What is your C64?
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
I started with an Atari 600XL, added the cassette tape drive. (!) Looking back, that was a nightmare device. I still have it, and it still works. I upgraded to an 800XL and added the 1050 floppy disk drive. Still have all of my Atari home computer hardware, and I've kept it up well, and it all still works. I even made the modifications to the 800XL to make it a quarter-meg of ram (for those who remember that) My first experience with assembly language was with these computers, and I even wrote a 'new' high level language and compiler for it. I call it ESE (taken from computer-ese). Started with a compiler in Atari Basic and then after getting the system to work, compiled ESE using itself! How's that for CASE?
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
No one has really answered your question "Was that really that good". The answer, without hesitation, is YES! It is hard to describe the joy of doing something which is utterly new and just "getting it". Stretching your mind to do something with such a tiny machine. With the first 8086 machines, getting into assembler and understanding what the computer was actually doing, and how it did it. That's why old codgers regard all this GUI stuff as just bloatware.
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
Bought a C64 for $395 in 1980. First used Basic for programming but got bored -- not really into playing computer games. Bought the C64 programmers guide and a book on microprocessors and learned all about machine/assembly language -- broke copy protection on a few games just for fun. In ~1987 bought an Amiga A2000... great machine at its time. Funny part is, my first degree was in Biology ('82), then went to grad school and did masters in computer sci. Enjoyed programming in '80, and still luv what I do!
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
I started with a Signetics 2650 writing my first code, not on a mini computer, in an early version of BASIC to create a tank game in monochrome on a 80x25 text screen directly addressing the the memory with "pokes" and "peeks". The character set had special characters including a tank facing in 8, year that's right, 8 different directions. Horizontal, vertical and diagonal. The microcomputer was home built on breadboard with the backplane wire-wrapped. What a nightmare!
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
1981 - My first was a VIC 20. 3K of RAM for code after booting. :zzz: Cassette tape drive (no floppies yet). Added a 170K single sided floppy drive and a 16K memory expansion. This started it all. Many hours with the manual figuring it out. I still have this and all the games. Then I graduated to a C64 - still have 3 of these. From there it was an X86, 286, 386, 486, etc. . . . and here I am 38 years later . . ready to retire in a couple of years after a nice career in IT and development.
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
My first machine was a TI-99/4 that I purchased in '78 for $1,200. I wanted to use it to play games, like those that I played on mainframes or at the arcade. Back then there were no games for the home computer market, so I had to write my own; I had never written a program before. I quickly learned to program in Basic. My first program was called TI-Invaders (a knock off of Space Invaders) and was published to 99'er Magazine's premiere issue. I ended up taking a job at 99'er magazine about a year later as the Sr. Technical Editor. I was responsible for all of the programs and their listings that were published. The magazine became a source for others who wanted to unlock the power of this new technology and eventually became Home Computer Magazine with over a quarter million subscribers. In '86 I co-founded Hyperlink Magazine, which focused on the Macintosh and a new programming tool called Hyper Card that used a new paradigm for application navigation by clicking on links where key words were linked to additional information. No one remembers Hyper card or Hyperlink Magazine, but the hyperlink lives on today.
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
The first computer I ever touched and "programmed" was a TRS-80, and I used it right in the Radio Shack store. The first real computer time I got was as a freshman in high school in 1981. They had five or six Commodore Pets; these were the generation with the full sized keyboard and the tape drive in a separate box. There were a couple of 8KB machines, a couple of 16K machines, and one "monster" with 32KB. They were in a room not much larger than an elongated walk-in closet. The print devices were converted teletype machines. Dad purchased a VIC-20 for us 3 kids (but it wound up being used mostly by me) at home; it must have been 1982. During the summer after my year in the 9th grade, my high school relocated from the city of Detroit to the suburbs. With the move came a new, greatly expanded computer lab. It still had the Commodore PETs, but it quickly started acquiring Commodore 64s. By this time I was starting to really ramp up my knowledge and understanding of programming, and it was pretty plain to see that the VIC-20s days were numbered. I did some odd jobs here and there and saved up the money to purchase a Commodore 64. The next two years multiplied my knowledge many times over; I got into assembly, Pascal, and decided to pursue a Computer Information Systems major when I graduated from high school. I went to my freshman year at college with a brand new Amiga 1000, and graduated after four years with my BA in CIS. It took awhile to get a job in the field, but I'm in year 28 or thereabouts of my software development career. So, I guess the machine that was "my C64" really was a C64. :)
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My Atari 800 came with 16K in 1980. 410 cassette recorder for a year or so until I saved up for an 810 disk drive. BASIC, Pascal, LISP and games. Eventually got 48K of memory. I still have that 800, but no peripherals. Now. I use SIO2USB to let my MacBook Pro serve as the disk drive and printer. I will admit, though, I primarily use the Altirra emulator when I want to play games these days. Emulation is just easier than hardware.
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No one has really answered your question "Was that really that good". The answer, without hesitation, is YES! It is hard to describe the joy of doing something which is utterly new and just "getting it". Stretching your mind to do something with such a tiny machine. With the first 8086 machines, getting into assembler and understanding what the computer was actually doing, and how it did it. That's why old codgers regard all this GUI stuff as just bloatware.
Yes, exactly! The fact that all you got when you switched on the C64 was a cursor prompt to start inputting commands strongly encouraged the hobbyist to learn how the computer worked! The manual would help get you started and their were excellent books on coding graphics and sound that really were aimed at kids and hobbyists. It was inspiring. This sparked all those magazines on coding aimed at the home user. It was empowering, it inspired a generation. Nowadays, the hobbyist has a much harder time getting a foot in the door. your average PC does not come equipped with a readily accessible programming interface, in that there is no mode an inexperienced user can simply switch to. Instead one has to get one's head around complicated development suites first and platforms with extensive class libraries. I think Python has tried to bring some of the gold old days back, but I don't feel as if it has succeeded in this.
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
My first computer was the VIC 20, then the C64 by which time I also coded on the BBC micros at school. The C64 (and VIC 20) was great because it's BASIC was limited (the same reason many hated it) and so it forced you to use machine code / assembly language to do the exciting stuff like animated sprites. I am glad I coded on it because it taught me a lot about low-level programming and how computers work. These days you can too easily avoid all that (I code mostly in Java these days, with a bit of C++/C#) but I still find it useful to have an insight into the inner workings, and besides it's interesting. Modern PCs are surprisingly (or not) similar in basic architecture. The BBC had better BASIC and I used it to write a database management program at school (just simple creation, search and editing features). I enjoyed using all three of these computers. In the end my C64 and VIC 20 failed in the way they usually did - the power supply adapter failed. I do occasionally dabble on a C64 emulator for nostalgic and academic reasons. I never did become a fully-fledged professional coder (I always found the industry a bit too scary!), though I do code a lot as part of my academic teaching role.
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My C64 was the PDP-11 RSTS/E opeating system made available to computing science students in the ACT (Australia) in the late 1970s. Wrote my first AI program on it in 1979/1980 (analysing syllogisms) and a real-time ADVENT type game which transported the interaction from caves and trolls to a galaxy far, far away with attacking robot spacecraft. My first ever personal computer was a Dick Smith System-80 (https://collection.maas.museum/object/456918), followed quickly by an AMIGA 1000 (still the best gaming/graphics/multi-tasking PC I've ever owned) and then sadly nothing but a series of IBM PC clones ever since. True story - one of my friends from university (with whom I had lunch just this week) was a co-founder of MicroForte which wrote the official America's Cup game for the C64 in the early 1980s.
i think you did catch some time of the hippie programmers, i was too young for that. when i finally got to university we had a i486 running on Linux serving the orange monochrome terminals. a little bit later i managed to buy an old Amiga 500 with two of my friends, but sadly at that time a 15 year period of stupidity begun in my life so i didn't really catch up with MC68K assembly. apart from the demo scene as an example of people working many hours for free, just for fun, the other example i can think of is that of the hippie university programmers and hackers. the pioneers of Unix and the world as we know today. well... maybe many see it as the world of Gates and Jobs, but just to think of how modest Dennis Ritchie was compared to this two guys...
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In the late 70s and early 80s (that is 1970s/1980s) there was a big rush in the home computer market, that concludes in our time with computers everywhere... I had some discussions about that time and was wondering... * Was that really that good? * What was so good (or bad) about it? * Do we have it somewhere today? * What is/was your C64? I wasn't aware of it then (no other experience), but what is most amazing while looking back is the total control, the work without any mediator between you and the computer, between the software and the hardware (which was of course a source some interesting smell/smoke/noise)... I could sit down after-school and within a few seconds was in the computer, hacking it away... What is your experience?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
Way back I had a TI 99-4A. Loved that little machine. Still have the BASIC programming guide as a keepsake. Also a TRS-80 Model 100 portable, which I guess was the first laptop computer. Worked on a gob of D batteries and had a big old 4 line / 40 column screen. It's in my closet and still works if I spend a fortune on batteries.
Sometimes the true reward for completing a task is not the money, but instead the satisfaction of a job well done. But it's usually the money.
