Australian Politics Forum - Commodore 64 makes comeback

Wattle Grove

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Commodore 64 makes comeback
Apr 12^th, 2011 at 12:16am

The Commodore 64 was widely regarded as one of the first actual personal computers that people could buy and use. Primarily it was known as the first gaming pc with titles such as “California Games” getting it a massive base of users. The Commodore 64 roamed this earth long before I could even turn a computer on, but I’m sure some of you can remember using it way back in 1982 when it was first released.

Well now this legacy device has been giving a new lease of life and is returning to our homes in the exact same form factor, but this time running Windows 7. They’ve also managed to squeeze in some extra specs this time. The original Commodore 64 packed an impressive 64kb of memory and a 1 megahertz processor, but this time you’ll find it packs a little bit more punch.

I have had no experience with these early machines, yet I'm quite interested to check it out!

http://www.windows7news.com/2011/04/10/commodore-64-return-running-windows-7/

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chicken_lipsforme Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 7090 Townsville NQ Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #1 - Apr 12^th, 2011 at 9:02am I bought one back in 1982, and they weren't cheap either. I think they could store a total of 20MB of memory on the dataset. How times change.
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Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback
Reply #2 - Apr 12^th, 2011 at 10:12am

ahh the commodore 64....basic, error riddled games that worked 1 time out of 10, a disk drive that weighed a metric tonne, that is if you were lucky enough to own the disk drive as well as the cassette player, and loading times measured in hours, not seconds.

Might be a laff having a look for about 5 minutes, just to marvel at how crap it really was.

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In the fullness of time...

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Belgarion Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 6179 Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #3 - Apr 12^th, 2011 at 10:42am These will one day be like a Model T Ford, or an FJ Holden. Real classics worth a fortune. There will be clubs and rallies, T shirts and stickers. Hot girlies draped seductively across the console. If you have one hang on to it!
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Kat

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Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback
Reply #4 - Apr 28^th, 2011 at 8:53pm

I have two of them.....

I still have my original round-case C64, with two datasettes (C2N) and
THREE disk-drives (you could daisy-chain them) and all the controllers,
manuals, programmer's guide etc.

It runs GEOS ( a primitive GUI operating system, much like Windows 1)
in one drive, and programs in the other two.

And it STILL RUNS like a dream...

Wish I had a (very rare) HDD for it, though.

I have a later, square-case C64 as well.

I have, also, a large cardboard box full of
tapes/disks with applications, games etc.

I also still have my Amiga A500. It still runs well, too.

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« Last Edit: Apr 28^th, 2011 at 9:02pm by Kat »

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Foolosophy

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Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback
Reply #5 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 12:13am

Sitting in a Greek Museum is the World's first computer - the Antikythera Mechanism (dragged up from an ancient ship wreck in 1901)

dated at about 150 BC it's true function and purpose was only discovered several years ago in 2006 though the use of the latest imaging and 3D X-ray analysis

Ah you have to love those ancient Greeks - still surprising everyone with the feats they achieved almost 3 millenia ago.

This reconstruction of the device could predict eclipses, show the position of the 5 known planets at the time, lunar phases and solar cycles etc.

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« Last Edit: Apr 29^th, 2011 at 12:18am by Foolosophy »

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It_is_the_Darkness

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Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback
Reply #6 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 12:56am

@Belgarion

My old man still has his TSR-80 Computer and as far as I can tell, I'm still the reigning Australian Champ at ZAXXON via the Rainbow Magazine.

Did anyone go to the old Computer Club Nights - I remember one in a Public School after hours and the place was packed with guys swapping gizmos, copying games, talkin jargon and basically laughing at the possibility that there could ever be a Computer Program that replaces 'socialising' (FB).

I think my fondest Computer memory was walking into the Milk Bar at Scotts Heads and seeing a SPACE INVADER machine next to the Pinball machine. It only cost 20c and it always had kids/guys around it playing it. To me, Space Invaders, really did take a generation by storm in a way that has yet to be replicated since.

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SUCKING ON MY TITTIES, LIKE I KNOW YOU WANT TO.

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Grey

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Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback
Reply #7 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 12:58am

Foolosophy wrote on Apr 29^th, 2011 at 12:13am:

Sitting in a Greek Museum is the World's first computer - the Antikythera Mechanism (dragged up from an ancient ship wreck in 1901)

dated at about 150 BC it's true function and purpose was only discovered several years ago in 2006 though the use of the latest imaging and 3D X-ray analysis

Ah you have to love those ancient Greeks - still surprising everyone with the feats they achieved almost 3 millenia ago.

http://au.greekreporter.com/files/2009/12/1-300x275.jpg

This reconstruction of the device could predict eclipses, show the position of the 5 known planets at the time, lunar phases and solar cycles etc.

http://www.greatdreams.com/numbers/jerry/antmec/recon.gif

one of those snippets that make posting worthwhile, thanks fool

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"It is in the shelter of each other that the people live" - Irish Proverb

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It_is_the_Darkness Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 4000 in a ReTardis Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #8 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 1:04am looks stolen to me.
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Foolosophy Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 1171 Australia Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #9 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 12:58pm It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Apr 29^th, 2011 at 1:04am: looks stolen to me. ...are you one of those self appointed CHOSEN people?
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It_is_the_Darkness Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 4000 in a ReTardis Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #10 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 6:53pm From what I've seen on this Forum Mr Foolish One, compared to you - FOR SURE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Foolosophy Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 1171 Australia Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #11 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 7:44pm It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Apr 29^th, 2011 at 6:53pm: From what I've seen on this Forum Mr Foolish One, compared to you - FOR SURE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GREAT COME BACK YOU CERTAINLY GOT ME WITH THAT SUPREME BIT OF SUBLIME WIT ARE ALL PENGUINS AS BRILLIANTLY TALENTED AS YOU?
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Belgarion Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 6179 Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #12 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 7:56pm This makes me wonder what we will be using 10 years from now. Given the exponential growth in computing who can say whatt the future holds. Maybe we will all be in some Star trek like holodeck laughing at how primitve windows 7 was....
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Foolosophy

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Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback
Reply #13 - Apr 29^th, 2011 at 8:37pm

Belgarion wrote on Apr 29^th, 2011 at 7:56pm:

This makes me wonder what we will be using 10 years from now. Given the exponential growth in computing who can say whatt the future holds. Maybe we will all be in some Star trek like holodeck laughing at how primitve windows 7 was....

What do you mean by exponential growth in computing?

I assume that you mean PC processor speed and memory etc.

Computing has actually been quite stagnant from a fundamental point of view for some time now.

A spread sheet has been around for decades

So has a word processor and programming etc

There are more bells and whistles now - and speed etc.

But when will the next true paradigm shift occur?

Chips are still silicone based etc.

So I am not clear as to what you mean by computing has grown exponentially.

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It_is_the_Darkness Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 4000 in a ReTardis Gender:	Re: Commodore 64 makes comeback Reply #14 - Apr 30^th, 2011 at 5:33am Oh no Seems I'm dealing with Mr Hal 9000, the most super-computer ever! How foolish of me to mess with someone as cool and witty as Al Pacino!
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