Assembling an Apple IIgs - Late 80s & Early 90s 16 Bit Retro Computer

In the fall of 2021, I heard from a fellow member of the Retro Computer community on the Free Geek Twin Cities Discord server that they were selling an Apple IIgs.  This machine had been on my Wish List for some time as it has some nostalgia for me.  The IIgs was the "new powerful" machine for me when I was in Junior High and High School, and I looked forward to using it when I was at school as an upgrade over the Apple IIe.  Also, GS/OS was the first Graphical User Interface that I personally used.

As I've become more familiar with the history of Apple II, I've learned that the IIgs was the most powerful Apple II machine and the “end of the line” for this iconic series of machines.  I was able to make a deal with the previous owner and I got the machine home and started to go over it.  The machine had been at a school and mostly just needed cleaning up.

When I first got the IIgs home I had only the base unit. not the correct monitor or keyboard, but since the machine had a Composite output I was able to connect an older Apple IIe Color Monitor that I already had.  This was the first Apple computer to use the ADB bus, and although I didn't have the unique keyboard, I was able to use a different ADB keyboard and mouse that I already had from a late 80s Macintosh.  With these plugged in along with floppy drives and a FloppyEmu that I already had I was able to get the machine booting and running, and to create floppy disks for the machine.

This machine was a Rev 0 machine (not the "Woz" signature edition).  I discovered that many collectors feel that ROM 1 machines had better compatibility than ROM 0, so I looked for a replacement ROM and was able to find this device.  It was a fairly inexpensive addition, easy to install and easily reversible should I decide to go back to ROM 0.

My IIgs included an original Memory Expansion board that was not fully populated with RAM DIPs.  I was able to source the correct RAM DIPs from Jameco and get that card fully populated, bringing the system total to 1.25MB, enough to load GS/OS.   I will point out that the period correct RAM DIPs were not cost effective, dollar for dollar I would have been better off getting a modern RAM upgrade for the IIgs to bring it to closer to it Maximum RAM capacity.

After working with the IIgs a while, I realized that I was really missing the look of the matching monitor and keyboard.  I put out some feelers with the Free Geek community, and was very pleased when a fellow retro computing enthusiast offered to sell me one of their keyboards along with a IIgs Monitor.  I finally had the "matched set"...

Although I know this is a somewhat common Apple II vs. others that I have collected I've really enjoyed this machine due the nostalgia factor that I have with it.  One the most important lessons of this build was being willing to go slow and accumulate the parts as they came.  As usual, the forums have been a great source of information with a community that is more than willing to offer advice and support.

I'm more skeptical than I was about the value of Retrobright since it's likely that computers will just end up yellowing again.  But in this situation the IIgs itself had stickers on it that I've removed and this has left the base un-evenly yellowed.  Also, the Monitor has hardly any yellowing and the Keyboard is the most yellow of all the items so I will be attempting to Retrobright most of this computer during our long days here in Minnesota this summer.

Other than that, this machine is complete.  I've got a flash based storage solution inside this machine, and I've found and loaded a bunch of games on this machine.  I'm especially interested in the 16-bit games from the late eighties and early nineties because I don't have a machine like the Amiga 500 or Atari ST.  Here's a great YouTube playlist that goes through many of these titles.