In my grade school days (towards the end of grade school, right before junior high), my parents bought me an Apple //c computer. This was right smack in the middle of the heydey of the "computers in schools" movement, and all of the schools in our district (elementary, junior high, and high schools alike) were outfitted with Apple ]['s (and later //e's). I remember when we got the computers in third grade, they were confined to one teacher's room, and I would beg and plead to get some time on these, including after school time. But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted one at home too. So I begged and pleaded with my parents, and they eventually broke down and bought me the //c.

I have to thank them for this, because I firmly believe that if it weren't for them purchasing this machine, I wouldn't be where I am today, in the computer/IT field. That machine was my pride and joy; it was the machine where I cut my teeth, in terms of learning about computers and programming. I spent many, many hours sitting in front of that machine, hacking on code (or playing with others' code), or just playing (yes, that is where I got my start as a gamer as well…).

True, those of you who know me know that I have owned computers before the //c; in particular, I had a TRS-80 Model III as well as a Color Computer (CoCo), and a Commodore 64. But those computers were really nothing more than big, expensive toys to me, as I was still young at that age, and I didn't really know enough about computers then (and this was before they really took off in schools) to know what I was doing. But they did serve to plant the seeds of geek in me at that tender age; an appetizer before the main course, so to speak.

Eventually I had the //c fully pimped out: Silentype printer, ZipChip CPU accelerator, real-time clock, external floppy drive, and even a genuine Chinook 20 MB hard drive, that hooked to the //c's external disk drive port. I even had a somewhat "shady" accessory as well: a modchip that let me, at the push of a button, access a special ROM that had disassembly and hacker tools on it, useful for (among other things) breraking copy protection on software and making "crack" disks of said software.

Anyway, like I said earlier, I spent many, many hours sitting in front of that machine, and a great many of them were spent writing code, first in BASIC, then later Apple Pascal, and even a little C. I wrote several games (none of which were particularly noteworthy, but, being my own creations, I naturally thought the world of them). I also wrote several utility programs, mostly disk utilities. I even wrote some application software. I remember writing a really basic word processor, complete with text wrapping. I also wrote a journal/diary management program which I called "Dear Diary." I even wrote my own BBS (bulletin board system), complete with multiple message boards, and a simple file transfer area (you could up- and download files with descriptive text attached to them). And everything ran off of one 5.25" floppy disk. (Now, if only I had the foresight to fuse the Dear Diary and BBS programs… Think of the possibilities! I could have started LiveJournal!!! :) ) At the time I wrote the BBS, I was still too poor to afford a modem of my own; so I'd write the program at home, with code that disables the modem routines; and then I'd take the code to a friend's house (or sometimes my school), enable the modem routines, and call up another friend and have him try and dial in to the thing. Amazingly enough, it actually worked pretty well. Unfortunately, although I eventually got a modem, I was never able to afford my own phone line, so I was unable to actually run my BBS.

I had that machine up until the year I went to college. In fact, I even had it for most of my first semester. I still used the thing to write papers, get on-line (remember, this was in the primitive age of modems, before the Internet and DSL and cable and such), play games, (attempt to) manage my personal life, etc.

However, by then, it was starting to show its age; so I took advantage of the school's educational discount and bought myself a new Mac. Unfortunately, despite the hefty student discount, I still needed more money than I had available at the time; so I decided, with much sadness, to sell my //c: the whole kit 'n kaboodle, including all accessories, and most importantly, all of the software disks in my possession.

Boy, I wish I could travel back in time and persuade myself NOT to do that. Or, at the very least, to keep some of the disks to myself. Unfortunately, I ended up selling pretty much every disk with my own custom software, coding/hacking triumphs, etc. on it. Stuff that, almost 20 years later, I really wish I had again.

It seems that nowadays, old-school is "in." Classic arcade games are all the rage now, and so is classic computing. Lots of people are rediscovering computers that have been gathering dust in their closets for many years. And those who don't own the classic hardware can still share in the fun, thanks to emulation software. (Yes, emulation/virtualization is another "in" thing right now, which, in this case, goes along with classic computing like peanut butter and jelly.)

Right now, on my (relatively) shiny, brand new MacBook Pro, I have emulators for older M68K and PowerPC-based Macs, running earlier system software; several Commodore machines, including the VIC-20, 64, and PET; hundreds and hundreds of classic arcade games; and the classic Apple ][ series.

I have been rediscovering all of my favorite games. In particular, I am currently (again) hooked on "Montezuma's Revenge" (and no, I'm not talking about Mexican dysentery). This is quite possibly one of the world's first "platformer" games; it predated the quintessential platformer, Mario Bros., by several years. Despite its (now extremely dated) cheesy graphics and almost nonexistent sound, it was (and still is) extremely addictive. Some of the other classic games I used to play obsessively are Choplifter, Karateka, and of course, the classic "Star Trek." One extremely odd game which used to make me crack up with laughter, and that I have so far been unable to find, is called "Bouncing Kamungas." Basically, you are a watermelon farmer, and your fields are under attack by "The Bouncing Kamungas," little round smiley face looking things that fall from the sky and bounce when they hit the ground. If they hit one of your melons, bye-bye melon. You have a pitchfork, and you can run out into the fields and spear the evil Kamungas with it. Unfortunately, this is all occuring during a rather powerful lightning storm; if you stay out there too long, lightning will hit your pitchfork and you will turn into a very crispy critter. I'm convinced that whoever designed this game must have been high on something.

Anyway, I am lamenting the fact that I no longer have any of my software projects still. Looking at some of my early works would be a fun trip back in nostalgia, and an interesting commentary on how I learned this computer stuff, and how my skills have grown.

Still, I'm having lots of fun with emulation. It's a great way to relive some of my best childhood memories.

Tags: apple, apple ii, childhood, emulation, nostalgia
Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Music: Apple II Forever