. This is a really good video, great content, great editing. One thing I really like about your channel is how humble and appreciative you are.
Ha! Small world. I also grew up in Montreal and my jaw hit the floor when you mentioned that you went to the same elementary school in NDG, Willingdon. I was there from about 1981 to 1987, when I went on to Royal West. I can confirm that we used those Apple II computers in those years in the elementary school's computer lab. I have some fond memories of those machines, my only real exposure to Apple computers as I've always favored PC compatibles. We made our own move for good to the States in 1990.
Just got one missed the other week! Want much a part of my childhood, but I still love it so much! It's very satisfying, too, to watch the little LED lamps light up when you, say, boot a DOS disc that loads Integer Basic alongside AppleSoft, watch it write the memory and then lock it, and toggle another LED back and forth by toggling which BASIC is active 😄 Like you, I just love how much these computers just assume a very "hands on" attitude, something later, more Jobs-ian Apple hardware strongly discouraged (which hasn't stopped me from loving those in their own right, too)
Gotta be said, Adrian is hands down the nicest guy on UA-cam, great attitude, personality, and seriously knows his shit... And won't use a dremel to open a rare computer.. 😉
oh the joy of watching you open that box.... talk about Christmas morning moment.... I was already working when the Apple II arrived. My first exposure to a personal computer was an Apple II which was used to run a program to generate shadow diagrams for building proposals. Revolutionary in 1980.
In elementary school there was one computer in the entire school, an Apple II Plus, owned by one of the second grade teachers. I was lucky enough to get her as a teacher, spawning a lifelong passion for computers and technology.
That is amazing -- teachers are so underappreciated and underpaid. I have several teachers from my youth I will never forget -- even 30+ years later, they had a huge impact on my life that is still with me.
@@adriansdigitalbasement My middle school teacher wrote this: www.thequartermile.com - Mr. Barnum. We used to play his program in class, having a score board and contests. Did you ever play with Fire Organ? He had it and would play it for us, in class. He never would let us "borrow" a copy.
So, by sheer luck you put your insulation the right way on the walls, always put the metallic side towards warmth, foam side insulates cold and metallic side reflects warmth (back inside).
Thank you for putting that index / chapter navigator into the video description of every video! I landed on part III by mercy of UA-cam, tried to find part I by just browsing through your uploads and it wasn't easy! (esp. since this video doesn't say "Apple" in the title). Then I thought to look in the description - and voila! Appreciate your attention to the viewers :)
Oh man does this bring back memories. I was sent to the office A LOT (lol) when I was a kid in Ontario, they had me working on the ICON workstations in the library and the C64s we had in each class since I was getting in trouble for finishing my work way before the other kids, and that combined with my dad buying me a 386 to keep me off of his computers and my experience with family in the UK with their Beebs and Archimedes machines started what ended up to be my career as a consulting software engineer
I know this is an old video and you probably won't have a chance to read this considering you're full time recording videos now, but Adrian the feeling I'm getting (along with all the viewers and your followers I'm sure) is the absolute joy and nostalgia. I too, just as Stewart and you (and many more) had these at home and then took the class in school where I got into a little bit of trouble myself because I knew computers very well and the teachers had NO IDEA back in the 80s.. haha it was a great time to be alive.. Thank you for sharing these great stories!
Hey Adrian, Love your episodes. I remember my great fondness using Apple 1,2,plus, 2E, And a 3 series over the years in grade school up to high school. I remembering seeing the original Apple series made of wood. (Amazingly primitive craftsman looking) The lab was full of these cool Apples from over the years.. The Apple 2 GS Woz version that was allowed to play with as well. I loved these and wished Apple would have developed the series further. (so ahead of its time) Thanks again for putting this video up/out... I got great pleasure reliving my early memories.
It's so nice to see people with a true love and passion for what they do. And, though Adrian said his career is/has been in IT, the job never defines the person. It's the hobby and excitement that comes from it, that's really who a person is. I've probably got 15 to 20 years on Adrian, so my initial exposure to electronics was CB radio, which lead to an electronics technology program, then consumer electronics repair. Fortunately, I bought a VIC20, and that initiation defined the rest of my working life. From VIC20 to C64 to Atari SE, then to home-built x86 machines. More recently (last 15+ years), I've been an Apple user, and tinker with Linux, Raspberry Pi. Like so many involved in consumer electronics, ultimately, I had to reinvent myself as a tech in Neonatal equipment, software QA, and software customer support for medical related products. Anyway, none of that would have happened if not for the VIC20. It's also good that I got involved in computers and gadgets when I did, as people just a few years older than me often missed the boat, if they had wanted to board. Two things I found invaluable in the tech/troubleshooting business: 1) Half splitting, 2) When interviewing for a tech position, never say that you know all about something, when you don't, because sure as the sun's gonna rise tomorrow, the person who invented it will be sitting in the next room, and they'll bring him/her into the room to talk to you. And yes, though Beavis and Butthead never said it: Stewart rules! 😃
Sounds like we're of similar vintage! I turned my electronics hobby into my career. I was working on CBs before going off to a technical college, then got into computers, data communications and networking. Lots of stories to tell throughout my career, many from the CB era. I can honestly say I've seen someone wire a PL-259 plug onto RG58 coax and swap the polarity (shield to center pin, center conductor to outer shell). Wish I'd had a camera! More or less the CB equivalent of using a PC CD-ROM drive tray as a cup holder; an urban legend, but someone was bound to do it for real eventually!
Bob Blum Haha! There's really no end to the craziness that was CB radio at that time. Likewise, of course, the cast of characters (including me) was just as bizarre. After reading your reply, I spent a few minutes thinking back to some of the gear and people of the day. Not so different from the internet in some ways. Today, there are young people on scooters or boards with a fancy gaming laptop in their backpack. I knew a kid who had a 5 watt, 12 channel Lafayette Radio Electronics walkie-talkie and a 102" whip attached to his stingray bicycle. Today, a fancy RGB keyboard or mouse makes an awesome input device. I had a D-104 desktop mic. Come to think of it, "past me" was pretty nerdy. Thanks for taking the time to reply. 😃
10:09 about the Apple II being from such a different era of Apple compared to today, really well said. I grew up around C64s, Atari STs, an Apple II in school and my uncle's Mac Classic, and loved the whole journey of exploration around all those machines. Later in the late 2000s I got a few old Palm PDAs including a T3 and T5, and was overjoyed at how open they were, a bit like going back to the 80s for home computers. Then I got an iPod Touch and discovered how closed and proprietary Apple had become, with almost entirely non-serviceable parts and a totally locked down operating system. Hopefully we can get back some of that openness of the past.
You are so lucky you had some one to buy the computers for you. I worked 3 paper routes for almost a year to afford my first TRS-80. And additional months more to afford a disk drive, printer, expansion slot, speech synth card, etc... in winter I tied cardboard boxes to the sled's handles and pulled it behind me often in thigh deep snow. I remember often coming home with my corduroy pants soaking wet and having to go out again to finish my routes. I would have loved an Apple but they were like 700% of what the TRS-80 was.
Adrian, I just noticed the Beagle Bros, T-Shirt. I love the Beagle Bros, and their "One Line" basic programs. I put it in quotes because sometimes they were two lines, and frankly it was a euphemism, because the code would normally have been written in multiple lines but they shortened the syntax and used semicolons to avoid starting a new line of code. Usually the small programs did something a little fun. They were getting the most out of the least amount of programming.
I had no idea you were an NDG kid! I lived in the Deeg for years, love that neighbourhood. So much cool stuff to be found and feels like a town unto itself.
It's been forever now but I knew every inch because I rode my bicycle everywhere back then. Things have probably changed but it was such a great place to grow up. My brother still lives there with his family.
I really appreciate the thought Stewart put into the packing. It would be really difficult to unpack without all that thought. And of course a really generous donation that Adrian clearly appreciates, very touching. The title is a nice surprise for a new video but I think worth editing to include the computer name for the longer term. Sometimes I think I wouldn't do it like that but I overwhelmingly appreciate Adrian's fault finding and how he present things. I'm not big on Spectrums but he is wrong about that, it's a very reliable machine but not quite as good as the ultimate 8-bit micro, the Acorn BBC model B! ;)
I didn't know you were from Québec, pretty rad! I had only seen a couple of your vids so far. This one is really heart warming and fun, I'll definitely more content from you.
Adrian, i am Canadian from my mothers side, and I have visited my family there in Montreal. And I froze Big Time during the winter time. I could not wait until I came back home. I loved the summer time there, but Not the Winter time at all.
I would love to have a dad like Adrian’s. Come to think of it I would love to have Adrian as a friend back in the day... Keep up with the great content! We love it
I look forward to seeing more of this. I had a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A that was my first computer. I paid $20 at a yard sale out of my own pocket money for it. My father feared and hated computers. I knew they were the future. And that was why I loved them. I never could get him to buy me one. Yet those Apple II Plus I used the most at school. Played so many of my first computer games on Apple II plus. Never got to use a VIC 20. We had Commodore 64 by then. I did a lot my first programming on a Commodore 64 in my Middle School Computer lab. Now I build and program my own PC's. And repair old game consoles. :P
Reading between the lines: Apple could make the iPhone “open and serviceable and expansible”. It’d fit snugly in a VCR tape box and weigh way more than a VCR tape did. I hope you got big sturdy pockets to fit one in, and to pay for all that extra material and shipping and processing costs - big things aren’t cheaper at all! Small or open. Pick one. All the connectors and shields so that your fingers won’t shear off components small enough that they get hard to see without glasses and so on: it takes space and weight. I am totally sure that Apple could make such a phone and nobody would buy it. I am all for open and expansible stuff. I want my phone to be small, light and practical. You can attach all your nerdy peripherals to it via lightning to USB cable and an Ethernet adapter. Your own peripheral can provide an Ethernet USB function and be totally compatible with an iPhone. Your own app can talk to it no problem. So as far as expansion goes, it already allows you to add your own peripherals - whatever you wish for. And to easily code for them. What else would one want?
Kuba Ober Well we talk here about computers and not phones. The computers that apple built today are not really fixable at all and apple does everything they can that they are not fixable. I recommend you the youtube channel of louis rossmann, he repairs macbooks on a component level and has much to say about this topic :)
Hi Adrian, Love these retro videos. What I found to work really well cleaning those cases is scrubbing bubbles, and a soft brush. Spray it on, then use the brush, and wipe it off. Let me know how it works for you.
Wow! The parallels. Vic 20 for me on my birthday in 83, then only 6 months later (after hounding my Dad continuously) he bought me a used Apple ][ Plus around Xmas. You are spot on about the Language card. I would load in the Original Apple ][ ROM in high memory then bank switch. Not for Integer Basic but the built in mini-assembler. Way cooler for writing programs than using the Monitor. Just wanted to say your Channel is my favourite on UA-cam...and I have a lot of Subs!
Its so easy to understand that Stewart meticulous packing is a tribute to this channel, just another form of respect which people watch this channel are dying to give/show towards Adrian :) U looked so sweet as a child and have a rather pleasant personality even now like the "8-bit guy" and Techmoan, legends!
Thoroughly enjoyed the video, Adrian. I'm the proud _original_ owner of an Apple ][+ that was a ][ with the floating point ROMs installed at the computer store where I bought it. The ][+ had just come out and they couldn't keep up with demand. So the cover doesn't even have the Plus. I haven't booted it up in years, but after seeing you replacing that capacitor I plan to check and replace it in mine as a precaution. Looking forward to the next chapter in your Apple ][+ saga!
i went to grade school in the chicagoland area in the mid 80s. We had a computer lab with about 15 Apple IIEs (and a couple TIs in the corner which i never went near). This got me totally obsessed with computers. My parents eventually got me an Apple IIC+ which I wish I knew what we did with it. Just like Stuart and Adrian this sparked a lifelong interest in computers, and retro computing (which brings me to this channel!). And I played the hell out of Bards Tale (3), Ultima (IV) and Oregon Trail (which I played at school a million, million times). What a great video!
Looks like exactly the same setup our school had when I was in 9th grade. I convinced my high school to start a computer programming class back then in Newell SD... so many hours of typing code from magazines...
What a great life story - so many parallels with my own. Incredible packing job there too! I knew nothing about the Apple II going into this so thanks so much for the detailed exploration and info.
Another awesome video Adrian, you clearly are working very hard getting so much great content out. When you powered it on, I was thinking please don't work, we want to see some troubleshooting. Not to wish you bad luck, I love it when things I get don't work and I think you do too
what a great packing job! when I was in elementary school they had apple IIes in a row in the library with every other one hooked to an imagewriter printer. I always craved to get to that particular machine. and then I would gorge on The print shop lol. if I didn't, it was oregon trail, or karateka. I don't think I ever saw a II plus, so must have not been that common where we lived. I got what was the closest to my childhood system when I got a IIc on freecycle about 8 years ago. I also by that time had acquired an imagewriter printer, so I was able to pair the two together. and among the software I got with the IIc? The print shop. lol good times.
Excellent video Adrian. Fair play to Stewart for donating such a lovely setup (and major kudos on the A+ packing job). Really looking forward to seeing this machine restored to it’s full glory.
That's a nice piece of kit, be good to see it working! Never ceases to amaze me as to what people donate to you, LGR and others, real nice stuff! That's probably the best packing job i've seen in ages as well! I find it kind of interesting hearing what schools in other countries used for computers back in the 70's/80's/90's. Being in the UK, I only remember BBC Micros or Acorn Archimedes in schools back then. I don't remember my lower school in the mid-late 80's having any computers although they may have had one BBC Model B (I don't think there was really any computers in most schools till the BBC Computers for schools thing), middle school had a computer room with A3000's and some BBC Micro's scattered around the school. Upper school in the mid-late 90's had some Archimedes I think and BBC Model B's on an Econet (the library had a BBC Model B with a Teletext adapter!), then later on they went and they replaced them with 286's used as terminals on what I think was a 486 server in one part of the school and I think soon after in another part they set up a room with brand new Evesham Vale 486 SX25's with 4mb ram! Must've cost a fortune back then!
Here in the U.K. schools used the BBC Micro for the same usage as the Apple II in the USA. In 2004 I was given an Apple II+ with twin drives & a Apple green screen monitor - the company I worked for had previously used it to run a vinyl plotter for sign writing. It worked perfectly and I had all the discs. Eventually I donated it my local computer museum along with two Dragon 32’s and two BBC Micro’s - since I’ve been watching videos like this I’ve regretted it endlessly
Hi there Adrian, I'm watching your channel for quite a while now, and I wanted to first and foremost thank you for your amazing content. Despite the fact that I'm a little bit younger than you are, I still grew up in the 386-486 era, and seeing all those goodies from your channel (like the Amiga 1000 for example) gives me some sort of a warm feeling inside. By the way, I didn't know you grew up in Montreal :O It's almost like my hometown haha I was borned and raised in Drummondville, which is like an hour away from Montreal in the east, but now I'm in Sherbrooke for my studies in chemistry. Once again, thank you for your content, and I really hope your channel will last for years to come. Keep it up man !
You are surely a better man than I. If somebody had sent me a non-working machine and I had not easy access to appropriate tools and replacement parts, PLUS I were not already knowledgeable and/or enthusiastic about that model, I'm not sure I would have considered it a gift... Thanks for your inspirational videos.
I remember owning the Apply II EuroPlus model. Basically the European/Australian/Asian model that has a little switch on the bottom of the keyboard so you could change between the two inbuilt keyboard layouts usualy the standard US and the layout for whatever country you purchased the computer in.
Hey Adrian I'm from germany and I watch every video from your chanel. I like the repair videos from the old stuff, exspacally the Commodore. I wonder where you put all the stuff after the video, do you have a storrage? Maybe you can show the people where you live and where you make the videos. Thanks for all the great videos!
I'd dare you to take that power supply into the Genius bar - just to put them in their place with a PSU that's most likely older than they are - I'd love to see their faces when they try to think what it is!
the Apple //, //+, //e, //c and //c+ were really nice looking pieces of hardware. I'm in love with my 3rd revision //c w/memory expansion slot and I see myself never selling it and giving it to my son when he's older ...and born.
Echoing the other comments - I have such respect for your dad and his investment in you. Look at all the dividends of joy his investment has paid out to us visitors to the basement.
Awesome donation!! Apple II Plus was my first computer and have very fond memories of it! I still play around with Apple II’s today! Thanks for all the inspiration from your videos to keep my retro-computers in tip-top shape, Adrian!!
My dad did the same for me when he brought home a new Commodore 128 in 1987 (though, to be fair, it was as much for him as it was for my sister and me). And while I didn't go into IT, having such an early start with technology has been nothing but helpful in every job I've had.
My Apple IIe smoked one of the 2 RIFA caps last month. It also blew the fuse but did no other harm. Replaced both caps and all is now working. Don't know why mine had two RIFA caps and yours only one, but best to replace them.
I mowed lawns to buy my first machine. When I had enough money to buy a VIC-20, my parents said to keep mowing and get the one you really want, the C64. I, like you, because of the machines influence, am also in IT and have based my entire life around computers. I owe my life to these 8-bit machines. Seems your feel the same.
This video really connected with me. The story you tell about your first computers is almost identical to my first computers. I also work in IT and really had the same start like you. Really cool. Love your videos.
that wasn't a "rant", it was a very nice memory of your youth! I have now an Apple //e under one of my LCD monitors, which I can run whenever I want in PIP mode! It was my mom's computer back in 1986 and it took me a long while to find one which was identical to the one we had, including the small Apple monochrome monitor. It was broken too and I totally enjoyed fixing it and also cleaning it thoroughly (try the Electrolube fluids, the motherboard will come up BRAND NEW!!). I've also recapped everything: PSU, drives and monitor. As you did, I removed the RIFA before even testing the PSU and the Monitor had three already-exploded RIFAs in it!! :D I retrobrighted the monitor case but, as you say, the Apple case is painted. I tested some peroxide at the back to make sure and it actually makes the paint a bit dull. Mine is not discoloured though so I am not sure what's going on on yours. I look forward to seeing your progress, thanks for sharing this with us! (Also: admit it, you would have been VERY disappointed if that machine just worked fine!!!)
My First computer was a Tandy 1000. Had a ton of fun playing games. I never really got into the programming or anything like that, but learned a ton about dos commands and writing batch files. A lot of times moving files, copying files and such, I would go to the Dos prompt and do it. It seemed so much easier typing dos commands than trying to navigate those old windows navigator programs. Also like you said its crazy back then Apple encouraged you to tweak things to Your liking. Nowadays they don't even want you changing the battery in your phones.
Hi Adrian. Another great video. What might be great would be a standalone video on basic inspection checklist of what to do before powering up the old units like the IIplus. The Rifa explanation was very helpful.
Thank you for your video (as always), and appreciate people who share their own belongs, maybe from childhood or pickup in old shack, love to see old computer being rescued from junkyard. Just watching these computer working and fixed by Adrian is very satisfying.
I have a II plus as well, but for love or money couldn't find a joystick adapter. Would you consider a video about how it works / how to build one? Your EE chops are far above mine!
IIRC, it was pretty simple. Just a DB9 connector wired to a DIP package. An Apple 2 Joystick was two Potentiometers (one for each X-Y direction, and two push-button switches). I never really liked the A2 joystick because of this, seems like Atari joysticks (which were switch based) were better for some games.
I worked with an Apple ][ back in 1979 at Analog Devices Semeconductor in Wilmington, MA. We created a card to control a temperature-test chamber. One of THE drawbacks was how much the motherboard flexed when inserting and removing cards ;(
It's wonderful to hear you reminisce about your youth. While it was a generation later my school computer lab experiences are deeply ingrained in me. In those days I and my teachers thought certain my future held computers in it. Unfortunately all sorts of circumstances conspired to prevent my achieving any of my dreams and here I sit a carpenter in his home town who regularly gets to bump into his old teachers and mentors who then spoil my day asking why I'm not "in computers." I'm still an avid enthusiast but it pains me to hear the path you followed that I did not. Kids: if you have a passion please don't hesitate to develop it!
Wow, this is awesome! I remember using one of those to win a programming competition in high school held at a local technical school. As a Commodore guy (Vic20 and C64) I had to practice at a local library to figure out the VERY different editing system for BASIC that Apple used. At least it felt very different to me. I was so proud of myself for beating everyone who had been programming on Apple for years. It was probably the sense of accomplishment from that competition that lead me to my career in tech. Geeks who grew up in the 70s owe a lot to our family, schools, and libraries who supported us with equipment that was very expensive, and didn’t seem super practical to most people at the time.
ASTEC made lots of power supplies for computers, and generally they were very good at it. They are now known by the name Artesyn, and still make really good power supplies :)
Brings me back to the Apple //c my dad got me -- and the time he once took the day off to drive me half way across the state to find printer ribbons for my Scribe printer. I still have the //c, the love of technology and games, and a career in tech/games that that Apple helped set me on course for.
I'm very happy for you, getting an apple II plus is a very special present, and i'm sure that you will love troubleshooting this monument of computer's history, i've heard that he told you to give it back to life again ! sure you'll put it in your hall of fame computer's museum thanks...
Great T-shirt! I used to drool over the Beagle Bros. software catalog. The couple of Beagle Bros. disks I had were some of my favorites. My first computer was an Apple ][e, and I loved that thing. Waking up on Christmas morning and seeing it in the living room was the best Christmas ever.
Fun Fact: It's called "Applesoft BASIC" because it was made by Microsoft. Integer BASIC was made by Woz, but was called Integer basic because it didn't support floating point.
Fun Fact Part 2: Steve Wozniak also included in the Integer Basic ROMs the Sweet-16, a virtual 16-bit machine. Another example of how wonderfully creative Woz could be. Fun Fact Part 3: Floppy disk controllers were too expensive back when the Apple ][ came out. So Woz designed a state machine based controller and bought just the floppy drive mechanicals, allowing Apple to come out with the Disk ][ drive.
Fun Fact: Apple licensing Microsoft BASIC saved Microsoft from bankruptcy after their disaster of a licensing deal with Jack Tramiel at Commodore. If only had Apple gone instead with the company that wrote Atari BASIC shortly thereafter...
@@TheJeremyHolloway I think it was scened. They all became aware of the fact that locking in the user in an artificially limited environment with no way out was the way to go. The DOS command line guaranteed a crippled computer Next step was protected mode witn an API. Now, everybody's running apps instead of programs, fully abstracted from the real computer underneath, only to spam and track you while all authorative control is hijacked.
@@bobblum5973 He also had the computer's 6502 processor do all the work that a disk controller ASIC would have done--yet another simple hardware + software solution to save on cost. That's good--Woz's work is elegant in this way, and highly effective (within limits in some cases). Then Apple jacked the price up as much as they could get away with anyway. ;) By the way, while Woz was undeniably creative and even a certifiable genius at certain things like reducing chip count, there were some...oddities regarding his design philosophy. For example, he didn't like interrupts and didn't understand why they were considered useful. At least that's what he told some people (literally that he didn't understand interrupts). And sure enough, the Apple II series does not natively support interrupts (there is some support in the expansion slots and the motherboard, but that was probably someone else's work, as Woz did not design the Apple II all by himself). I guess he was largely right, since his computer designs were clearly functional and remained on the market for many years, with their CPUs polling and counting (with some exceptions) all the way. He didn't save much hardware this way--he just didn't see the point. Note that he could have saved on hardware and cost by having the CPU drive the display, like the Atari VCS/2600 and Sinclair ZX series do, but he didn't go to that extreme. I won't go into this in detail right now, but suffice to say that interrupts do have their uses, much like his autonomous video logic. I guess eccentricity is often coincident with genius. :)
Some paints yellow like that. You could try a test retrobrite spot on an inconspicuous spot. Some paints retrobrite nicely, especially acrylic paints. That was an awesome donation.
![Apple ][ plus extreme cleaning + testing the Panasonic Monitor](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1iCLdbF1sgw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Apple ][ plus extreme cleaning + testing the Panasonic Monitor](/img/tr.png)
![Fixes for the Apple ][ plus Language Card and Keyboard](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wVUWaodwNNI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Apple ][ plus: 8304 replacement from AliExpress, more keyboard fixes, and a huge surprise!](/img/n.gif)
Hey Adrian, great[est] video for me, being your brother and having shared that very APPLE ][+ during those early days of computing! I must say I was touched watching this video! It really brought me back, just seeing you pop open that Apple ][ top and pulling cards! We both started our Information Technology careers because of the use of these early computers and that proves one thing loud and clear: our parents knew, that putting computers in the hands of young kids was a positive thing for our future. Remember just how expensive (relatively speaking) computers were at the start in the 70’s and early 80’s and for many families it was a stretch. Thank you Dad and mom as I know you will read this comment, it was the right thing to do for us back then, look at us now! I love that Adrian is now the digital custodian of these amazing first steps of information technology.
Also Adrian, about the yellow stains, I know what that is. It’s a smoker that was using that computer for years. In my PC hardware days we saw a lot of this type of discolouration, it’s just a smoker’s machine. Use a heavier solvent if you want to go back to the original colour.
Thanks again for this video, Adrian, it was awesome to watch!
eBXo
I was too very lucky to have a Dad that worked at 'a large telephone research facility'. They had a group of guys that would hack and build their own Apple ]['s from scratch, and so my Dad got involved with them and we 'built' ours. I still have it. I'll mention more about it in a separate comment below, but just wanted to say yes, I too started my career in this way as well. I was programming 6502 assembler in High School, which I was able to then breeze through the Assembly Language class in college. I ended up getting a BS and MS in Computer Science, and have been working as a Software Developer ever since. It's also a reason why I work with kids and STEM projects in my local schools and community. When their faces light up because their program or their little robot starts working, it transports me back to the fun times I had when I was their age.
One other thing you are right on as well. It was not cheap back then. I'm not sure what we spent on the A2+, but when I went to grad school, my dad forked out 3000 dollars for a fully-tricked out Gateway PC at the time. Because of that, when my Dad needs a new machine or any kind of technical support, it is provided by me, no cost. He always asks me how much the stuff costs, and I tell him don't worry about the cost. That is my thanks to him.
Sounds like you had a great upbringing and some awesome parents. I bet they are proud.
Smoking was one source of the yellowing, another I’ve seen was sunlight exposure if the computer was sitting for years on a desk adjacent to a window. Another thing I forgot to mention in my other comment was that the primary reason for not putting the monitor on top of the drives was because some monitors had enough RFI to cause I/O errors or not allow the drives to boot or read at all.
@@macfixer01 I don't see how EMI is going to destroy a floppy though the metal casing of the drive. Unless its not properly grounded.
I never said having the monitor on top of the drives destroyed any diskettes. It just caused temporary read errors (I/O errors) sometimes, which would go away if you moved the monitor further away or off to the side. Customers having problems didn’t want to hear that since Apple always showed the monitor on top of the drives in their ads, although they eventually did start recommending against it. The drives originally had no shielding and had no ground connection to the cover, or to the metal lower chassis of the drive either. Some brands and models of monitors didn’t cause any problem, others did. Also remember many folks were using small TV’s for a display on the Apple ][, if they didn’t have an 80 column card and were likely playing games mostly anyway. Actually the 5.25 inch floppy’s were notoriously hard to destroy though except through physical damage or exposure to an actual degaussing coil or bulk tape eraser.
I think Stewart deserves a big round of applause; not only was his packaging technique one of the best I've ever seen, but the tone of his letter was very humorous.
However, I'd also like to mention how awesome I think Adrian's father was, without whose encouragement of young Adrian we might not have had this exceptionally great youtube channel.
Stewart is the hero of this video, no doubt. I'm floored at his attention to detail.
Stewart is the hero we need right now.
Adrian almost crying was oddly emotional and touching.
Dr Dr the guy loves his job/hobby
The fact that Adrian shows his feelings so openly is one of the things I love most about this channel.
In this awful year, it's awesome to see anyone that happy, let alone someone as awesome as Adrian!
Just further proof of how genuine and honest Adrian is. This man's character is what finds me always checking my subscriptions list for a dot next to "Adrian's Digital Basement", in the hopes that Adrian has posted another new video for us. This guy is the real deal and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, is what keeps me coming back for more. Thank You Adrian! Fred
@@electronicengineer Absolutely, that's why I watch Adrian's digital basement. What a genuine, honest and modest man.
Compare that to the 8bit guy: "Nah, don't send me all this crap, I don't have enough space, I don't have enough time. Why should I say thank you to people who spend a lot of time and effort to send me stuff for free? Too bad that I have to make these damn UA-cam videos and deal with these annoying watchers. It would be so much better if UA-cam just gave me the money without all the nasty work. And oh, I got a super rare computer. Let's just randomly put in paperclips at any of the connectors. And while I am at it, let's dremel into the case. Whatever, I don't know what I am doing, anyway."
My first computer was a VIC20 also. Loved that thing and programmed for hours and hours. In college I scored an Apple 2E, and also have such a great time with my apple cat modem and programming and running a BBS from my room in our rented house filled with electrical engineers and software guys. Such good times!! Lots of programming with the assembler Merlin?? spent a lot of time pouring thru the Rom of that computer. Steve Wozniac was a genius programmer and I modeled my coding style after him.
I love your enthusiasm for that computer and the story of your own personal background with it. Those early computers are always very dear to us as we continue our careers.
As for the yellowing, I found the Apple IIs can be restored to their natural color very easily with some gentle retrobrighting (some combination of hydrogen peroxide and sun--or you could even just try sun exposure and see if that helps since it doesn't seem super yellow). Looking forward to the repair and restoration video!
Thanks Noel! What is interesting -- is this machine is definitely painted. Apple switched from painting their computers to just having the plastic be the color they wanted some time while making the IIe... and I don't see how retrobrite could possibly work on a painted machine.
If there’s an yearly packaging award!.steward has wone
Your father did a great job supporting your interests and the development of your passions.
I got teared up reading the note. This was a great episode. Stuart you are a great dude. Adrian I'm glad I found your channel when I did. I was bored with a lot of the other "retro" guys on here. You're legit, super knowledgeable and fun to watch.
+ 1 amen !
I have never seen Adrian so emotional on his channel. It was touching. Even I am grateful for this gift he received.
Hi Adrian, much respect to your dad. My story is similar. Back in 1981 I begged my dad for a ZX81 for Christmas. My friends were getting Vic20s and other higher end computers but I knew what we could afford. Christmas day came and a ZX81 is exactly what I got. From there I progressed through Acorn BBC Electrons and BBC's and then into PC's When I left school I started by career in I.T. and I am still doing that today. All through the support of my dad and the leap he took on buying me that ZX81. I also spend as much time using the old 8Bit computers, I buy then whenever I can and have my loft space pretty full with ongoing projects.
Watching you restore this Apple II+ while This Does Not Compute simultaneously restores a trashpicked Apple IIe has warmed my heart. These machines were fulcrums of our childhoods. These are the best videos. Thanks for keeping them alive and sharing your experiences.
Stewart, thank you for providing us viewers, for an awesome computer, and the best packaging / unboxing ever on Adrian's channel!
Or on any channel for that matter.
Adrian, yours is one of the best if not THE best hands-on vintage computing channels on UA-cam (honestly you should have 100x the subs you do, and I drive everyone I know with even a passing interest in old tech to your channel), so trust me when I say that I do not lightly "insist" you do anything but...I insist you play some Wizardry! (Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord will suffice), Lode Runner, Choplifter and Temple of Aphsai on it ;) Those were my favorite games to play in Computer Class back in 7th grade (which would've been...84ish or so?), although I did like writing programs in Logo.
Definitely up there for sure. Although he sticks to overviews mostly, they are quite detailed enough to give a really good impression of the machines. Even for those of us who really get into the nuts and bolts of these things.
For me it was Load Runner and Ultima II/III,IV. I didn't play Choplifter much, I thought it was too hard, and I wasn't a real big joystick user. Wizardry was mysterious for me, as it was written in Pascal. I didn't get into Pascal until high school and I recall it required the 80 col card. In the day some games were purchased while others were copied. Wizardry, I think, had copy protection. I Logo, wasn't much a part of the curriculum, but I did recall maybe a unit which included it, a day or two worth of instruction, that was it, in Summer school. Otherwise I had BASIC, Advanced BASIC, and Assembly for classes.
Tiltowait! Take that Werdna and Vampire Lord!
For sure, out of all of them I enjoy Adrian the most. I feel he is a super humble person, unlike some others.
Great video Adrian. I used a II+ at the public library on Saturday mornings in downtown Syracuse NY back in the early 80’s and had one for awhile in the mid-90’s. It was the Bell and Howell black one. I started with computers when my Dad bought me a Timex/Sinclair 1000 in 1983 when I was 13 at Wegmans grocery store of all places and went from there. Just love this channel!
Catching up on this. I LOVE your t-shirt. This is the same story as me -- I had a vic 20, then a ti 99-4/a, then the Apple ][+ .... I loved my ][+ .... The IIgs was nice, but it didn't have the same joy that the ][+ did. Even at 52, I can still remember so many pieces of the zero page, the ROM entry points, and all sorts of stuff from 40 years ago! It's really amazing how it shaped my life. Hardware projects and programming, even cracking copy protection (like The Newsroom) and swapping software with friends. So much fun. Can't wait to watch the rest of the series. I gotta find one of those shirts.
This was just so wholesome. Thank you for sharing your stories, Adrian! I did not grow up with these computers, my first machine already had Windows 95 on it, but I am learning a lot and I am happy that you share this fascinating period of computers with us. Thank you, fantastic video!
I might have teared up a touch around 6:00. This is a really good video, great content, great editing. One thing I really like about your channel is how humble and appreciative you are.
Ha! Small world. I also grew up in Montreal and my jaw hit the floor when you mentioned that you went to the same elementary school in NDG, Willingdon. I was there from about 1981 to 1987, when I went on to Royal West. I can confirm that we used those Apple II computers in those years in the elementary school's computer lab. I have some fond memories of those machines, my only real exposure to Apple computers as I've always favored PC compatibles. We made our own move for good to the States in 1990.
Just got one missed the other week! Want much a part of my childhood, but I still love it so much! It's very satisfying, too, to watch the little LED lamps light up when you, say, boot a DOS disc that loads Integer Basic alongside AppleSoft, watch it write the memory and then lock it, and toggle another LED back and forth by toggling which BASIC is active 😄
Like you, I just love how much these computers just assume a very "hands on" attitude, something later, more Jobs-ian Apple hardware strongly discouraged (which hasn't stopped me from loving those in their own right, too)
What such a genuine thankfulness video! Love it!! More YT should be like you! Kudos!
Just started watching and this is an incredibly generous donation. Lovely stuff.
Agreed ☻
Gotta be said, Adrian is hands down the nicest guy on UA-cam, great attitude, personality, and seriously knows his shit... And won't use a dremel to open a rare computer.. 😉
For sure, he is a very humble guy, unlike some others....
oh the joy of watching you open that box.... talk about Christmas morning moment.... I was already working when the Apple II arrived. My first exposure to a personal computer was an Apple II which was used to run a program to generate shadow diagrams for building proposals. Revolutionary in 1980.
In elementary school there was one computer in the entire school, an Apple II Plus, owned by one of the second grade teachers. I was lucky enough to get her as a teacher, spawning a lifelong passion for computers and technology.
That is amazing -- teachers are so underappreciated and underpaid. I have several teachers from my youth I will never forget -- even 30+ years later, they had a huge impact on my life that is still with me.
@@adriansdigitalbasement My middle school teacher wrote this: www.thequartermile.com - Mr. Barnum. We used to play his program in class, having a score board and contests.
Did you ever play with Fire Organ? He had it and would play it for us, in class. He never would let us "borrow" a copy.
So, by sheer luck you put your insulation the right way on the walls, always put the metallic side towards warmth, foam side insulates cold and metallic side reflects warmth (back inside).
Unless you want to keep it cold, of course.
@@BlackEpyon even then it's metallic side towards warmth, only difference is where you are on the warm or cold side.
Thank you for putting that index / chapter navigator into the video description of every video! I landed on part III by mercy of UA-cam, tried to find part I by just browsing through your uploads and it wasn't easy! (esp. since this video doesn't say "Apple" in the title). Then I thought to look in the description - and voila! Appreciate your attention to the viewers :)
Oh man does this bring back memories. I was sent to the office A LOT (lol) when I was a kid in Ontario, they had me working on the ICON workstations in the library and the C64s we had in each class since I was getting in trouble for finishing my work way before the other kids, and that combined with my dad buying me a 386 to keep me off of his computers and my experience with family in the UK with their Beebs and Archimedes machines started what ended up to be my career as a consulting software engineer
I know this is an old video and you probably won't have a chance to read this considering you're full time recording videos now, but Adrian the feeling I'm getting (along with all the viewers and your followers I'm sure) is the absolute joy and nostalgia. I too, just as Stewart and you (and many more) had these at home and then took the class in school where I got into a little bit of trouble myself because I knew computers very well and the teachers had NO IDEA back in the 80s.. haha it was a great time to be alive.. Thank you for sharing these great stories!
5:53 That little portable TV is awesome. You had a very humble beginning and I respect that a lot.
Hey Adrian, Love your episodes. I remember my great fondness using Apple 1,2,plus, 2E, And a 3 series over the years in grade school up to high school. I remembering seeing the original Apple series made of wood. (Amazingly primitive craftsman looking) The lab was full of these cool Apples from over the years.. The Apple 2 GS Woz version that was allowed to play with as well. I loved these and wished Apple would have developed the series further. (so ahead of its time) Thanks again for putting this video up/out... I got great pleasure reliving my early memories.
It's so nice to see people with a true love and passion for what they do. And, though Adrian said his career is/has been in IT, the job never defines the person. It's the hobby and excitement that comes from it, that's really who a person is. I've probably got 15 to 20 years on Adrian, so my initial exposure to electronics was CB radio, which lead to an electronics technology program, then consumer electronics repair. Fortunately, I bought a VIC20, and that initiation defined the rest of my working life. From VIC20 to C64 to Atari SE, then to home-built x86 machines. More recently (last 15+ years), I've been an Apple user, and tinker with Linux, Raspberry Pi. Like so many involved in consumer electronics, ultimately, I had to reinvent myself as a tech in Neonatal equipment, software QA, and software customer support for medical related products. Anyway, none of that would have happened if not for the VIC20. It's also good that I got involved in computers and gadgets when I did, as people just a few years older than me often missed the boat, if they had wanted to board.
Two things I found invaluable in the tech/troubleshooting business:
1) Half splitting,
2) When interviewing for a tech position, never say that you know all about something, when you don't, because sure as the sun's gonna rise tomorrow, the person who invented it will be sitting in the next room, and they'll bring him/her into the room to talk to you.
And yes, though Beavis and Butthead never said it: Stewart rules! 😃
Sounds like we're of similar vintage! I turned my electronics hobby into my career. I was working on CBs before going off to a technical college, then got into computers, data communications and networking. Lots of stories to tell throughout my career, many from the CB era. I can honestly say I've seen someone wire a PL-259 plug onto RG58 coax and swap the polarity (shield to center pin, center conductor to outer shell). Wish I'd had a camera! More or less the CB equivalent of using a PC CD-ROM drive tray as a cup holder; an urban legend, but someone was bound to do it for real eventually!
Bob Blum Haha! There's really no end to the craziness that was CB radio at that time. Likewise, of course, the cast of characters (including me) was just as bizarre. After reading your reply, I spent a few minutes thinking back to some of the gear and people of the day. Not so different from the internet in some ways. Today, there are young people on scooters or boards with a fancy gaming laptop in their backpack. I knew a kid who had a 5 watt, 12 channel Lafayette Radio Electronics walkie-talkie and a 102" whip attached to his stingray bicycle. Today, a fancy RGB keyboard or mouse makes an awesome input device. I had a D-104 desktop mic. Come to think of it, "past me" was pretty nerdy. Thanks for taking the time to reply. 😃
10:09 about the Apple II being from such a different era of Apple compared to today, really well said. I grew up around C64s, Atari STs, an Apple II in school and my uncle's Mac Classic, and loved the whole journey of exploration around all those machines. Later in the late 2000s I got a few old Palm PDAs including a T3 and T5, and was overjoyed at how open they were, a bit like going back to the 80s for home computers. Then I got an iPod Touch and discovered how closed and proprietary Apple had become, with almost entirely non-serviceable parts and a totally locked down operating system. Hopefully we can get back some of that openness of the past.
Very moving video. Thanks Adrian. Yes, good idea escaping the Canadian winter moving to Oregon.
Greetings from MTL
You are so lucky you had some one to buy the computers for you. I worked 3 paper routes for almost a year to afford my first TRS-80. And additional months more to afford a disk drive, printer, expansion slot, speech synth card, etc... in winter I tied cardboard boxes to the sled's handles and pulled it behind me often in thigh deep snow. I remember often coming home with my corduroy pants soaking wet and having to go out again to finish my routes. I would have loved an Apple but they were like 700% of what the TRS-80 was.
Adrian, I just noticed the Beagle Bros, T-Shirt. I love the Beagle Bros, and their "One Line" basic programs. I put it in quotes because sometimes they were two lines, and frankly it was a euphemism, because the code would normally have been written in multiple lines but they shortened the syntax and used semicolons to avoid starting a new line of code. Usually the small programs did something a little fun. They were getting the most out of the least amount of programming.
I had no idea you were an NDG kid! I lived in the Deeg for years, love that neighbourhood. So much cool stuff to be found and feels like a town unto itself.
It's been forever now but I knew every inch because I rode my bicycle everywhere back then. Things have probably changed but it was such a great place to grow up. My brother still lives there with his family.
I really appreciate the thought Stewart put into the packing. It would be really difficult to unpack without all that thought. And of course a really generous donation that Adrian clearly appreciates, very touching.
The title is a nice surprise for a new video but I think worth editing to include the computer name for the longer term.
Sometimes I think I wouldn't do it like that but I overwhelmingly appreciate Adrian's fault finding and how he present things. I'm not big on Spectrums but he is wrong about that, it's a very reliable machine but not quite as good as the ultimate 8-bit micro, the Acorn BBC model B! ;)
I didn't know you were from Québec, pretty rad! I had only seen a couple of your vids so far. This one is really heart warming and fun, I'll definitely more content from you.
Adrian, i am Canadian from my mothers side, and I have visited my family there in Montreal. And I froze Big Time during the winter time. I could not wait until I came back home. I loved the summer time there, but Not the Winter time at all.
Blown away by the quality of the shipping here. Going to be nice to see you breath life into it.
I would love to have a dad like Adrian’s. Come to think of it I would love to have Adrian as a friend back in the day... Keep up with the great content! We love it
That huge box must've cost a fortune to send across the US from east to west.. He was extremely generous.
I look forward to seeing more of this. I had a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A that was my first computer. I paid $20 at a yard sale out of my own pocket money for it. My father feared and hated computers. I knew they were the future. And that was why I loved them. I never could get him to buy me one. Yet those Apple II Plus I used the most at school. Played so many of my first computer games on Apple II plus. Never got to use a VIC 20. We had Commodore 64 by then. I did a lot my first programming on a Commodore 64 in my Middle School Computer lab. Now I build and program my own PC's. And repair old game consoles. :P
Excellent explanation on x and y caps. Glad for the detailed explanation! Just great 😀
This was Steve Wozniak's Apple. Open and serviceable and expansible
Woz was a hacker, a bodger and a tinkerer. His machines reflected that mentality.
@@MadMorgie6318 is, not was. He's still with us, and he still tinkers!
@@Calphool222 Good to know that Woz isn't was.
Reading between the lines: Apple could make the iPhone “open and serviceable and expansible”. It’d fit snugly in a VCR tape box and weigh way more than a VCR tape did. I hope you got big sturdy pockets to fit one in, and to pay for all that extra material and shipping and processing costs - big things aren’t cheaper at all! Small or open. Pick one. All the connectors and shields so that your fingers won’t shear off components small enough that they get hard to see without glasses and so on: it takes space and weight. I am totally sure that Apple could make such a phone and nobody would buy it. I am all for open and expansible stuff. I want my phone to be small, light and practical. You can attach all your nerdy peripherals to it via lightning to USB cable and an Ethernet adapter. Your own peripheral can provide an Ethernet USB function and be totally compatible with an iPhone. Your own app can talk to it no problem. So as far as expansion goes, it already allows you to add your own peripherals - whatever you wish for. And to easily code for them. What else would one want?
Kuba Ober Well we talk here about computers and not phones. The computers that apple built today are not really fixable at all and apple does everything they can that they are not fixable. I recommend you the youtube channel of louis rossmann, he repairs macbooks on a component level and has much to say about this topic :)
Hi Adrian, Love these retro videos. What I found to work really well cleaning those cases is scrubbing bubbles, and a soft brush. Spray it on, then use the brush, and wipe it off.
Let me know how it works for you.
I've seen others mention that exact process too. I have a can of it -- so will need to give that a try!
16:42 I love that old Microsoft logo. I get serious metal album/DnD vibes from it.
Wow! The parallels. Vic 20 for me on my birthday in 83, then only 6 months later (after hounding my Dad continuously) he bought me a used Apple ][ Plus around Xmas.
You are spot on about the Language card. I would load in the Original Apple ][ ROM in high memory then bank switch. Not for Integer Basic but the built in mini-assembler. Way cooler for writing programs than using the Monitor.
Just wanted to say your Channel is my favourite on UA-cam...and I have a lot of Subs!
Stewart, I’m pretty much your neighbor up here in Maine! Also just insulated my basement with that pink foam. Logo, those were good times!!
Its so easy to understand that Stewart meticulous packing is a tribute to this channel, just another form of respect which people watch this channel are dying to give/show towards Adrian :)
U looked so sweet as a child and have a rather pleasant personality even now like the "8-bit guy" and Techmoan, legends!
Thoroughly enjoyed the video, Adrian.
I'm the proud _original_ owner of an Apple ][+ that was a ][ with the floating point ROMs installed at the computer store where I bought it. The ][+ had just come out and they couldn't keep up with demand. So the cover doesn't even have the Plus. I haven't booted it up in years, but after seeing you replacing that capacitor I plan to check and replace it in mine as a precaution.
Looking forward to the next chapter in your Apple ][+ saga!
i went to grade school in the chicagoland area in the mid 80s. We had a computer lab with about 15 Apple IIEs (and a couple TIs in the corner which i never went near). This got me totally obsessed with computers. My parents eventually got me an Apple IIC+ which I wish I knew what we did with it. Just like Stuart and Adrian this sparked a lifelong interest in computers, and retro computing (which brings me to this channel!). And I played the hell out of Bards Tale (3), Ultima (IV) and Oregon Trail (which I played at school a million, million times). What a great video!
Thanks, I don't work on switching power supplies and did not know about the X and Y designation on the cap.
wow, I honestly feel the love here from you Adrian, lovely and humbling, excellent vid, keep up the good work
Very cool donation from Stewart and it's clear to see how much it means to you Adrian.
Looks like exactly the same setup our school had when I was in 9th grade. I convinced my high school to start a computer programming class back then in Newell SD... so many hours of typing code from magazines...
I can relate to excited little Adrian at 6:08. I loved my Commodore, but I really wished that it had been an Apple.
What a great life story - so many parallels with my own. Incredible packing job there too! I knew nothing about the Apple II going into this so thanks so much for the detailed exploration and info.
Another awesome video Adrian, you clearly are working very hard getting so much great content out. When you powered it on, I was thinking please don't work, we want to see some troubleshooting. Not to wish you bad luck, I love it when things I get don't work and I think you do too
what a great packing job! when I was in elementary school they had apple IIes in a row in the library with every other one hooked to an imagewriter printer. I always craved to get to that particular machine. and then I would gorge on The print shop lol. if I didn't, it was oregon trail, or karateka. I don't think I ever saw a II plus, so must have not been that common where we lived. I got what was the closest to my childhood system when I got a IIc on freecycle about 8 years ago. I also by that time had acquired an imagewriter printer, so I was able to pair the two together. and among the software I got with the IIc? The print shop. lol good times.
Excellent video Adrian. Fair play to Stewart for donating such a lovely setup (and major kudos on the A+ packing job). Really looking forward to seeing this machine restored to it’s full glory.
We had one of these at school, I have fond memories of it although I had a TRS-80 at home which was my favourite.
That's a nice piece of kit, be good to see it working! Never ceases to amaze me as to what people donate to you, LGR and others, real nice stuff! That's probably the best packing job i've seen in ages as well! I find it kind of interesting hearing what schools in other countries used for computers back in the 70's/80's/90's. Being in the UK, I only remember BBC Micros or Acorn Archimedes in schools back then. I don't remember my lower school in the mid-late 80's having any computers although they may have had one BBC Model B (I don't think there was really any computers in most schools till the BBC Computers for schools thing), middle school had a computer room with A3000's and some BBC Micro's scattered around the school. Upper school in the mid-late 90's had some Archimedes I think and BBC Model B's on an Econet (the library had a BBC Model B with a Teletext adapter!), then later on they went and they replaced them with 286's used as terminals on what I think was a 486 server in one part of the school and I think soon after in another part they set up a room with brand new Evesham Vale 486 SX25's with 4mb ram! Must've cost a fortune back then!
Here in the U.K. schools used the BBC Micro for the same usage as the Apple II in the USA. In 2004 I was given an Apple II+ with twin drives & a Apple green screen monitor - the company I worked for had previously used it to run a vinyl plotter for sign writing. It worked perfectly and I had all the discs. Eventually I donated it my local computer museum along with two Dragon 32’s and two BBC Micro’s - since I’ve been watching videos like this I’ve regretted it endlessly
Hi there Adrian,
I'm watching your channel for quite a while now, and I wanted to first and foremost thank you for your amazing content. Despite the fact that I'm a little bit younger than you are, I still grew up in the 386-486 era, and seeing all those goodies from your channel (like the Amiga 1000 for example) gives me some sort of a warm feeling inside.
By the way, I didn't know you grew up in Montreal :O It's almost like my hometown haha
I was borned and raised in Drummondville, which is like an hour away from Montreal in the east, but now I'm in Sherbrooke for my studies in chemistry.
Once again, thank you for your content, and I really hope your channel will last for years to come. Keep it up man !
You are surely a better man than I. If somebody had sent me a non-working machine and I had not easy access to appropriate tools and replacement parts, PLUS I were not already knowledgeable and/or enthusiastic about that model, I'm not sure I would have considered it a gift...
Thanks for your inspirational videos.
You are definitely my favorite disembodied hands 🙂
Also, "genius bar" is such a contradictory term. They're just there to sell you a new device.
I remember owning the Apply II EuroPlus model. Basically the European/Australian/Asian model that has a little switch on the bottom of the keyboard so you could change between the two inbuilt keyboard layouts usualy the standard US and the layout for whatever country you purchased the computer in.
Hey Adrian I'm from germany and I watch every video from your chanel. I like the repair videos from the old stuff, exspacally the Commodore.
I wonder where you put all the stuff after the video, do you have a storrage?
Maybe you can show the people where you live and where you make the videos.
Thanks for all the great videos!
I'd dare you to take that power supply into the Genius bar - just to put them in their place with a PSU that's most likely older than they are - I'd love to see their faces when they try to think what it is!
none would have the slightest idea what it was, but they would try to throw it in the trash...
That would be a great hidden camera video.
I'm only 5 minutes in and I'm floored by Stewart's packing job. Absolutely incredible.
the Apple //, //+, //e, //c and //c+ were really nice looking pieces of hardware. I'm in love with my 3rd revision //c w/memory expansion slot and I see myself never selling it and giving it to my son when he's older ...and born.
So cool. I hope you get it up and running. I loved the back story about your childhood and how much that computer means to you!
Echoing the other comments - I have such respect for your dad and his investment in you. Look at all the dividends of joy his investment has paid out to us visitors to the basement.
You are Bob Ross of classic computers. This is art. Thank you
Awesome donation!!
Apple II Plus was my first computer and have very fond memories of it!
I still play around with Apple II’s today!
Thanks for all the inspiration from your videos to keep my retro-computers in tip-top shape, Adrian!!
My dad did the same for me when he brought home a new Commodore 128 in 1987 (though, to be fair, it was as much for him as it was for my sister and me). And while I didn't go into IT, having such an early start with technology has been nothing but helpful in every job I've had.
My Apple IIe smoked one of the 2 RIFA caps last month. It also blew the fuse but did no other harm. Replaced both caps and all is now working. Don't know why mine had two RIFA caps and yours only one, but best to replace them.
I mowed lawns to buy my first machine. When I had enough money to buy a VIC-20, my parents said to keep mowing and get the one you really want, the C64. I, like you, because of the machines influence, am also in IT and have based my entire life around computers.
I owe my life to these 8-bit machines. Seems your feel the same.
This video really connected with me. The story you tell about your first computers is almost identical to my first computers. I also work in IT and really had the same start like you. Really cool. Love your videos.
that wasn't a "rant", it was a very nice memory of your youth! I have now an Apple //e under one of my LCD monitors, which I can run whenever I want in PIP mode! It was my mom's computer back in 1986 and it took me a long while to find one which was identical to the one we had, including the small Apple monochrome monitor. It was broken too and I totally enjoyed fixing it and also cleaning it thoroughly (try the Electrolube fluids, the motherboard will come up BRAND NEW!!). I've also recapped everything: PSU, drives and monitor. As you did, I removed the RIFA before even testing the PSU and the Monitor had three already-exploded RIFAs in it!! :D
I retrobrighted the monitor case but, as you say, the Apple case is painted. I tested some peroxide at the back to make sure and it actually makes the paint a bit dull. Mine is not discoloured though so I am not sure what's going on on yours. I look forward to seeing your progress, thanks for sharing this with us!
(Also: admit it, you would have been VERY disappointed if that machine just worked fine!!!)
Another amazing video Adrian ! Thank you !! Always love whatever you do ! You just make it so fun !
25:09 "Well I think I've done enough waffling about cleaning up everything!" Keep calm and waffle on! lol
My First computer was a Tandy 1000. Had a ton of fun playing games. I never really got into the programming or anything like that, but learned a ton about dos commands and writing batch files. A lot of times moving files, copying files and such, I would go to the Dos prompt and do it. It seemed so much easier typing dos commands than trying to navigate those old windows navigator programs.
Also like you said its crazy back then Apple encouraged you to tweak things to Your liking. Nowadays they don't even want you changing the battery in your phones.
Hi Adrian. Another great video. What might be great would be a standalone video on basic inspection checklist of what to do before powering up the old units like the IIplus. The Rifa explanation was very helpful.
Thank you for your video (as always), and appreciate people who share their own belongs, maybe from childhood or pickup in old shack, love to see old computer being rescued from junkyard. Just watching these computer working and fixed by Adrian is very satisfying.
I have a II plus as well, but for love or money couldn't find a joystick adapter. Would you consider a video about how it works / how to build one? Your EE chops are far above mine!
IIRC, it was pretty simple. Just a DB9 connector wired to a DIP package. An Apple 2 Joystick was two Potentiometers (one for each X-Y direction, and two push-button switches). I never really liked the A2 joystick because of this, seems like Atari joysticks (which were switch based) were better for some games.
I worked with an Apple ][ back in 1979 at Analog Devices Semeconductor in Wilmington, MA. We created a card to control a temperature-test chamber. One of THE drawbacks was how much the motherboard flexed when inserting and removing cards ;(
5:54
Ha, a VIC 20! Me too lol. Gorf and Pirates Cove were staples in my childhood.
It's wonderful to hear you reminisce about your youth. While it was a generation later my school computer lab experiences are deeply ingrained in me. In those days I and my teachers thought certain my future held computers in it. Unfortunately all sorts of circumstances conspired to prevent my achieving any of my dreams and here I sit a carpenter in his home town who regularly gets to bump into his old teachers and mentors who then spoil my day asking why I'm not "in computers." I'm still an avid enthusiast but it pains me to hear the path you followed that I did not.
Kids: if you have a passion please don't hesitate to develop it!
Wow, this is awesome! I remember using one of those to win a programming competition in high school held at a local technical school. As a Commodore guy (Vic20 and C64) I had to practice at a local library to figure out the VERY different editing system for BASIC that Apple used. At least it felt very different to me. I was so proud of myself for beating everyone who had been programming on Apple for years. It was probably the sense of accomplishment from that competition that lead me to my career in tech. Geeks who grew up in the 70s owe a lot to our family, schools, and libraries who supported us with equipment that was very expensive, and didn’t seem super practical to most people at the time.
ASTEC made lots of power supplies for computers, and generally they were very good at it. They are now known by the name Artesyn, and still make really good power supplies :)
Well someone has been watching @retromancave hahahaha
Loved this video, your joy and emotion really came through, it was really moving.
Brings me back to the Apple //c my dad got me -- and the time he once took the day off to drive me half way across the state to find printer ribbons for my Scribe printer. I still have the //c, the love of technology and games, and a career in tech/games that that Apple helped set me on course for.
Dident know you grew up in Montreal! I am from sherbrooke and absolutely love retro computers!
I'm very happy for you, getting an apple II plus is a very special present, and i'm sure that you will love troubleshooting this monument of computer's history, i've heard that he told you to give it back to life again ! sure you'll put it in your hall of fame computer's museum thanks...
Man, do I love the photo of you outside holding your new Apple //c! Soaked full of nostalgia. What an awesome day that must’ve been for you.
Great T-shirt! I used to drool over the Beagle Bros. software catalog. The couple of Beagle Bros. disks I had were some of my favorites. My first computer was an Apple ][e, and I loved that thing. Waking up on Christmas morning and seeing it in the living room was the best Christmas ever.
Fun Fact: It's called "Applesoft BASIC" because it was made by Microsoft. Integer BASIC was made by Woz, but was called Integer basic because it didn't support floating point.
Fun Fact Part 2: Steve Wozniak also included in the Integer Basic ROMs the Sweet-16, a virtual 16-bit machine. Another example of how wonderfully creative Woz could be.
Fun Fact Part 3: Floppy disk controllers were too expensive back when the Apple ][ came out. So Woz designed a state machine based controller and bought just the floppy drive mechanicals, allowing Apple to come out with the Disk ][ drive.
Hard to imagine. You have to program the float/carrier system yourself?
Fun Fact: Apple licensing Microsoft BASIC saved Microsoft from bankruptcy after their disaster of a licensing deal with Jack Tramiel at Commodore. If only had Apple gone instead with the company that wrote Atari BASIC shortly thereafter...
@@TheJeremyHolloway I think it was scened. They all became aware of the fact that locking in the user in an artificially limited environment with no way out was the way to go. The DOS command line guaranteed a crippled computer Next step was protected mode witn an API. Now, everybody's running apps instead of programs, fully abstracted from the real computer underneath, only to spam and track you while all authorative control is hijacked.
@@bobblum5973 He also had the computer's 6502 processor do all the work that a disk controller ASIC would have done--yet another simple hardware + software solution to save on cost. That's good--Woz's work is elegant in this way, and highly effective (within limits in some cases). Then Apple jacked the price up as much as they could get away with anyway. ;)
By the way, while Woz was undeniably creative and even a certifiable genius at certain things like reducing chip count, there were some...oddities regarding his design philosophy. For example, he didn't like interrupts and didn't understand why they were considered useful. At least that's what he told some people (literally that he didn't understand interrupts). And sure enough, the Apple II series does not natively support interrupts (there is some support in the expansion slots and the motherboard, but that was probably someone else's work, as Woz did not design the Apple II all by himself). I guess he was largely right, since his computer designs were clearly functional and remained on the market for many years, with their CPUs polling and counting (with some exceptions) all the way. He didn't save much hardware this way--he just didn't see the point. Note that he could have saved on hardware and cost by having the CPU drive the display, like the Atari VCS/2600 and Sinclair ZX series do, but he didn't go to that extreme. I won't go into this in detail right now, but suffice to say that interrupts do have their uses, much like his autonomous video logic. I guess eccentricity is often coincident with genius. :)
Some paints yellow like that.
You could try a test retrobrite spot on an inconspicuous spot. Some paints retrobrite nicely, especially acrylic paints.
That was an awesome donation.