

The Commodore 64 (C64) is 30 years old today - petercooper
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19055707

======
randomdrake
I've got the logo for the Commodore 64 tattooed on my left shoulder. It began
my love of computers at a young age that has been with me for my entire life.
I turn 30 in 2 weeks. I feel glad and honored to share a birthday so close to
something that has affected my life so much. It's fun to know we grew up
together.

I'd like to share a story with Hacker News about something so dear to my
heart.

When I was just shy of 3 years old, my father brought home some greyish-brown
television-looking thing. He had purchased it from a co-worker of his, along
with a bunch of games on floppy disks and cartridges, a joystick, and a
KoalaPad. He turned on the computer, some sounds happened, and a blue screen
eventually appeared with a flashing prompt and the word "Ready."

He fussed through some manuals and papers to find the boot sequence necessary
to start something called Jumpman. I watched, in fascination, as he was able
to manipulate these things on the screen. Various beeps and boops emitted from
the machine and a little stick figure climbed ladders and dodged various
objects. He quickly died in the game.

He started to show me other stuff this thing was capable of. KoalaPainter was
absolutely wonderful. I could draw and manipulate shapes on the screen as much
as I wanted; as if I was using a piece of paper.

He couldn't get me away from the thing. Eventually, bedtime came around, and I
cried as I was torn away from something that I was completely enamored with.

Around 2 or 3 in the morning, my father awoke, hearing weird noises coming
from the basement. He groggily stumbled down the stairs and into the room to
find his 3 year old son, covered with a blinking glow, sitting at the
keyboard. After watching him perform the boot sequence only a couple of times,
I had it memorized, had gotten up from my bed, and was sitting there playing
games.

Silent Service. Kickman. Heist. These kicked off a long and wonderful
obsession with technology, computers and video gaming. They defined who I
would be as a child; a self-professed and proud nerd and geek. Dungeons and
Dragons, Magic the Gathering; the whole nine yards. 286, 386, 486. Oak
Technologies. Math co-processors. Sound Blaster. Voodoo. Serial cable LAN
parties playing Doom. Betrayal at Krondor. Ultima VI. BBS. MUD. The first time
I saw a GIF. Links. The Nintendo Entertainment System.

So many absolutely wonderful memories that I wouldn't trade for anything. The
Commodore 64 was absolutely integral in defining who I have been and who I
continue to be. Without it: I have no idea where I'd be in this world.

I'm a software developer now. I've been programming since I was in grade
school. I picked up a software application development degree just because I
thought it may be handy someday. I grabbed a theatre degree, because it was my
other passion I discovered at a relatively young age.

Computers have always been in my life, through thick and thin. They always do
exactly what you tell them to do. Nothing more, nothing less. Humble machines
that push electrons around to provide entertainment, fascination,
communication and now, connection.

Thanks Commodore. I owe you one. Happy birthday.

 _EDIT_ \- reproduced on my blog here:

[http://randomdrake.com/2012/08/01/celebrating-30-years-on-
th...](http://randomdrake.com/2012/08/01/celebrating-30-years-on-this-world-
alongside-the-commodore-64/)

~~~
nollidge
I'm about the same age with nearly the same experience, although I don't
remember exactly when the Commodore showed up in the house, it was just always
there.

Hours and hours of Jumpman, Ghostbusters, Castles of Dr. Creep, Bruce Lee,
Space Taxi, Save New York, Kids On Keys, Asteroid, Impossible Mission,
5-A-Side Soccer.

That tattoo's a great idea...

------
orangethirty
Wow, great memories.

I got my C64 on 1984. A few (boring games) and all of the English manuals. A
problem because I did not speak much English, nor did I know how to properly
read ( I was 5 ). But my oldest brother would write down the typical Basic
program: 10 PRINT "HELLO" 20 GOTO 10

After about two years of playing around with it, learning how to read a bit
more, and watching a ton of TV in English, I was able to start writing down my
own little short programs. Then I discovered that I could load and save stuff
to a floppy disk. Then after some time, I kept learning and reading some of
the manuals (what I understood), and wrote programs that were up to 50 LOC
long. Which for a kid who is 7-8 years old is pretty good. Then the damn thing
broke, and I was without a computer for about six long years. A 133mhz speed
demon that my brother bought to connect to the internet. I did not know what
email was, much less the internet. But I sat down with Win 95 and started
poking around. I haven't stopped ever since.

I constantly find myself searching ebay for old C64s and 6502 chips. Never
have bought anything, but one day I will.

------
yason
It might be difficult for non-programmers to realize but the first computer
that touches you really defines who you are as a programmer. Without you
realizing it at the time, it sets up so many paths in the life of a programmer
that the single machine becomes like a cornerstone of whatever you do later.
And you always go back to your first computer.

Other people might have partially similar experiences with their first car or
guitar. Possibly. I wouldn't know.

While I might have had an innate interest in programming, it was C64 that
verified it for real. Without C64 I would have turned out to be a very
different programmer or worse, I wouldn't have started programming at all. I
owe so much to that machine--and all that in terms of what most people can't
understand.

What a funny world.

~~~
crag
"Without you realizing it at the time, it sets up so many paths in the life of
a programmer that the single machine becomes like a cornerstone of whatever
you do later. And you always go back to your first computer."

My first computer was a Heathkit, my grandfather brought me. We built it
together. I wish I still had it. I miss that machine. Worthless today, except
in a collection. And to me.

But my second was a Commodore VIC20. Another machine with a solid place in my
heart. Also wish I still had it.

After the VIC its IMB clones, MSDOS, DRDOS, Windows - blah blah blah until the
later 90's when I brought my first Mac.

Of course now, it's hard to romanticize a any computer. Since they so common
place.

------
s_henry_paulson
Like others I grew up on that machine. Downloading thousands of games from
BBSes, learning to program, trying to figure out what a hex editor does.

.. and now I've just spent far too much time looking through old issues of
commodore magazine.

[http://www.scribd.com/doc/54503219/Commodore-
Microcomputer-I...](http://www.scribd.com/doc/54503219/Commodore-
Microcomputer-Issue-37-1985-Sep-Oct)

~~~
vidarh
Here's far more magazines to look at: <http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/>

And books.

~~~
stuff4ben
Wow, thank-you for that! I found a scanned in copy of RUN Special Edition 1989
with the purple color and all. Many great memories just came flooding back. I
remember my copy had just about fallen apart but I kept it until just a few
years ago when my parents house caught fire. That issue was very special to
me.

------
ekianjo
A good reminder that personal computers existed before Apple made their own
(and the C64 was a way more popular machine than the expensive, elitist Apple
II). :) (because I have seen the comment in last week that "Apple invented
personal computers" I almost choked on that one).

~~~
dirtyaura
What? You are misinformed. Apple II was introduced in 1977 and Apple III was
introduced in 1980, way before C64. It's precursor Vic-20 was introduced in
1980.

Apple definitely was one of the companies inventing personal computers.

~~~
vidarh
The Commodore Pet was introduced in '77. Both were preceded by any number of
personal computers of varying capabilities (depending on how you want to
define "personal computer" that includes Commodore / MOS Technologies
"KIM-1").

Apple invented _some_ aspects, like lots of others.

------
dejv
I was growing in rural area of comunist country when I get this computer more
then 20 years ago. I was six years old back then and still remember playing
with screwdriver alternating tapedeck to let games load.

I was only person around who wants do to anything around programming and only
manual was writen in German, language I was not able understand, so I was just
retyping examples and try to figure out how it works.

------
iuguy
For those of you who want to relive the days of the Commodore 64 (or the
Commode 64 as us spec-chums used to call it) there's a very good emulator[1],
as well as a site that lets you play games online[2].

If you want to see just what the C64 demo scene is capable of, then Booze
Design's Edge of disgrace[3] is probably a good start. Finally, if you want to
try your hand at C64 demo coding there's an excellent resource here[4].

[1] - <http://www.viceteam.org/>

[2] - <http://c64s.com/>

[3] - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzvMYE3PUn4>

[4] - <http://codebase64.org/doku.php?id=base:demo_programming>

~~~
SeanDav
Thanks for these links. [4] reminds me especially why I used to prefer amber
on black instead of green on black in those old days when being able to choose
the colour of your display was a real feature!

------
coroxout
I was a ZX Spectrum kid, which at the time was a great rivalry. But I have
fond memories of the C64 and many other 80s home micros from visiting friends'
houses, and I have to admit that C64 music still sounds good today, courtesy
of its SID sound chip - not something that can really be said of the
Spectrum's feeble monophonic beeper.

Happy birthday, C64!

~~~
Tichy
I was a ZX Spectrum kid, too. A couple of years ago we cleaned out the attic,
and mice had eaten the Spectrum's rubber keyboard. So much for the plan to
display my first computer in the hallway of my yet to be founded billion
dollar company...

------
robin_reala
Just finished reading an article about the Dragon32’s birth 30 years ago this
month. Pity I wasn’t old enough to witness this boom.

[http://www.reghardware.com/2012/08/01/the_dragon_32_is_30_ye...](http://www.reghardware.com/2012/08/01/the_dragon_32_is_30_years_old/)

~~~
muyuu
I was a Commodore/Speccy person myself, but I bought most popular 8 bit
computers in the 90s for very cheap (most Speccys/Sinclairs, Commodores,
Amstrad CPCs, Oric, BBC, Dragons, MSX, Spectravideo, ... I have 30+ machines
counting just 8 bit ones).

My Dragon 32 has a botched key [;]. I hope I can fix it at some point. I had
friends in school in the 80s who got a Dragon 32 by collecting biscuit boxes
(local offer).

I remember playing Zaxxon for Dragon in my friend's house and thinking it
wasn't too bad (similar to Speccy's, remarkably less visual than C64's).

It came with full schematics, it was made to be hacked. Sometimes I wish that
kind of thing was possible now.

------
franze
sometimes i miss the simple world of

    
    
      r,g,b
      0,0,0
      255,255,255
      116,67,53
      124,172,186
      123,72,144
      100,151,79
      64,50,133
      191,205,122
      123,91,47
      79,69,0
      163,114,101
      80,80,80
      120,120,120
      164,215,142
      120,106,189
      159,159,159
    

the C64 16 colors. life was so much simpler then (and kids had respect for the
elders and yada yada yada ....)

~~~
cico71
Then again you could also make it complex with interleaved colors up to more
than a hundred :)

------
zxcdw
People still write demos for C64(and for other platforms too, for that matter)
and it's been the most active demo platform ever since it's birth. Now, the
question stands... Why isn't writing demos(or any code, for that matter)
considered interesting or exciting for huge majority of people? I for one have
always loved the low-level hacks and creative problem solving needed when
programming these 80's machines.

Why, HN, oh why, "none" of you write(or even watch!) demos!?

~~~
slurgfest
I used to be an avid consumer of demos. It's just not as much fun to watch
when the limits being pushed are completely arbitrary.

Old demos were like watching a guy do world class running on springy blades
that you didn't even know existed. Now they are like watching an Olympics
where everyone agrees to use only their right foot for all the events.

------
flannell
I grew up with the Oric, Spectrum then the Amiga and 486 PC. This guy reminded
me of those horrible load times and why kids today simply wouldn't have the
patience to hang around.

Pickup iPad, press game icon, play game.

However, great to see Last Ninja 2!

------
tluyben2
Congrats! I play C64 games on my Pandora often. Great stuff.

