The computer is the most important tool in our lives. We can use it to work, surf the Internet, watch videos, and do whatever we want. But have you ever thought about it? If you go back to the 1980s, when personal computers first began to become popular, how could a computer do these things?

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I got an Apple Macintosh computer released in 1984.

When you open the box, the first thing you see is the keyboard inside. The model number is M0110. Unlike the more popular membrane keyboards, mechanical keyboards were the standard configuration of that era.

The Keyboard keys use ALPS SKCC's MX White, the feel is more like MX Red.

Interestingly, after pressing the caps lock key, the key is really locked physically.

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After the keyboard, there is the mouse, the model number is M0100.

Different from the sleekness of the current mouse, this mouse has sharp edges and corners, and has only one button, and the tradition of only one button has been maintained until now.

Different from the current optical mouse, the mouse used to determine the coordinates by the mechanical structure of the ball.

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Then there is an accessory box, which contains manuals, system startup disk, and colorful Apple logo stickers.

Many people are very curious, why does Apple put stickers in the packaging?

This is because in 1977, Stephen Jobs asked a designer to make this new Apple logo, and then put a logo sticker in the box for brand promotion.

In this way, if fans put the stickers on their favorite places, it is equivalent to advertised for free to Apple, this practice has been maintained until now.

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And the last one to appear is naturally this first-generation Macintosh computer that came across from 1984, and its model number is M0001.

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I opened this computer with excitement and put it in the system disk, but...

The computer went directly from the smiling face of a successful boot to the face of a hardware failure.

After disassembling the shell of the machine, it was found that the pressure head on the software driver had fallen off. Put this part back and the software driver returned to normal.

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Now that the shell has been disassembled, we might as well take a look at the bonus scene inside.

In the shell, there are many names printed, this is because Stephen Jobs asked to print the signature of the owner of the main creative team in the case, just like a painter would sign a painting.

You can find Stephen Jobs's signature in it.

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We installed the computer, put the software disc, and came to the world in 1984.

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The first impression of using this computer must be "familiar".

Like the current Mac computer, the upper left corner is the Apple Logo, the lower right corner is the trash, and the upper right corner is the startup disk. Click the application to select it, double-click the application to open it, and drag the edge of the window to change the size.

Command+a is all selected, and can also be sorted according to the creation time of the file.

Long press the Apple logo in the upper left corner, you can also see some built-in tools, among which the control pannel can adjust the sound and other settings.

You would think, isn’t this the control center on the phone?

Such a statement is undoubtedly inappropriate. We cannot say that grandpa looks like a grandson.

But this computer is not as ancient and inhuman as imagined, but surprisingly easy to use.

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So what can this computer do?

To write documents, we can put in Apple's first-party text editing software MacWrite.

The function of the software is very simple. We can input, wrap, change line spacing, center, adjust text style and size. To be honest, I only know and only use these functions when I use Microsoft Word now.

Not only word processing, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint have also appeared on the Macintosh platform.

You can generate a chart in Excel and then copy it to PowerPoint. In that era, the linkage between applications was very advanced.

In addition to these, the most sensational thing in Macintosh was a drawing software called MacPaint.

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Opening MacPaint, my first feeling is—isn't this just Photoshop?

MacPaint:     PS: 

Except for the similar software layout, the lasso tool, marquee tool, and rectangle tool are exactly the same as PS.

The function of MacPaint is also very intuitive. You can select the tool on the left and draw on the canvas on the right. You can also choose the graphics below as the filling style.

You can also use shortcut keys to continuously copy the graphics, and then use command+z to undo the previous operation.

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Can this computer connect to the Internet?

The answer is yes.

Although the World Wide Web we are familiar with will not be invented until 1989, and there is no familiar Ethernet interface on this machine, let alone Wi-Fi support,

But there is a telephone interface behind it.

30 years ago, users could use this interface to connect a modem to connect with other computers.

And when you connect the Macintosh to the modem, connect the modem to the switch, and then connect the switch to the current computer, you can connect two computers that are decades apart by dialing, so that we can make the Macintosh Connected to the Internet.

However, the memory of this Classic machine is too small, and it cannot run the browser software made in 1994.

So I got another 4MB RAM and got Macintosh Plus, so the Internet problem was solved.

However, this kind of Internet experience is very poor, and many web pages cannot be displayed at all, or they are simply garbled.

If you want a better online experience, you can use the terminal to go online.

The principle is basically that Macintosh sends commands to the computer. The computer loads the website and sends it back. In this way, we can even open Youtube.

Yes, you can use it to browse Youtube in plain text.

I also tried to open a video, although it can not be played, but the experience is quite interesting.

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But is it possible for us to watch videos on this computer?

The answer is also yes.

There is such a software on Macintosh, it is called MacroMind Director 2.0.1, it can play the images drawn by MacPaint in the window frame by frame.

The Flash animation that I learned in computer lessons when I was young evolved from this software.

So as long as you draw every frame in the video and play it continuously, you can see the video.

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At the end of the 19th century, telegraph was the most mainstream long-distance communication method.

You can send a telegram from New York to San Francisco in just a few hours.

Someone once suggested placing a telegraph on every desk so that the efficiency of communication between people can be greatly improved, but this idea has never been realized.

Because not everyone is willing to spend dozens of hours to learn Morse code, and at the same time the phone appears, we can use speaking, the most familiar way to transmit information to a distant place.

Finally, the phone really appeared on every desk.

Stephen Jobs's expectation of Macintosh is simple-let the computer become the new phone.

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What is the relationship between the computer and the phone?

To answer this question, we might as well learn about an older computer that is equally important to Apple--Apple II.

This is an Apple IIe computer released in 1983. It does not have a mouse. All operations must be entered through the keyboard.

How to draw pictures with the keyboard?

Type HGR and press Enter to enter the HD image mode;

Type HCOLOR=3, press Enter, and select the pen color;

Type HPLOT 0,0 to 100,100, press Enter, and a straight line from (0,0) to (100,100) is generated.

If you want to draw more complex graphics, you have to write a small program.

However, in the Macintosh graphical interface, you only need to click and drag with the mouse to achieve a similar effect.

In this case, you may understand why a drawing software of Macintosh can cause a sensation when it is released.

The command line interface of Apple II is like Morse code, not everyone is willing to learn, while the graphical interface of Macintosh is like a telephone, simple and intuitive.

To delete a file, drag it into the trash instead of typing a command, just like the real world.

The graphical user interface greatly reduces the threshold for using computers, making the popularization of personal computers possible.

And the Macintosh is Apple's first graphical interface computer for the mass market.

The Windows operating system we are more familiar with did not appear until a year later.

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If you look closely at the Macintosh keyboard, you will find that it cancels the arrow keys. Why do you want to remove these 4 keys?

This is because Steven Jobs wants users and developers to use the mouse, which symbolizes graphical interface.

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Has this computer achieved commercial success?

No.

At the beginning of the release, the sales of Macintosh were very optimistic, but the good times were not long.

By March 1985, Macintosh sales were only 10% of the expected.

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There are many reasons why this machine failed:

• It does not have a fan, which often causes the machine to malfunction.
• It is expensive, and considering inflation, the price of such a computer is US$6,100, which is equivalent to 6 iPhone 12 Pros.
• It only has 128K of memory

How small is the 128K memory?

As long as you keep typing, when the tenth page is reached, the software can no longer work.

Such a small memory makes it slow and the software that can run is also very limited.

One year after the product was released, the original Macintosh was discontinued.

However, the Apple IIe, which used the command line interface, was sold from 1983 to 1993, supporting Apple through the storm.

The inspiration we got is:

There are too many factors to consider for a product to succeed. Conceptual innovation, even revolution, does not mean commercial success.

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But after 30 years, this computer has indeed changed the world.

It is not the first computer to adopt a graphical interface, but it has greatly promoted the popularity of the graphical interface.

The reason why we think it is easy to use is precisely because there are too many elements in it, which have been written into the DNA of computers forever and passed down to the present.

Today, 36 years later, there is a computer on every desk and even in every pocket.

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If you are using an iPhone that supports face recognition, you will see a smiling face whenever you open the face ID and password.

It was a smile from 1984.