Custom Cursor On The Apple

Can you tell me how I can change the cursor to any character that I want on the Apple IIe with an 80-column card?

Gary Waters

Although undocumented, there is a way to change the cursor on an Apple IIe, or unenhanced Apple IIe with 80-column card. To change the cursor, POKE location 2043 with the ASCII value of the desired cursor character, plus 128. For example, to change the cursor to an underline character, enter the following statement:

POKE 2043, ASC("_") + 128

This does not work with an Apple IIe without 80-column capability.

If you do not add 128 to the character value, your cursor will be in a flashing mode. To get a solid flashing cursor, try this:

POKE 2043, 32

To return the cursor to normal, press Control-Reset.

Location 2043 is part of the text-screen scratch-pad RAM used by expansion slot 3, or the auxiliary slot on the Apple IIe. This location is used by the 80-column card firmware to determine the cursor character, even when the computer is not in 80-column mode.