My Apple //gs -- forgot to post this when I got it

Hey everyone. Any old-schoolers here? Just felt like sharing this. Last fall I found a great deal online for a used Apple //gs. Ever since they were released in 1986/87, I've always wanted one. I lusted after this thing, but if I remember correctly it was a tad expensive, and I was still a teenager and couldn't always get what I wanted. I think it's safe to say I waited long enough, right?

Anyways, it's in great condition, and it works perfectly. I connected it to my Mac mini with a cable and an adapter in order to transfer software to it (it's awesome how a lot of that stuff is available for free now). All my old disks work as well. I've had a great time playing around with it. This is such a beautiful machine.

Funny how this came out as the Mac was beginning to become more versatile and powerful, and I guess Apple no longer saw a need to branch off in two directions with different GUIs, even though the //gs came with its own GUI and already had some nice specs and was pretty powerful. The end of an era ... the most advanced ][ ever made.

Anyway, here's a picture:

The II[size=-2]GS[/size] was my first Apple, and my first computer. It was a very easy, approachable machine, surprisingly capable and yet still compatible with almost all of the old software and hardware. And such a clean, compact design. I especially remember that compact, clicky keyboard.

For modern-day Apple watchers, I think there's insight to be gained from those days, when Apple had both the established Apple II platform, and the upstart Macintosh platform. Apple sold the both of them for almost ten years, and both platforms borrowed features from the other (The Macintosh got modular cases, ADB, and expansion slots; the Apple II got a mouse and graphical interface.) Ultimately, one was the future of computing and the other was a legacy platform. Apple still has this playbook, folks, and they're still reading from it.

EDIT: Here are some nice old II[size=-2]GS[/size] ads. Call me crazy, but I miss the days when Apple advertising actually described the product instead of just showing fashion shots of it.
DigiBarn Documents: Marketing and introductory literature for the Apple IIgs
http://www.macmothership.com/gallery/newads12/87IIGS_Software_Promo2.jpg
(I miss the ImageWriter II, too. What good is printed material if you don't get the enjoyment of tearing the perforated tracks off the sides and separating the pages?)

That was the first computer I owned also. I remember paying about $200.00 for a huge 20 mb external hard drive thinking there is no way you could fill that up.

Thanks for your great post ~!~ It reminded me of my first Mac the Apple Macintosh IIcx.
It was given to me by some friends that were upgrading their office Macs.

It was the beginning of an awesome and continuing journey that I will always be grateful for.
Thanks to Sunny and Liberty and especially Ray *>*

Although I never personally owned one, I did learn how to program in Pascal on a //gs. My high school had labs full of them. I always thought they were neat machines - kind of a cross-breed between a Mac and an Apple ][. I wouldn't mind owning one today, but then again, I can't see doing anything with it aside from it being a conversation piece.

They were great machines - granted the gs wasn't my first Apple, but it was my last for quite a while (since they had killed the ][ line in favor of the Mac which at the time I really didn't like) My first Apple was a ][+. I actually still have quite a bit of ][ gear floating around (eventually I need to get a bunch of it on ebay as I have way more then I need) including ][+'s, ][e's, ][c+, GS Rom 1, GS Rom 3, software, hard drives, etc. I used to even have some transwarp accelerator cards.

The ][ line was just a lot of fun and since there was so much information available about it, it was a great machine to be able to experiment and build devices for (I think I still have a prototyping card floating around somewhere).

Those were the days

What a trip down memory lane. I bought a GS in grad school complete with an Imagewriter II.By the time I finally got rid of it I had added a 40 MB internal drive. By the time I got rid of it I had added the Applied Engineering card that brought the speed up to 8 MHz.

My buddy used to complain that the printer was too slow (I usually printed in best mode). I put it in draft and surprised it a bit. With the accelerator installed I out ran his 30+ MHZ Tandy.

Nethfel said:

They were great machines - granted the gs wasn't my first Apple, but it was my last for quite a while (since they had killed the ][ line in favor of the Mac which at the time I really didn't like) My first Apple was a ][+. I actually still have quite a bit of ][ gear floating around (eventually I need to get a bunch of it on ebay as I have way more then I need) including ][+'s, ][e's, ][c+, GS Rom 1, GS Rom 3, software, hard drives, etc. I used to even have some transwarp accelerator cards.

The ][ line was just a lot of fun and since there was so much information available about it, it was a great machine to be able to experiment and build devices for (I think I still have a prototyping card floating around somewhere).

Those were the days

Click to expand...

Computers were so much more fun in those days... back when they still had a certain mystique surrounding them. The Apple ][ was the first computer I ever had contact with - I can remember playing educational games on one in in Kindergarten (probably sometimes around 1982) and later learning how to use Logo. As much as the Commodore 64 influenced me, that Apple ][ is what really ignited a lifelong passion for computers.

Nethfel said:

They were great machines - granted the gs wasn't my first Apple, but it was my last for quite a while (since they had killed the ][ line in favor of the Mac which at the time I really didn't like)
Those were the days

Click to expand...

Same here. I found the screens on the Mac+ and even up through SE and the like hard to read. It seemed to me that the GS got short shrift after they started working on the Mac line.

Thank you all for your comments and your insight. I guess it is true that I bought it mainly for the nostalgia and not the functionality. Compared to what we expect out of our personal computers today, this machine doesn't really live up to our current standards. But heck ... if you really want to get technical, somebody with very modest needs could still use it. I mean, just hook up a printer to it, and you can start writing letters. Based on what I read, I think there are people out there that are hacking the //gs in order to bring Internet functionality to it. Or it could be a young child's starter computer. At any rate, right now it's a lot of fun trying out the various //gs-specific software titles that were released for it.

Of course, I agree that back then, before PCs went massively mainstream, there was still some kind of aura about them. I think they were still priceless objects, with capabilities waiting to be exploited by clever users and programmers. You could impress people pretty easily.

I remember thinking that if I ever got a //gs, I would want the Applied Engineering PC Transporter so that I could have the best of both worlds. A fellow on a local BBS told me how unwise that would be, and to just get an IBM clone because they were cheaper. That's exactly what I ended up doing (at the time I only had a //e). Still, I don't think he understood what attracted me to the //gs at all, and based the argument solely on economics. Sometimes it's not about that.

I remember my high school having a lot of these. I hope I can keep this a long time and that it remains in working condition.

I never got much exposure to the Apple II. At that time I was using Commodore and Atari 8-Bits then went to the Atari ST then later the Amiga (which I will never forget). The IIGs did impress me though when I first saw it. It was a nice machine.

Actually yeah, the more I read up on the Amiga, the more I'm starting to understand why it had a "cult" following. It seems to have been a pretty sophisticated computer with a great OS.

The Amiga was an incredibly powerful machine for its time. And if you had the money (and the need) for a Toaster board you could use the system to edit video and at the time was extremely low cost (compared to other technology of the day).

My first love!!

That keyboard was so awesome.

I remember when I got an SCHD (or was it HDSC?) for it - holy cow did it make it fly!! Of course, I didn't have it set up that way for very long before I got a Mac II.

I had my IIgs for, um, what, 1986-1990. A while. I even had license plates for my car: APLIIGS (or something close to that - it's been a while).

I remember selling my machine, with everything I had for it (except the hard drive) - for something like $1200 - after letting it sit in the closet for a year.

I agree, the feel of that keyboard makes it one of the best ever made in my opinion.

Cool! I remember when I got an Apple ][e around 15 years ago. Second hand for around 20 bucks, I think.

Even though the ][e was well past it's prime, it was still seeing some use in my high school (not part of the main computer lab, but some classrooms still had them). As a collector of old BASIC computers, I considered it a step up.

I like how the drive would blow raspberries at you when it couldn't read a disk XD.