Post by @kcase@mastodon.social

2026-03-31 00:58 UTC

Every time I see the original bright six-color Apple logo, I'm reminded of the Apple ][ donated to our small school just before the end of the school year. I asked the librarian if I could borrow its stack of spiral-bound manuals over the summer. I pored through that stack of manuals as my family road-tripped from Seattle to South Dakota—my mind fully occupied by the information contained within, as my senses took in the feel of the paper and the smell of the books. [1/4]

Replies (3)

@kcase@mastodon.social 2026-03-31 00:59

Even without the computer, I thought about what I could make that computer do when I got back, scribbling out BASIC programs in the back seat with pencil on paper. I was entranced by the empowering possibilities of that early "bicycle for the mind"—a feeling that has never left me. [2/4]

Open ##1277393
@bnmnetp@micro.blog 2026-03-31 02:43

@kcase I learned to program from that book. It changed my life! 10 print "hi brad" 20 goto 10

Open ##1277407
@halfpress@halfpress.com 2026-03-31 17:15

@kcase I have similar memories, but around my first Amiga (I was a Commodore kid and came to the Mac later, ultimately working for Apple for some years). I read and re-read everything I could lay my hands on, learning the CLI and working on paper for the longest time before we actually had one. I, too, associate the smell of paper and manuals with my early computing life. Later in life, I started collecting 80s arcades machines and their unique smell gets me into project mode to this day.

Open ##1277408