Commodore Lives!
The once-famous Commodore computer brand could be resurrected after being bought by a US-based digital music distributor. New owner Yeahronimo Media Ventures has not ruled out the possibility of a new breed of Commodore computers. It also plans to develop a "worldwide entertainment concept" with the brand, although details are not yet known.The Commodore 64 sold more than any other single computer system, even to this day. My continuing love affair with the C64 is notorious by now. There is one sitting in my bedroom right now, complete with dozens of games, waiting to be peeked and poked. I was just so geekily excited about this, I thought I'd share. And maybe bring this theme back:
Comments
I loved the Commodore 64. It was the first computer I owned in high school. Initially I didn't have a tape or floppy drive. So I would spend hours typing the source code for a Basic game into the 64K of RAM, then play it for days without shutting off the machine. When I was finally able to afford a floppy drive (I think the drive cost as much as the computer itself - about $250 if I remember correctly), the first game I bought was Zork. I spent hours exploring the GUE on my trusty C64.
I would love to get my hands on one now, if for no other reason than to show my daughter how good she has it today. "Well, when I was boy...."
Thanks for the memories! :)
Posted by: Robert | January 4, 2005 12:22 PM
I started with the Commodore CBM 2001 (A PET, but for business), a tape drive, some public domain programs, and a teach yourself BASIC training book. I convinced my parents to let me spend the money I had in my college fund to buy a 64, a 1541, a Vicmodem, and a Gemini 10x printer. I ran a few different BBS's in the mid 80's. I upgraded to a 128, 1571, and a 1670 modem in 85 or 86.
I broke out a 64 system and played Bard's Tale II with my daughter two years ago. She said she thought it was OK, but I think it was boring to her.
I use BASIC even today, except it is VB.NET. It is funny that after all these years, some of the Commodore BASIC 2.0 syntax still works :-)
If you want to show your commodore spirit, check out my t-shirt shop at: http://www.cafepress.com/commodorespirit.
Thanks for the Commodore entry Michele.
Posted by: John | January 4, 2005 12:55 PM
My jealousy knows no bounds. I was stuck with a TRS-80 back then.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | January 4, 2005 01:29 PM
The small rural school I went to (until 9th grade) got 3 Commodore 64's when I was in 8th grade & I fell in love. 10th grade Computer Literacy class was done on C64's, and we played a helluva lot of Frogger. One of my friends had one at home and I was so jealous. I begged my parents for one, but they wouldn't get me one.
Posted by: DragonLady | January 4, 2005 01:50 PM
I had a VIC 20. Argh, I hated that thing.
Why? Because my dad worked for IBM, and we had a PC when it first came out. He got me the VIC 20 (with tape drive... yargh!) to keep me off his computer. Needless to say, that didn't work.
I programmed a sum total of about 3 games on the VIC 20, because I kept tripping over the damned power cord and would have to retype everything. It was pointless putting stuff on the tape drive, because that took forever, and =that= kept getting interrupted, too. And I can't remember successfully loading very much from the drive, either.
Anyway. I wonder where that VIC 20 is now. I've found a lot of my Commodore programming books last week in my Ma's house.
Posted by: meep | January 4, 2005 02:16 PM
I had a Commodore 128. How awesome is that?! Well, not that awesome considering I pretty much had to boot up in C64 mode to play most games, but it had the sleek white look of a REAL computer.
Posted by: ken | January 4, 2005 02:48 PM
My first computer was a C64, ordered from the Montgomery Wards catalog. How's that for down-home memories? Total love affair.
I also modified my 1541 floppy drive so that I could set it to be device 8, 9, 10 or 11 by flipping switches on the front. Whee!
I loved Bard's Tale. And Hacker. And Impossible Mission.
As for the Commodore line coming back, that's been a teaser for ten years. Every couple of years, someone buys the rights to it and announces that the Amiga line will make a return. Never quite happens.
Posted by: Keith | January 4, 2005 04:59 PM
LOL I also had a Trash-80. But, a C64 with the "Bruce Lee" game... now, that was great ;)
Posted by: Lysander | January 4, 2005 05:48 PM
I started out on the Atari 400, then the Atari 600XL, then finally to the Commodore 64. I was still using it in 1991 to type up college papers on my "near letter quality" printer (which is similar to saying that Budweiser is "near real beer.")
Posted by: andy | January 4, 2005 08:45 PM
Ahh, the joys of old computing. 100-300 baud acoustic coupler modems, hand-coding software that we read out of the back of Boy's Life.
I was a Trash-80 kid until I used a friend's C64. I was hooked.
Kieth: Monkey Wards was my favorite store as a child. Better than the mega-Sears we had in my town. Wards always seemed to have more tech-geek-friendly stuff, like a broad line of air guns and computers within ten feet of each other!
Posted by: JimK | January 4, 2005 10:16 PM
i just moved mine. i bought it with my own money as soon as i got an apartment in college. yes, we ate noodles and stuff for a while, but i used it for my physics project, as a word processor for my papers, and i wrote a game on it like tennis, but with gravity, called comet using all the sprites. that computer was great. i have the disks, the disk drive, the computer and a 300baud modem. i bet i could blog with that...
Posted by: rammer | January 4, 2005 11:10 PM
ti-99/4a
/nuff said
Posted by: mr lawson | January 4, 2005 11:27 PM
Some family and friends owned (and let me borrow and play with) a Heathkit H-8, TRS-80, and TI-99, but the first computer I actually owned was a Mac Classic.
Y'all might like this site.
Posted by: JohnL | January 5, 2005 12:10 AM
I still have my old Vic-20 somewhere. I think there are still people actively using Amigas. Commodore was something like ten years ahead of Microsoft, which is an eternity in the IT world, and they still lost out. Amazing, but not in a good way...
Posted by: MikeR | January 5, 2005 12:38 AM
Commodores, the comp for those who could not afford an Apple II. I had an Apple and used to see my mate's TIs and Commodores...then feel sorry for them. (I learned to program on a Trash-80 before moving up to an Apple.)
Apple's were a great hacker machine as well.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge | January 5, 2005 08:06 AM
I started on the C-64 when I was in 5th grade or so (if memory serves correct, which it may not!) I still remember it fondly.
Commodore made great computers. At one time I had 2 Amiga 500s, an Amiga 200, and an Amiga 3000.
The Amiga OS was way ahead of Microsoft in terms of windowed stuff. And for a long time it was the standard for CG animation.
Posted by: Seth | January 6, 2005 01:11 AM
commodore 64 was my first computer. The games were more fun to play too. We had Pole Position, Mission Impossible, some moon walker game, and some game where you dodged spears and swung from the trees.
Posted by: shank | January 6, 2005 12:17 PM