Way back in 1985, I started working from home, using one of the original Apple Macintosh 128K computers. I’ve got a much faster computer and modem now, but was happy with that early computer equipment.
Working From Home
My first home “office” was a small table in the family room, where I could keep an eye on our two children. It was a small house, so I had a view of the entire downstairs, and the back yard too!
Somehow, despite the Mom duties, I managed to get client projects done, using MacWrite, MacDraw, and Multiplan.
Eventually I upgraded to Microsoft Word, FileMaker and Microsoft Excel (my favourite).
And instead of working at a small table, I set up an office space in our basement, with a real desk! We made a smart choice with that white panelling, so the basement didn’t feel like a cold, dark dungeon.
In the photo below, you can see my basement office, and the Mac, which had been upgraded to 512K, and had an external hard drive.
There’s also a glass of wine on the desk, so I guess it was cocktail hour, and I was still working! And don’t you love my big 80s hair, and giant eyeglasses?
Going Online
We got an Apple Modem 1200 with our Mac, but I didn’t use that for client work. No, I picked up their work, and took it home. Later, I printed things out, and drove to my clients’ offices.
In the early 1990s, we got online, using CompuServe, I think. We also used a Bulletin Board system, based in Toronto, and later used Netscape to explore the World Wide Web.
In the early days though, husband used the modem to connect to servers at his office, and that tied up our phone line for hours!
My memory is hazy on those early internet days, but there’s lots of information online, like this Internet in Canada article in The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Apple Modem 1200 Details
In the next photo, you can see the bottom of the modem, with all the manufacturing details, but no date that I can see.
And here’s a page from the user guide that came with our modem. According to the diagram, we could connect to another Macintosh, or a mainframe computer, or “another personal computer”.
There’s no mention of what type of computer that might be. 
Anyway, it was exciting to have that Macintosh back in the 80s, and it let me start working from home.
However, I’m glad we’ve got faster computers now, and faster (and quieter) modems!
Your Early Home Computer Days
Do you have memories from long-ago home computing? Let me know!
- What equipment did you use for your early days of home computing?
- Do you remember what programs you used back then?
- Did you have one of those noisy modems too?
- If you did, what did you connect to with that modem?
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