“The Apple II personal computer is 35 years old today, a bit of news that I’m sure is either making you feel wildly old or gives you an odd rush of steampunk retro-nostalgia,” John Biggs reports for TechCrunch.
“The computer, launched on April 16 and 17th at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, went on to become the definitive machine for primary and high schools everywhere and whose wonky screen and clacky keys brought millions of kids and adults into the information age,” Biggs reports. “Steve Jobs was 22 when he and Steve Wozniak launched the II. The device, with its eight expansion slots and rapid upgrade cycle, defined the computer as a platform rather than a one-time purchase.”
Biggs reports, “The Apple II and its progeny existed well into the 1990s as a computing solution for many customers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Happy 35th, Apple ][ !!!
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Many many hours playing Parachute or Star Trek on the Apple IIe
Fond memories
Happy Birthday Apple II
What can I say? I’m the proud owner of an original Apple II, low serial number, original box, original manual, and a bunch of accessories. And no, it’s not for sale, LOL!!
Beautiful machine. A piece of technological art.
Happy birthday, Apple II !!!
Apple tried to kill the Apple II when the Mac came out. It was way too popular and they were “forced” to continue producting them.
IIRC, it also lead to a fight between the two Steves.
Woz was the leader of the “Apple II Forever” coalition.
Jobs lead the charge to kill it off.
The thing was that the Apple II still paid the bills for some time after the Mac’s introduction.
The first computer I ever used was an Apple ][+ in the early ’80s when I was in 5th grade. We could book 30 minutes in the library to waste time playing “Oregon Trail” and we thought we were so cool.
ME TOO! Oregon Trail was a staple of 80s elementary school libraries. 🙂
I was a bigger C64 user than an Apple II user but my buddy had a hell of an Apple II set up at home and we spent hours playing on both the C64 and Apple II.
Damn good memories and a hell of a fun machine!
I didn’t go Apple, and by then the Mac, until 1992 (with a Powerbook 170 – I still miss it’s built-in trackball) so I missed out on all the early fun with the II and especially IIe. Friends had them and I would be very jealous but I ended up buying an MS-DOS clone instead (the Seequa Chameleon) which was nice and in fact ANY computer in those days was a thrill and a wonder. How much we take them for granted now. Kids today missed the “stone knives & bear skins” era of computing. How nice for them.
Happy 35th, Apple.
Happy birthday! I had a //e with double disk drive. Big noisy boxes and played and programmed for hours and hours each day. Even 6502 assembler code. Had to sell it to buy a wintel. So happy with returning to Apple but miss the //e! Best computermemories ever.
II GS was the last I owned. First one I used was in a BASIC course as a Freshman, writing programs to cassette tape.
I was at the West Coast Computer Fair(e) where it was introduced. Bought one, maybe from Steve. Still have it, it still works. Have been Apple all the way since. Absolutely no regrets.
I remember playing Karateka, Lode Runner and using Printshop to make greeting cards. And learned some BASIC too. Warm memories 🙂
Ahhh! Yes the first Apple product I ever laid my eyes on. I was in high school, and three of these beauties were nestled in with six Monroe 1512 programmable adding machines and a terminal for the time sharing library system. Learned Apple Basic and created a simulated space shuttle launch (colored blocks on screen with a line of blocks for the horizon). So much fun.