Apple II Interest

Submitted bydkranker onThu, 08/11/2011 - 23:52

When I was about 6 years old, my great grandma bought me an Apple IIc computer.  I learned how to use the word processor software called "AppleWorks" & a game that came on the Apple At Play diskette called "Space Quarks".  Files were saved on a built-in or secondary external 5.25" floppy drive.  AppleWorks required two diskettes to operate, a Startup Disk booted the computer to ProDOS and made it ready to run the program.  Once the Apple IIc computer was booted with the AppleWorks Startup Disk, it would ask for the AppleWorks Program Disk.  You could also just continue by inserting the AppleWorks Program Disk in Drive 2 and telling the software it was there.

My Apple IIc did not have a system clock, which was an add-on at that time, so the next step was telling the software the current date.  I created many papers, spreadsheets, and databases on this same software platform and hardware up until I was in high school.  I also had a lot of fun playing the Space Quarks game which was very similar to the Galaga arcade game for Atari.  Space Quarks was only in black and white but I did have a joystick which made it much easier to use.