Computer Games - An Actual Computer

Not long after we moved back to Kentucky, Dad bought an Apple II+. Most of the time we used it for word processing, but he did some spreadsheets too, and we had Broderbund's Print Shop program as well. I even made my own font with it, recreating Interlac from the Legion of Super-Heroes. Dad even got me an S.A.T. training program for it.

But of course, I played games on it as well.

The way the Apple II worked was kind of similar to cartridge based console games. You put in the 5.25" floppy disk (back when they were still floppy) and turned on the computer. Then if it asked for a second (or more) disk you inserted it.

I played a few BASIC games with graphics that were better than the Odyssey², but still pretty blocky and static compared to today's standards. But they were engaging.

There was Taipan a game of trading and fighting off pirates in the Orient.

There were Repton, and Aquatron (no info anywhere, but one of my favorites). Both were side scrollers like Defender, but seemed more imaginative to me.

And finally there was the Ultima series. I had been poorly introduced to Dungeons & Dragons by a friend at school, so this series was exactly what I was looking for. I never beat the original Ultima, but got so into the series that I had to have them all. I remember getting Ultima III for Christmas, but not being able to immediately play it because we were helping out serving food for the homeless that day. After this one, I had to have Ultima II, so I saved up and bought it and while it was a step back, it had some great story parts. Soon Origin released an upgraded version of the first game calling it Ultima I, that I was able to beat, and so I had completed what came to be called the Age of Darkness.

Then I got Ultima IV, and it was all about the eight virtues. I took copious notes, and finally in my senior year of high school, I was ready to enter the most evil dungeon, but I made the mistake of saving my game while standing on the entrance. It somehow corrupted the file, and I couldn't restore to that point. I would have had to start all over again. So I never actually finished Ultima IV.

Then I got Ultima V, and I learned about fanaticism, corruption, and lots of in jokes. I did manage to finish this one.

I bought the rest of the series, and played about halfway through Ultima VI, but the game and I had gone different way, and it was no longer the intuitive play that the former games had been.

iPodicus Restoratus!

So, Saturday I began having strange problems with my iPod. I'd had it outputting to the stereo in the library, and when I took it down I noticed that it squeaked. Now this is supposed to be a precision machine, and the last thing I would expect delicate electronic components to do is squeak. I mean, where would I put the oil?

So I very careful and cautious when I plugged it into my computer to adjust the playlist. And it started squeaking.

So, I got nervous. I unplugged it, reset it, and while the Apple logo was up for the reset it squeaked. Then I went to the Apple support page, and there was nothing about iPods that squeaked. I followed the Rs, and ended up going through all of them up to the Restore. I ran the restore (squeaking away), and then went to sync it, and it kept hanging between 0.75 and 1.3 GB.

So, I made an appointment at the WC Apple store, getting in Sunday afternoon. I went in, and told them what had happened. And of course it did what all devices do in the presence of a repairman... It worked fine. It loaded up over 2 GB and never squeaked. The Genius (I use the term as a title, not as a rating of the guy's intelligence, although he was very nice and understanding) said that if he couldn't experience the problem, there was nothing he could do. He did wrote down the problem on a business card, and said that if it happened again to come back in and talk to him.

So, I got home and tried to sync again. And it started squeaking. I immediately went and made an appointment for Monday afternoon. And things went incredibly smoothly. I went in, and the store was probably half the decibels (yes I know it's a logarithmic scale) it was on Sunday (less children mostly). And I'm all prepared to show it squeaking. I take a seat to wait, and they call three names of those with appointments before me, and none of them answer. So I'm next, and without even asking for him, I get the Genius who helped me on Sunday. I told him I had been there the day before with the squeaking drive, and showed him his card as a reminder. He looked at me and said, "Well, to show you I am a man of my word, I'm just going to switch it out for you."

So, I have a new iPod. The old one was only 3 months old, but now it's relatively pristine. I went home with trepidation, and opened iTunes, and plugged in the replacement in attempt to sync. It didn't squeak, and in began to fill up. I decided to read, and check it every chapter. And all through the evening it slowly filled up. By the time I went to bed it was over 35 GB and still syncing. This morning I had the joy of finding a completely synced iPod.

So, I am happy.