Embedded Files
It was always in the back of my head, that I wanted to revisit the computers I used in childhood years. I first tried the many different emulators that were made available, but it just was not the same. I longed to hear the unique sounds that the older computers made when you powered them on and used them. The very rough sound that was made with the limited technology available at the time.
I remember growing up always taking things apart to explore what made it tick. My Uncle Paul saw the engineering wheels spinning in my head and made it possible for me to get an oscilloscope and lots of various electronics. I was gifted some of those "exploring electronics" kits from RadioShack.
We moved to New York and my parents bought me a Texas Instruments TI 99/4a computer. I picked up a magazine about that computer and my eyes were opened up to the world of programming. I then spent summers with my friend Phillip, typing in programs from magazines (games such as Snake, and Tetris) to play them and save them to cassette tape.
Later, my father bought an Apple ][+ computer, and an Epson MX-80 dot-matrix printer, and a NEC green screen (see above title picture). I learned how to program in BASIC, wrote various programs, and incorporated my ability into my grade school science projects (flower pollination by bees), and my childhood weekend play with my friends (GI-Joe) by using programs I had written earlier to act as top-secret computers that we had to break into and get the secret plans and maps. A lot of fun!
I acquired a lot of software and games, and even upgraded the computer to an Apple //e (enhanced) with whopping 128K (80-col expansion card) and newer ROMs for additional characters and capabilities. I also purchased a SAM Card (Software Automated Mouth), plugged into slot 4 and it was great fun having the computer speak and sing and just play around with the primitive digital audio to analog capabilities.
Middle school through high school.. you could find me in the computer or science labs. When I created a program in Turbo Pascal that took questionnaires from people who paid $1 and added them to a homegrown database and then used a homegrown algorithm to play cupid and match people up (there top 10 matches). Entered into programming contests and won a couple for our school.
HyperCard
HyperCard
I wrote so many "stacks" back in the day. I absolutely loved HyperCard, and later SuperCard, and ProGraph.. but HyperCard was my love! I was very sad when when I learned that it was being discontinued.
HyperCanton
I wrote a stack that that ran on a kiosk that greeted prospective students and visitors at the State University of New York at Canton with Staff Directory, building directory and how to find it on a map, and admissions information, etc..
Writing Tools
A book called "Writing Tools" was authored by Mark C. Coleman had a Hypercard stack that I wrote that was included with the book. It was published by McGraw-Hill. The stack helped students write better by allowing them to copy and paste the content of their paper into the stack and it would analyze it and tell them how to possibly improve it. More information can be found here.
When I spoke with Mark recently (2025), he had moved away from Potsdam, they sized down considerably, and he no longer has a copy of the book or media. My only regret was not reaching out to Mark sooner.
Many Others
So many other stacks where written for controlling equipment, DVD and LaserDisc Players (using XCMD extensions). I even wrote (albeit very slow) relational database in HyperCard... that was fun.
Page updated
Report abuse