If you’re of a certain age, you can remember the green text and black background of some of Apple‘s earliest computers. For many of us, the days of playing Oregon Trail on one of those clunky machines are long gone, but not for Twitter user @JohnFPfaff.
Late Saturday night, he tweeted that he had a functional Apple IIe computer from his parents’ attic.
“Oh. My. God,” he wrote.
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1096973633736581121
His excitement was palpable when the computer booted right up.
“Put in an old game disc. Asks if I want to restore a saved game,” he wrote. And much to his delight, the computer allowed him to pick up on a decades-old game.
“This is tricky, because three decades later I can’t quite remember where I left off this round of Adventureland,” he tweeted.
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1096974001077932034
But his enthusiasm wasn’t dampened; Pfaff went through a number of old games playable on the ancient model.
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1096975770570969088
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1096985994895785984
Going through the early model and its accouterments proved bittersweet; Pfaff found relics from his father, who he said died last year.
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1096979764345212928
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1097020450729803776
But it also got him excited about sharing the machine, and games, with his own children.
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1096997193779761152
https://twitter.com/JohnFPfaff/status/1096978702922067968
The thread really resonated; the original tweet got 19,430 retweets and 112,546 likes as of Sunday evening.
Other users joined in with their sweet memories of Apple‘s days of yore, before iPhones and Air Pods.
https://twitter.com/briankrejci/status/1096982179081568257
https://twitter.com/MikaShay32/status/1097238167915118592
https://twitter.com/annaliterally/status/1097100451756027904
Your oxen have died of dysentery.
— Charles Gaba ✡️ (@charles_gaba) February 17, 2019
Oh man wish I still had my Apple IIe in this photo. So many hours spent playing Loderunner and Castlevania. pic.twitter.com/fdOlR038dW
— Josh Grabelle (@JoshGrabelle) February 17, 2019
this thread is really bringing me back to using Logo and playing Oregon Trail in the computer room at elementary school https://t.co/MnkzMQEOKv
— Doree Shafrir (@doree) February 17, 2019
The wholesome thread concluded with a sweet message from Pfaff, a professor of law at Fordham University.
“Ok, my kids won’t care why I didn’t go to bed when they wake up at dawn tomorrow (well, today). I’m so happy that this thread seems to have brought back so many good memories for so many ppl. That’s not how my TL usually is, and it’s been a fantastic chance of pace. Night, all!”
H/T Mashable
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