A eulogy for Commodore
Marc Fraioli
ago, so I guess this is in some small way partly my fault. Not that I
feel guilty really, but I thought I'd get that out in the open right from
the start.
The first computer I ever owned was a VIC-20. I was in 8th grade at the
time, and saved my money to buy it. Bought a B&W TV from a friend for $35
to use as a display. Eventually got a datasette, and finally a 1541. It's
amazing how excited I was about being able to store 170k on a floppy, and
how *fast* I thought that thing was. Bought a C= 801 printer too. I even
got Commodore's 16k RAM expansion, giving me 21k total. I was in heaven.
Imagine how I felt when I retired the VIC, and got a C64. Got a Seikosha
dot matrix printer, where the lower-case letters like 'g' and 'y' actually
dipped below the line they were on, instead of sticking up and looking ugly
like on that old 801. Finally, I even got the C128, with a 1571 disk drive
(double sided! wow!) and a genuine color monitor, with an 80-column text
display.
I learned a lot about how computers work from those old things. They
were hacker's machines-- you were encouraged to poke around (or should I
say POKE around?). The number 49152 is permanently etched in my brain,
even though I haven't used it in years now. How many people ever tried
to cram a simple 6502 assembly routine into the cassette buffer on a C64?
Ah, those were the days. Ok, so nostalgia isn't a big thing in the world
of computers, but the end of Commodore triggered something in me.
In 1991, I was tired of my 128. I was out of college, working for a living
with bigger, more powerful computers, and it felt too limiting. I looked
at the Amiga. Looked long and hard. Fantasized about the SVR4 Unix-based
Amiga. But in the end, it was just too expensive, compared to a generic
486 out of the back of Computer Shopper. Learned DOS (took about a week),
and Windows. Decided they sucked. Moved on to OS/2, Linux. I hadn't
thought much about Commodore in a while. And now they're gone. Am I just
being silly here? I don't know.
You know, I still have all those old machines, even the VIC...
---
Marc Fraioli | "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist- "
m...@clark.net | - Last words of Union General John Sedgwick,
| Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, U.S. Civil War
Joe Cassara
: I hadn't
: thought much about Commodore in a while. And now they're gone. Am I just
: being silly here? I don't know.
IMHO, you're not being silly. I think that Commodore users, no matter how
much they hated the company managment, are all a bit saddened by the fact that
the company who brought us marvels like the VIC-20 is gone. I was given my
first VIC-20 when I was the age of 5 years. It drove me crazy! I loved it
very much. To my surprise, the very next day my parents had bought thenselves
a Commodore 64! Figure that! Two computers in an average American household!
As the years went by and I increased my knowledge of BASIC, I would say that
I purchased a total of 4 more Commodore computers, 2 more C64s, a 128D, and
a +4. I grew up with them. There was nothing else. Every Saturday morning
when
the other kids were washing their brains watching cartoons on CBS, I would
be typing away. Imagine my excitement when presented with a modem! It was
a wonderful time. Next, of course, came the Amiga. Amiga 500....Amiga 2000...
Amiga 3000....Amiga 1200... Then BANG! The end of the line...C=, in a flash
of light on April 28, 1994 was no more. Gone, just like my home when Hurricane
Andrew hit South Florida (taking all my C= stuff with it!)
I am a very shy teenager who grew up with few friends. What did I care? I had
my Commodore computers! THEY were my friends. They didn't care about the way
you looked, they way you spoke, the way you did ANYTHING! Just press RETURN
after every line, that's all they wanted. In a way, I have lost a friend.
I cannot say that I didn't give birth to a small tear when I heard the news of
C='s liquidation.
What computer will I switch to now that Commodore has crumbled? None. C='s
death has helped me make a decision thats been troubling my since the age of
14: Should I leave computers? Then entire mish-mash of things has gotten too
big and boring for me. Windoze...#include.....interactive "multimedia"....
$ ls....alt.crap.cheese.worship.... It's all just too frustrating. So, thank
you BIG C=, for both your company though my childhood and my rebirth in the
teenage social world... Sure, Uncle Irv and Medhi are two of the world's
largest kneebiters, but C= STILL WAS a good company. Too bad the package bombs
I sent them didn't seem to work...:)
--
Joe Cassara | ATARI 2600: To be this good will take the ENIAC AGES!
jcas...@gate.net |
------------------- "The A1200 has sold thousands and thousands of units, and
that's all you need to know!" -Medhi Ali business etiquette
Marc Fraioli
>I purchased a total of 4 more Commodore computers, 2 more C64s, a 128D, and
>a +4. I grew up with them.
God, the +4! I had forgotten that one completely. Talk about your marketing
disasters. Oh well, as long as the people who bought them enjoyed them...
Des Courtney
[waiting for the crys and boos to die down]
You may be wondering what I am doing on a newgroup about a computer
I've never owned. Well, I'll tell you. . . an Amiga would have been
my first choice if I found a store that sold them.
I was alerted to C='s demise though a crossposting, and now I've spent
the last hour reading the denials, comforting, and "I told you so's"
that the event triggered. This posting was inspired by the
following. . .
In article <2q0tbr$d...@inca.gate.net>, jcas...@inca.gate.net (Joe Cassara)
wrote:
> I am a very shy teenager who grew up with few friends. What did I care? I had
> my Commodore computers! THEY were my friends. They didn't care about the way
> you looked, they way you spoke, the way you did ANYTHING! Just press RETURN
> after every line, that's all they wanted. In a way, I have lost a friend.
> I cannot say that I didn't give birth to a small tear when I heard the news of
> C='s liquidation.
>
> What computer will I switch to now that Commodore has crumbled? None. C='s
> death has helped me make a decision thats been troubling my since the age of
> 14: Should I leave computers? Then entire mish-mash of things has gotten too
> big and boring for me. Windoze...#include.....interactive "multimedia"....
> $ ls....alt.crap.cheese.worship.... It's all just too frustrating. So, thank
> you BIG C=, for both your company though my childhood and my rebirth in the
> teenage social world... Sure, Uncle Irv and Medhi are two of the world's
> largest kneebiters, but C= STILL WAS a good company. Too bad the package bombs
> I sent them didn't seem to work...:)
I was the same way, and I feel the same way.
My first computer was a "Trash"-80 Color Computer 2 or "CoCo" as they
were affectionely(sp?) called. It was was gift from my father, who
wanted to spend quality time with me. I knew then (1982) that I
wanted to make computers my vocation. Like Joe, that computer (and
the TI99/4a I got later) were my friends. During this time, I
regularly read about C-64's and Amiga's through magazines my
mother got for me (I even got to dabble with a '64 for a short
while.), so that is where my interest in Amigas came from. Over the
years, I've collected an Atari 2600 (it's two companies now), an
Intellivision (Mattel Electronics disappeared), and a SEGA Master
System (can you say GENESIS?). The Color Computer disappeared and
Texas Insturment's computer division got bought out. Obselesence(sp?)
hurts, and I can understand the pain you of the Amiga community are
going through.
But enough of my ranting, the real reason of this post is to ask if
being in computers is worth it anymore. If any of you have tried,
programming a Mac is difficult without $$$$$$ and years of time
to read up on 200 page manuals. I've used a scripting environment,
but it's painfully slow for making games. All my programming
experience is in older languages like BASIC and Pascal, and on
platform out of date or on non-PC operating systems (like VMS).
Most computer jobs now are in the big buisness "grey walled"
structure which I am aware most of you know and hate. There's very
little of the "fun" and independence in computing that many of
us were looking forward to when we started. It's depressing what
a decade can do to a field. Are me and Joe the only ones to
notice this?
I just had to get this off my chest; now to return you to your
regularly scheduled lives.
--
This message was written by the one and only DCO...@opie.bgsu.edu
This is a test .sig. If this had been an actual .sig, you would have
been bombarded by dozens of lines of ASCII graphics which would
shamelessly waste bandwidth and your time. (That's what the
text is for.)
hc...@tumbleweed.nrcabq.com
> But enough of my ranting, the real reason of this post is to ask if
> being in computers is worth it anymore. If any of you have tried,
> programming a Mac is difficult without $$$$$$ and years of time
> to read up on 200 page manuals.
>
Hey, it's the difference between a professional and a hobbyist. When
you dedicate yourself to software engineering as a profession, you take
the time to keep up with the new technology, and read those 200 page
manuals. Yes, this is a changing field - but *that* is what keeps it
exciting. I think it would have been quite boring indeed if all we had
were the TRS-80's and the Commodore 64's for the last decade. Don't get
me wrong - those machines had their place and they had their day. But
in this day and age, the technology marches relentlessly forward. And
it keeps the field fresh and exhilarating!
> Most computer jobs now are in the big buisness "grey walled"
> structure which I am aware most of you know and hate. There's very
> little of the "fun" and independence in computing that many of
> us were looking forward to when we started.
Perhaps so. But then there are still fresh opportunities in the custom
application development field. These are the places where a general purpose
application doesn't exist because there is not a large enough volume to
support it. And these are the places where a Lone Ranger can still ride
in, be very creative, and be in control from beginning to end. I *hate*
design-by-committee. A truly inspired application requires the vision of
some individual to maintain the integrity througout the design and coding
process. Otherwise, compromises are made that usually degrade the resulting
product.
Good luck in your quest to find your fun and independence - it can still
be found, but you have to look harder for it.
Howard
,,,
(o o)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOO~~(_)~~OOo~~~
Howard Cole |
Nichols Research Corp. | hc...@tumbleweed.nrcabq.com
2201 Buena Vista SE |
Suite 203 | "Leaders on the trailing
Albuquerque, NM 87106 | edge of technology"
Voice: (505) 843-7364 |
Fax: (505) 243-2653 |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
paul
I agree with all previous messages. It's a sad day in computing when one
of the most instrumental and influencial companies of our time has to close
its doors.
I started out in computers around 1980/81 using a friends computer which
was a locally made machines based on a Z80 cpu, 16k ram and a mono monitor.
I guess it was this that started me off into the world of computers and
electronics, and I had to have one of my own. I dont quite remember when but
my parents bought me a "Wizzard", which was another locally made machine,
however this one had 16 colours, 16K ram, 6502 cpu and great sound. I guess
I got it around late '82, because I remember going into K-Mart about 6 months
later and seeing it.. The machine, the computer that I wanted SOOOOOOO badly!
Never had anything else captured my imagination, never had I wanted anything
so bad, yes, I had seen the Commodore Business Machines model C64, on a 1701
colour monitor with its 1541 disk drive. I had to have one....
And, luckily for me in September 1983 I became the proud owner of one
Commodore 64 and 1531 data cassette. Soon after followed a SKAI 64 ( 1541
compatible ) disk drive and modem.
Like so many others have mentioned I too used my 64 at every available
moment. Instead of watching cartoons, playing in mud or mucking around
I was typing away in basic and 6510 m/l.
By 1986 I was heavily into the 64 BBS scene down here, as well as programming.
Quite a few of the local BBSs were running C-Net 64 V10 and V11, and after
seeing my modified V10 quite a few converted over. We had it fully customised
for Ausssie date formats and phone numbers, had many external games, adjustable
baud rates while online ( remember 450 baud ) and many other features.
Shortly before I left the CBM world I had my C64, 1541 disk drive, SKAI disk
drive, SFD 1001 and 2400 baud modem. Then, like most people I got sick and
tired of its limitations and started the Intel path.
So now I sit here, typing on a 486DX and wondering what went wrong?
What happened at Commodore? I guess they lost the "edge"
So now, in what I can only describe as as the computer version of a
mid life crisis I am sitting next to a C128 with 1571 and Commodore 1084S
monitor, an SX64, an Amiga 500 ( with all the usual bits ) and, after being
given to a few members of the family my faithful old original C64 ...
Ahhhh, bring back the good ol' days of the C64, programming and communcations.
Might just go and boot up C-Net 64, just for ol' times sake :)
Mike
Paul van der Heu
: being in computers is worth it anymore. If any of you have tried,
: programming a Mac is difficult without $$$$$$ and years of time
: to read up on 200 page manuals. I've used a scripting environment,
: but it's painfully slow for making games. All my programming
: experience is in older languages like BASIC and Pascal, and on
Well, I would say give an Amiga 1200 with BlitzBasic2 a try. you might
be surprised. MANY commercial applications and games are done in either
BlitzBasic or AMOS on the Amiga both games and 'serious'.. And believe
me most people don't know.
: Most computer jobs now are in the big buisness "grey walled"
: structure which I am aware most of you know and hate. There's very
I would say that might be the case for the Mac, but the best software for
the Amiga _STILL_ comes from peoples bedrooms where they sweat many hours
tweaking their creation..
: little of the "fun" and independence in computing that many of
: us were looking forward to when we started. It's depressing what
Without wanting to sound like 'get an Amiga' I say.. this is just what
many people see in the Amiga.. It's still a HOBBY computer used for fun.
It can however evolve and expand into an extremely capable professional
machine with the same feeling to it..
: a decade can do to a field. Are me and Joe the only ones to
: notice this?
Try it, just try the Amiga.. they can be had cheap (the A1200 _IS_ a great
machine to have fun with) and you don't have to spend $$$ on software (you
can be EXTREMELY productive with ONLY freeware/shareware software).
--
Paul 'Starchild' van der Heu, The MotherShip Connection
pv...@motship.hacktic.nl
Something is about to happen... Something wonderful
george page
systems echo's my sentiments as well. I started on a VIC20, went to a
128 within a month, and have bounced back and forth between a C64 and a
C128 ever since (about 7 years now). They have always been enjoyable for
me, and easy to work with. I got into 'em late in life-in my mid
'40's-but took to 'em pretty easily. I have learned a bit of UNIX now,
just to deal with Internet, and finally bought an Amiga a few weeks ago
just for a few utilities and graphics, and do have a Commodore 8088
PC in the attic. These I consider necessary utilities for some things,
but I still feel much more comfortable and happy with these little
8-bit machines, and don't ever plan to abandon them until they pry the
keyboard out of my cold, dead fingers!
(or until I absolutely, positively have to go to a bigger machine to
communicate with the outside world, etc.) And with some of the more
recent developments in C= 8bit accessories and technology, I don't see
that happening too soon. Heck, I'm running a "lowly" C= 128 with 16 megs
hanging out the back, another 2meg in the Ram expander, 14,400
connect/38,400 text xfer online, ED floppies, whatever size HD I want to
stick in this case... what's the rush? ;-)
--
George Page Commodore Enthusiast ("Collectors" get hit with higher prices)
Aurora (Denver) Colorado USA. gp...@nyx.cs.du.edu or gp...@nyx10.cs.du.edu
or aq...@Freenet.HSC.Colorado.EDU or George Page on FIDONet (1:104/518)
Bartosz Kijanka
Yes, you're not the only one. I myself, and several of my close friends
with whom I went through the computing 'golden years' with feel the same
way. (For the most part)
To me, the Amiga wasn't just a computer, it was an ideal. It was pure in
its conception and clean in its design. You were free to do whatever you
wanted. Programming, music,... graphics.... it was all fairly
effortless. There wasn't an ugly tens-of-megabytes big and slow OS
hogging the resources. The link between your creative mind and the final
product was more direct.
Now... what do we have? What are we left with?
-Operating systems that are slow and HUGE!
-CPU and RAM requirements that are going through the roof!!!
-The public is being attacked by all sorts of stupid buzzwords.
-Marketing: it's all turning into a dog eat dog market. Screw
integrity. Screw having a truly good product. Forget right or wrong.
Works or doesn't work. Cool or not... as long as it SELLS, they'll make it.
Programmers are getting sloppy, marketers are getting greedy, owners are
getting stupid. People are loosing foresight, creativity and are afraid
to dream and dare.
So... do YOU want to be a part of this?
Kristian P J Koivisto
Hell *NO*. If the Amiga dies, this here A500 will be the last computer I'll
ever own.
I don't know how the rest of you feel, but for me the 'computer' side of
computers has never been overly important. I couldn't care less if
the box had two or fifty megabytes of memory, whether or not it was running
at 7.09 or 66 MHz, or if it had so and so many colours per so and so many
pixels on screen simultaneously, what part of the computer the keyboard
was attached to, and so on. Fuck all that.
The more important thing is what's happening *around* the computer. What
computer is *alive*, and what people are doing to keep it *alive*.
The Commodore 64 was (and still is) alive. The Amiga is alive. Hundreds
and thousands of people all over the world are making it alive. Just listen
to all those MODS and look at those dazzling demos thousands of talented
people are making day in day out. Listen to dedicated Amiga users fighting
against massive world-wide ignorance to keep their computer afloat, in a
market where the only thing that seems to matter to people is whether or not a
computer has "Intel inside" it or not.
Ideology is right. If the amiga dies, the last island of true computers
will be gone, and I'll move on to some other scene with an ideology.
For living with a dead box is not my idea of fun.
--
+-------------------+-------------=> <=------------+----------------------+
+ Kristian Koivisto + email-> kr...@vipunen.hut.fi + Pessimism isn't the +
+ Kiviportintie 9 + + opposite of optimism,+
+ 00950 Helsinki +------------------------------+ they are both the +
+ Finland + Phone: +358-0-323 178 + opposite of realism. +
+-------------------+------------------------------+----------------------+
Alan Wen
>> To me, the Amiga wasn't just a computer, it was an ideal. It was pure in
>> its conception and clean in its design. You were free to do whatever you
>> wanted. Programming, music,... graphics.... it was all fairly
Oh gawd. More commodore advertising mind-melting-slogan
throwing-propagnada. Hi! I'm free to be creative and do happy thing!
>Hell *NO*. If the Amiga dies, this here A500 will be the last computer I'll
>ever own.
Good bye. In order for that statement to be true, you'll probably be
renting or leasing PC's in a few months. Do you fanatics actually believe
mentality like this will get you anywhere in this world?!? ..or get your
computer anywhere for that matter?
>I don't know how the rest of you feel, but for me the 'computer' side of
>computers has never been overly important. I couldn't care less if
<Stuff about memory, speed, performance, color depth, resol, etc. deleted>
You obviously don't care about these things.... you have an amiga to prove
it.
>The more important thing is what's happening *around* the computer. What
>computer is *alive*, and what people are doing to keep it *alive*.
You know... I here there's a 1-800 support numbers for freaks like
yourself. Give it a try. Looks like you've been seeing too many happy
fuzzy feel good movies lately...
>The Commodore 64 was (and still is) alive. The Amiga is alive. Hundreds
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I think you just ended your validity of your argument right here. thanks
for playing.
See guys? Here's another person that agrees with me. The amiga = c64.
>+ Kristian Koivisto + email-> kr...@vipunen.hut.fi + Pessimism isn't the +
Silly finnish people. Join the good side of the force.
alan
matt....@analog.com
>
>You may be wondering what I am doing on a newgroup about a computer
> I've never owned. Well, I'll tell you. . . an Amiga would have been
> my first choice if I found a store that sold them.
Likewise. The first Amiga that I was touched by was a 16MHz 3000,
but even though some may say that this was a machine in decline when it
was new, I am still stunned by the brilliance of its overall design.
Catch is, I had just bought a 386 a couple 'o months before. :-(
>> What computer will I switch to now that Commodore has crumbled? None. C='s
>> death has helped me make a decision thats been troubling my since the age of
>> 14: Should I leave computers? Then entire mish-mash of things has gotten to
>> big and boring for me. Windoze...#include.....interactive "multimedia"....
>> $ ls....alt.crap.cheese.worship.... It's all just too frustrating. So, than
>> you BIG C=, for both your company though my childhood and my rebirth in the
>> teenage social world... Sure, Uncle Irv and Medhi are two of the world's
>> largest kneebiters, but C= STILL WAS a good company. Too bad the package
>> bombs I sent them didn't seem to work...:)
Amen. Blindfolded chimps at the wheel, yes, but still a good company.
As for me, my Timex Sinclair (followed by the TI99/4a) was the dream come
true. Oh yeah, too bad about the bombs. :-)
>But enough of my ranting, the real reason of this post is to ask if
> being in computers is worth it anymore. If any of you have tried,
> programming a Mac is difficult without $$$$$$ and years of time
> to read up on 200 page manuals. I've used a scripting environment,
> but it's painfully slow for making games. All my programming
> experience is in older languages like BASIC and Pascal, and on
> platform out of date or on non-PC operating systems (like VMS).
> Most computer jobs now are in the big buisness "grey walled"
> structure which I am aware most of you know and hate. There's very
> little of the "fun" and independence in computing that many of
> us were looking forward to when we started. It's depressing what
> a decade can do to a field. Are me and Joe the only ones to
> notice this?
Thankfully, no, but unfortunately I get the feeling that the ranks are
diminishing. The cynics in the audience have undoubtedly looked ahead
to my .signature... lay off for a sec, I'm a co-op student trying to
make a buck while realizing that I don't want to do this forever.
However, the "mainstreaming" of computers has definitely transformed the
priorities of the industry... no longer are they selling "computers" per
se, but *appliances* that only happen to have monitors, keyboards, and
rodents plugged into them. They're just fixed-function boxes that happen
to be mildly expandable! Des, you'll probably hate me for saying this, but
*Apple* is the original criminal here... the Mac 128 was the first
personal computer sold that came with *no* development software; the
Pascal compiler was deemed to be too complex for the masses and was
relegated (by economics) to the computing "elite". Microshaft followed
suit with OS/2 (which was their baby, till they threw it out w. the
bath water) and most notoriously with Windoze. Damn, there is *no*
rational reason that an operating shell-API that was a poorly designed
and buggy as Windoze should have gained the market clout that it did...
(don't you even THINK about saying "it wasn't buggy...")
Sigh. Most people buying a machine these days don't even really understand
that it can be programmed... all they care about is if MS Word runs on it.
Or Excel. Or all of those other goddamn programs like that. All sheep fodder.
Microsoft and Apple are the vandals that have stolen our *own* computers
from our very hands, replacing them with a soulless chunk of silicon. Bastards.
I'd like to believe that there is a computing future worth looking forward
to, but I'm not entirely certain there is one. I currently use only my
Psion S3a (a *fine* machine, IMHO) and my Linux box. My only qualm is
that both machines are using Intel processors, but fortunately neither
is inherently tied to the architecture. (Hopefully Linux is ported to
the PowerPC before I'm forced to buy a Pentium... nah, should be ported to
the Amiga before that happens ;-)
>I just had to get this off my chest; now to return you to your
> regularly scheduled lives.
Ditto. In fact, I think a lot of people still have to get it off of their
chests. I just wish all of the brilliant programmers at Microshaft would
stop stuffing money in their pockets for a second to really look at
what they're helping perpetuate. Even Apple could help, but I don't
think it'll happen anytime soon. (hint: it's impossible to write a program
for a Newton w/o a $800 dev kit, + royalties to Apple. Fuck off, buy Psions.)
Perhaps the gospel of Stallman has been the light all along...
-Matt
--
. . . . . , , , , , , , , , , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Matt Kangas `,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,"(Thus we join television in leading people
matt....@analog.com `,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,` to kill thoughtlessly.)" -RMS
DSP Tools Group, Analog Devices Inc `,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`[Emacs, you know...]
Frank Rizzo
>
> However, the "mainstreaming" of computers has definitely transformed the
> priorities of the industry... no longer are they selling "computers" per
> se, but *appliances* that only happen to have monitors, keyboards, and
> rodents plugged into them. They're just fixed-function boxes that happen
> to be mildly expandable! Des, you'll probably hate me for saying this, but
> *Apple* is the original criminal here... the Mac 128 was the first
> personal computer sold that came with *no* development software;
Sadly this often happens in life. The world of Automobiles comes to mind.
Older cars were fun to drive and work on but once the automakers started
comming out with little crap cars and machines that had no personalities
like the IBM XT. Sure there are exciting cars out there but like Apple they
are priced out of reach for most of us, and who wants to work on a Lotus?
. Great cars for the masses, like computers just aren't being made anymore.
Craig K.W.M. Wyllie
Time to reminisce eh?
Well let's see, where did it all begin for me?... I remember
playing the original "Pong" with a friend late at night when I was in
elementary school, must have been back around 1980/82, grade 4 or so. Saw my
first computer in the local library, an Atari 600 or something. It did not
catch my attention, I played around with "Turtle" on it, but it seemed largely
useless.
My brother and I got an Intellivision for Christmas along with Triple
Action back when Intellivisions cost $400 each (Canadian, ~300 US?). As far
as I was concerned, Intellivision easily beat atari's on game quality. My
first real peek at a Commodore machine was in grade 7, with the junior high
Pet computers. Many many noon hours were spent in the darkened lab playing
games with a couple friends. I soon learned of the C64 and was awed by its
relative power. Imagine, 64,000 bytes and 16 colors. The thought of being
able to draw and do things with a light pen fueled my imagination, and one
of my fondest memories of the old computer lab is sitting in the dark playing
Fort Apocalipse.
Finally a Christmas came and a C64 with it. My first computer program
was lost for eternity when saved to an unformatted disk,... a manual, why would
I bother with that? It took an hour before I figured out what all that was
about. (I was pretty impatient back then.) I quickly filled a disk with
scrolling pictures straight from consecutive print statements and a couple
goto's and gosubs. Luckily my mom bought a few more advanced manuals, and
gladly the first basic manual I ever read was the best one I have ever come
across. Easy to read and understand. A book on advanced basic with sprites
and sound came next, then a couple books on graphics. I still remember
sitting in the corner of our basement rumpus room patiently waiting, watching
the basic program fill in the screen pixel by painful pixel. Boy oh boy was
it ever nice to discover how to save it directly to disk, so a load would only
take 32 seconds or so ever after.
Finally a book on machine language that included tons of the internal
64 code locations/etc. Multicolor sprites were just incredible, how neat!
One of my proudest accomplishments was a UFO with blinking lights, linked with
some ML code so that it could be flown around the screen, so smooth, crisp, and
quick! Managed to link three sprites together to make a picture of the
Enterprise and fly it around the screen too.
However it seems that I am an A+ student with the get up and go
of a C- student. I plan and start a lot of things, but never really finish
them off. Sadly this included a lot of things on the 64. I only wrote two
simple games. Both in basic, one you fly your ship at higher and higher speeds
down an asteroid belt. The other a somewhat placid game where you are a sheep
and you go out and eat all the grass in as little time as possible, with
a configurable ammount of grass and all. I still remember pondering how I was
supposed to tell whether the sheep had found some grass. Hey I was in grade 8
and had only read a little of the manuals so far. I put my hand to my forehead
and said "Oh of course" when my friend had the brainstorm "Hey let's use a
peek right to the screen memory!"
Sadly my very first disk of programs that I ever wrote in the week
following that Christmas was destroyed a couple years later. My friend and I
were up late listening to some music exploring a computerized dungeon when
I sat it atop the ghetto speaker.
My friend and I were inspired by some of the awesome text adventures
we had played. I still remember sitting up all nite in his basement in front
of his Vic-20, exploring a series of rooms. I cannot recall exactly what type
of text adventure it was, only that it was totally enthralling, and we never
figured it out. Of course we immediately began planning our own, but it never
got farther than the design stages. I still have some of our original planning
docs/scribblings.
I still have the printer my Mom got for me back around Grade 10, an
NX-1000. I used it along with Pocket Writer to write my Chemistry and Biology
papers in both Grade 11 and 12. Pocket Writer took up 40k or so, there was
only enough room for 8 pages, and each paper was at least 40 pages, so each
paper was at least 5 linked files. Even today pocket writer compares
favourably to all the word processors I have seen with respect to ease of use
and completeness. It counted words, checked spelling, gave you WYSIWYG with
80 columns, gave you menu acess to ALL of its functions, headers, footers,
file linking, fonts, underlining, bold, characters per inch, lines per inch,
everything. Some of the things it did are very hard to find on some word
processors, or non existant. It had a thin little manual that was easy to use
and refernce. I used it all through my first and second year of University for
papers (1989-1991). It's output looked as good as any other. (laser excepted)
One of the best things to do with a 64 is to play F15 eagle while you
are half drunk. My god is that fun. Druids was one of the better games I
came across, and Battletech kept me busy for many many nights.
I am from a small small town, and until I got a 1200 baud modem for
Christmas in 1990, had never been on a bbs. I quickly got addicted to the
bbs games, especially Trade Wars. Unfortunately the software that was
included with my modem had a tendency to drop carrier rather violently,
knocking down my favorite game board with it. This did not curry favour,
and soon I was not welcome there anymore. Not so bad though, my marks picked
up after that :) A new drive was needed in 1990, the old 1541 was giving way
and repairs in a one commodore shop town was pretty expensive. A used 1541-II
was $200. My roomate in first year U. had an 8088 with no hard drive. He
had a nice collection of games, and half the floor could be found in our room
looking over his shoulder as he fought four mechs in MechWarrior.
Luckily a friend of mine had me over to see his Amiga 500 one night.
I walked away with my jaw on the ground. Imagine, 4000 colors, incredible
sound, incredible games, etc etc. I had to have one. True to my form I
managed to put it off until 91/92. They were less impressive, but cheaper.
I had grand plans of things to do on it, but never did get around to any of
them. I played a lot of games. Still had my 64 in my small Res room to go
bbsing. Finally in fourth year (92/93) the old 64 was relegated to stay at
home when I went off to school. I picked up a vcr and with my C=1084s monitor
had a TV too.
I hardly spent any time on my Amiga in third and fourth year however,
simply because I had discovered the internet. During the summers I spent all
day at the physics accelerator working on computers, then a couple hours on a
MUD or Usenet. By the time I had gotten home I had no urge to sit in front
of another computer screen. However upon graduation from University I decided
I definitely needed an upgrade. I have been a faithful subscriber
of AmigaWorld and was so so happy when the AGA series came out. It meant that
Amiga's were not doomed to a short death as it seemed. However I did not
really need any more colors or sound or such. I am not a hard core Amiga
owner, I only wanted a bit faster computer with a nice Hard Drive to make
things easier. GVP A530's were cheap, so I got one. I should have gotten one
years earlier. You cannot appreciate an Amiga without a Hard Drive. A 2400
baud modem was upgraded to a 14.4 just last month, $150 used. I have no idea
what the next computer I buy will be. It would be nice if it was a 100Mhz
68060 based A4000, but I have a feeling that that will never come about, and
being a physicist I think I will need a good bit of CPU power. My present
accelerated machine will fill my home needs for a long long time to come.
I never did see any advertising by Commodore outside of a few select
Magazines, especially for the Amiga, definitely true for any main-stream media
outlets. I guess word of mouth is just not good enough for a mass market
product, no matter how good it is.
If I ever get a chunk of extra money I will have to find a Vic20 and
all the old 64/20/pet software I can find. It will be like restoring an old
vintage car. I will always remember my Commodore days fondly.
You know, I never did buy a light pen....
Craig Wyllie
wyl...@physun.physics.mcmaster.ca
--
It seems to me that this world is nothing more than someone's revenge. We
are led into the light and shown such marvels as one cannot tell.. and then..
they turn out all the lights and hit you with a baseball bat.
-Timothy Findley 'Famous Last Words'
matt....@analog.com
Obviously you don't drive a Volkswagen. (*grin*) Followups to rec.autos.vw,
please.
Michael Lowe
I started off on the ubiquous VIC-20 in '84, like many others..
I remember NOT having a data cassette yet alone a disk drive.. And the 1st
game I ever played was that silly 'fire a missle and the block' or the back
cover (back pages?) of the manual!!. Every time I wanted to play it, I had
to type the darn thing in :)
Got a datasette, then the C-64 -> 1541 -> dolphin dos (the 25x speed enhancer
for the 1541, wot a brilliant piece of work!!) -> Action Reply III
Pesonally, I thought Isepic was a briiliant combo of work, with its in built
ram and overall abilities!
A500 -> A2000+GVP controller+HD... Thats were I had SO many hassles, I died
out of the commodore scene :( Darn thing kept crashing, and purchased 2nd
hand so I couldnt claim any warranty.. Then the dark side.. 386/40..
If Uni demands and speed of IBM improvement (moot pt) and stagnancy(sic) of the
Amiga line VS price, I would still be with it now..
Commodore IMHO had a lot of the cards in the mid/late 80s but was steadily
losing it... Shame shame shame.. Was the management THAT bad, or was the IBM
jugonaut that big.. *sigh* Life goes on, but it will not be the same without
the fun hacking days of peeks and pokes (Poke 808,234 is etched in my brain)
I commodore DOES survive in some form. I think a lot of people owe their
computer start to them, but maybe I am being sentimental.
Cheers to all the true beleivers! (I suppose I am not)
Michael
PSST: 68000 programming kicks serious butt over the INTEL range.. Yucko.
SEGMENTS! *puke*