A Computer I Understood
Cheryl Hanna
My word processor broke down in 1996, and the repair shop couldn't
or wouldn't find parts. A friend offered to give me a computer, and
with trepidation I decided to take the plunge. I went over to his
house to pick it up. It was an intimidating sight: a gigantic IBM XT
that sat brooding like a malign godling in a neglected corner of his
study. Tiny green letters swam on an inky black background....
My friend began to run through the startup procedure. In five
minutes I was completely confused. Not only that, my friend
perversely refused to let me write anything down, barking that I had
to start memorizing it.
I spotted an attractive, if battered, white box sitting in a
jumbled storage area off to the side of his study. On the side it
said Macintosh. Don't get too excited, I told myself. Probably old
papers or old clothes. Maybe even old shoes. "What's that?" I asked,
feigning casualness.
 "Oh,
that! You don't want that! A friend of mine gave it to me. It's
useless. Can't do anything with it. I already looked into it."
Nevertheless I insisted in hauling the box out. The box said
Macintosh 512Ke. We took it out.
It was missing the keyboard cable.
What a cute little thing! I immediately wanted it. My friend
agreed, indulgently, but insisted I take the XT -- a real
computer.
Two or three calls and a week later I was able to locate a source
for the missing cable. (I discovered Tekserve, a major fount of
Macintosh support here in New York and elsewhere.) We plugged it in
and stuck in a floppy disk. The Mac spit it out with a little symbol
-- a disk with an big black X. I laughed to my friend, "It doesn't
like that."
- Here was a computer that I understood without
translation.
Other good friends appeared from nowhere and supplied System 6
software and an original copy of Microsoft Word 3 with all the
manuals. My investment: $20 or so for the keyboard cable.
I remember putting it together myself. I can do this, I thought.
Every cable had little pictures on it to show where it went. How
sensible! And I was so thrilled with the white screen. Black letters
on a white screen! More than one type face! Real italics! I was
hooked. I proceeded to immediately finish a manuscript, which I
subsequently sold.
The 512Ke box had turned out to contain a Plus
(another thrill, once I understood what it meant -- SCSI!), and the
same generous friends reappeared later that year with a hard drive,
an ImageWriter II, and yet another Plus that I gave to another
starving artist. (She's still using it.) The XT? I sold it for my
first to someone else. I was never able to get past the startup,
since I had no manuals, no notes, and no interest. Nor did any of the
dealers I questioned give me anything but the horselaugh. (Granted,
the XT was somewhat older than the Plus.)
- Every Mac dealer or user I called was helpful and civil (if a
little bemused -- "One meg, you say?"), and they all knew seemed
where to find the old stuff.
The kicker? About a year (and several upgrades) later, I bought my
second Mac, a used LC. My first scoffing
friend was still pursuing an unrequited romance with the dark
side. He invited me over to see his new (used) PC clone, a big step
up from his IBM AT. The poor guy was so excited to be graduating from
DOS to Windows. But when I got there, he couldn't start it up. In
cleaning out the previous owner's files, he had accidentally
discarded an important little piece of system software. I was still
pretty new to the Mac, but I knew my computer would never let me do
that.
Despite broad inquires and numerous cries for help, we were never
able to get the PC running again -- with our limited layperson's
resources, anyway. (Neither of us were online at the time.) Dark side
computer folks (and friends!) just told us to throw the thing away.
Mind you, nothing was wrong but a missing piece of system software.
Comprehend that if you can, Mac people. The seller refused to even
return my friend's calls. I offered my friend my (his old) Plus,
which he took with gratitude, since he had books to finish. He used
it for a year before we found yet another home for it. As far as I
know, it's still in operation in my photographer's playroom. The PC
went out in the trash.
And my friend was permanently cured of the desire to traffic in
dark side machines.
My First Macintosh- My First Mac Clone, Spencer, 8/15/00.
Sometimes your first Mac isn't even made by Apple.
- Midlife Mac lover, Chris Volpe, 7/18/00.
"I once vowed I'd never own a computer, but that began to change
when I left journalism in 1998...."
- Salute to a Classic II, Max Thom Stahl,
7/11/00. "What I remember most was the games."
- When Randy met Mac, Randy Peterson,
7/4/00. "Maybe I finally had real work to do, and getting it done
was more important to me than the mental exercise of coaxing a
computer into submission."
- The Cure for "Mac Envy," Dave Beekman,
6/28/00. "After almost ten years, I've finally found the cure for
Mac envy: buy a Mac."
- My First Mac index
Want to share your story on My First Mac? Send email to
dan.knight@lowendmac.com. Recent New Content on LEM- Building rumors, fooling
Slashdot, Anne Onymus with Dan Knight, 8/18. We didn't set out
to fool Slashdot or anyone else -- and we explain how to build
your own rumors.
- Don't upgrade that Quadra
630, Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive, 8/18. Most upgrades for
this particular model just don't make economic sense.
- Browse different, Dan
Knight, Mac Musings, 8/18. One way browsers could improve the Web
surfing experience.
- Mac-N-DOS list. Yes, it's
a bad pun, but if you have to use both Macs and Windows, this new
list could be a great resource.
- New iMacs: Something for
everyone, Kel Taylor, Mac to the Future, 8/17. "...the iMac
has grown into a family, and a large one at that."
- Apple ditching G4, Anne
Onymus, 8/17. Apple embraces IBM and the G5, leaving Motorola
behind.
- Happy Birthday, iMac!, Dan
Knight, iMac Channel, 8/16. "The iMac has redefined the industry
and redefined Apple as a trendsetter."
- Be thankful for Apple
secrecy, Stephen Van Esch, Mac Scope, 8/16. There really is a
good side to Apple secrecy.
- The Land Before Silicon,
Manuel Mejia, Mac Daniel, 8/16. Travels in Russia with a PowerBook
100.
- The G4 Cube and Radeon fans,
Paulo Rodrigues, Tangerine Fusion, 8/16. How ATI spilled a trade
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