Re: The Last IIgs Users on Earth [Was Re: Marinetti Applications]

[rummikub32@yahoo.com (Iosaef the Irascable!)]

Joe Kohn <joko@NoMoreSpam.net.invalid> wrote in message news:<3e1dc230_4@corp-news.newsgroups.com>...
> 
> So, like I said yesterday, sometimes I get the feeling that I'm the last
> person on earth to still be using a IIGS in 2003. Of the 3 different
> systems, the IIGS is the only one that's turned on daily. I might go
> months and months without even looking at the Mac or PC. 
> 
Well, you're definitely a different breed from me.  My love of
computers came from an SIUE computer camp in 1982 or thereabouts,
where they taught Logo and Basic on Apple II+ machines.  I was hooked
instantly, though my parents ended up buying me a Commodore C16
computer, A C64, and finally a Tandy 1000 MS-DOS machine.

I used the Apple II in school (Appleworks 2 and Karateka, exclusively
;), but it wasn't until the mid 90s that I actually managed to start
snagging Apple II equipment and reliving/learning what I'd missed.  I
also didn't get my first modem until well into adulthood, in 1996.  So
I've had a lot of catching up to do, compared to the ex-Apple-hackers
I know, or people who still use them like you do. :)

My PC usage is a matter of habit.  In fact, this PC is out of my junk
pile.  A Celeron 400 that I had to take a Dremel to, in order to get
it running again, just so I'd have something. (I'd sold my Pentium III
PC, and used a chunk of the proceeds to pick up a good lot of spare
IIe/IIgs parts and miscellany ;)  For things important to me, however,
I'm always on either my IIgs or my IIe. :)

> Or, to word it another way...Resistance is not futile ;-)

> I love my IIGS just as much today as when I first dragged it home, brand
> new, gulp, 15 years ago. I guess you could say that I didn't think that
> "Apple II Forever" was just some clever marketing ploy ;-)

I believe in Apple II Forever, also...  I don't know how I can really
contribute to the community, outside of answering questions on CSA2
that I can answer for certain, and throw around spare IIes to friends
who want to experience them again. ;)

I figure just preserving the technology, the knowledge of how it came
about and how to use it, is enough, and maybe I might find someone of
like mind to teach this stuff to as well.  It'll never die as long as
there's at least one person around still working with it.

> Seriously though, I was just in touch recently with a guy who was written
> about in the old NAUG Journal. At the time, Jack Friedman was running the
> largest watch repair company in the US. Using AppleWorks Classic on a
> IIGS. For a while, he switched to Bernie, but when I talked with him just
> 2-3 weeks ago, he was proud that he'd gotten rid of the Macs and gone back
> to a real IIGS.
> 
> We joked about being the last 2; the last of our kind. Well, not entirely,
> as he's the only one still running a successful business with his IIGS ;-)

I already know the computer I'll be using for administrative tasks if
I start a business.  If I can't do it with a IIe, it doesn't need to
be done. ;)

> He'd just gotten some super-duper new LaserJet and needed a reminder about
> how to get it all working with AppleWorks on his IIGS. It was a real
> pleasure to tell him. Years ago, I got those types of questions routinely,
> but since no one (or so it seems) uses real IIGS hardware anymore...
> well...my IIGS question-answering skills are getting a little rusty.

I'm still building my skills in a lot of areas.  Thankfully, people
like Rubywand have put together FAQs, HOWTOs and other information
that keeps things going.  It also helps to live with an
ex-Apple-hacker who can get me out of more than a few jams.  I can
only hope to one day equal the knowledge that people like my roommate
have forgotten.  (Anyone wanna help me fix a dead ZipGSX? <EG>)
  
> What along, strange trip it's been!
You can say that again. :)

Take Care!
Josef