A Very Unique Problem

The Failure of a Single Key Almost Ruined My Entire Expo Display

Recently while attending a retrocomputing expo, I experienced a somewhat humorous failure. The game I brought for people to play would not work because it was so old it was originally written for a computer that did not have lowercase letters. Allow me to explain.

Earlier this month I attended the International Retro Computer Expo in Hurricane, West Virginia. For the expo, dozens of people who still love old computers bring old machines and old software to show and share with like-minded friends. For this year’s gathering I brought my old Apple IIe computer and one of the first games I ever played on the system, Swashbuckler. To complete the theme I decorated my table with some ocean and pirate-related items purchased from Amazon. $20 will get you a plastic table cloth, a decorative fish net, a small box containing 48 miniature fish, and a stack of plastic pirate-themed cups. Not bad, mateys.

The first model of the Apple II went on sale in the summer of 1977. That was followed by the Apple II+ which was released in 1979, and finally the Apple IIe (“e” for “enhanced”) in 1983. Each of these machines were slightly better than the previous model but to be honest if you aren’t into old computers they all look the same.

Now here’s an interesting fact that’s going to become real important in a couple of paragraphs. The original Apple II and Apple II+ did not have lowercase letters. All text was in uppercase, which made programming simpler, took less memory, and made everything feel like it was shouting at you. SYNTAX ERROR!

Back to the game I brought… Swashbuckler. Swashbuckler is a relatively simple game to learn and play, although by “simple” I mean it takes using 8 different keys on the keyboard — three to move and five to control your sword. It’s less complicated than it sounds.

The Apple IIe I brought to the show is 42 years old and has not been treated particularly well. I store it out in my workshop on a shelf where it is subject to dirt, sawdust, and bugs.

Old computers were pretty resilient, but they are becoming more fragile as time goes on. Sometimes the failures are catastrophic and sometimes they are very minor. My Apple II experienced what would seem to be a very small failure — so small that I didn’t even notice it until I arrived in West Virginia.

My Caps Lock key quick working.

On my modern computer I couldn’t tell you the last time I intentionally used the Caps Lock key, but on the Apple IIe, at this particular moment, this presented a very unique and specific problem. Because the key failed in the “off” position, the computer was stick in lowercase mode… which wouldn’t be a problem unless you wanted people to play a game written in 1981 on a computer that did not recognize lowercase letters. To the Apple, “M” and “m” are two completely different characters and so by the game did not recognize any of the keys unless you also held down the shift key or the caps lock key which, in a game that already requires you to keep your fingers on 8 keys, is pretty difficult to do without a third hand.

Fortunately for me, my computer failed in the best place possible — a room full of super smart people who live to diagnose and repair old computers. As I stood there with a hopeless look on my face, multiple people descended on my computer. After talks of removing keys and soldering things, it was decided the simplest solution would be to tape the Caps Lock key down, locking the computer into uppercase mode.

The fix worked. People loved playing the game — both older guys like me who remembered the game and, surprising to me, younger kids who love learning about old computers. It was a super fun weekend and I was glad to have everything up and running. Now I am home and soon I will be firing up a soldering iron to keep this machine running a bit longer.