The Machine

Twenty-five or more years had elapsed since I last touched an Apple. (We’ll forget that unfortunate incident with a Mac.) First, I wanted to learn what had happened in the Apple ][ line over the years. Early on, I came upon a great Apple history site by Steven Weyhrich called Apple II History at http://apple2history.org/index.html. Well worth the effort.

I realized several things from reading the history:
- While the IIgs is a superior machine, I am, at this stage, more interested in a “classic” Apple ][ with built-in keyboard.
- The //e series was the best choice for me since a number of the critical features I enjoyed on my original Apple were already built-in without changing the basic function and form of the machine.
- The IIc was also out for me because it was not easily expandable although it has even more features built-in.
- Within the //e series, the final edition, the Platinum, would be a better fit as I have come to use the numeric pad a lot in the past 25 years.

Turning to the world’s garage sale, eBay, I started researching past sales for historic realizations on Apples. Some were crazy with absurd bids (while the same item was offered for less than 1% that did not sell.) Most bids for machines were reasonable with only a few bidders interested. Long story short, I picked up a Platinum IIe, two disk drives (1/2 height), and a color monitor. It all arrived safe in two boxes and then the fun started. Did I mention that I had no disks yet?