Geeking Out (Updated)
My birthday present arrived.
I am the happiest person alive right now.
Yes, that is sad in its own way. But I don't care.
Update: The only thing missing was a proper switch to be able to hook it up to a modern television set. I asked my Fark compatriots for some help and they came through. Just as I was set to run off to Radio Shack, a wonderful reader emailed to say he had an original 1702 monitor available. Sold! Now I'll have the real deal.
I am just itching to play Castle Wolfenstein. And Ghost and Goblins. And Forbidden Forest. And....you may never hear from me again. Can't wait to see how my kids react to ancient technology. You have to poke to change the colors, DJ! Heh.
I am the happiest person alive right now.
Yes, that is sad in its own way. But I don't care.
Update: The only thing missing was a proper switch to be able to hook it up to a modern television set. I asked my Fark compatriots for some help and they came through. Just as I was set to run off to Radio Shack, a wonderful reader emailed to say he had an original 1702 monitor available. Sold! Now I'll have the real deal.
I am just itching to play Castle Wolfenstein. And Ghost and Goblins. And Forbidden Forest. And....you may never hear from me again. Can't wait to see how my kids react to ancient technology. You have to poke to change the colors, DJ! Heh.
Comments
I think the timing of this arrival is awfully convenient, no?
Posted by: David C | August 11, 2004 03:52 PM
Wow. I am honestly jealous.
'Course a guy downstairs from me at work has a C=64 set up in a lab so I can always go "peek" and "poke" all I want, but it's hard to goof off at work.
Posted by: Sharp as a Marble | August 11, 2004 04:02 PM
Oh wow, seeing that brings back memories.
Just be careful about static electricity with that thing. I don't know how many times I blew out Joystick Port 2 (the one all the games used!) with a static shock while reaching for the power switch.
Damn, now I'm going to have to eBay myself a C=64...
Posted by: Jay Reding | August 11, 2004 04:07 PM
In the original box! So freaking cool!
Posted by: george | August 11, 2004 04:39 PM
Jealousy... taking... over...
You just buried the needle on my Cool-O-Meter, Michele.
Posted by: Keiran Halcyon | August 11, 2004 04:44 PM
OMG!!! My favorite computer of all-time, probably. I have a VIC-20 box in my living room right now, with datasette.
Posted by: Chuck Olsen | August 11, 2004 04:57 PM
I Don't see the 1702 Color Monitor? Oh, it is in my closet!
Posted by: Mark | August 11, 2004 05:05 PM
Green with envy. I remember my Vic-20 with fondness, with it's 16K memory expansion module and (gasp!) Floppy Disk Drive! I can't believe I sold that thing...
Posted by: John | August 11, 2004 05:43 PM
Geek.........
Posted by: Headzero | August 11, 2004 06:00 PM
man, seeing that 1541 floppy drive brings back memories!
Posted by: ac | August 11, 2004 06:32 PM
poke
Posted by: Solonor | August 11, 2004 07:06 PM
The saddest day of my life was when I threw away my old Atari 800. It had a whopping 48k and I had both the tape and disk drives. Yeah, that's right. I had both.
Pitfall Harry, anyone?
Posted by: twoghosts | August 11, 2004 07:10 PM
Is today your b-day? Mine is tomorrow.
Anyway, have a great b-day, Michele. And don't play that game too much or you'll go blind ;-)
Posted by: Ratan | August 11, 2004 07:14 PM
Any book out there on when Michele comes up for air?She gone.......
Posted by: mbruce | August 11, 2004 07:50 PM
Vas is dos? Schweinhund!
(Castle Wolfenstein rocked!)
Posted by: Brainster | August 11, 2004 08:18 PM
I loved SuperBoulderDash and SuperBoulderDash II when I was a kid. Me and my friends would spend hours playing those games.
Ah, memories...
Posted by: Mark | August 11, 2004 08:43 PM
I miss hearing "MEDIC!" from Beachead II...those were good days...
Posted by: Steve of Norway | August 11, 2004 09:29 PM
Hey, I even remember how to do a warm restart on a Commodore-64:
SYS 64738 [RETURN]
Um, I think.
By the way, who wrote the operating systems for the C-64 and C-128? In the Commodore mags, I read on more than one occasion that it was Microsoft, under contract.
If anybody has a Commmodore 128, try this one:
SYS 32600, 123, 45, 6
---Tom Nally, New Orleans
Posted by: Tom Nally | August 11, 2004 09:47 PM
Hmm. After checking around a little bit, this is what you have to enter on the C-128:
SYS 32800, 123, 45, 6
---Tom Nally, New Orleans
Posted by: Tom Nally | August 11, 2004 10:13 PM
I still use my 1702 monitor to this day as a TV, using the VCR as a tuner. Best picture I've ever seen.
Posted by: DougInAZ | August 11, 2004 10:20 PM
I think my parents are still storing my two Amiga 500s and my Amiga 3000 in thier attic, and there might just be a C-64 kicking around the basement.
Commodore made damn fine computers in thier day.
Posted by: Pale Infidel | August 11, 2004 11:20 PM
Don't forget, you've got to get a special adaper cable to print to an 'ordinary' printer. I blew my C=64 up by trying to get it to interface to stuff it wasn't designed to interface with (I'm an electronics tech). Oh, yeah - using the cassette buffer for code (assuming you had a floppy drive [Single-Side, Single Density, a whopping 180K!]). Y'know, I actually kinda miss the thing, now :-)
Posted by: DMerriman | August 11, 2004 11:46 PM
Looks like you'll be needing plenty of help with downloads and info for your Commodore 64. Check out:
http://www.gb64.com/
Posted by: ScottC | August 12, 2004 12:38 AM
I had a C64, back in the day. Followed by a Tandy 1000TX, a 286, a 486, a Pentium I, a Pentium II laptop, and my current Pentium III desktop. While the games I played on the C64 (like "Lords of Conquest" and "Earl Weaver Baseball") were fun, they were nowhere near as cool as the stuff I can play now with stereo sound and 3D graphics. It's cool to be all nostalgic, but given a choice between riding on a horse-drawn wagon or driving a car with air-conditioning that can get me where I'm going in minutes instead of hours, what do you think I'll choose? Same with current technology and paleotech like the C64.
Posted by: BarCodeKing | August 12, 2004 04:48 AM
What, nobody had an ADAM as well? That was the pre C-64 computer for me...if you could call it that.
Posted by: Steve of Norway | August 12, 2004 07:12 AM
Microsoft did write the BASIC for the C64. Well, actually, it's based on the version they wrote for the old PET machine, mainly because Commodore wasn't inclined to pay for a new implementation if they could help it.
Be sure you PEEK before you POKE.
Posted by: CGHill | August 12, 2004 08:27 AM
I still have my 1701 monitor that I bought in '83. I don't have the rest of the C64 system anymore, it fried about 10 years ago. It isn't that hard to make a display cable. The pinout should be in the manual and should be easy to find online. The plug itself is a 5 pin DIN connector, which is (or used to be) common for CB radio microphones. Until recently the 1701 is what I used for watching VCR and DVD player.
Posted by: Victor Krueger | August 12, 2004 12:33 PM
I miss hearing "MEDIC!" from Beachead II...those were good days...
Ah, I had almost forgotten that game. I also loved when you'd accidentally hit one of the characters in one of the levels and he'd go "HEY! DON'T SHOOT ME!"
Amazing what one did with 64K of memory back in those days...
Posted by: Jay Reding | August 12, 2004 01:00 PM
Oh, to be able to play Red Storm Rising, or Raid Over Moscow just one more time...
Posted by: Stephen Green | August 12, 2004 05:43 PM
Michelle, can I PEEK at your POKE?
lol
Posted by: cheshirecat | August 12, 2004 10:39 PM
Ah Yes, The joy of flipping over 5 1/4" floppies all night. What a major UPGRADE it was over the Atari 7800. It finally yielded to my amazing MHz 512K Ram Amiga 500, which I paid an extra $150 to double my Ram to 1Mb.
Aint it funny how much more entertaining it was playing turned based Empire in 4 colors, than Doom 3 was last night.
Posted by: Redneck Texan | August 13, 2004 12:35 AM
Wizball: the greatest computer game ever made.
Anyone who disagrees with me deserves to die
Posted by: Tex | August 14, 2004 10:39 AM