During my days, they were required during middle/junior high schools. I
had an awesome teacher (Mr. Mangel -- no idea if he is still alive today
since I couldn't find him online) in sixth and junior high/middle school
days with his Apple 2s. He taught classes on how to use computers,
softwares, hardwares, LOGO (even used a wired robot turtle that plotted
on giant floor papers), edutainments, etc.

My loving folks bought a family Apple //c. I bought and used the newer
LOGO versions, Dazzle Draw, programmed in BASIC, played too many games
and edutainment (was I really learning? :P), etc.

What about the rest of you? Thank you for reading and hopefully
answering. :)
--
Hot! So many leaks (liquid [need a plumber for my body too] & digital
types), pains, issues, false fire alarms, software updates, free game
trials, etc. Also, BUSY & tired! :( Note: A fixed width font (Courier,
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Ant,

> What about the rest of you? Thank you for reading and hopefully
> answering. :)

Personal Computers were just a dream in Alan Turing’s eye when I went to
school...

Cheers - Speccie

In article <6dadnZEej5mCxtD8nZ2dnUU7-bnNnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
>What about the rest of you? Thank you for reading and hopefully
>answering. :)

I started with a TI-99/4A in 1983, but support for those was dropped soon
after and it was going to be too expensive to upgrade it to where it could
do truly useful stuff, so it was put to the side and replaced with a IIe a
couple of years later.

As for school, DoDDS (think "school district for military brats overseas")
had standardized on the Atari 8-bit computer line, so those were what was in
the school computer labs. The guidance counselor at Croughton Middle School
brought in her personal IIe, though, and we got to play Lode Runner on it
from time to time. The electronics lab at Kaiserslautern High School
managed to get a IIGS when they were fairly new...got to fool around with
that years before I upgraded my own machine. At the same school, the Air
Force JROTC squadron had a German-spec IIe. That one caught me out when it
was swapping Ys and Zs because whoever used it last had left it set to
German (which put the keyboard in QWERTZ mode and replaced [, ], \, etc.
with Ä, Ö, Ü, etc.).

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On Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 11:59:17 PM UTC-5, Ant wrote:

> What about the rest of you? Thank you for reading and hopefully
> answering. :)
> --
I was in the Air Force, stationed at George AFB in Calif when I got started in the dark ages, 1980, with a TRS-80 model I that had 16kb of memory and a cassette drive. Two years later I picked up an Apple ][+, sold the TRS-80 to an older brother. In 1985 I bought an Apple //e "enhanced" system and sold the ][+ to a friend. In 1994 bought a //GS system (the //e went with the ex-wife). Got into the Mac world in 1996. Unintentionally killed the GS in 2002. Got back into the Apple II, via emulation on the Mac, in 2004. And now have both an Apple //c+, with a recently acquired FloppyEMU, and A GS with a CFFA3K.

Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> wrote:
> In article <6dadnZEej5mCxtD8nZ2dnUU7-bnNnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
> Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
> >What about the rest of you? Thank you for reading and hopefully
> >answering. :)

> I started with a TI-99/4A in 1983, but support for those was dropped soon
> after and it was going to be too expensive to upgrade it to where it could
> do truly useful stuff, so it was put to the side and replaced with a IIe a
> couple of years later.

I had that too. My very first computer. I was scared to use it until I
discovered it could play games like TI Invaders, Parsec, Munch Man,
Tombstone, etc. And then, they got me an Apple //c. :D
--
So many leaks (liquid [need a plumber for my body too] & digital types), sneezes, pains, videos, issues, software updates, games, etc. Also, BUSY & tired! :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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I was a Canadian military brat. In 1981 we moved back to CFB Borden,
Ontario and I started grade 9. At the time, the only computer classes
were for grade 11 students and up. Because I was so good at math, my
math teacher figured I'd do well with computers so he introduced me to
them. He used to take me into the computer lab and people got used to
seeing me there so never questioned my presence. I borrowed a text book
on Waterloo Structured BASIC from the grade 11 teacher, read it and have
been programming ever since.

I used Commodore PET and 8032 machines and a TRS-80 Model I. Because my
older brother and I were both into computers, our parents bought a
TRS-80 Colour Computer. I kept eyeing the TRS-80 Model IV as the
machine I wanted. The school even started a data processing computer
course for grade 10 students when I started grade 10.

In 1983 my family was posted to Lahr, West Germany. My older brother
was going to college so I gave him my half of the computer for his half
of our Dungeons and Dragons stuff. After moving, I came extremely close
to getting a Commodore 64 as the Canadian Forces Exchange didn't have a
lot of choice. In October they got in Apple IIe systems and I bought
some magazines and played with demo machine at the store. I ended up
making a deal with my parents to give up my allowance and promised to
pay back the cost of the system and, on my older brother's birthday
(thankfully he was back in Canada), I brought home a 64K, unenhanced
Apple IIe, with Monitor II green screen and a single Disk ][ drive.

The store didn't have any software in stock yet so I ended up writing a
lot of my early stuff including a lo-res version of Berzerk (which was
unfortunately deleted by my younger brother).

My first job was a summer position helping a Canadian organization with
their accounts payable (typing cheques and filing paperwork) in the
mornings and writing a custom program for them on a TRS-80 Model II with
8 inch floppies in the afternoons. I later got a part time position in
the computer/camera department of the store where I bought my computer.

Those were fun days. I haven't done much programming in the past 10
years but I'm looking at doing more recreational programming again soon.

Groovy hepcat Ant was jivin' in comp.sys.apple2 on Fri, 24 Sep 2021
02:59 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

> During my days, they were required during middle/junior high schools.
> I had an awesome teacher (Mr. Mangel -- no idea if he is still alive
> today since I couldn't find him online) in sixth and junior
> high/middle school days with his Apple 2s. He taught classes on how to
> use computers, softwares, hardwares, LOGO (even used a wired robot
> turtle that plotted on giant floor papers), edutainments, etc.
>
> My loving folks bought a family Apple //c. I bought and used the newer
> LOGO versions, Dazzle Draw, programmed in BASIC, played too many games
> and edutainment (was I really learning? :P), etc.
>
> What about the rest of you? Thank you for reading and hopefully
> answering. :)

My first foray into the world of computers was in the early '80s in
science class at school. The lab had TRS-80s. I can't recall which
model - probably I or II. In year 7 (grade 7 to you North American
types) we weren't allowed to touch them, but in year 8 some of us were
lucky enough to be plonked in front of a computer with a lame, crappy
tutorial program that failed to properly explain how BASIC worked.
Still, I knew then that I was destined to be a compunerd forever!
A year or two later I changed schools. The new school had a
Micromation with 4 dumb terminals and two 8' floppy drives, some Apple
IIes and the maths teacher's IBM PC (WOWEE!) Only the very lucky few
(ie. not me :( ) got access to the PC. I always seemed to be stuck on
the Micromation. This machine had an irksome (for me) little quirk.
Some of the trouble making students on the other terminals would send
irritating messages to my terminal, interrupting my work. I was there
to learn about computers and junk. They were only there to piss-fart
around, thinking computer class was just a goof-off session.
Unfortunately, no matter how I begged, my parents wouldn't buy me a
computer. And saving for one would've taken me 350 years on the piddly
allowance they gave me. I would've been pickled tink with any brand,
any model, anything. Just so I could learn to program. But no dice!
Thanks for nothing, Mum & Dad!
In the late '80s I did buy my first computer with my first dole
cheque. It was a Sharp PC-1248 pocket computer. This thing has no known
uses! It can only be programmed in BASIC (which, by this stage, I had
come to truly hate), and a rather lame and pissy version of BASIC at
that.
In the '90s Mum had an Apple IIc for when she brought work home. When
she got a PC a year or so later, she gave me the Apple for Xmas or
B'day (I don't remember which). I'm still learning on that Apple (as
well as a host of other machines). Cool! And now I'd kill for that ol'
Micromation. :)

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Ain't I'm a dawg!!

On 9/24/21 2:39 AM, Specie wrote:
> Ant,
>
>> What about the rest of you? Thank you for reading and hopefully
>> answering. :)
>
> Personal Computers were just a dream in Alan Turing’s eye when I went to
> school...
>
> Cheers - Speccie
>

When I was in school the computer sat on the top of the neck and the
printer was either a BIC ball point or a Ticonderoga #2. Ball point
delete button was nil and a red rubber one on the Ticonderoga.

I paid $85 for my first non-scientific calculator 8 years after I
graduated from high school, when I returned to college. It was 1/2 price
close out at Radio Shack. I was about the size of an iPad mini and had
(ready for this?) rechargeable replaceable AA batteries!. I did use it
for almost 20 years after I bought it.

YK wrote:

> When I was in school the computer sat on the top of the neck and the
> printer was either a BIC ball point or a Ticonderoga #2. Ball point
> delete button was nil and a red rubber one on the Ticonderoga.

Ball point pen? They weren’t easily available when I went to school. We used either a pencil or a fountain pen...

> I paid $85 for my first non-scientific calculator 8 years after I
> graduated from high school, when I returned to college. It was 1/2 price
> close out at Radio Shack. I was about the size of an iPad mini and had
> (ready for this?) rechargeable replaceable AA batteries!. I did use it
> for almost 20 years after I bought it.

As they hadn’t been invented when I was at school, we were taught how to use Logarithm tables and a slide rule...

Cheers - Ewen

Speccie <someone@somewhere.com> wrote:
> YK wrote:
>
>> When I was in school the computer sat on the top of the neck and the
>> printer was either a BIC ball point or a Ticonderoga #2. Ball point
>> delete button was nil and a red rubber one on the Ticonderoga.
>
> Ball point pen? They weren’t easily available when I went to school. We
> used either a pencil or a fountain pen...

Ditto!

In fact, writing with a fountain pen is pretty tricky when
left-handed—since you can’t “push” the pen nib across the paper, it’s
necessary to rotate your hand almost 180 degrees to allow for “pulling” and
to avoid smearing wet ink everywhere!

>> I paid $85 for my first non-scientific calculator 8 years after I
>> graduated from high school, when I returned to college. It was 1/2 price
>> close out at Radio Shack. I was about the size of an iPad mini and had
>> (ready for this?) rechargeable replaceable AA batteries!. I did use it
>> for almost 20 years after I bought it.
>
> As they hadn’t been invented when I was at school, we were taught how to
> use Logarithm tables and a slide rule...

Again, me too! It was remarkable how natural a slide rule was, and it
required the user to be able to estimate one significant digit and the
order of magnitude in one’s head—a very useful skill when swinging through
a design tree, and in short supply these days. ;-)

--
-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://michaeljmahon.com

Groovy hepcat Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood was jivin' in comp.sys.apple2 on
Tue, 28 Sep 2021 09:45 am. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

> A year or two later I changed schools. The new school had a
> Micromation with 4 dumb terminals and two 8' floppy drives, some Apple

Yeah, those were enormous, those 8' drives! It took 3 people just to
get a disk in there. Fortunately the thing also had 8" drives; much
easier to use!
Come to think of it, I may have just dreamed the 8' drives.
...
Well, I come from a metric country. What do you expect?

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-------------- Shaggy was here! ---------------
Ain't I'm a dawg!!

Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood <phaywood@alphalink.com.au> wrote:
> Groovy hepcat Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood was jivin' in comp.sys.apple2 on
> Tue, 28 Sep 2021 09:45 am. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

> > A year or two later I changed schools. The new school had a
> > Micromation with 4 dumb terminals and two 8' floppy drives, some Apple

> Yeah, those were enormous, those 8' drives! It took 3 people just to
> get a disk in there. Fortunately the thing also had 8" drives; much
> easier to use!
> Come to think of it, I may have just dreamed the 8' drives.
> ...
> Well, I come from a metric country. What do you expect?

Ha, I didn't even notice that typo. I remember seeing 8" floppy disks
when I was a teenager in high school. I didn't even know that size
existed! :O
--
So many leaks (liquid & digital types), sneezes, itches, pains, videos, spams, issues, software updates, games, sins, etc. Also, BUSY & tired! I hate my old body. :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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> > A year or two later I changed schools. The new school had a
> > Micromation with 4 dumb terminals and two 8' floppy drives, some Apple
> Yeah, those were enormous, those 8' drives! It took 3 people just to
> get a disk in there. Fortunately the thing also had 8" drives; much
> easier to use!

Spinal Tap - 18" Stonehenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=071cXxCNj5A

Groovy hepcat martin.doherty@undisclosed.com was jivin' in
comp.sys.apple2 on Tue, 12 Oct 2021 02:10 am. It's a cool scene! Dig
it.

>> > A year or two later I changed schools. The new school had a
>> > Micromation with 4 dumb terminals and two 8' floppy drives, some
>> > Apple
>> Yeah, those were enormous, those 8' drives! It took 3 people just to
>> get a disk in there. Fortunately the thing also had 8" drives; much
>> easier to use!
>
> Spinal Tap - 18" Stonehenge
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=071cXxCNj5A

Heh! :)

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-------------- Shaggy was here! ---------------
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Webber Update.

I have just posted an update to Webber, which amongst other bug fixes and some new features, should fix the problems David reported.

You will need to install both the Webber v1.1.2 update, and the included Tool130 v1.5 update.

https://speccie.uk/software/webber/

A week or so ago I released an update to ByteBagger, to fix a crashing problem that I found when opening files.

https://speccie.uk/software/bytebagger/

Cheers - Ewen

Ewen, and how is this related to this thread?

Speccie <someone@somewhere.com> wrote:
> Webber Update.

> I have just posted an update to Webber, which amongst other bug fixes and some new features, should fix the problems David reported.

> You will need to install both the Webber v1.1.2 update, and the included Tool130 v1.5 update.

> https://speccie.uk/software/webber/

> A week or so ago I released an update to ByteBagger, to fix a crashing problem that I found when opening files.

> https://speccie.uk/software/bytebagger/

> Cheers - Ewen
--
Slammy Monday daytime, but poopy, gassy, and achy body at night. :( Being old sucks. Still so many stuff to do and see! Every (body and thing) are moving and changing! :(
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On 23 Nov 2021, Ant wrote

> Ewen, and how is this related to this thread?

It isn’t, I’m sorry. I did repeat the message in the correct thread.

Once you post a message to Usenet, there is no way of recalling it.

I have been using a new Usenet reader, and though I thought it had picked up the correct subject to send it to, it had other ideas...

Cheers - Ewen

Speccie <someone@somewhere.com> wrote:
> On 23 Nov 2021, Ant wrote

> > Ewen, and how is this related to this thread?

> It isn???t, I???m sorry. I did repeat the message in the correct thread.

> Once you post a message to Usenet, there is no way of recalling it.

> I have been using a new Usenet reader, and though I thought it had
> picked up the correct subject to send it to, it had other ideas...

Ah, OK. I see your new thread. Yeah, I wished cancel worked on usenet.
:( What usenet reader client are you using?
--
Slammy Monday daytime, but poopy, gassy, and achy body at night. :( Being old sucks. Still so many stuff to do and see! Every (body and thing) are moving and changing! :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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On 24 Nov 2021, Ant wrote

> Ah, OK. I see your new thread. Yeah, I wished cancel worked on usenet.
> > ( What usenet reader client are you using?

Rather than using Thoth, which though very good, is rather dated, I am now using Hogwasher.

Cheers - Ewen

Speccie <someone@somewhere.com> wrote:
> Rather than using Thoth, which though very good, is rather dated, I am now
> using Hogwasher.

I had been using trn (or its predecessor rn) since 1989. Something's
changed with my Gentoo Linux systems within the past couple or so years such
that it'll no longer compile. Gentoo provides ebuilds for slrn and tin; of
those two, tin still appears to be under at least somewhat active
development (last release was this past August for its 30th anniversary), so
I'm figuring it out.

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