Even so-called accelerator boards were eventually created which would double or quadruple the computer's speed. The Mockingboard sound card greatly improved the audio capabilities of the Apple. There was also a third-party 6809 card with which one could run OS-9 Level One. There were also emulator cards, such as the Z80 card which permitted the Apple to switch to the Z80 processor and run a multitude of programs developed under the CP/M operating system such as the dBase II database and the WordStar word processing program. Serial controllers, improved display controllers, memory boards, hard disks, and networking components were available for this system in its day. Wozniak's open design and the Apple's multiple expansion slots permitted a wide variety of third-party devices to expand the capabilities of the machine. It also made it easy for proprietary software developers to make the media on which their applications shipped hard to copy by using tricks such as changing the low-level sector format or even stepping the drive's head between the tracks however, other groups eventually sold software such as Copy II Plus and Locksmith that could foil such restrictions. That reduced the overall cost significantly, leaving the total system price low enough for home users. The controller card had very little hardware support, relying on software timing loops instead to provide the necessary encoding the controller also used a form of Group Code Recording, which was simpler and easier to implement in software than the more common MFM. This disk drive interface created by Steve Wozniak is still regarded as an engineering design marvel. Later, an external 5¼-inch floppy disk drive, the Disk II, with controller card that plugged into one of the computer's slots, enabled much more convenient data storage and retrieval. The original retail price was $1298 with 4KB of RAM and $2638 with 48KB of RAM. Users could save and retrieve programs and data on audio cassettes other programming languages, games, applications and other software were available on cassette too. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of upper-case-only text on the screen, with NTSC composite video output for display on a monitor, or on a TV set by way of an RF modulator. The first Apple II computers went on sale starting on Jwith a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1 MHz, 4 KB of RAM, an audio cassette interface, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs. Finally, the IIgs and IIc plus were rendered in the form as used in this article. For example, the II and the "unenhanced" IIe was most commonly written ][e, and the IIc and enhanced, platinum IIe models were written as //c, and //e. The "II" portion of the name was alternately rendered in a variety of creative ways using punctuation symbols. See the computing timeline for dates of Apple II family model releases – the 1977 Apple II and its younger siblings, the II Plus, IIe, IIc and II GS. It became popular with home users, as well as occasionally being sold to business users, particularly after the release of the first ever spreadsheet on any computer, VisiCalc. The first large-scale production computer was the Apple II. It was never produced in quantity, but pioneered many of the features that would make the Apple II a success. The progenitor was the Apple I, which was a hand-built machine sold to hobbyists. Completely different from Apple's later Macintosh computers, the Apple II was a predominantly 8-bit architecture. The Apple II family was the first series of microcomputers made by Apple Computer, in the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. The one pictured is shown with two official Apple floppy disk drives and a monitor. As can be seen, the Apple II came with an integrated keyboard, common with early personal computers, but very uncommon today. Please see the CONTRIBUTING doc before raising new bugs, features and especially PRs.The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. VidHD card (functionality limited to IIgs' Super Hi-Res video modes)ĭownload latest (stable) release: AppleWin v1.30.14.1.Language Card and Saturn 64/128K for Apple II/II+.RGB cards: Apple's Extended 80-Column Text/AppleColor Adaptor Card and 'Le Chat Mauve' Féline.Apple IIe Extended 80-Column Text Card and RamWorks III (8MB).Disk II interface for floppy disk drives.Mockingboard, Phasor and SAM sound cards.Peripheral cards and add-on hardware supported: NTSC, RGB) and there's an extensive built-in symbolic debugger. A variety of peripheral cards and video display modes are supported (eg. AppleWin is a fully-featured emulator supporting different Apple II models and clones.
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