If you designed a computer museum, there would be at least a half-a-century’s worth of invention to draw from. Walking through the exhibits, you would probably remark on how the computers of today are so sleek and ubiquitous compared to the clunky machines of yesteryear. Thinking back, you probably have fond memories of your first computer, whether it was a Commodore 64, an IBM PC, or an Apple IIe. Though these old computers had only a small fraction of the capability of today’s PCs, they were nonetheless quite useful and often enjoyable for their owners. Here are a few examples of some retro personal computers and what they could do.
The Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 was a machine designed primarily for gaming, and a multitude of titles were written for its operating system. Though users could use other applications like word processing software, most opted for games like Epyx’s Summer Games and Winter Games. These games were sold on the old five-inch floppy disks, disks which almost seem laughable today due to their size.
The Apple IIe
Famous for its green screen, the Apple IIe was a staple of many school classrooms in the 1980s. Many remember playing games like Oregon Trail, or programming in Logo, a language which allowed the user to draw pictures with a little triangle onscreen that was called a “turtle.” The Logo language was useful for learning geometric concepts.
The Timex-Sinclair 1000
Built by the watchmaking company, the Timex-Sinclair 1000 was a rudimentary PC with limited capability. Designing and running games on it was a challenge. However, users could write programs in BASIC and other languages, so it was at least a useful learning tool. The computer was interestingly small, only about half the size of one of today’s laptops.