I went ahead and picked up another Apple IIc, this one from a local e-waste facility, and the main problem was simple: it was filthy and unknown. Before getting into the machine itself, I took a look at where the IIc fit in Apple’s lineup in 1984, just a few months after the Macintosh launch. Apple pushed it as a smaller, more family-oriented Apple II, with the disk drive and common ports built in rather than using expansion slots.
Once I got the machine on the bench, the outside told the story right away. The case was dirty, the keyboard felt crunchy, and the matching green monochrome monitor had heavy yellowing on one side. The IIc itself was complete, though, and it still had a disk in the drive: Summer Games, which turned out to be a handy test disk.
I checked over the ports and controls, then opened the case. Inside, the machine was actually in decent shape. The floppy drive took up most of the interior, and once that was out I could see the motherboard and keyboard assembly clearly. I also found an add-on board installed, labeled Precision Software copyright 1985, connected to a small external button. It turned out to be a Fingerprint card, which is used for screen capture and printing.
The keyboard wasn’t the Alps version I first suspected. This one used the thinner switch design found in some IIc keyboards, and the keys were stiff but mostly working. I reassembled the machine enough to do a power-on test using a spare power supply and composite video output. The system came up, but the video connection was touchy at first. After reseating the RCA connection, I got a stable display, and the machine reported the expected disk drive message.
With the Summer Games disk inserted, the drive read successfully and the system booted. I tested the keyboard at the prompt and found that the keys worked, though they definitely needed cleaning and lubrication. Audio was present too, so at that point the machine was basically functional. The only issue I found was the loose or dirty composite jack connection, and that turned out to be minor. I bent the center contact slightly for a better fit, and after that the video stayed solid even when I moved the plug around.
I tested the monitor next, using the long original cable that came with it. It powered up fine, displayed the Apple IIc output correctly, and the picture looked centered and usable. The brightness control worked, and the only thing it needed electrically was some DeoxIT in the control pot.
Cleaning took most of the remaining work. I pulled all the keycaps with a proper key puller, scrubbed them in warm soapy water, rinsed and dried them, and removed the deteriorating rubber mat from under the keys. I cleaned the case halves, the top dust mesh, the floppy faceplate, and the monitor stand, then treated the volume control and key switches with DeoxIT during reassembly. The monitor still needed retrobrite, but the dirt and grime were gone.
By the end, the Apple IIc and monitor were both working and looked dramatically better. The machine booted software, the keyboard responded, the display was stable, and the system cleaned up into a very presentable setup.
— Aaron
Links
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
01:41 – The Release Of The Apple IIc
10:38 – First Look
20:08 – Testing
27:00 – Cleaning
35:28 – Wrap Up And Next Steps