The Apple II - Apple's most important computer

I grew up with the Apple II - it was my first ever computer. I'm an old-school Apple guy. In this video I give a basic introduction to the Apple II system and its internal competition with the Mac before showing off my own personal IIc and IIGS. This video ended up a little more serious than I originally intended, but I guess I have a certain reverence for the subject matter. And you can tell I'm a Woz fan, though my thoughts on Jobs are probably a little more complex than you'd guess solely from this video.
This is a new edit with my new intro/outro and LPCM audio (should be better sound). This is one of my most important videos to me personally, so I wanted it to be its best.
I promised a few helpful links in case you're interested in some of the things I mention in the video:
Floppy Emu: www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/
ADT Pro: adtpro.sourceforge.net/
Ciderpress: a2ciderpress.com/
Find an Apple IIGS on Ebay: ebay.to/2mI29Rt
Subscribe to my channel: kzbin.info...
Support me on Patreon!: / modernclassic
Follow me on Facebook: / modernclassicchannel
And on Twitter:
/ modernclassicyt
And some image attributions:
Apple II+, IIe, IIe Platinum, III Plus By Bilby (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Apple Lisa: Simon Claessen
Apple IIGS cards: Blake Patterson
Mac Prototype: Victor Grigas
Commodore 1541: Nathan Beach
Atari 1050: MOS6502
Frying eggs: • Video
Please let me know if I neglected to credit you - it wasn't intentional, and I'd be happy to fix that.
Subscribe to my channel: kzbin.info...
Support me on Patreon!: / modernclassic
Follow me on Facebook: / modernclassicchannel

[@GeorgeRTurner]

Wow! So much fun to watch this video! :-) It takes me back... I was hired by Apple in 1986 and was a developer on GS/OS. I wrote the file system portion of GS/OS (ProDOS) and was particularly happy that full floppy copy was faster than the Mac could do. ;-) The system/application loader and the little progress bar when GS/OS starts were also mine. The progress bar actually times how long it takes to boot and will use the number to adjust the duration of the progress bar on the next boot. This was pretty cool when you moved GS/OS to a ram disk and the progress bar would just fly across the screen. On the hardware side, I use to hang out with the guy who did the Apple IIgs accelerator card. I remember him letting me use a wire wrap tool to make connections on the prototype board. :-D Thanks again for all the great memories! :-D

[@lect0n7]

Rob Turner The 2GS was a way better buy than the Macintosh; it was color (not just black/white without any shades of grey) and as expensive as the Lisa may have seemed, the Xerox Alto, where the vision for the GUI came from was like $50,000 each

[@remijakobsen1848]

@@lect0n7 True, but still the Amiga computers were much better than all these, without extra price tag, like the 1986/87 Amiga 2000 that had the option of 68020 32 bit CPU/RAM card (A2620), SCSI HD (A2090) and PC emulator card (A2088) right from the launch (all these later factory-fitted in the A2000 model called A2500).

[@tommisera3816]

It would be great if the Woz and company would build and sell a version of his apple, either the two e or the g s. I know I would buy one and have a lot of fun. Todays computers are not as fun to use as the vintage ones

[@peteasmr2952]

Awesome to learn a bit being certain elements. Its like the director commentary on a movie. Thank you for sharing a bit about the past and your efforts. I love learning about things like this and old tech, its astonishing how we went from a basic calculator to a phone that is actually a computer. And there were so many steps along the way. I hope life is treating you well mate.

[@MichaelSidneyTimpson]

Rob Turner, how much was GS/OS based on or influenced by LisaOS or MacOS?

[@johnhermann762]

I bought a used Apple II+ in 1983 when I was still in high school. I used it all the way through my undergraduate degree and finally replaced it with a next-station because I needed a workstation to capture a CMOS layout for my Masters Thesis work. I used the Apple II+ in my senior engineering project; I designed and built a card that plugged into the II+ that interfaced with a stepper motor and sonar module like was used to auto focus cameras. I wrote a program that controlled the stepper motor and sonar unit to graph out the layout of a room and display it on the screen. The program would also measure the distance of a given angle and report the distance in feet and inches. The program was written in AppleSoft and used PEEKs and POKEs to control the hardware. I still have the Apple II+ somewhere boxed up; I don't know if it works anymore.

[@nomadicviewer3050]

John Hermann hey John a new Apple II enthusiast can you make a video showing this program I would love to see it.Thanks 👍

[@tahiro1121]

@@nomadicviewer3050 😢e

[@tahiro1121]

Unreal rI rvghvggggvgg

[@ab9zd73]

Selling the Apple II to schools was a brilliant move. When the schools started dumping them, they were available around here for about $15 each - just the computer, no drives or monitors, and they looked like they had been through a war. Watched a video of kids today being given an Apple II to use. Funny.

[@not_riley]

i thought the 8-bit guy was the only person on the internet whom i could listen to for countless hours without getting bored...and now i found you.

[@klimaquatsch1787]

right!

[@BertGrink]

Check out the 'databits', 'VWestlife', and 'Technology Connections' too, i think you might like those as well.

[@rizkaarifiandi5670]

i would add "LGR" and "SteveMRE" they have great voice and great personality matching with their indepth knowledge of the topic they talking

[@conroypawgmail]

The first computer I learned to use was the Apple II, in grade school. My parents soon purchased our first computer, and I used our Apple IIe (from 1983) up to and including my first year at college in 1991. The computer labs there had IBM PS/2s, so to be able to print from their fancy HP LaserJet series II printers (instead of my 8-pin dot matrix Canon), and to be compatible with other classmates, I switched to an IBM PC compatible 286. The transition was rough, but then again, more games were coming out for the PC with incredible VGA graphics, and 8-bit sound. Then Microsoft Windows 3.0 made its appearance. I dabbled with some Macs here and there, but I had pretty much converted over to IBM PCs. However, to this day, I still miss my Apple IIe.

[@OldAussieAds]

Genuine question. What made an early 90s PC running DOS that different to an Apple IIe? I’ve always felt the PC was the 16 bit spiritual successor to the Apple II but perhaps I’m missing a stack of stuff.

[@adiblasi]

I was selling Apple ]['s back in 1978. This was very well done! Bravo!

[@shezarr3456]

Man, I cannot stop watching your videos on repeat. I just absolutely love listening to your voice AND retro computers, it's all a perfect fit for me.

[@ScholRLea]

"Jobs' demand that the [Apple ///] have no fans." Given the harsh critical reception of the ///, I would say, "mission accomplished". :-p

[@JeffreyPiatt]

He had a obsession on no fan systems the G4 cube failed because he had it made fanless with a Power pc chip. It ran not enough to damage the case.

[@drguillotine7485]

Haha I just picked up my “New Apple 3” fun stuff

[@GradyBroyles]

@@JeffreyPiatt I mean. The G4 was quiet AF as was the first gen G5 even though, If I remember the G5 with it's "thermal zones" had a total of 9 fans. It was still quiet. Jobs used to say on stage how fan noise was his nemesis. Mysphonia?

[@ZTenski]

Woz never got enough credit really. I respect Steve as a marketer and for his ability to see what users wanted feature-wise, but if Woz had his way in the 80s and each apple was backwards compatible we'd all be using them today.

[@glynnetolar4423]

This has to be one of the best, most accurate overviews of the Apple ][ computers. As someone who had one and lived through that era, I admit I'm biased. Thank you for making this. What attracted me to the ][ was the open architecture. I tried to learn everything on the inside of the system. It's part of what made me so curious about electronics.

[@adamstokke]

Very impressed by this overview. My first computer was a slightly used Apple 2 Plus in 1983, with two drives. Good times!

[@AnayVlad]

Very nice video. Technically sound and well, I love the tone and nostalgia. The Apple IIe was the first computer to enter our home (after some long forgotten Micral) and my brother and I love playing Choplifter and Aztec.

[@viralmoment123]

Your videos are so well made dude. This is some damn good history.

[@ericfresh]

My family got an Apple IIc in 1984...and my senior year of HS in 1994 the computer lab was still full of them. Even took a Basic class on one. Cutting edge.

[@GradyBroyles]

You had a IIc in 84 and it was "cutting edge?" The C64 (over 2 years old at that point) was more powerful and ran CP/M and the Amiga came out a year later. The Apple ][ line was getting a little long in the tooth by then, don't you think?

[@ericfresh]

@@GradyBroyleslol im afraid my sarcasm did not translate. I got a C64 in 86, a Miga in 89 & a 386 in 92...

[@williamadkins4664]

I've always been a PC guy myself, save for the IIe and Mac experiences in grade school... but still this was wonderfully interesting and informative. Great work! I know now to thank the II line (and Wozniak) for a lot of what I love about PC compatibles.

[@MarbsMusic]

I got a IIe in 1982 and used it until I got my Mac IIci in 1991... used that until 1997... I switched to PCs in 1998 until M1 was released. The Apple II still brings back many of my best computing memories. Thank you for this video!

[@hopper1]

I had a Laser 128EX in high school. I loved that computer.

[@tenthconcept]

Thank you sir. This is by far the funniest, and my favorite video on KZbin since 2005.

[@scottaveles6900]

Everything you said about the Apple II line feeling like "The" definitive computer of it's time was absolutely true. There was nothing like it. Nothing came close. They were the koolest computers ever made. Excellent video. Very well done.

[@ModernClassic]

Doing an Apple II buyer's guide next! Can't keep away from the subject.

[@bierundkippen720]

I only mention the Commodore PET and the Tandy. Nothing came close? Ha!

[@GradyBroyles]

@@bierundkippen720 The PET with it's trapezoidal monitor.

[@bryanthebryan2638]

I am loving your channel. You're bringing me way back. Keep up the good work!

[@neophobicnyctophile8264]

This is a well-made video, great perspective to build on the pre-existing wealth of retrospect out there! I'm subscribed!

[@TheRealLaughingGravy]

Ha! _Balance of Power,_ a game I tested on a number of systems as a QA analyst at Mindscape in the 1980's, including a IIgs specific version. Oh, how I grew to hate that game. Everybody else in the department got to test the fun, twitchy games, while I was forever stuck on endless ports of boring old _Balance of Power_ (including a PC port that ran in a runtime version of Windows). I wasn't then (and am not now) much of an Apple person, but it always seemed to me the IIgs was the best kept secret in computing. People were going nuts over the closed-tight Macintosh with its tiny monochrome screen when Apple had an expandable color computer with a graphical user interface. It could have been then what the Mac took ten years to become. I had no idea it was intentionally hobbled by Jobs. The Apple II and its successors were computers; the Macintosh was an anti-computer. I think who each appealed to tells you a lot about a person. Thanks for the stroll down Memory Lane.

[@darrencafferty]

Thank you for making this, I really enjoyed it and learned a few new things.

[@rdoetjes]

It’s so cool that you still had the disks. I’d really would love to see my old 80s and early 90s disks. But I chucked them out, when I moved on to bigger and better. Not realizing that at some point you may wanna actually use that old useless “junk” again. Last year in lockdown I refurbished a C64, two amigas and a 486. And I was amazed I could actually still write 6502 and 8088 assembler albeit with sometimes googling certain instruction and memory maps. Those days in the 80s, how I miss them! Care free days of wonder.

[@StreetComp]

Nicely done video - takes me back to early 80s when a rich friend had an Apple II (different variants) and we spent a lot of time playing that Choplifter game you showed as well as Castle Wolfenstein and Karateka. Good memories! I did spend a LOT of time with games on 5.25 inch floppy disks but was with a C64 and fun to see someone with a stack of those hastily labeled disks lol

[@clearnitesky]

Really enjoyed this video. Thanks for making it!

[@johngeverett]

I bought the Apple ][+. While visiting a hobby computer store in Atlanta back in the late 70s, a hippie showed me the monitor, and I was blown away! I loved that I could get as close to the machine as I wanted or just sit back and run great software. I also ran 8-bit CP/M with a Z-80 coprocessor. If you could do ANYTHING on microcomputer, you could do it on the Apple ][ line. I put a 1-meg memory card in my ][e and Prodos used it as a work space, or as a ram drive. I loved it!

[@tommisera3816]

Great video, brings back a lot of good memories with my apple two.

[@arcaderehab]

Very well done video, really enjoyed watching!

[@shrink908]

I own many vintage computers from the C64/128, Amiga, Atari 800, and the //e and //gs... I have been both a Diversi-Dial user and SysOp and a C64 BBS SysOp... I was so happy to hear you mention D-Dial as it seems a forgotten part of our history, thank you! Even the programmer, Bill Basham seems to want to forget D-Dial. If you ever want to learn more about that package or C-Net 64n and 128 BBS software feel free to contact me, I am happy to discuss the old days.. :)

[@TrentonMatthews]

Thanks for uploading the video again, enjoyed the original, and your new intro! I use to have the APPL ii c, using an echo hardware synth to make it speak.

[@ModernClassic]

Thanks, really just hoping more people watch past the intro now :) Plus I have a lot more subscribers now. This video was a labor of love so I just want as many people to watch it as possible.

[@hancockautomotive1]

I enjoyed the whole thing, Modern Classic. Thank you for the video, it was a pleasure to watch!

[@MeBeTheDB]

WAY COOL-! The Apple IIc & IIe changed my personal & professional life. In fact, I got my first IIc from a friend of a friend at the original Apple Campus (pre-Mac) in the Summer of 1983. While waiting in the lobby -- there, under some plexi-glass -- was the first prototype of the APPLE I -- the wood-shelled computer (complete with burned-in monitor) that changed history. Thank you for this heartfelt video of a little machine that appears to have made your younger days ... simply wondrous. D.A.

[@callan5323]

Outstanding video !!! Your video reminds me of one of the video vignettes I would watch growing up on a show called "CBS Sunday Morning News with Charles Kuralt." * All that was missing was the little smiling sun icon 🌞 in the bottom right corner . * Instant classic .

[@NineteenEightyFive]

This was a great video! My older cousins had a IIgs when I was growing up and I didn't fully appreciate it back then. I loved going over to their house to print color banners though on print shop tho 😂

[@frankthetechtank]

I'm an apple fanboy, I admit it....love this video. I love looking at how far we've come

[@Kylefassbinderful]

the iic will always be my fav of the family. I have a 3rd ROM revision with a memory expansion slot. It's as old as me, b.1986. It still works and has outlasted every single computer I have ever owned.

[@KaiPonte]

Great video! I was able to convince my parents I wanted a IIe (as opposed to a II+) in the early '80s. I never knew until now what that godawful noise was when the floppy started.

[@KHMMedia]

Thx much for that breathtaking backflash. Worked with many of those Computers from this great documentary and still own a few like the APPLE II and others :-)

[@Shlooomth]

Using new computers to be able to use older computers. It might seem ridiculous to some but I see the beauty in it

[@X-OR_]

Happy Birthday Apple II. Introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire on April 16, 1977

[@GradyBroyles]

Star Wars ep IV came out that year.

[@X-OR_]

@@GradyBroyles 1977 was a great year. Microcomputers (TRS-80, Apple II and PET).Star Wars and Punk Rock. I wish I had a Way Back Machine.....

[@AndrewErwin73]

"...a case study in business success and a cautionary tale about how to squander it." Very poetic! And profound as well.

[@tetsujin_144]

Eh, personally I almost 100% disagree with that line... The thing is, business success is fleeting. When it comes to a big, long-term market success like the Apple II series, that kind of success can make a lot of money over a long period of time, but that success doesn't last forever. Eventually they need to be replaced with something better, or else someone else will create that "something better". And backward compatibility combined with a wildly popular (but aging) platform does not mean an automatic win in the next round. (Among other things, a backward-compatible machine risks being defined by its backward compatibility) Jobs didn't get everything right but I think he was 100% correct that the way to go was to start fresh and try to make the best new platform possible. And the end result of that was one of the few non-PC platforms to survive the PC era.

[@LeeBergerMediaProd]

I worked for an instructional design center at Florida State University in the late 80’s and we developed instructional software for the IIGS. It was middle school science that featured video on a videodisc player and we made use of the graphics card’s video overlay capability. If memory serves me the IIGS controlled the videodisc player via RS232. I led the video production team and we produced one-hour of video and an hour of audio for each of four programs. What a fantastic machine for its time and what a great project.

[@scottDchicago]

Great episode! I really enjoyed this.

[@danield.7359]

The Apple IIgs' design was so sleek! I really miss those designs from the 80s (including the Atari ST, Amiga, Acorn and some of the Apricots).

[@thefbi4421]

I’m so interested in history like this,it’s always so fascinating over the years of how computers have changed and got more ram,data,and storage,it’s nice to see how apple 2 became a successful computer and a part of history.

[@electricmiragemedia]

you deserve more subs. Love it. More classic computing vids please! Would love to see stuff on older powerbooks

[@bwgti]

I agree about the subs. This is a well made video. With an atypical view point of Apple Computer.

[@benjaminwinfrey7727]

I remember my parents bringing home our apple 2c. Even then, Apple boxes were elegant and special. So was the packing materials and manual. The computer was finicky for the time but that color monitor was beautiful!

[@Tracks777]

Nice video, congratiolations with the new stuff

[@pwnrz8684]

wut

[@shawnlewis626]

Interesting and informative video about the Apple II... The computer for the rest of us, as one commercial back then stated. I have a 2c and a Dell desktop and laptop here in Hoosier Land.

[@matthewforbes2828]

Great video, thanks for posting it. Totally brings me back! I desperately wanted a II but had to “settle” for a C64, which I ended up loving ... literally to death. Enjoy your machines!

[@OldAussieAds]

It’s all relative. I always wanted a C64 but had to settle for an Atari 8-bit.

[@teejay818]

Man, I owned Test Drive II and Arkanoid II on my GS back in the day, this video really sent me back. I really liked the 3.5” drive’s eject function. Rather than firing the disc at you with a spring, it’s motor whirred up to raise the disc up and slide it out to you. Ugly head seek noises aside :)

[@jeffkiska]

"Imagine still using an 8-bit Apple II as your primary computer in 1993." No imagination needed! Like you, I got a lot of use out of the Apple IIc that was my first computer. Still annoyed at my parents for selling it at a flea market while I was away at college.

[@ccooper2654]

Excellent Video - good job

[@JohnnyCarvin]

Fantastic video! Thank you!

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Woz is the brain of Apple,Jobs became the voice

[@ModernClassic]

That's pretty much true.

[@JonathanDeane]

I feel like Woz had the correct vision of the future of computing so much more than Jobs. Expandability, Upgrade paths, Graphics and Sound, he knew what people would want and tried to deliver it. I guess it took IBM and Microsoft to finally pick up the concept and run with it to where we are today.

[@RickeyMoore]

Jobs was the anus.

[@StrangerHappened]

This is a simplification. BTW, there are *THREE serious mistakes* in the video: 1. Wozniak had very little to do with any Apple's activity since the early 1980s, including Apple IIgs machine. 2. Jobs' wish to make something entirely new was not some mystery "only known to him", it was obvious since Apple II architecture had serious limitations that tampered with progress. Jobs' was always in favour of throwing the aging technology away. E.g. once he has returned to Apple he has thrown away old Mac OS, and then PowerPC. 3. Jobs had nothing to do with Apple IIgs CPU frequency limitations; he was ousted from Apple 1.5 years before the machine's release.

[@EVPaddy]

Well, the Apple II also already was quite old when the C64 came to market.

[@InnoVintage]

wozniak was a reserved genius who knew how to run a buisness, jobs was an arrogant visionary who knew how to persuade people to his side. if only they got along

[@stoltzman2960]

love your work!

[@Obie327]

Well said thoughts on the Apple 2 Series. I was totally polarized when i first used the 2e. I was taking a beginners programming class in "introduction to Dos" I was currently running an Texas Instruments ti-994a at home (With all excessories: disk drive, tape, cartridge,synthesizer,etc.) traded my buddy A Sega Master System at the time. Anyways, in the Computer class i came across the original Apple 1 (wooded box) and next to it an Apple 2E brand new that just came in. I was young but this older kid turned it on and showed me some basics with it. (I was hooked) IBM at the time didn't interest me much, (boring/dull) I still finished my writing of a Dos program and passed the class. I played on all but the original (1) series . The apple 2c was kinda cool to mess around with but the apple 2E was the one I found in every class room and easily available at the library. When I found the Apple 2 gs "Woz edition" sitting in the back area of the computer lab... That one I think had 512 kbs or more ram. The owner who also had a fondness for the 2 gs let me play with it (i had amassed about 3000 programs by the time I stumbled upon the GS. So many fond memories messing with Apple 2 series. It's a real shame Wozniak couldn't take this to his ultimate vision. :( Thanks for posting this video, It sure has made me think of those great times "computing" as a kid and young adult. (magical) :) P. S. I never actually owned an apple until I bought a "Tiger computer", An Apple clone. I found it at Sears clearance, But that didn't last long after Mother put all my computer stuff in the garage that cold winter. (lost everything) (All my Software was destroyed also)

[@ModernClassic]

Thanks for the comment - reading that last part was painful! Those Tiger computers are now worth a decent amount of money from what I understand. They were actually made by Apple, and were (if I remember right) the "last Apple II".

[@Obie327]

Yeah :( I was Devastated seeing my computer stuff sitting in the garage :( I ended up moving out and buying my first Packard Bell 486 sx 25. The one thing that stayed/resonated with me in the first years without my apple was "Is this suppose to be better?" Referring to my new purchase running Windows 3.1. I still think about it my old apple and the Ti-994a I had. Great times when I was a kid (Doctor Who on Tv) :)

[@ModernClassic]

Ha, I got a Packard Bell 486 SX25 after my Apple II as well :) I'll have a TI-99/4A one of these days - one of my friends had one as a kid, and it's my mission to eventually have every computer I had any experience with at all from those days. if you want to buy one again, they are one of the last common retro systems that you can still easily find in perfect shape complete in the box for $50. I'm actually holding out for new old stock myself :)

[@Obie327]

We both had very great childhoods and wonderful times playing around with these great computer systems :) As much a I would love to have my Donkey Kong (ti-994a) or Arkanoid for apple (the synth board also sounded pretty awesome playing music on the Tiger) I just don't have the time or space to set something like that up. :( I'll be glad to live through you, Posting videos on this great subject matter. :) Growing up in the Eighties, In my early teens, Is/was the best of times (God Bless America!) And Thank you again for bringing back a dear cherished memory of my youth. (feelings of that kid) :)

[@chiroquacker2580]

You may already know this but with the Ti/99 I reccomend staying away from the beige case units. Some of them have an 'updated' bios that locks out any game cartridge not made by TI themselves. SD cartridges and probably other things won't work on these models. The only way to tell if a Beige unit has that Bios is to look for the Bios version number when you power the computer on. The stainless models are much more sexy anyway IMO.

[@kilruf]

Nice video. My dad had the TRS80 for awhile, but then bought the Apple IIc after seeing a buddy's Apple IIe. Then he bought the Apple IIGS when it was release. I think he had really hoped for support from Apple but ended up with an IBM emulator card for the IIGS. Lack of support turned him off of Apple products for several years until I gave him one of my old iPads. He still runs PC (Ryzen) stuff, but loves his iPad and iPhone. hehe

[@GeoNeilUK]

If you think about it, the only companies that thinked different were Acorn with the Acorn Archimedes (the debut of the almighty ARM CPU, but only because it shipped with a BBC emulator and that RISC OS was written in BBC BASIC and had a BBC BASIC prompt that was functionally the same as the command line on the original BBC and Electron) and Miles Gordon Technology when they released the SAM Coupe as a 16 bit computer that was backwards compatible with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (however MGT were neither Sinclair nor Amstrad) For me Commodore and Acorn were the unsung heroes. Commodore's 64, 128 and Amiga were revolutionary. The C64 was the definitive home computer of its time and the Commodore Amiga kicked off CGI. As for Acorn... aside from the BBC Micro being the British Apple ][, Acorn were the A in ARM, the inventors of the CPU architecture that runs the world, the giant whose shoulders even Apple stands upon.

[@cassie5344]

Awesome video. Loved it. Thank you.

[@RexyRonin]

Lovely video! Hope to get my hands on an Apple II myself!

[@RoyCaratozzolo]

Excited to see the Floppy Emu.. I have one for my apple II and one for a mac plus... both systems died, but I have my emus!

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

11:45 Yes, there was “computing history” back then. The University’s first computer from decades earlier-an IBM 1130-lay in various pieces in the foyer of the Computer Services department. ACM SIGPLAN held a special symposium on the history of various notable programming languages, including LISP. So there was already a widespread awareness of what had gone before, and how it was important to preserve some of it in a museum rather than chuck it out in the trash.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

It's funny when people act like computers started in the late '70s ... when, of course, there were giant vac-tube machines in the '40s ... and special-purpose mechanical computers in the 19th Century.

[@scottlarson1548]

Another thing about Apple floppy drives. Most floppy drives had a "track zero" sensor. Even if you didn't know where the head was, you could keep moving it until you detected that it had reached track zero. Apple drives didn't have a track zero sensor so you had to keep slamming the head until it couldn't be anywhere else but track zero.

[@EVPaddy]

Well, the C64's 1541 did the same (not as loud, AFAIR though). I used to have an SFD 1001 some time later. Wow, that was a rocket. And you could save 1 MB per disk. Wow. I wans't sure I'll ever need a second one ;)

[@ericvtheworld]

Your summary of apple history is so hilarious and accurate

[@SalivatingSteve]

When I was in elementary school from 1995-2000, half the computer lab was made of Apple IIes, the other half were Macs. We used the Apple II at school quite a bit! And my dad was a high school teacher, he brought me home an Apple IIc and Apple IIgs to play around with when his school was getting rid of them. I had fun with it even though we had several Mac computers at home too.

[@hedema4702]

Great video!

[@dontmesswiththeman]

Although my parents didn't break down and break down and buy a computer until 1999, the Apple IIGS was the first computer I ever used. The grade school i attended had a lab full of IBM PS/2 all-in-ones, but as kindergartners in 1995 we didn't get computer lab time like the higher grades did and we had a much different computer in our classroom than the clunky looking gray/cream IBMs I later used in the lab. I really only remember playing some sort of dinosaur game and using a paint-like program, but i remember that rainbow colored Apple logo and the matching COLOR printer(something that really amazed me at six years old). I'm currently on the hunt for an Apple II at a reasonable price, hopefully a GS but I'll likely settle for a IIc since they seem to be the most plentiful.

[@chriscorsello]

Excellent! Why did KZbin wait so long to suggest this video to me? Very good.

[@matthiasrasch8415]

Fine video. Thanks for that! Just a small correction: when you talk about that awful floppy noise (from about 19:00), you mention that Commodore drives "knew where their head was". Well, they were indeed smart and knew that, but still they occasionally made that noise (well, the 1541 did; I believe the 1571 did not): Whenever there was a serious read error, and also when formatting a disk, they did bang the head against its limit, to be sure they were positioned at the first track. A simple sensor would have made that unnecessary, but that was left out, probably for the same reason as in the Apple drive: cost.

[@davidbanan.]

If i recal 8 bit guy said the reason the disk knew where they were because the sectors were numbered, so when formatting a disk since they don't have thoes numbers it would click

[@OldAussieAds]

I currently own both a C64 and 1541 drive. I can confirm that it indeed makes a dreadful noise now and again. When it loads normally though… oh it sounds very sweet.

[@MaxOakland]

I’m obsessed with the Apple IIGS. Woz really was an incredible genius to see the IBM way before IBM even did. That could’ve completely changed Apple’s trajectory

[@kippie80]

Excellent points, i relate easily to your experiances too.

[@Pillokun]

My hat of to you good sir for teaching me something about the early computer history that I did not know. thank you for this clip.:)

[@sburton015]

Growing up, I remember at school, they mainly used Apple II computers with 5 1/4" floppy disks and a green or white monochrome screen. I also remember the very first PC we had at home was a Macintosh SE that we bought in 1988.

[@tekphloyd]

BRAVO! Great video! 👏👏👏

[@blakespot]

Hey, there’s my GS! Nice. Thanks for attributing btw.

[@beeshepard]

Great video, thanks!

[@RyannonBarrNeo]

everything you said is spot on! one more thing is that its basic programming language is much easier to get down into your head than modern languages!

[@PiroKUSS]

Abstract languages already existed back then (APL, Fortran, C, etc).

[@CourtWatchAu]

Great video and info, thankyou so much

[@MarkMphonoman]

Great video, thanks.

[@trentonhuggins465]

So much nostalgia. I learned to type in an Apple 2. I sunk many hours into many awesome games. We had them at school.. I desperately wanted one for myself but was stuck using a Ti 99/4a.

[@SenileOtaku]

I had wanted the IIgs way back when it was first released. I had wavered between the IIe (or IIc) and the early Mac. When the IIgs came out, I decided *that* was the machine I wanted. But not having the spare cash to buy it outright, applied for Apple financing. When I didn't get that, ended up getting a used Tandy 1000 and never went back to Apple. These days I think a IIgs would be the system I'd want for my one "retro" system, though I don't know where I'd set it up in my house. Already sold off most of my other retro machines that never did anything more that sit packed away in boxes.

[@sprybug]

Loved it!

[@rajvinder89]

Wow, had the IIgs line continued, along with clone manufacturing from other vendors the entire PC landscape in the modern era would be completely different.

[@GradyBroyles]

Maybe? I had one. At the time the clones had better hardware than Apple was offering. It was really a foregone conclusion that when Jobs came back to Apple, that shiz was gonna stop.

[@InnoVintage]

imagine that, a world where two bespoke ecosystems actually existed! instead we have the PC market, just with different operating systems

[@rajvinder89]

@@InnoVintage Yeah, it'd mean *real* competition. Especially if the other platform used a different CPU architecture. Though now with Apple going to it's own silicon (ARM based) we're getting that again(sort of).

[@doomdays4060]

Switching to Apple ARM Hardware just means continuing into the none Upgradable direction Apple is already in. Just a Black box tied on it's own Operating System and Apps.

[@GradyBroyles]

@@rajvinder89 The Mac Clones were made by "Power Computing" (among others) and had PPC CPU's and off-the-shelf and up-gradable PCI graphics). Basically the Mac Pro of it's day. They were faster in Mhz than Apple's own offerings at the time

[@Mr.BrownsBasement]

Thoroughly enjoyed. I have an extensive collection of II-stuff and now I wanna go and play (again). Ahhh, you forgot to mention the Iic+… :)

[@Revelator2025]

I Loved my Apple ][+ Wrote adventure games in basic for my own pleasure. Loved Sea Dragon, Swashbuckler, Kabul Spy, Star Blazer, Apple Panic etc etc (yes Choplifter too!). Will never forget the Monday night when I was playing Castle Wolfenstein. Howard Cosell was commentator on Monday Night Football. He announced that John Lennon had been shot. One of those moments you never forget. December 08, 1980. Btw Great Video. The Apple ][ will always live in my Heart. 🍏

[@Darknight1886]

Hey, thanks for the quick and dirty history of the IIGS. I'm wondering if you ever got a chance to do a video on the ADT Pro's capabilities of writing disk images to the floppy using your PC? I would love to see that. Thanks, though!

[@cheeseburger2662]

Awesome video. you're a great storyteller

[@oDTRT]

Great video

[@fubaralakbar6800]

My first computer was a Commodore 64, and I long for another one to this day...but I spent some time in the home of a family who owned an Apple IIGS and loved it--and I can see why they did. It was powerful, easy to use, and handsome. The design and software suite made infinitely more sense than the Macs of the time. The Mac was an idea whose time had not yet come. An overly passionate and impatient Jobs released it before it was really mature and viable. But it had its breakout moment and eventually fulfilled its impressive potential. Being a dedicated PC/Linux man myself, I have to ask where people would be without the Macs and other Apple products of today?

[@than0zZ]

Amazing! Thank you!

[@taketimeout2share]

Gosh you sound JUST like VWestlife. And you are just as good. That is a serious compliment. You also sound like John Mcenroe too. And before you reply I cannot be serious, I am. Seriously. Funny that .Mac and Mcnroe. I used a Macintosh too, when it rained at Wimbledon. That was 1980 before you owned your 1st PC. Sorry Apple.Whatever. Game over?

[@davidcagle4735]

When the IIgs was popular most of us used a Hard Drive, now a good option is a device that uses a CF card as a hard drive. Floppies were never that common on the IIgs, except as a way to distribute software, and many IIgs programs require a hard drive. For nostalgia you want original common config, which included an accelerator for most people, and again a lot of software requires an accelerator.

[@AudioCrossingVideos]

MAN, what camera do you film with? The shots of you have incredible definition. Your lighting helps but it's still really impressive. What make/model is it??

[@kurtisgomske6633]

I love your Lloyd Christmas look dude...

[@glynnetolar4423]

Loved my Amdek amber monitor when I had with my //e. When I upgraded to the ][GS I had the GS's color monitor.

[@LongDistanceSailor]

I agree. I had a II+ and ran away from apple to PC when the Mac became the thing. I'm not a Jobs fan. Their closed architecture approach was not just a poor business decision it was, in my opinion at the time, not honorable. I built a career on PC. I became one of the OS/2 developers. Life was good feeling superior to Apple when it was not doing well and not really taking them seriously when they started selling i products. Since the II, I see them as a marketing company selling the koolaid to fanboys, not a serious innovator. They made things simple that other engineers already got working.

[@MacedonianHero]

My first home computer....great memories of it.

[@atomicorang]

Excellent video.