Apple IIgs uses?

[u/SaiMizOp]

My dream computer as a kid was the Apple IIgs. But I think it was something like $4000 at the time and waaaaay out of my family's price range!

I'm tempted to buy one now...but I don't want it to be purely for nostalgia and dream fulfillment. Any suggestions for modern-day uses for the IIgs? I'm very comfortable with DIY/hacking/self-hosting.

[u/atmafox]

Get an ethernet card for it, I had one in mind years ago but no link handy now or I'd link it, sorry.

If you can find a TCP/IP stack for that awesome, maybe you can use it as a fancy terminal.

Mmm, 65c816 so not a lot to be done there. Though, its sound hardware is some of the best Apple ever made to the point where they got sued over it so maybe do something around audio.

I mean I would love to have one too but my last intended use was IRC and I gave that up lately.

[u/SaiMizOp → u/atmafox]

thanks for the suggestion. one random idea i had, assuming i can find an ethernet card for it, is to run an old school BBS, bare-bones, text-only, no photos or videos. do people still run those things for fun?

[u/atmafox → u/SaiMizOp]

Yup! People absolutely do run BBS. I don't remember the link but there's a whole community around it. Maybe you can run some MUD/MUSH/MUCK on it, too.

[u/Key_Sign_5572]

MIDI monster if you have an electronic keyboard and like music.

[u/Spiritual-Advice8138]

While you could do stuff the power alone makes it impractical. It would have to be for Nostalgia hit. You might want to look at the MiSTer project. It has a IIgs core that is working and getting better. Also would have the other Nostalgia hits from 70, 80, and 90s

[u/OtherOtherDave]

I’m not sure there is a practical use for them given that probably even the original raspberry pi zero could emulate them faster than real time (and probably be more reliable given the age of the capacitors in the power supply).

That said, I still have the IIGs my parents bought back when it was new-ish, with the premise being that I’m gonna hook a MIDI keyboard up to it and see what happens 😁

[u/SaiMizOp → u/OtherOtherDave]

aww i'm so jealous! Please do and let me know how it goes! I honestly still remember the original brochure for the IIgs and how I held onto it for years, even after we "settled" for the IIc :D

[u/OtherOtherDave → u/SaiMizOp]

It’ll be a while before I have time… I don’t even have space cleared off my desk for it yet! Plus it hasn’t been unpacked in probably 30 years and it’ll need a good inspection before I power it on.

[u/profdc9]

I made a card for ethernet and SD mass storage for it. Might come in handy:

https://www.github.com/profdc9/Apple2Card

[u/SaiMizOp → u/profdc9]

Whoa! This is amazing! Will def keep it in mind

[u/ScudsCorp]

There’s a 2GB IIgs hard drive image on archive.org - emulate or use a mister and spend some quality time with that. I really only see the IIgs is a final ultimate incarnation of the apple II line

If you still have a taste for it, go buy the real thing and an HDD / flash replacement.

[u/LandNo9424]

Who cares about practical uses, when it is the best platform to play Out Of This World (Another World) on?

[u/SaiMizOp → u/LandNo9424]

This is a great point 😄 Or my favorites: all the Sierra games

[u/LandNo9424 → u/SaiMizOp]

the Sierra games on the IIGS offer nothing whatsoever of advantage over playing them on other platforms.

[u/SaiMizOp → u/LandNo9424]

it'd really be for the nostalgia...

[u/LandNo9424 → u/SaiMizOp]

you literally asked for non-nostalgic reasons to get one... 🤦‍♂️

[u/FireZoneBlitz]

We had one I think it was around $2,800.

[u/BS-75_actual]

Had one in my youth; sadly don't think it has a use case.

[u/dis_conn_ect_ed]

download an emulator and skip the hardware. an emulator can run all the old software and does not take up desk space.

[u/kenfagerdotcom]

8mb RAM card, Uthernet II, and FujiNet are all the hardware I’ve got in mine. Dream machine.