Guest guest Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 MikeH wrote: George Simmons wrote: The C64 was a breakthrough gaming machine back in the day - made the Atari look primitive. It was on the C64 that I reached the pinnacle of my Basic programming career by coaxing it to continuously scroll "Rick eats doggie-do" in honor of my video game buddy one day when he was coming over to do some gaming. Amazing what you could do with a whopping 64K of RAM...Did you know that Lunar Module on the first moon landing was powered by a 64k computer? Probably why they had soooo many alarms going off during their landing.MikeAs the story (and I'm sure, somewhat urban legend) goes, they had nothing more complex than a TTL NAND gate in any of their subsystems..not even any CMOS...or more complex gates...But still, i think George's doggy do banner ranks right up there with landing on the moon...:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Commodore Vic20 with a cassette drive, wasn't like all you rich folks and your C64's!! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyfunk Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 My first computer was the Altair 8800 followed by the Imsai 8080. I wish I had all that money back. I wonder if Jeff is releated to the builder of the Imsai 8080.I owned several VIC-20s, C64s and a couple of C128s. Never owned a PET though. Always thought I wanted one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Saul Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 caniac wrote: Commodore Vic20 with a cassette drive, wasn't like all you rich folks and your C64's!! lolI don't know if you can get it with a cassette drive, but here is your Vic20 http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_VICPro.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texascop Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I went through all those, Altair, Vic20, C-64, TI-99 4a. I even had the expansion box for the TI. Looked like a freight train lined up across my desk. Then I got an Apple IIe with 80 character display. Then a friend of mine came over with his Osborne luggable. Looked like an occilliscope with a keyboard. My cell phone has more processing power than all those put together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstorms Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I think that if my Commodore 64 were running my Christmas lights that I would seriously hit my "chi", maybe even achieve a new level of enlightenment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Amedee Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I started with this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Ron Amedee wrote: I started with thisKayPro "luggable"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Amedee Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Yea..It was my laptop,..29 lb's 13 kilograms...64 kilobites of Ram and Two 5 1/4double density floppy disk $1,795.00 in 1981 !!!! I used it when i repaired Pinball and Arcade Games for 7 Eleven !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Ron Amedee wrote: Yea..It was my laptop,..29 lb's 13 kilograms...64 kilobites of Ram and Two 5 1/4double density floppy disk $1,795.00 in 1981 !!!! I used it when i repaired Pinball and Arcade Games for 7 Eleven !!!I sold those for a while along with Apple II's IIe's IIc's and the early Macs. Also the first IBM PC, AT, and PS/2. Back in those days you could make a lot of money. Close to half of that price was profit and in those days they were so hard to come by people didn't haggle. Now PC manufacturer's are luck to make $50 a unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Amedee Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 The Bad part is for $400 I bought a Dual core1.86 GHZ with 3 Gig of Ram and HD with LED/LCD 17"screen a month ago !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstorms Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 In this picture I have my:* Commodore 64* 1541 5.25" Floppy Disk Drivers X 2* 2 joysticks & 1 trackball* 1702 Monitor (great quality monitor)* Daisy wheel printerThe big blue thing was used to store computer punch cards. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Saul Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 caniac wrote: Now PC manufacturer's are luck to make $50 a unit.$50 is a stretch if you are trying to actually compete with Dell, and put in legal software. Plus then the person buying the computer assumes that since you built it you are there for free tech support for life.in the late 80s-mid 90's I built computers out of my garage, like you said you could turn a decent profit, but once Dell and Gateway came onto the scene with 486s in catalogs, I closed up shop and started selling support instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Saul Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 John - Great photo!!!Ron - another great photo, was that you?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Amedee Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Na...Wikopedia file... I was straight out the Navy..Worked on the Blackbox on the F14 Tomcat. Then my new bother in law hired me to work on arcade Games with him..Big change to say the least !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 First three computer systems were:Sinclair ZX81, with RAM expansionC64, eventually with two floppy drivesIBM XT clone, purchased with 640K upgrade, & 2 FDD, but upgraded to a HDD smaller than my iPhone flash memory a few months later. My parents really did not understand the need for a HDD at first. I think it was a couple of years before they added a HDD to theirs.At some point in all of that, the Timex Sinclair zx81 was being closed out for $20, so I picked up a couple more.. I'm not sure I ever did anything with them though.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Wow, this thread brought back some old forgotten memories. I was in my mid teens when we had a c64. I don't remember what games my brother and I played though. I didn't care to sit in front of the computer trying to figure out how to program, thought it was pointless and a waste of time. Now I sit in front of my computer sequencing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyfunk Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 My favorite game on the C64 was Mule. I loved that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Saul Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 This thread made me do a quick google search.Turns out someone has put a bunch of C64 games in java.Hope everyone enjoys the distraction and memorieshttp://c64s.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 and to think if we did what we are doing now with a handful of controllers and a laptop back then it would have required something similar to that years version of a Cray and several millions of dollars for just 64 channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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