Classic Systems Emulated: The Apple II Plus

 

The Apple II Redefines Micro-computing!

Apple was about to grow at an explosive rate. The grassroots team of free-spirited engineers that operated out of an home garage in Cupertino, California attracted the attention of venture capitalist Mark Macula. With him and others, the band of engineers got a massive cash infusion that led to the quick development of the Apple II. Primary designed by Steve Wozniak, the Apple II became one of his milestone accomplishments. Success quickly followed. The computer appealed to both hobbyist and new buyers alike. Promoted at the Western Computer Faire, the computer quickly got the attention of various parties. The computer case was designed by Jobs. He studied industrial design and knew how to design a case that would appeal to these new buyers.

The computing press and industry pundits was equally enthused by the appearance of the new computer. Why wouldn't they be. The Apple II sported a 6502 CPU running at 1MHz. The new computer came with 4KB of RAM, but was expandable first to 48KB and then 64KB. While those with a soldering iron would be disappointed, the pre-assembled package would make this computer accessible to new non-technical buyers. However, their was still plenty of newfound opportunities for those hobbyist.

The specifications and mother diagram were published so adventurous engineers could make their own add-on adapters. This was facilitated by the fact that the Apple II was greatly expandable. Their were seven add-on slots that could accommodate any number of various peripheral adapter, like hard-disk/floppy drives, printers, serial RS232 modems, printers, etc. Over time, many of these adapters would define the platform. The Mockingboard was a enhanced audio adapter that was used by many games. The 80-Column text card was essential for any productivity user as applications like word-processors were useless on a 40-column display. Their were also various printers, memory modules, hard-disc adapters, etc. that would be available for users to incorporate into their system.

The Apple II was amazing in other ways. The Apple II had its own unique in its way of displaying color video. While one would think that this would be an trivial by modern standards, color was still a rarity within the micro-computing scene. How color was implemented was even more amazing. The implementation of color was a product of the shear genius that is Steve Wozniak. He wrote the color circuitry without using a dedicated color generator. Color was generated by using the NTSC artifacts of the TV. This was done to make the computer cheaper in price as well since dedicated color hardware wasn't needed.  During this time, it was very common for computer users to use their TV display as a monitor. Wozniak designed the Apple II so  that it could faithfully run his port of Breakout.

On one hand, using the TV signal instead of a dedicated generator resulted in color-bleeding artifacts that were often found in Apple II games. As a kid, I remembered the color bleeding that resulted from various educational programs. It was very distracting to say the least. However, the fact that Wozniak designed the circuitry single-handily and was able to product color without the need of a color generator is a testament of his engineering genius.



Wozniak's genius didn't stop with the color circuitry. He designed the DiskII floppy disk drives as well. His drives were much more affordable than that of the competition. The reason for this was that many of floppy operations in regards to drive setting were incorporated in software via the OS. As such, this meant that the floppy drive itself needed fewer mechanical parts, making them much-more affordable. At the time, it was very typical for computer users to store programs on cassette tape. While the cassette take was very affordable, it was very slow and wasn't that reliable. While cassette tapes would remain the primary storage medium for home and budget users, the Apple II became the first system where floppy disk became standard and ubiquitous.

1977 was a big year for the microcomputer. While the MITS Altair of 1975 was a big hit among the hobbyist, microcomputing in general was largely ignored. However, the developments of 1977 brought microcomputing to the forefront. Byte Magazine declared that 1977 was the year of the "Trinity" that was defined by the Commodore PET, Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80, and the Apple II. These were the computers that were rewriting the rules that everybody else followed. Apple was growing rapidly during this time. Steve Jobs and his army of hardware engineers quickly moved out of that garage into the newly built Apple campus in Cupertino, California.

The original release of the Apple II loaded into the ROM monitor program like the Apple I. However, the Apple II Plus, released in 1978, loaded into BASIC. Steve Wozniak wrote the original BASIC for the Apple I, and he started to write an interpreter for the Apple II as well. However, his BASIC was quite limited in that it lacked floating-point operations. Wozniak never gotten around to writing them as he was busy with the DiskII. Thus, Apple started to look for a party to license BASIC from. This was where Apple ran into another company with very giant ambitions. Microsoft was already making a name for themselves writing computer languages. Their version of the BASIC interpreter found its into various computers. MITS, the company that made the Altair 8080, licensed their BASIC from Microsoft, along with Commodore and many others in time. Within time, thousands of programs would be written in AppleSoft BASIC.



Microsoft was making an impact of the Apple II in other ways. Due to the expandable nature of the Apple II, the company released a adapter called the SoftCard. The SoftCard was essentially a adapter that allowed Apple II users run the CP/M operating system. CP/M (Control Program/Microcomputers) was a command-line operating system created by Digital Research. MS-BASIC ran on CP/M, along with various applications that were already finding their way into the business/home setting like dBase(database), WordStar(word processor), and SuperCalc (spreadsheet).

The SoftCard included a Zilog Z80 processor which was needed to run CP/M. Natively, the MOS 6502 CPU used in the Apple II couldn't run it. The SoftCard worked alongside the 80-Column text card as CP/M conformed to it. Most applications written for CP/M naturally expect such a display to be used. CP/M was the OS that would later inspire MS-DOS. The SoftCard would reinforce the Apple II as the platform for small business users.

The sales of the Apple II grew at a steady rate until two developers working at an independent software company called Software Arts wrote a program that would not only define the platform, but computing in general. Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston realized that computers could number crunch much more quickly than accountants using a ledger. Thus, they wrote a program that resembled that ledger that book-keepers used. Called a spreadsheet, the program used cells that could contain numbers, letters, and formulas. The two programmers called their spreadsheet VisiCalc and released it for the Apple II at the tail-end of 1979. The sales of the Apple II exploded. Many small business purchased these computers in bulk simply to run VisiCalc. VisiCalc is considered one of, if not, the first "killer application". A "killer application" is a program so popular or vital that it spurs hardware sales.



Steve Jobs realized how important computers would be in educating children. Jobs championed the idea of getting computers into schools. Apple donated 9,000 computers in California. Job's was active with legislators on both the state and national level to promote bills that would get computers within the school setting. Educational software would give the Apple II added value within the school setting. Not only that, Jobs saw a opportunity too. Children who use the computers in school will become future customers in time. It was helped that many educational software houses were already eyeing the Apple II as well. MECC (Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium) released a game for the Apple II called Lemonade Stand. This game quickly became one of many landmark educational titles. Thus, children were receiving a early lesson about economics in a very simple and entertaining manner. Later on MECC would release The Oregon Trail, a title that needs no introduction. Anyone who died from dysentery knows what I'm talking about. The Apple II would dominate the education market.

Emulation

On one hand, nothing beats the experience of original hardware. However, original (working) computers is getting much hardware to find and often carry inflated prices as many those who discover the company's through the iPhone are buying the Apple II as a symbol. I know that hardware elitist will say that their is no other way. However, real hardware doesn't last forever either. With a platform as old as the Apple II, within 10-20 years, the only way to experience this platform is through emulation.

This really isn't a issue with me as this blog exist to champion emulation, software preservation, and be a vehicle for emulators (along with writing about how great Doom, Need For Speed, Flight Simulator and PalmOS while covering other social and tech topics from the every-pigeon perspective!) . 

There are a lot of Apple II emulators. The two most notable one is AppleWin and MAME. For those who want a very quick and easy start to the joys that is the Apple II, then AppleWin is highly recommended. It's very easy to use and emulates the various Apple II models, along with their peripheral devices and various video displays. For those who seek the ultimate challenge that is the command-line (their are friendly graphical front-ends too!), then their is MAME.

I typically prefer MAME as one could fine-tune the emulation to a very specific manner. MAME emulates the Apple II family of computers, along with their peripheral devices as well. However, one can configure the individual slots either through the front-end or the command-line. I typically launch a game or application from a hand-crafted batch file. As one can image, one has to be very familiar with the Apple II, it's hardware, and the various peripheral slots. One would know that the DiskII Controller Card would go into slot 6 while the ProDOS controller card (hard-disc) would have typically gone into slot 7. 

I would image that most use Apple II emulation for games. However, if doesn't hurt to get your hands dirty with some BASIC programming using AppleSoft BASIC. With the early micro-computers, the operating system and BASIC were one in the same. BASIC commands could be executed from the "]" prompt.

Conclusion

The Apple II was that watershed moment. While the Apple I caught the attention of those with money, the Apple II brought the new startup to the forefront. The Apple II's legacy is that it was the computer that built Apple itself. Their would have been no Apple without it, plain and simple.Their would have been no Macinotsh, iPod, IPhone, iPad, etc, without the Apple II. This computer's legacy is still felt today. We use computers because of the Apple II. 

The Apple II's open platform served as inspiration for a team of IBM engineers working at Boca Raton, Florida. From the launch of the IBM PC, the ecosystem exploded. Being able to choose which GPU, network or audio adapter that is in your PC today is a result of design choices that Wozniak made back in the late 70's. That's is the legacy of the Apple II. Wozniak built a open platform that was accessible and upgrade-able for years to come. 

Articles Of Interest

Apple II - Apple's most important computer (Modern Classic - YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYwPL2czMu4

Apple II (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II
History of Apple Inc. 1975–1985: Jobs and Wozniak (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Apple_Inc.#1975%E2%80%931985:_Jobs_and_Wozniak
Steve Jobs (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs
Apple II Plus (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_Plus
VisiCalc (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VisiCalc
Lemonade Stand (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemonade_Stand
MECC (Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium)(Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MECC
Z-80 SoftCard (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-80_SoftCard
Applesoft BASIC (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applesoft_BASIC

West Coast Computer Faire (Wikipedia) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_Computer_Faire

Today in Apple history: Microsoft’s first hardware debuts … on the Apple II (CultOfMac) : https://www.cultofmac.com/538573/apple-history-microsoft-z80-softcard/

Folklore (Nybbles) : https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Nybbles.txt

Folklore (A Rich Neighbor Named Xerox) : https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=A_Rich_Neighbor_Named_Xerox.txt

How Steve Jobs Brought the Apple II to the Classroom (HackEducation.com) : http://hackeducation.com/2015/02/25/kids-cant-wait-apple

When Steve Jobs donated 9,000 Apples to California schools, it was tax and marketing coup (TIMELINE) : https://timeline.com/apple-kids-cant-wait-2792d326aa31

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