Restoring an Apple IIe Left for Scrap!

I found an Apple IIe setup hastily dumped in an e-waste pile. But was it really just a bunch of junk?

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[chrisspatgen]

Back in 1981 my mother purchased an Apple //e for me. I still have it wrapped in plastic in my closet along with a spare Apple //e that I purchased 15 years ago, for parts. I have 2 3-ring folders full of Games/Utilities floppies. I may take it out of the closet and power it on after watching your very cool video. It’s nice to see people still enjoying vintage computers!

[AdamChristensen]

Left for scrap? It breaks my heart this happens. Glad you rescued it!

[woodengamer]

If the ram you ordered doesn't work, let me know. I can go through my ][s and probobly pull some. I think i have one or two with a bad chip or two that I can just convert to a donor machine. (ie, the one with the trashed case LOL) Awesome video, always love seeing these ][e machines get a second life.

[mglmouser]

Tip:
Double-sided foam trim tape is easily removed by sawing with dental floss. It's what we do in automotive de-badging.

[coop_]

Seeing those ribbon cables cut at the beginning was just painful. Great video Colin!

[shibolinemress]

The IIe was the very first computer my family owned. We got it in my senior year in high school. Thanks for the memories!

[allancen]

I used that type of Apple II more than 30 years ago, Great video! Thank you!

[BlakeHelms]

Great job on the restoration! It’s so sad to think someone was going to throw this out and would do things like cutting the cables. I’m glad you were there to save it. I need to find an Apple ][ to restore myself.

[rickalexander]

This was my first computer. I bought it soon after college graduation. Added an Applewriter and two Apple disk drives. Those were the days. I later "upgraded" to a Mac512.

[andrewstones]

I used to work with these in the 1980s, they were very reliable computers and were exceptionally well made. Thank you for making this video, it brought back a lot of memories.

[CommodoreFan]

Thanks to my uncle who was in the Marines all through the mid 60's - mid 90's, he gave me an Apple IIe with dual disk drives, an Epson printer(used it on both my Apple, and C64), and green monitor the military was e-wasting on base around 87 to replace them with IBM PC machines, so I had that machine, as well as a C64(later C128) thanks to yet another uncle who helped run a Commodore users group, and did repairs for side money, and the machines he gave me where his refurbished models, so I got to spend a lot of time with the Apple IIe at home, and school getting to know it inside, and out. So this for me brought back a lot of memories of things like making banners, and homemade cards with my Epson printer via Paint Shop Pro, or playing games like Pirates, Choplifter, Oregon Trail, and Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego. 👍👍

[devikwolf]

Beautiful find, and I love your closing message. I learned on a C64 (and to a much lesser degree, a IIe at school), and decades later I find myself still learning awesome stuff while refurbing them. :)

[stevelsnow]

Great video! I’m glad you were able to get it going again and look forward to part 2 when you get the ram chip. It always makes me happy when I see a piece of technological history saved from the scrap heap. Cheers!

[robintst]

It hurts so much to see these classic machines left to the e-waste pile. The Apple II was such a prominent mainstay of my grade school years. Good on you for restoring this wonderful computer. :)

[anthonynorton]

When I took a digital electronics course in '85 they used this model. Probably for it's ease of access and simplicity for interfacing projects. Thank you for saving it. Floppy disks decay with time to my understanding. How and why would be an interesting topic for a vintage computing show covering the storage medium.

[gregv]

Your geeky vids are so fun to watch and/or listen to while I'm working. Keep up the good work.

[Sneslink-jzjl]

This was my first computer. Glad you saved it

[stuartcole]

This is the computer that my primary school had in the mid to late 1980s so I too have a good amount of nostalgia attached. We learned some introductory coding using both the built in basic and Logo, which involved giving commands to a turtle which were to reflected in screen and you could draw things graphically. I’ve been working in IT for nearly 20 years, I’m now in senior leadership roles but I owe a good amount to this computer for the path I chose to take in life.

[Taylorphotostudio]

Great video, I remember playing Oregon Trail on one of these in elementary school!

[jeffescortlx]

Nice clean repair so far. I actually just fixed one of these couple months back for an old neighborhood lady. Her monitor was blowing fuses. Had a shorted diode.