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Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

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Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#161

Post by jolt42 »

freediver wrote: post #103

I 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…

The reason I was breaking the curve in my Data Structures class was because I was thirsty for that knowledge from working in Basic on my C64. My parents paid the original $595 price and definitely the best decision they ever made for me.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#162

Post by TacticalCoder »

noir_lord wrote: post #28
TacticalCoder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 mi…

> 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.

That's the thing right? I love the missus (only met her at 38 y/o but it's been 15 years of love) and our daughter she's now 11 y/o. And it's perfect.

I just wish life would play in slow-mo. The same life, but in slow-mo.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#163

Post by GrinningFool »

freediver wrote: post #103

I 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…

The original reference and user guides were so welcoming that they literally shaped my future.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#164

Post by whobre »

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.

Hey, but we had a real cpu in the Speccy - not the joke that 6502 was!

Ah, who am I kidding? Of course c64 was better…

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#165

Post by leptons »

jimt1234 wrote: post #160
leptons wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 imme…

That's a pretty hilarious story of war dialing. I used to wardial every night too.

I had the FBI show up my house this one time... one of my warez/phreak acquaintances had started a world-wide conference call of phreaks originating from a PBX located somehow inside a very very top secret military facility. I just told them I didn't know anything about it, I didn't call anyone, I just picked up a phone and it was this chaotic party-line call, I just hung up after a while. I don't actually know who added me to that call, but I have my suspicions. My mom was really not happy about that.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#166

Post by flopsamjetsam »

My first computer was a Microbee, a Z80-based Australian computer made by Applied Technology. I loved that thing to death, and thank my Mum and Dad for buying it for me, and getting me started in a field that I loved.

My school had a VIC-20, later an Apple II, and an enterprising teacher brought in a Commodore PET.

Later on, my friends had ZX Spectrums, Amstrad CPCs (not sure of the model), and lots and lots of C64s. A few Tandy 1000s and Cocos. I was always envious of the great games that they had.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#167

Post by xp84 »

> Commodore expected both the VIC-20 and C-64 to have a shelf life of around 3 years. They were about right in the case of the VIC-20, but the C-64 kept selling about 700,000 units a year through the end of the decade and was still hanging on in 1993. It wasn’t selling well in 1993, mind you, and Commodore didn’t want to be making them by then. But there was still demand for them, and Commodore in 1993 wasn’t in a position to say no to a sale.

This reminds me of the Apple II family. It is well-known that even in 1984, Steve Jobs considered it irrelevant - despite the fact that it alone was providing the revenue that kept Apple solvent. The Lisa and the Mac had both landed with a thud in terms of adoption and sales, mainly due to being very, very expensive (and I'm sure in part because they only supported monochrome displays, until Mac II in 1987, which only got less affordable -- $10,000 in today's money). The Apple II series on the other hand, kept being sold -- schools and consumers couldn't get enough of them - demand that lasted until the last Platinum IIe (1993) and IIgs (1994) rolled off the assembly lines.

The Amiga seems to have been a similar story - Commodore trying to get people to adopt an unquestionably better PC well before the point in the cycle where it was as affordable as the previous PC they were selling.

It seems like there's a lesson here. Trying to drag the public to your "better" new product only works when (A) it solves a real problem for them, and (B) they can clearly see that it's worth the price you're asking.

In the late 80s and early 90s, a lot of people didn't see anything relevant to them that the Mac or Amiga (or the IBM PC) could do that a C64, Apple II, or Atari 8-bit computer couldn't do. Or at least, not nearly enough to spend 10 grand (in today's money). Eventually, relevant capabilities (I'd argue that multimedia CD-ROM software and then, the 'modern-day Internet' were those catalysts) and price both got things back into that sweet spot that "flagship" PCs had been divorced from since 1987.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#169

Post by mythrwy »

beachy wrote: post #156
codazoda wrote: post #122

Earlier 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 worked all summer and was able to buy a TRS 80. I could not afford the cassette storage so I'd just type my programs in line by line to run them each time. They were pretty simple.

A snake like line drawer that crashed when it hit the screen edge, stuff like that. I was 12 or 13 and didn't have any mentors but I did know some BASIC from a school program. Really loved that machine.

Re: Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

#170

Post by boltzmann-brain »

reaperducer wrote: post #55
boltzmann-brain wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my first internet was on a commodore, on a C128, with a modem hand cut from copper clad, plugged into the user port, and hooked up to pirate radio, that connected to another country. we got insane speeds! seconds per character!

a modem hand cut from copper clad, plugged into the user port, and hooked up to pirate radio, that connected to another country. Whenever I see people on HN talking about the insane levels of abstraction and indirection the tech industry has built for itself, I remember the crazy things we used to do with little more than bare wires and curiosity. People on HN complain that they can't get work done because their 48-i…

a character LCD was an upgrade. try tiny 14" b&w tv!
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