My Journey with Apple Computers: A Personal Story of Zippy the First Mac

Introduction

I’ve loved just about all of them through the years, but my favorite will always be Zippy, the first Mac my father ever purchased, which still runs fine today. This story is a personal look back at the early days of computing and how a single machine inspired a lifelong passion for technology.

Early Computing Days

I still remember fondly the evening my father took me to the local Apple retailer and purchased our first Mac! It was the late 1980s, and I was in my teens. Back then, there were no standard mainstream computing platforms. Most home computers ran specific command-line operating systems with no graphical interface or mouse, just ugly text on an ugly screen. Computers either used tape drives for storage or had floppy drives with their own flavor of DOS. Windows was an ugly, limited toy at Version 2.x, so most people didn’t run it at all.

The Arrival of the Mac SE/30

The Mac SE/30 we brought home was completely different. It was relatively small compared to most computers of the time, was self-contained, and screen, CPU, floppy drive, and everything else were housed in the case. It could be carried with one hand. Unlike most, it came with a mouse, which was actually required to use it. The operating system was geared from the ground up to be driven by the GUI. And lots of things that were extremely complicated or infeasible to do on other computers were a breeze to do on the Mac. The ability to create documents, edit them, delete them, and so on just by moving the mouse around, and without having to use cryptic commands, was just magical. Documents actually looked on the screen as they did when printed, which was unlike any other platform on the market. And it was pretty fast for a computer at that time! So, we promptly and affectionately named it 'Zippy'.

Beyond Basic Programming

It completely changed the way I looked at computers for the better. And while I was very much into programming our trusty TRS-80 in Basic and Zilog assembly, the Mac with Apple’s rich APIs and Pascal/68k assembly programming languages immediately took my attention and opened new worlds to me! I was so captivated by the user-friendly approach that I delved deeper into software development and the potential of computers beyond simple tasks. The intuitive nature of the Mac made it much more accessible to me than the command-line interfaces of other systems.

Preserving a Piece of History

My father has since passed away sadly, but I still have our trusty Mac SE/30 with me. And yes, it still runs fine. I’ve had to replace a cooling fan and the hard drive, but other than that, it’s all original. In fact, I have it set up with internet access, running its own web server 24/7 so that others can visit it over the web! It is not just a machine to me, but a piece of history that has stood the test of time and continues to inspire.

From my experience, the Mac SE/30 has not only played a significant role in my personal development as a programmer but has also had a lasting impact on the world of technology. It was a critical moment in the evolution of personal computing and a testament to Apple’s pioneering work in the industry.