Re: What sort of Apple user are you?

[KP <kjpmail@gmail.com>]

On Apr 29, 1:39 pm, dog_...@macgui.com (D Finnigan) wrote:
> From what I see, there are a few types of Apple users out there these days:
>
> 2.) The Hobbyist
> Ah yes, the original Apple user. Maybe you've been with Apple since the late
> 70's, or maybe you just started recently. There isn't really one thing that
> you focus on. It could be programming various projects one year, or
> tinkering with hardware to build a distributed networking system the next.
>
> 3.) The Gamer
> You're the one who has an old Apple IIe setup across the room in the office.
> You remember the Apple from your childhood, or perhaps you've newly
> discovered it. You're not really interested in having a big collection, or
> programming. Your thing is to discover all of the secrets of Ultima, clear
> all of the levels in Hard Hat Mack and Lode Runner, or maybe finally solve a
> Scott Adams text adventure.
>

I fall into both category 2 and category 3.  I have always enjoyed
fiddling with my Apple //e--and now with my Apple IIgs, too.  I also
like playing old games on it, particularly from jumbled-together
shareware disks where you never know what programs you're going to
find when you type "CATALOG" into DOS.

My first computer was a Coleco ADAM that my sister and I got second-
hand from our neighbors.  We really enjoyed that thing, and I really
enjoyed using SmartBASIC, but with only the built-in tape drive, it
worked inconsistently at best.  When I discovered that SmartBASIC was
really just a knockoff of AppleSoft BASIC, I really wanted an Apple
and eventually got an Apple //e.  It came with a ProFILE 5 MB, a
ProFILE 10 MB, a DuoDisk, a TransWarp, a Super Serial Card, and an
Extended 80-Column Card.  I didn't have too many manuals, but I
programmed the life out of that thing.  Everything I could figure out
to do in BASIC, and DOS, and even learned most ProDOS commands through
simple trial-and-error (imagine my surprise when I typed in "BYE" one
day and it dumped me back to the ProDOS selector!).  I've since also
gotten a IIgs, too.

I had a binder full of old BASIC programs from the short-lived ENTER
magazine and its follow-up segments in 3-2-1 CONTACT magazine, and
typed a lot of them in.  Most BASIC that I learned was learned from
typing in listings like that.

As late as the mid-90s, I still used my //e to type school papers on,
even though I didn't have a functional printer and had to go next door
to use a neighbor's //c in order to print anything.  AppleWorks was
the best integrated software, period.

I still use my Apples, but always for fun now.  I discovered AppleWin
(and ApplePC, and Apple II Oasis) back in the 90's, and a bit over a
year ago I discovered ADTPro and have been really enjoying converting
old disk images into live disks.  Even managed to use ADTPro to make
disk images of the hard drives!

It took me until 2010 to figure out that I could plug an Apple into a
regular composite jack for a TV and have a color monitor.  I could
have been doing that back in the 90s!

But it seems that there's always something new to learn about the
Apple II.  I still occasionally write games in BASIC for it.  Now,
I'll often write them in AppleWorks, print them to a text file, and
EXEC the text into the AppleSoft interpreter.  Though I'll also just
use a Windows text editor and an emulator if I'm being lazy.

The Apple II has provided years of fun and has never outlived its
usefulness.  :-)