Commodore 64 Still Beloved After All These Years 463
techsoldaten writes "CNN is running a story about the Commodore 64 and how people are still devoted to it after all these years. "Like a first love or a first car, a first computer can hold a special place in people's hearts. For millions of kids who grew up in the 1980s, that first computer was the Commodore 64. Twenty-five years later, that first brush with computer addiction is as strong as ever.'"
Remix Scene (Score:3, Informative)
I tried to make one [suso.org] a few years back. Not quite good enough though.
I always wished that someone would do a good remake of the game Below the Root.
Still working? (Score:5, Informative)
I got through 2 C64s, and both of them were plagued with reliability problems - in terms of build quality, my Acorn Electron was far superior. I first had the traditional brown one, then the Amiga-style model they released when my first one broke. Both models had an annoying tendency to blow an internal fuse, and I remember it was a funny glass one I had trouble finding in shops, and both broke down beyond the scope of simple repairs after a couple of years. Don't even get me started on the power packs.
So if my experience is anything to go by, you'ld have to be a real enthusiast and pretty handy with a soldering gun to have one still working after all this time.
Re:Still working? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Still working? (Score:5, Informative)
Had to think of a way to keep the C64 running for a long session of Telengard (loaded from a cassette drive.)
C=64 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Nostalgia (Score:3, Informative)
Either that, or your Assembly programming on your trash80 sent you into a time loop you're just emerging from.
Re:C64 - 3rd PC - Most loved. (Score:3, Informative)
I fondly remember the moment when the datasette was finally replaced by a floppy disk drive (5 1/4"). That sucker was almost as expensive as a cheap laptop nowadays. Oh yeah, and we hole punched the disks at the edge, so that it could be used double sided. (For the youngsters: A 10 pack diskettes where around 40$).
Fairly recently I installed an emulator on my Nokia 9300 (which actually has the better screen resolution) and while it does bring some nostalgic feelings back it's not the same.
It probably had to be that fairly ugly box crammed in between a stack of books and an ashtray with the remainders of the spliffs.
Re:Looking back on those old systems (Score:3, Informative)
Nowadays, it's all about forcing the user to buy a better system or more drive space or more ram or a faster CPU. If programmer's actually USED the resources we have like we used to on those old systems, man our software today would kick ass.
As a side note, I remember very clearly having an app for the 64 that would make the 1541 disk drive play some kind of song on it. VERY bad for the drive, but funny as hell.
Re:C64 - 3rd PC - Most loved. (Score:5, Informative)
Also, the BBC Microcomputer. Twice as fast as the C64, and about the same price when it came out, and with a disc system that was actually worth a damn. The Beeb was fast, expandable (it could take sideways ROMs and RAMs), was easily upgradable to being networked (our school had a LAN in 1985 of BBC Microcomputers using Econet).
The nice thing about the 8 bit days were there were lots of different, interesting architectures. It wasn't just a homogenous, boring, Wintel hegemony. So even though us Sinclair fans think the C64 is rubbish, it's still good it existed!
Re:C=64 Music (Score:3, Informative)
Re:8 bit wars still going on, 25 years later. (Score:3, Informative)
Here's a screenshot: http://www.volny.cz/havlikjosef/galery/AppleIIFSII_1.PNG [volny.cz]
Pretty horrible, I agree. But the Apple's strengths were the option of an 80-column card and a decently fast disk drive. You could actually do work on them. Games and the SID is what really made the C64 shine.
Re:C=64 Music (Score:2, Informative)
Don't worry. There are plenty of people here on
Re:Still working? (Score:2, Informative)
Actually, it wasn't. The default and usual method for a C64 to save data to tape was to save it twice. Then on reading the data back, it read both copies and compared them for verification.
Turbo Tape simply forced the machine to write and use once copy.
Atari Vs. C=64... Yes, again! (Score:3, Informative)
Throughout the early 80's, the top selling computer game was Atari's Star Raiders - and for good reason. Unbelievable graphics for 1979, great gameplay and sound. In fact, I don't believe anything approaching the quality of that game appeared for years afterward (I'm thinking Wing Commander here). I remember that it was still on the top 10 games list well into 1984. Do you know of any other game that could claim almost FOUR years of shelf life and still be a top seller?
Take a look at the first four Lucasfilm games - in particular - Rescue on Fractalus and Ballblazer. What GAMES! Because of the different graphics modes you had the best gaming experience on the Ataris. But again, you could give me Impossible Mission or Blue Max on the C=64 with their impeccible sprite-based graphics and they were sharp as well.
It was harder to program that sort of thing on the Atari computers. You had to worry about different memory specs, a changing ROM (that really threw off compatibility and disgusted a number of developers), and numbers (Commodore's advertising back then was just amazing!) You also didn't have a lot of help from the hardware. If you wanted good sound generation, you'd have to dev that yourself as the hardware didn't support any sort of ADSR or multiple wave selection. If you wanted sprite-based stuff, again, you'd have to develop that from scratch. There were those who did a great job with it though. Examples that come to mind are, 'Alley Cat' and the 'Shamus' series by Synapse, and Bounty Bob Strikes Back by Big Five. Some of the best gaming ever on the Ataris, or anywhere for that matter!
Here it is, breaking it down:
Atari's Strengths:
- Multiple display types available on the same screen. You could mix different resolutions and color palettes on the same screen.
- Display lists could include 128 colors at once.
- Faster 6502 processor (1.83 MHz as opposed to the C='s 1.0)
- Disk drives that didn't make you hang your head in shame.
Commodore's Strengths:
- Sprites! With color even. Atari's limited player/missile gfx left much to be desired comparatively.
- Only three voice sound but GOOD sound, not just basic tone generation like on the Ataris.
- Memory - with 64K as a standard, programmers didn't have to futz with trying to cater to different computer specs.
- ROM that stayed the same, even through the C128 years. Compatibility was never an issue with the C=64 line. It was on the Atari.
In all, I'd have to say that both computers were very competitive on spec. But look at how OLD the Atari was before the C=64 came along! With very few changes, that computer system was still competitive until the ST/Amigas arrived. Atari got stomped on by C='s marketing, Jack Tramiel's price war, and the fact that even Atari was buying directly from MOS Technology for the ROM's and 6502. MOS Tech - you remember, right? That wholly owned subsidary of Commodore, International?