My brown C64 with a 300baud Hess modem and Indus drive - that first $600 phone bill was all worth it. Bless you Jack for your vision and tenacity!
Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
71–80 of 91 posts
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#72Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Europe the difference was staggering - in many countries Apple was pretty much a total unknown until the Mac. I don't remember ever seeing an Apple computer in any of my local computer stores in Norway, for example, while VIC 20 and C-64, and even some PET's were all over the place. I started with a VIC 20, then got a C-64. Pretty much all my friends had C-64's at some point or other in the '83-'88 time frame. Nob…
here in ireland most schools and libraries has an apple ii. but they were expensive fragile things that nobody understood or touched. when the c64 came out our school got 6 linked to one floppy drive. we went nuts over them. but when it came to a my first computer i went with a zx spectrum as most of my friends had one as it was slightly cheaper. in my class of 24 or so. 3-4 spectrums, 1-2 c64s and 1 amstrad (poor so…
Outside of the UK and Ireland I think the Spectrum gets most love for being to a large extent responsible for the hard push Commodore made for low price. Tramiel wanted a ZX-81 killer early on, so we got the VIC 20, etc...
Sinclair Research were really impressive in managing to get something out that cheaply, and outside of the UK I don't think they get enough credit for the impact they had on the computing industry through the competitive pressure they created.
The interesting thing is Commodore made or almost made almost all the mistakes Sinclair made with the Spectrum models. Often more than once - they only got away with it because they were totally schizophrenic and had multiple competing teams and were so chaotic that eventually winning solutions came out of it.
E.g. the crappy keyboards on the early ZX / Spectrum machines, which was a big part of making them perform so poorly outside of the UK and Ireland. Commodore did that with the first PET, then again with one of their later home machines, as cost cutting measures - they didn't learn the first time. But they often confined their worst mistakes to a single market, and so quicker saw the cost of their mistakes and fixed them.
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Europe the difference was staggering - in many countries Apple was pretty much a total unknown until the Mac. I don't remember ever seeing an Apple computer in any of my local computer stores in Norway, for example, while VIC 20 and C-64, and even some PET's were all over the place. I started with a VIC 20, then got a C-64. Pretty much all my friends had C-64's at some point or other in the '83-'88 time frame. Nob…
The C=64 began at US$595 -- which was still a bargain for that time -- and you had to go to a computer store to buy one. in NYC, those were generally snooty places that catered to Suits. So the price drop to US$199 within a short time was an even bigger shock.
It was a big shock to Commodore too, apparently.
According to "Commodore - A company on the edge" it was a snap decision by Tramiel to get back at Texas Instrument (who nearly caused Commodore to go bankrupt during the "calculator wars") while they had the chance, because he realized TI was essentially bleeding money on their computers to build a software market - at one point TI was losing $100m a quarter on the home computer business .
So he slashed the price of their hardware and cut the price of all Commodore's software titled in half, preventing TI from raising their hardware prices again, and cutting off their air-supply by making it near impossible for them to make back their losses through software sales.
While Commodore could afford it, thanks to ownership of MOS etc. that pushed their manufacturing cost extremely low and meant they'd still make a profit on every machine sold, they shafted their retailers massively by not giving them any time to shift existing stock before announcing the price drop, and it ended up costing them a lot and apparently infuriating Irving Gould and contributing to Tramiel getting ousted (the other big factor was his ongoing attempts to get his sons into high level positions at Commodore).
But it made TI announce plans to exit the home computer business pretty much immediately...
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#75Jack did some amazing things while owner of Atari Corporation too (his son, Sam, was CEO). They helped bring the Lynx to market, developed by Epyx, which was "miles" ahead of other consoles at the time. It had amazing sound, color graphics, and 3D graphics, on a portable in 1989!
With regards to PCs / desktop computers he had a similar influence.
Still remember when we got our first ST520 to try out that was seemingly rushed from their labs (still had hand-soldered cables on the board) - this small machine was revolutionary for that time when we were making the screens of IBM PCs the price of a car glow green in the night. It had most of the things you could wish for, but at a fraction of the price.
What followed where long development nights / weekends first with Basic then digging deep into Motorola's 68000 assembler and C. Not to forget endless hours of playing Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (yes that was a text adventure).
With his C64 and the ST520 Jack has strongly contributed to spreading knowledge on computing and providing many a possibility and access to learn, practice and excel in this field of technology. All major computer companies that directly or indirectly are drawing talent and profiting from this till today should thank him greatly.
(For those who have never touched any of those machines - most likely those who you learned from or who thought you courses at University have and learned / discovered many things they are now able to pass on.)
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was raised on the ]█ (later the ]▒) prompt, but I agree with you. We lost a lot when computers started greeting people with OS prompts and mouse pointers.
I agree, but people commonly argue that there is so much more available today. However, the one thing we lost is the focus to turn the machine into something more.
I think the kinds of media being produced shifted. Machines like the Apple II or the VIC-20 were machines to produce computer programs (and to play games). Then computers became machines to produce spreadsheets, reports and memos, then machines to share photos and comments. It was an unavoidable transition, as those who are interested in producing programs are no longer the majority of computer users.
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#77A9 52 20 D2 FF A9 49 20 D2 FF A9 50 20 D2 FF
For the curious, it's:
LDA #$52 JSR $FFD2 LDA #$49 JSR $FFD2 LDA #$50 JSR $FFD2
It outputs "RIP" on a Commodore 64.
To my eternal shame, I had to look up the kernel vector at $FFD2. (it outputs a character to the current device, usually the screen, on the C64). At least I can redeem myself partially by having remembered the opcodes...
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
A.k.a. the "Jackintosh". :)
Which came about also after Jay Miner took the Amiga away. I believe Tramiel acquired Atari hoping to get the Amiga chipset, which Miner then took to Commodore.
In the end, I liked the STs better. The Amigas were, of course, more capable and more in line with Commodore and 8-bit Atari tradition, but the minimalism of the ST is refreshing to the point of reminding me of the simple elegance of the Apple II.
Even a plan-B can become a masterpiece.
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
here in ireland most schools and libraries has an apple ii. but they were expensive fragile things that nobody understood or touched. when the c64 came out our school got 6 linked to one floppy drive. we went nuts over them. but when it came to a my first computer i went with a zx spectrum as most of my friends had one as it was slightly cheaper. in my class of 24 or so. 3-4 spectrums, 1-2 c64s and 1 amstrad (poor so…
Outside of the UK and Ireland I think the Spectrum gets most love for being to a large extent responsible for the hard push Commodore made for low price. Tramiel wanted a ZX-81 killer early on, so we got the VIC 20, etc... Sinclair Research were really impressive in managing to get something out that cheaply, and outside of the UK I don't think they get enough credit for the impact they had on the computing industry…
The first PET was much earlier than the ZX-80 and 81. And a bad keyboard was the only way a ZX-80 could be affordable.
Re: Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
#80Jack did some amazing things while owner of Atari Corporation too (his son, Sam, was CEO). They helped bring the Lynx to market, developed by Epyx, which was "miles" ahead of other consoles at the time. It had amazing sound, color graphics, and 3D graphics, on a portable in 1989!
Wasn't the Atari ST during his tenure as well? That was an excellent little machine that doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
Must check the state of Oids simulators. I always was envious of my friend with his Atari ST, because Oids looked so cool...