Apple II Bits

When I started college twenty years ago this year, I bought my first non-Apple II computer. I desperately wanted to move my IIgs into the dorm, but at the time, that computer didn’t have the networking capabilities or development environment necessary to enable my pursuit of a degree in computer science. I was frustrated, because outside that academic context, the IIgs could still do everything I needed from a computer.

If that was barely true in 1997, how true is it in 2017? Could I get by with only an Apple II as my primary computer? I don’t know if I could, but Bryan Lunduke recently tried to find out if he could. Lunduke, a freelance blogger for Networkworld (sibling to Computerworld, which is my former employer and still occasional source for freelance work), hosts a YouTube series called The Lunduke Hour, where he investigates various Linux, open-source, and other non-mainstream technologies. In his May 2, 2017, episode, he asks, "What would it be like to use an Apple IIgs in 2017?"

The resulting video is primarily a tour of System 6.0.1 and some essential applications, such as AppleWorks, HyperCard, and Wolfenstein 3D. Although not too deep a dive, it’s a surprisingly informed tour for being Lunduke’s first day with the machine. With the possible exceptions of Marinetti and Contiki, he omits many of the community’s developments in the past two decades, including unofficial updates to the operating system, though that may have been intentional if he’s trying to recapture a classic experience. Despite that, thanks to emulating all his hardware and software, Lunduke doesn’t suffer through unaccelerated load times like many of us have.

For those who already use the Apple IIgs on a daily basis, the Finder won’t be foreign. But from the perspective of someone who’s hasn’t seen it before or in a long time, it’s fun to realize how many GUI conventions were established on this machine, with Lunduke referring to the interface as "surprisingly modern".

For all that fun, why did Lunduke subject himself to this experiment (other than to produce channel content)? Says he:

I like to see what it was like; I like to reminisce about the 1980s, the 1990s, to see what it’s like to live, computing-wise, in an environment that is totally different from what most of use day-in, day-out. Maybe that will, in some way, help me get a better understanding of where we’ve been, where we’ve come from, our computing history, and maybe just how not so far we’ve come. Maybe it will give me an idea of some cool features we’ve lost along the way.

Kudos to Lunduke for giving my favorite retrocomputer a try. I wonder how he’s describe the results of his experiment?

The audio podcast version of The Lunduke Hour is available to Lunduke’s Patreon supporters.

(Hat tip to Jesse Blue)