Re: How I got interested in the Apple ][...

[Greg Buchner <null@none.invalid>]

In article 
<noemail-1512071429250001@s01060005020715c5.wp.shawcable.net>,
 noemail@noemail.net (catalog//e) wrote:

> Hey all, just thought I would start a thread about how I got interested in
> the A2 platform, but would also like to hear your stories as well in this
> same thread. Just for fun, just for anybody interested in reading about
> such stuff. Sometimes it good to look back and see what was, what is, and
> what came to be!
> :)

I started just south of you. I don't remember which came first, peeking 
under the hood of a ][+ towards the end of the typewriting class or 
getting to play Lunar Lander on a big IBM computer after hours at a 
business where my Dad knew everyone...  The school with the ][+ was in 
Oslo, MN, the IBM was in Grand Forks, ND.

But, in the fall of 1982, my high school started a computer class and I 
was in it. I had been looking at getting a computer before that, but 
hadn't done anything yet. In the computer class I ended up being 
assigned to a ][+ (second time using one) and not the Atari 400 that I 
was more interested in at that time. After all, they had game carts you 
could plug in for the Atari. As the year went by and I had more Apple II 
experience, and managed to get some experience with the Atari, I ended 
up being hooked on the Apple II's.

Bought a //e, 64K, 80 column card, 1 Disk ][ February 2, 1984.  Had a 
cheap amber Amdek to start, but it interfered with every TV in the house 
and at least one TV interfered with it, so the local Team where I bough 
the setup from gave me an Apple //e green screen (floor model) for an 
even swap. Acquired a modem by the end of the month. The modem was one 
step above an acoustic coupler. I had to dial the number manually, wait 
for the tone, flip a little switch on the modem and then hang up the 
phone to connect at the ultra fast speed of 300 bits per second.

Eventually added an extended 80 column card, another Disk ][, RamWorks 
III, (512K to start, upgraded it to 1MB for only a little less than I 
paid for 4GB for my MacBook Pro) a UniDisk 3.5, a mouse and went through 
a couple of modem upgrades.

Then I was given a IIGS, but that's another story.

Greg B.

-- 
Actual e-mail address is gregbuchner and I'm located at gmail.com