A New York City college professor took a high-tech walk down memory lane when he fired up an Apple IIe computer stored in the attic of his parents’ house for decades, CNN reports.
Professor John Pfaff of Fordham University tweeted on Saturday: “Oh. My. God. An Apple IIe. Sat in my parents’ attic for years. Decades. And it works. Put in an old game disk. Asks if I want to restore a saved game. And finds one! It must be 30 years old. I’m 10 years old again.”
Oh.
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
My.
God.
An Apple IIe. Sat in my parents’ attic for years. Decades.
And it works.
Put in an old game disk. Asks if I want to restore a saved game.
And finds one!
It must be 30 years old.
I’m 10 years old again. pic.twitter.com/zL7wWxOo36
The game the computer referenced was “Adventureland,” played with text commands ― not a controller. It was originally released by Scott Adams in 1978.
The Apple IIe system went on sale in 1983 for $1,995, according to Byte magazine, which hailed the successor to the trailblazing Apple II as “another winner.”
This is tricky, because three decades later I can’t quite remember where I left off this round of Adventureland. pic.twitter.com/Eoj7EqkHtb
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Here are some of the other entries from Pfaff’s Twitter feed as he rediscovered the joys of his early microcomputer.
My dad typed up labels for all my floppies, which is really sweet to remember.
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
He was so thorough that he even included... who hacked the games.
(I’m the only person in my immediately family who went to law school.) pic.twitter.com/kj4m9aJh2U
Hacker screens!
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
And ASCII art!
On a 35 year old 5.25” magnetic disk from the first Reagan Administration. pic.twitter.com/2EWVrcxvLr
Wow. So this was an old trivia game I loved (Millionware). This screen gets to the point where it says “Say ‘Hello’ to our contestants Donna.”
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
And then the disk drive whirs w its little red light.
Then you get “Thank you, Donna.”
1984 computer humor. pic.twitter.com/dFnbQk7y0D
Of course, there is the downside. Here’s everything I wrote my senior year in high school, unreadable thanks to the absence of the necessary program disk (AppleWorks).
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
That, though... may be for the best. pic.twitter.com/u2XGStvWQU
This game... never got past the first level despite HOURS of (pre-internet cheating) trying.
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Now w the web, I have a shot.
The music, tho. That classic Apple IIe music. pic.twitter.com/ebeXNzoCs2
“No, look, kids. This computer has. no. hard-drive. The reason those giant disks say ‘Disk Side’ 1-4 is you had to keep flipping them over as you played.”
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Hi-def Mario Kart 8 for the Switch there for comparison. pic.twitter.com/6mZCgiEaR7
Well, I can delete my Twitter account now, bc I’ll never top this. pic.twitter.com/7x30J6vww4
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
I FOUND THE APPLEWORKS PROGRAM DISK.
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Insanely, it had been sitting in the disk drive for 30 years. I took it out without looking at the title.
Going w 1995 to avoid any Y2K issues.
And look: “folders.” pic.twitter.com/Q04O63GDSr
Just found this letter my dad typed to me in 1986, when I was 11 and at summer camp.
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
I REALLY WONDER what my theory abt the daily newspaper comics Spider-Man was.
My dad passed away almost exactly a year ago. It’s amazing to come across something so “ordinary” from him. pic.twitter.com/Aog3MiSnXN
Ok, my kids won’t care why I didn’t go to bed when they wake up at dawn tomorrow (well, today).
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
I’m so happy that this thread seems to have brought back so many good memories for so many ppl. That’s not how my TL usually is, and it’s been a fantastic chance of pace.
Night, all!
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