Unlike the BBC Micro, which was engineered for schools from the start, the Apple II was just an ordinary computer thrust into the role of America’s electronic educator. Point is, these grade school routines were made possible thanks to the Apple II, or more specifically, the Apple IIe. Kids would play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego at recess, and race home after school to watch Lynne Thigpen and Greg Lee guide kid gumshoes in the tie-in TV show. ImageWriter printers roared their little hearts out, with their snare drum printheads pounding essays compiled in Bank Street Writer onto tractor feed paper, alongside class schedules made in The Print Shop. Sounds like bagpipes being repeatedly run over, doesn't it? If you're the right age, that jaw-clenching, teeth-grinding racket will make you remember afternoons spent playing Oregon Trail. and then sit back and enjoy the soothing beautiful music of that drive loudly and repeatedly slamming the read head into its bump stops. Just fling a floppy into a Disk II drive, lock the latch, punch the power switch. As a consequence, the rituals of grade school computer time are forever tied to Steve Wozniak’s engineering foibles. If you’re like me and spent any time in a US public school during the eighties or nineties, you’ve likely used a variant of the Apple II. Welcome back to Computers of Significant History, where I chronicle the computers crucial to my life, and maybe to yours too.
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