Category Archives: Projects

Thing a Week (My Own Personal Retrochallenge)

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Mike Maginnis

The title of this post is drawn from Jonathan Coulton’s project to write and publish a new song every week and post it on his web page.  Which, I mean – holy crap.  Talk about prodigious output…  I’ll never approach that level … Continue reading →

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Beagle Bros IIGS Clean Up–Phase 1

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Mike Maginnis

Here are some images of the initial clean up efforts on the Beagle Bros Apple IIGS.  You can see that one pin on MC1337 has been completely destroyed, and there is heavy corrosion on several others.  As this chip’s only … Continue reading →

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Apple IIc rescue and clean-up

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Mike Maginnis

During my drive home from work last week, I noticed a neighbor making his way across his driveway in the general direction of his trash bin. It took a second for my brain to register that he was carrying an … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple II, Cleaning, Projects, Restoration | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Blogging Infocom–Day 0

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Mike Maginnis

In the spirit of John Cage’s excellent Blogging Ultima, I’ve decided to play through every Infocom game from beginning to end, in the order that they were published.   This product announcement for ZORK, which ran in the September 1980 … Continue reading →

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Apple III: Plugging in the ProFile

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Mike Maginnis

What better way to spend a snowy day off than playing with your Apple III?  I can’t think of any.  I installed the ProFile interface card, connected it up to the drive, said a prayer (I do that a lot … Continue reading →

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Apple III: Next Step, Mass Storage

Posted on December 6, 2009 by Mike Maginnis

The ProFile was Apple’s first external hard drive and was developed for the business-class Apple III line. After the failure of the Apple III to catch on, Apple re-released the ProFile in 5 and 10 megabyte versions for their next … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple III, ProFile, Projects, Restoration | 2 Comments

It’s Alive!

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Mike Maginnis

So, after some confusion around disk image transfer shenanigans related to the way Microsoft changed UAC in Windows 7, it seems the Apple III is in good, running condition once again.  As I was digging through the cases, I noticed … Continue reading →

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Apple III Restoration, cont’d

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Mike Maginnis

Okay, so more research is never a bad thing.  I dug around a little and came across a copy of Sun Remarketing’s Do-It-Yourself Guide for the Apple III.  You can download it in PDF from 1000bit’s documentation archive here, and … Continue reading →

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Apple III Restoration: Hey, It’s Progress

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Mike Maginnis

The information about these machines was at least partially incorrect, and that’s a good thing.  All three units did in fact power up, though none of them were completely successful.  The first Apple III I plugged in, serial #051780, showed … Continue reading →

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Apple III Restoration Project

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Mike Maginnis

One of the great things about the retrocomputing hobby is that once your friends and family learn about your (admittedly slightly odd) habit, you will probably end up inheriting most or all of their computer stuff over the years.  While … Continue reading →

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