If I were to tell you I purchased the computer currently sitting on my dining room table fifteen years ago, you might wonder what I was doing with such an ancient piece of technology. The truth is, when I purchased the computer back in 2003, it was already 20 years old!

The machine is an Apple IIc, the fourth machine in Apple’s line of “II” computers — there was the original, followed by the II+, the IIe, and finally the IIc. Despite weighing almost eight pounds, the “c” in the computer’s name stood for “compact,” and, relatively speaking compared to other computers in 1984, it was. The computer’s built-in handle allowed owners to carry the computer around like an expensive attache case, leaving their other hand free to carry the machine’s power supply, a monitor, and any required diskettes. It wasn’t exactly portable, but we were getting there.

The reason I have an Apple IIc computer set up on my dining room table is because my friend Robb in Denver recently expressed interest in owning one, and I happened to have a spare one gathering dust out in the garage. I originally purchased this one back in 2003 at a video game swap meet in Chicago. I thought it would be fun to hook up and play old games on, and for a while, it was. Here it is in our old house, not long after I purchased it — it’s the one on the far left, playing Karateka.

Back when vintage computers were easily found and could be purchased inexpensively, that’s what I did. I’d buy a computer (and maybe one or two “spares”) just to play around with them, and occasionally donate them to a friend who was wanting to do the same. Unfortunately due to eBay, prices are too high for that today. I might have been able to make a hundred bucks by selling this one on eBay, but it makes me a lot happier to gift one to somebody that I know is looking for one and will actually use and enjoy it.

Before shipping the IIc I wanted to test it, and the best way to do that was to use it to play some old games. Using my Aplpe IIe, I was able to copy a few games like Choplifter, Lode Runner, Ghostbusters, and Law of the West over to floppies. The IIc played them all fine — a little too fine in fact, as I had the computer set up on the table a couple of days longer than I had planned as I did more “testing” than I had intended.

My garage and computer room are filled with things like this. Not necessarily complete computers, but things I purchased over the years for various reasons: because I wanted to play with them, because I needed a spare, or because I knew someone who could use it. What I never intended was for all this stuff to sit around gathering dust, which is what it’s been doing.

No more.