Man Discovers 30-Year-Old Apple Computer, and It Still Works

Man Discovers 30-Year-Old Apple Computer, and It Still Works
Pedestrians pass the Apple store location on fifth avenue Thursday, June 6, 2013, in New York. The United States is investigating a possible price fixing of E-Books in Apple's favor. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Jack Phillips
2/18/2019
Updated:
2/18/2019

A man discovered a 30-year-old Apple IIe computer inside his parents’ attic that was still apparently in working order.

John Pfaff, a professor in New York, posted images from the old Apple computer on Feb. 17 on Twitter.

“An Apple IIe. Sat in my parents’ attic for years. Decades,” he wrote. “And it works.”

“Put in an old game disk. Asks if I want to restore a saved game. And finds one!” he added. “It must be 30 years old. I’m 10 years old again.”

The Apple IIe was the third Apple II model and was released in 1983, and all models of the computer were discontinued in 1993.

Pfaff also resorted a saved game from the 1978 game Adventureland.

“What shall I do next,” says the prompt on the screen.

“This is tricky, because three decades later I can’t quite remember where I left off this round of Adventureland,” Pfaff said.

He also said he found old floppy discs with several different games, including “Neuromancer,” “Olympic Decathlon,” and “Millionware.”

Pfaff also said he found saved copies of his high school assignments as well as a note from his father.

“Just found this letter my dad typed to me in 1986, when I was 11 and at summer camp,” he wrote. “My dad passed away almost exactly a year ago. It’s amazing to come across something so ‘ordinary’ from him.”

Pfaff, 44, showed off the ancient computer his children, and they were stunned to learn it’s a computer.

“My oldest, who is 9, exclaimed ”that’s a computer?!” he wrote.

They also asked him about the floppy drives.

“My younger twins just kept laughing at how silly it seemed to them,” he tweeted.

According to the Apple Museum website, the “Apple II was designed on the original Apple I but was much more expandable, easier to use, and complete overall.”

It credits Steve Wozniak as the prime innovator behind the computer.

“It is unarguably the greatest work done by a single person in the computer industry,” the website says.

The computer featured a MOS Technology 6502 processor running at 1.023 MHz, 4kb to 64kb of RAM, and a six-color display.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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