The Yawning Floppy Disk Cavern of the Apple ///


While I'd been geeking out on computers and programming since 1976 and had worked as a computer operator for the federal government (NOAA) in Anchorage Alaska, I consider my first real job in IT to be a very fun year I spent working for Computerland of Anchoerage.

Computerland was one of the original retail chains in the retail computer industry, along with companies like Microage and The Byte Shop.    Computerland was a franchise operation, and the Anchorage franchise was owned by former North Slope oil workers who had made  a good amount of money, and chose to invest it in the burgeoning new industry.

I learned more in that first year than I had in all the years prior, which is a typical experience as we get out of our education mode and into the real world.   Alaska was at that time still in somewhat of a wild west mode, as I'll relate in future blog entries. 

For today, I'll jump into the shallow end of the pool by relating an experience typical of the many early years of the PC revolution.

I worked at Computerland in 1982..   Apple computers were a big part of the business, even in the pre-Macintosh era.   One of my personal favorite systems to sell was the Apple ///.   Don't ask me why - it was difficult to use; had an offshoot of the Apple DOS system aptly named "SOS", had very little software written specifically for it and was really expensive (perhaps the motivation for me).  Accourding to Wikipedia, the Apple /// cost z$12,000 = $24,000 in its standard configurations in today's dollars.

As it happens, I was also the only person in the small store that could sell the Apple /// (probably another motivation).    I recall winning some kind of national Apple sales contest, but the model was not a particularly good seller for Apple so I don't know that this is a banner accomplishment.

One "feature" of the Apple /// was a built-in 5.25" floppy disk drive (you'll find a picture on said Wikipedia page).   That drive was really clunky, with a huge and awkward "door" handle.    It was overall outlandishly large - you could easily park your Subaru in it.   And hence the following tale.

One day a very nice lady - I believe her name was Janice - came into the store looking for a business computer on which to keep accounting records for her clients.   As the Apple /// was a "business system", I put together a configuration for her that included a really fully decked out system, including a newfangled "hard disk".  I also ordered her a copy of BPI accounting and even a really cool video-tape drive based backup system. .   The works.

While Computerland was a retail store, I'd already started something I would continue in my career, which was personal delivery and setup.   I delivered the system to her home office and got everything working.   She was very happy, with that awestruck "wow I have a computer" energy that was so fun back in the early days of the industry.   

A week later, her BPI accounting software arrived, and Janice came in to pick it up.    I asked her if she'd like help setting it up - the installation was not difficulty, but it was installed with about 20 low capacity 5.25" floppy disks.   She thanked me but felt she could handle it (she'd been doing well with her new Apple).    I told her to give me a call if she had any difficulty.

A few hours later, she did indeed give me a call.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Kent, I keep getting this error message."

"What's the error?"

"The system keeps telling me to put another disk in and press the enter key. "

I smiled - no problem.

"Janice that's no biggie - it's just looking for the next disk in sequence."

"Yes, that's what I though", she said.   "But I've put all the sisks I  can in and I can't fit any more in the drive."


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I don't even remember the last time I saw or used a floppy disk.

Happy Holidays!

Kent