Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder what today’s youngster hackers will reminisce over in 44 years.
That they still had some sort of control
ouch
Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
151–160 of 186 posts
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#152Greetings, fellow old people.
Sup
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#153Greetings, fellow old people.
Funny enough, I'm only in my early 30s and grew up with the Commodore 64. It was the basement computer that I could do whatever I wanted to, whereas the Windows computer (initially 3.1 and got upgraded all the way to 98) computer upstairs had to be shared and had more supervision. So I enjoyed writing a lot of code and trying things. I managed to have quite a collection of software and accessories just by asking arou…
That's amazing. I often thought that if I had kids, this is how I'd introduce computers to them. Give them a great C64 setup, the whole manual and when they can do something impressive, then they get a more powerful computer - an Amiga, lol.
Did you ever get into the "demo scene"?
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#154Earlier 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 was an incredible time to live through as a young kid. There was a Cambrian explosion of computer designs - new systems coming out every month, each outdoing the previous ones. I remember rushing to the store each month to buy and devour the latest computer magazines. Felt like a time of endless possibilities. Only downside was I couldn't afford any of it except for a ZX81 (which was great in its own way).
My grandfather worked for Sperry and we had circuit boards from Univacs in our basement when I was young. Then I bought an Atari 400 and B&W TV for the display when I was 11. Looking back it was pretty neat getting to see what came before, down in my basement. I don't think I ever had a tape drive for the Atari. I met some kids that had C64s (and modems) and that lured me over to the C64. The documentation for the C64 was so much better than anything I had for the Atari. I had BASIC for the Atari, but that was it. The C64 manual I had included assembly language programming, and the full schematics for the computer, so I was really able to learn everything about the system and explore all of it. It was so much fun.
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#155Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#156I owe my entire identity to this little machine. First laid my eyes on it in 1983, then unexpectedly got it from my uncle in 1984. It immediately opened my eyes to this new world of computer technology and sucked me right in. Between games and writing first code in Basic, something magical was happening. Over the years it defined how I think, and ultimately who I am. Thank you C64 and thanks to everyone who worked on…
My identity is tied to it's competitor, the TRS-80 CoCo, released in 1980. I didn't own it until a few years later. My friends had the Commodore 64 and I was jealous. Your art reminded me that some of my earliest code produced animated flying rockets: * * * * * * * * U * * S * * A * * * * * * * * ** * ** ********* * *** *** * *
The Trash 80 was the first computer I could afford. A great little machine and Z80 assembly has a certain simple elegance.
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#157I got bit by the bug in a Commodore Vic-20 with a whopping 5K of RAM. I was 14, and a younger friend's parents had bought him this computer. My family had not the money for such "luxuries" back then. My friend knew not what to do with it - he was too young. We were not as precocious back then. ;)
He asked me to help, so I dove into the owner's manual and jumped to the games you could type in - and subsequently lose when powered off - the cassette recorder came later.
I've been doing the same thing for 46 years now. Creating, marveling, and sometimes wanting to defenestrate the machines. :)
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
My identity is tied to it's competitor, the TRS-80 CoCo, released in 1980. I didn't own it until a few years later. My friends had the Commodore 64 and I was jealous. Your art reminded me that some of my earliest code produced animated flying rockets: * * * * * * * * U * * S * * A * * * * * * * * ** * ** ********* * *** *** * *
The Trash 80 was the first computer I could afford. A great little machine and Z80 assembly has a certain simple elegance.
I never tried ASM on it. Interestingly, the TRS-80 CoCo did not have a Z80, it had a 6809E @ 0.895 / 1.79 MHz. Mine had been upgraded to 64KB of RAM.
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
This thread prompted me to go and find out what my first computer was -- I have vague memories of it. Turns out, it was a Sega SC-3000H, back before Sega decided it was a console company. Also, interestingly, it was really only popular in NZ/Aus (I grew up in NZ). I have very clear memories of spending hours copying BASIC code of games, line-by-line from the monthly Sega magazine into the BASIC editor, playing it for…
Yep, it was a "pre-MSX" like a couple of other machines like the Spectravideo SV-328... My first computer was a Casio PB100 (with the 1.5KB extension, so much memory! :D ), then the Sony HB75 (an MSX).
Hello fellow MSXian! I got started with Spectravideo SV-728 (and all those fantastic Konami games that it had)
Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, thank you C64 and all the brilliant people that made it happen. I also want to thank my mother for giving me a C64 for Christmas in 1983. My single mother worked 2 jobs most of my childhood (corporate gig by day, waitress in the evening); our family always struggled with money. I have no idea how she paid for the C64, plus the 1541 disk drive and 300-baud modem. I also didn't know the C64 would be so pivotal in…
I have a similar story. Single mom, early/mid 1980s C64. I recently found the framed receipt for this purchase. My mom still had it and framed it when she found it years ago, as it became clear that purchase led to my prosperity (until recently) as a software engineer. I found it in a box out in my garage, where it now sits next to my C64 (the original case, but not original motherboard). The whole purchase - C64 + 1…
I never ran up a phone bill, but I did get the cops sent to my house.
I was into war dialing with my C64. Every night I would input the parameters, start the war dialer, go to sleep, then wake up the next morning hoping I got something. Well, one night, about an hour-or-so after I started the war dialer, there was a loud knock on the front door. I looked out the window and saw a cop car. I knew what was going on immediately. I somehow fucked up inputing the dialing prefix to the war dialer, setting it to’ 911’. Then I let the dialer do its thing; it called 911 around 1000 times. The cops were NOT happy. They were basically yelling at my mom. I tried to explain what was going on, but people didn’t know about computers or modems back then. The cops thought I was calling 911 and hanging up, over and over, like a prank.
One thing I remember is my Mom really wasn’t all that mad at me. She wasn’t happy, for sure, but I got the sense that she recognized that there was a lot worse trouble I could be getting myself into. I’m 100% certain that she would’ve been more upset if I ran up a $300 phone bill.