Bootstrapped and Beamed In: Connecting an Apple IIc to My M2 MacBook (Part 2)

Published on June 19, 2025

#apple iic #bootstrapping #frankenstein computing #oregon trail #retro tech

Bootstrapped and Beamed In: Connecting an Apple IIc to My M2 MacBook (Part 2)

It’s Alive! … Kinda. Sometimes. If the moon is right.

When we last left off, I had managed to summon ADTPro into existence on my Mac, zapped a few bytes into my Apple //c, and booted it into the 21st century like a true mad scientist with a USB cable and a dream. What followed was… a chaotic, beautiful mess of trial, error, disk errors, mysterious symbols, and straight-up necromancy.

🧪 Step 1: Moving the Lab

After my first boot worked, I decided to reorganize everything. I moved ADTPro into a proper folder in ~/Documents/AppleII/, thinking I was being responsible. Rookie move.

Suddenly, the same exact code that worked earlier started throwing cryptic numbers like *78D on my Apple //c screen. I couldn’t tell if I was debugging or deciphering ancient runes. Turns out ADTPro doesn’t care where your files live — unless you forget to update the working directory and Java paths. Oops.

⚡️ Step 2: Channeling the Lightning (again)

I got the server running again with this spell:

cd ~/Documents/AppleII/ADTPro-2.1.0
export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 11)
java -Djava.library.path=lib -cp "lib/*:lib/AppleCommander.jar:lib/ADTPro-2.1.0.jar" org.adtpro.ADTPro

And just like that, the GUI came alive again — bars, beeps, and all. Except… the Apple //c still wasn’t cooperating. Every time I tried to bootstrap, I’d get a whole lot of nothing, or worse: random hex gibberish.

🧠 Frankenstein Mode Engaged

Eventually, after too many failed experiments, I found the one combo that worked:

  1. Boot up the //c.
  2. Press Ctrl+Reset to unlock the terminal.
  3. Type IN#2 to hook into the serial input.
  4. Press Ctrl+A, type 14B, then press Return.
  5. Press Ctrl+A again, type 14I, then click OK on the Mac.

Weirdly, it only worked when I did both 14B and 14I. No docs mention that. Not even ChatGPT. This was pure trial-and-error resurrection. A bolt of inspiration, if you will. 🧟‍♂️⚡

📼 Copying the Brain Into a New Body

I decided to skip the Virtual Drive for now (more on that horror story in Part 3…) and just focus on getting something real onto floppy. I transferred Oregon Trail Disk 1 to a 5.25” floppy using ADTPro’s Send menu.

After some failed writes, “I/O Errors,” and cursed disk noises, I realized I needed to use a real disk with the write-protect notch uncovered — not upside down, not backwards, not with tape on the wrong side.

Eventually… success.

I booted the //c from the disk and — cue thunderclap — Oregon Trail loaded. It screeched like a banshee (I’m guessing due to audio issues), but it was alive.

🕹️ TL;DR for the Curious

  • You can beam vintage games from a Mac to a 1984 Apple //c using Java, a serial cable, and black magic.
  • ADTPro is powerful, but picky. Keep paths clean and file locations stable.
  • Bootstrapping sometimes requires typing secret codes that don’t echo and trusting it’s working.
  • Old floppy disks are like zombies: they only come back if the conditions are just right.

🧠 TL;DR for the Nerds

  • Yes, I used the latest ADTPro (2.1.0).
  • Serial via USB worked (using a DIN-5 to USB adapter).
  • Working directory set manually to point to my /disks/games/ folder.
  • Java 11 required. Don’t skip JAVA_HOME.
  • Successful bootstrap required: IN#2 → Ctrl+A → 14B → Return → Ctrl+A → 14I → OK.
  • Copying to floppy required valid disks with unprotected notches.
  • Virtual Drive still doesn’t work (will debug later).
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