Long ago, in a kingdom not too far from here, I was known as Uncle DOS (rhymes with toss).

I wrote and published a newsletter about the Apple II, the pre-Macintosh computer designed by Steve Wozniak and introduced to the world by Steve Jobs.

The newsletter, Open Apple (later renamed A2-Central to avoid a fight with Apple's lawyers), ended up to be the longest-lived Apple II publication.

I bought my first Apple II in 1980. I paid extra to get a 300 baud modem and the full complement of memory (48K).

The Internet wasn't publicly available in those days, so the modem's ability to connect my Apple II to other computers was embryonic. But, though a long series of loops and tight spaces, it led to Uncle DOS leading a large group of volunteers who managed the Apple II Roundtables on GEnie, General Electric's pre-Internet online service.

Many of my friends from those days are still active online, but of course now it's all moved to the Internet. Here are links to a few of the people who were active in the Apple II Roundtables on GEnie (if I've missed you, let me know and I'll add you to the list):

• Chet Day
• Dean Esmay
• Jay Jennings
• Randy Brandt

As for me, I'm still trying to find the pot at the end of the computing rainbow. These days I'm deep into building web sites about topics I'm interested in using WordPress, WackoWiki, MySQL, PHP, CSS, HTML and XHTML. This blog is my attempt to keep track of it all.