Finding the technology you used as a kid can be a pretty fun trip down memory lane, but I can only imagine how wild it would be to find a 36-year-old computer from your youth that still somehow works. Nostalgia becomes purer with age, folks.
[jwplayer WBx1hXVp]
John Pfaff unboxed an old Apple IIe (first released in 36 years ago in 1983) which had been sitting around in his parent’s attic for “decades” and plugged that shit in, as you do on a Saturday night. To his delight, the computer fired up and hit him with a wave of nostalgia so powerful I can’t even begin to comprehend it.
After whacking an old disk into its drive, it even asked if he’d like to restore a saved game. Unreal.
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. pic.twitter.com/zL7wWxOo36
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
From there, Pfaff continued to load up some insanely old gear and reminisce about his childhood.
Hm. I rocked this version of One on One. Could hit a three from anywhere.
But the boxes my mom sent have no joystick!!
Will GameStop have one that fits these ports? pic.twitter.com/VQFgaAyb9G
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
At this point, I’d like to remind you that we’re talking about hardware that predates the 3.5-inch floppy disk you may remember from the 90s. These were the big-ass floppy disks that were indeed, floppy.
My dad typed up labels for all my floppies, which is really sweet to remember.
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
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Yep, that’s a 5.25-inch magnetic disk, which I only ever remember seeing at my primary school, and even then it was outdated as hell.
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.”
And then the disk drive whirs w its little red light.
Then you get “Thank you, Donna.”
1984 computer humor. pic.twitter.com/dFnbQk7y0D
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
It’s like riding a bicycle.
But need to get that 100m dash time down a bit. That was respectable in the 1980s, but not anymore. pic.twitter.com/cmnOKwBUUJ
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
He even got a video of one of the games so you can hear the soundtracks of yore. What an absolute vibe. But the best part is his comparison to current technology, as well as a reminder of how good we have it these days.
“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.”
Hi-def Mario Kart 8 for the Switch there for comparison. pic.twitter.com/6mZCgiEaR7
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Also, in the days before the Cloud, kids, you had to make sure you backed up your backups, bc those floppies could betray you.
My dad wrote a computer financial modeling textbook. He… wasn’t joking abt backups.
Not sure why he went w the fancy Roman numerals tho (w “6” too!). pic.twitter.com/YFQmy97GyN
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
You gotta have the 6th backup, mates. You just never know if the other 5 are reliable. This bad boy was a little beyond my years, but I can only assume it invokes the same nostalgic feels that the Windows 95 startup jingle does for me.
