Re: You are Here! So: How did you get into Apple II Computing?

[Chad Choi Lin <chadlin@nyetcom.com>]

In article rubywand@swbell.net writes...

> The May FAQs release has led to an email discussion about various
> lead-ins to becoming an Apple II user. So ...
>
> How did you get into Apple II computing?

For me, the magic began one Christmas day when I opened my presents
under the holiday tree and discovered a brand-new Apple //c waiting for
me (this was back in '84 or '85, when the //c was a hot new model).
Santa Claus had thoughtfully brought the special //c monitor as well so
that I could use the computer's 80-column text mode (in glorious green
monochrome). I was hopelessly in love with that Xmas gift, and spent
almost every waking hour writing programs and playing games on it.

Cut to a scene several years later: my grandfather, in a fit of senile
rage, picks up my beloved //c and throws down onto the floor. The
keyboard becomes damaged and never works quite right again, and the
internal power supply breaks loose from its chassis anchoring. In short,
my computer was crippled, if not murdered.

When I moved to California much later, I discovered a computer shop that
specializes in Apple II hardware and software (this was shortly after
the Apple II was "orphaned" by its own company). I purchased an Apple
IIc+, and tried to pick up where I left off. Eventually, though, I
bought a 486 PC and diverted my time and energy to that system.

Imagine my surprise when, just a few months ago, I walk into the college
radio station where I work and discover -- sitting in the music
director's office -- another Apple //c! The director had bought it used,
and was in the process of transferring the station's music library
database to AppleWorks (the previous Macintosh computer was in bad shape
and we did not have the funds to buy another Mac). He needed people to
help with the data entry as well as general computer stuff.

It's been an interesting experience, like losing touch with an old
girlfriend, then running into her by accident and falling in love all
over again. I've found a renewed interest in the Apple II, and.... well,
I'll let the lyrics of Journey speak for me:

    We sailed on together,
    Then drifted apart,
    And here you are by my side.

    So now I come to you
    With open arms.
    Nothing to hide,
    Believe what I say.

(There's another eighties thing for you!)


Oh, and S Robson wrote:

> Subsequently, I moved on to junior high, where they had a number of Apple
> ][+'s. I also had numerous friends who owned the things, and I was quite
> intrigued by the things -- especially the color graphics. Now, about this
> time, my dad decided it would be a good time to get a computer for the
> home. He was using an IBM PC at work, so he was intrigued by the IBM PC
> Junior (the horror!), and we came THIS CLOSE to buying one. I used every
> trick in the book to pursuade him to blow the extra dosh on a spiffy new
> //e.
> 
> 16 years later, and I still have that //e -- and still use it quite a bit.
> God knows what landfill that PC Jr. would've ended up in. :-)

Words fail me in describing the abject failure that was the IBM PCjr.
Suffice it to say that you know something's amiss when a computer
keyboard uses chicklet buttons instead of real keys....

-- 
Peace, Love, and Apple II Forever!
Chad Choi Lin
chadlin@nyetcom.com

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