Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

dfarq.homeip.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 186 posts

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#21

Post by TacticalCoder »

christkv wrote: post #4
georgemcbay wrote: post #3

Blog poster's early computing history is remarkably similar to mine in terms of years/ages. Got a C64 (with a 1541 disk drive) around late 1983 (when I was 10). Hooked up to a 13 inch CRT TV at first. Got into games, computer magazines, magazine game listings (like the ones from old Compute!'s Gazette), taught myself MS BASIC and 6502/6510 assembly language, got into cracking games, got a 300 baud 1650 modem, got int…

Disk drive luxury, all I had was the tape deck. On the upside I got a lot of reading done while waiting for game to load.

> Disk drive luxury, all I had was the tape deck.

A friend's father had an incredible stereo-stack, full Nakamishi stuff. We tried hard to copy C64 tapes of commercial games using his stereo gear but got nowhere: I was maybe 12 years old or so.

Eventually noticed (through a window) the neighbors also had a C64, but with a floppy disk drive: so my mom pushed us to dare go ring the bell next door and present ourselves and ask for help. They showed next day at our place with... Their 1541 floppy disk drive and 200 floppies. They explained my mom it'd be much easier if she were to buy me a floppy disk drive...

We're still friends to this day and exchange Telegram messages on a near daily basis.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#22

Post by asdefghyk »

I never had a Commododore , but I had several other computers starting from around 1979. From that era , from arount 1975 forward there where often SEVERAL NEW different computers released each year. That include SBC Single board computer that was sold as the board , often without a power eupply or case and S100 systems and DIY hobbyiest build systems I still have most of books and magazines from that era, most of my computers , got lost, I still have a few.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#23

Post by MobileVet »

weinzierl wrote: post #20
MobileVet wrote: post #12

LOAD *.*,8,1

POKE 53280, 0 POKE 53281, 0 POKE 1,0

Isn’t wild how our mind remembers these things? It has probably been 2+ decades since that command was in the front of my dome and yet, when I wanted it, it was there instantly

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#24

Post by radicalbyte »

I'm loving my C64U.

The original C64 got me into tech. The most accessible way to get into assembly / machine code. Those of the engineers who skipped that (including most in their mid-40s like me) just don't have that level of understanding of computers. It's a shame. I think that everyone should start on machines like this. Or even a level lower.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#25

Post by Towaway69 »

xvxvx wrote: post #17
noir_lord wrote: post #13

Grew up in that era, I always wanted a C64 (I had a Spectrum and as much as we'd argue about the relative merits on the playground, deep down us Speccy users knew the C64 was better). I still occasionally consider buying one but then I remember it'll just sit on a shelf collecting dust, better someone who actually uses it gets one.

My experience was the same. Loved my Spectrum 128 but friends had the Commodore and its graphics were superior. Very expensive though. The magic in the air in those days will never be replicated.

> The magic in the air in those days will never be replicated.

You say it “magic”, it wasn’t “better” or “different” or “worse”, it was a kind of magic that happens when tech is new and folks experiment.

I’m sure many will look back in 40 years and say the same about AI - we’re living through the magical age of AI.

Just as we did when we got our C64’s back in the day ;)

EDIT:

Perhaps I should clarify what I meant. There are folks having their C64 moment with AI today. These folks are getting into computers via AI just as the grey beards amongst us did with the C64.

I don’t think we should be begrudging them for their starting point. After all, those that started with punch cards don’t generally go around laughing at the C64 kids!

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#26

Post by mgkimsal »

Marcuss2 wrote: post #9

When it released, it cost $595 (back then, not in today's money), considering the price dropped to just $229 the following year, that was not a good buy when it came out.

It was a good buy for folks who got in early to build software/games for it. Friend of family was building games in 1982/1983 and had some early clones of games out (pacman, centipede, frogger clones, etc) and... while there were a lot of early publishers, it was fairly cheap to do in the early days, and they made more than enough to justify the $595 price (multiple units, IIRC).

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#27

Post by mgkimsal »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #18
noir_lord wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not unusual in that era though, home computers were evolving ridiculously fast. There was only 5 years between the C64 and the Amiga 500 which launched for $699 (adjusted for inflation, using https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ $595 comes out to $700), it was a wild time to be into computers, I didn't start til 1987 (I was 7) and the pace of progress was crazy to grow up through.

It's even a bit crazier than that: the Commodore Amiga 1000 came out in 1985, a bit less than three years after the C64, in july 1985. A friend of mine, whose father was an art teacher, had an Amiga 1000 at home. Mind blown (I'm super lucky for later on another friend had an early SGI Indy at home for his stepfather was president of SGI Benelux). So I got to see and salivate on those mythic machines early on. Of cour…

> But reading that headline is bittersweet: I was nine in 1982, I'm now 53. Where have all those years gone? Don't get me wrong, I had a great life (so far) and I'd replay it just the same but... It's still bittersweet to think about my mates and I learning to code on those 8-bit machines. And the games. So many games...

Yep. 10 here. A lot of the same feelings.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#28

Post by noir_lord »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #18
noir_lord wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not unusual in that era though, home computers were evolving ridiculously fast. There was only 5 years between the C64 and the Amiga 500 which launched for $699 (adjusted for inflation, using https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ $595 comes out to $700), it was a wild time to be into computers, I didn't start til 1987 (I was 7) and the pace of progress was crazy to grow up through.

It's even a bit crazier than that: the Commodore Amiga 1000 came out in 1985, a bit less than three years after the C64, in july 1985. A friend of mine, whose father was an art teacher, had an Amiga 1000 at home. Mind blown (I'm super lucky for later on another friend had an early SGI Indy at home for his stepfather was president of SGI Benelux). So I got to see and salivate on those mythic machines early on. Of cour…

> I'm now 53. Where have all those years gone?

Feel that way every time I see a YT video on a "retro" computer I would have been able to play while having a beer legally (18 in the UK so 1998), it's then a shock to realise that was nearly 30 years ago.

> Don't get me wrong, I had a great life (so far) and I'd replay it just the same.

So would I and I didn't have a great life but if I alter the past I don't meet my missus/have my family so as much as it did suck, I'm happy now and don't want to change anything.

> And the games. So many games...

Still a gamer, there are three constants in my life, programming, reading and video games (roughly in that order).

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#30

Post by mkovach »

Ahh, the Commodore 64. I never had one. I had a TI-99/4A with a Forth cartridge, while my friends had VIC-20s and C64s. Such an odd and wonderful time to be into computers.

I managed to put together a decent Space Invaders clone in Forth that beat their Commodore BASIC version. I considered this an important victory and still have bragging rights when I see one of them.

Eventually my parents realized that, despite the disk drives and accessories we'd accumulated, the TI probably wasn't the horse to keep betting on. One trip to Radio Shack later, I had a decked-out original Tandy 1000.

I kept both machines until my last move, when a neighbor's kid spotted them and wanted to play with them.

That seemed right. Time to put them back in young hands and let someone else figure out what the hell they could make them do.

Post reply on HN