HELLO

10 REM THIS IS A PROGRAM
20 PRINT “HELLO”
30 END

Great post from Richard on his 30th anniversary of working with computers. Looking at the code above brought back many memories.

My first computer was an Apple ][. I started out with a cassette tape player to load programs. Soon I got one, then two disk drives. The 300 baud acoustic cup modem. The 1200 baud Hayes modem. RAM upgrade to 48k(?).

I really enjoyed exploring BBSs. Growing up in the 408 area code (the home of Silicon Valley) allowed me to connect mostly to local boards. However, their was one in Santa Cruz (called Moria?) that I used to call regularly until the phone bill arrived and was told to restrict my modem exploration to local calls only. I remember with the 300 baud modem I could read the text as fast as it came across the screen. The jump to 1200 baud seemed incredible. This was still before file uploads/downloads. Software was exchanged, but it was via 5.25″ floppy disks. We used a hole punch to clip a hole on the left side of the floppy to enable the reverse side to be usable. I went to one of the early Apple conventions at the Moscony Center in San Francisco. I learned how to do simple programs in BASIC. For that I have to thank Ms. Watanabe – she was a teacher at Wilson Elementary in Cupertino and taught a weekly course that I attended. There was a game I used to love to play… kind of a Dungeons and Dragons type game where there was a 2-dimensional maze that you explored. The goal (if I remember) was to find the treasure before the dragon got you.

When I get a chance to go back to Sunnyvale to visit family, two places I always have to go are the Ham Radio Outlet store and Fry’s Electronics. On display at Fry’s, amongst the aisles of stuff, is an old Apple ][. I enjoy the memories that the sight of the beige box brings.