How can I try out an Apple II?

I’m trying to figure out how I can test if my Apple IIe is actually functional without having a power supply or a monitor on hand—basically, I want to know if it's even worth sinking money into a full restoration project. I’ve been reading online that those original power supplies were total death traps; apparently, they're all defective and have fried either some or most of the chips if people try to use them today. If anyone has any insight or advice on how to approach this, I’d really appreciate it.

Look, if you don't have a power supply handy, you're basically gonna have to hunt down a schematic and build your own. From what I recall, there are two different voltages involved—one AC and one rectified. I actually have an Apple II with its original power brick somewhere, but it’s not right in front of me. I'll have to dig through the garage and tear things apart to find it once I actually get some free time.
I was just scrolling through some sites online... like this:
https://www.commodoreserver.com/Blog...CCB41450EB6E12

Look, you absolutely should not touch that original power supply without testing it first. You really need to grab a multimeter and check those voltages—you’re looking for roughly 5.0 to 5.2V DC and about 9V AC. Just a heads-up, don't freak out if the AC side reads a little higher than 9V; that's totally normal when you're testing it without any load attached.
The pinout for the power supply is here:
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthrea...-with-no-Volts

Once you've confirmed the output voltages are sitting where they should be, then you can go ahead and try hooking it up to the Apple II.
Or, if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, just build your own custom power supply, something similar to this setup. I'd highly recommend checking out some videos by John; his stuff is top-tier.


As far as the restoration goes, the absolute baseline is swapping out the capacitors. You can either hunt down individual caps yourself or just order one of those specific recap kits made for the Apple II.
It would also be a smart move to swap the capacitors in the RF modulator while you're at it.

https://www.retroleum.co.uk/c64-capacitors

I've grabbed kits from these guys before for several different Apple II machines, and everything has always worked out fine.

The next thing on your checklist should be the voltage regulators; there are two of them tucked away inside.

The final step is to glue some heatsinks onto all the critical chips.

If you find a piece of cardboard inside the computer case, my advice is to just toss it. It doesn't actually do anything; it was probably just slapped in there years ago as some makeshift EMI shield.

If you run into anything else, just hit me up. There's a massive community on Facebook and a few dedicated forums specifically for Apple II enthusiasts.

Joseph Peterson5 said:Look, you absolutely should not touch that original power supply without testing it first. You really need to grab a multimeter and check those voltages—you’re looking for roughly 5.0 to 5.2V DC and about 9V AC. Just a heads-up, don't freak out if the AC side reads a little higher than 9V; that's totally normal when you're testing it without any load attached.
The pinout for the power supply is here:
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthrea...-with-no-Volts

Once you've confirmed the output voltages are sitting where they should be, then you can go ahead and try hooking it up to the Apple II.
Or, if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, just build your own custom power supply, something similar to this setup. I'd highly recommend checking out some videos by John; his stuff is top-tier.

As far as the restoration goes, the absolute baseline is swapping out the capacitors. You can either hunt down individual caps yourself or just order one of those specific recap kits made for the Apple II.
It would also be a smart move to swap the capacitors in the RF modulator while you're at it.

https://www.retroleum.co.uk/c64-capacitors

I've grabbed kits from these guys before for several different Apple II machines, and everything has always worked out fine.

The next thing on your checklist should be the voltage regulators; there are two of them tucked away inside.

The final step is to glue some heatsinks onto all the critical chips.

If you find a piece of cardboard inside the computer case, my advice is to just toss it. It doesn't actually do anything; it was probably just slapped in there years ago as some makeshift EMI shield.

If you run into anything else, just hit me up. There's a massive community on Facebook and a few dedicated forums specifically for Apple II enthusiasts.

Can't seem to track down the exact thread, but this is pretty much the same vibe...

I finally got my old Macintosh fired up, but how the heck do I get it to show anything on a modern monitor or—God forbid—an HDMI display?

If I recall correctly, the Macintosh has those RCA jacks. You know, the yellow, white, and red ones. Just grab those three cables, plug them into the Macintosh, and use an RCA-to-SCART adapter on the other end

Tyler Smith40 said:Can't seem to track down the exact thread, but this is pretty much the same vibe...

I finally got my old Macintosh fired up, but how the heck do I get it to show anything on a modern monitor or—God forbid—an HDMI display?

Forget about monitors and HDMI unless you plan on scouring YouTube for a workaround.

Try an old-school TV. Use RCA cables via Scart or some other adapter. You could even try the antenna inputs on both the TV and the Macintosh since it has one. It just occurred to me you might be able to plug it into a modern LCD TV through the antenna port too... just turn the Mac on and scan for channels. Of course, that only works if the LCD TV still supports analog signals; it won't work on digital.

So, what's the plan for it? Let me know if you get it working.



You could also try a Scart-to-HDMI converter...

I was just thinking about doing this for the pure nostalgia factor. You know, just getting back into some retro gaming and stuff

Bryan Taylor6 said:Forget about monitors and HDMI unless you plan on scouring YouTube for a workaround.

Try an old-school TV. Use RCA cables via Scart or some other adapter. You could even try the antenna inputs on both the TV and the Macintosh since it has one. It just occurred to me you might be able to plug it into a modern LCD TV through the antenna port too... just turn the Mac on and scan for channels. Of course, that only works if the LCD TV still supports analog signals; it won't work on digital.

So, what's the plan for it? Let me know if you get it working.

You could also try a Scart-to-HDMI converter...

What do you think about this one?

That could work too... check out some reviews on YouTube to see how people actually handled it