Growing up in a gang infested neighborhood in Sunset Park Brooklyn it was very easy to end up with the wrong people doing the wrong things. I walked with my brother 13 miles round trip to Toys R Us and back home to get my very first computer, the Vic20. For the Commodore 64 my dad drove us. I quickly got a modem and began dialing phone number ranges looking for carriers and programming in Basic with no interest in games. I made a new group of friends, these friends did not carry knives or guns. Today I am self-employed managing IT for small to medium businesses. From a simple printer issue to a failover cluster connected to a flash array with immutable checkpoints replicating to a DR site and to Azure and much more. Each day is an adventure and at 57 I feel very lucky to do what I love for a living and to be my own boss.
My first computer was a C64 back in the 80’s. Shaped who I am today, in a big way. I was reading books on how to program that thing when I was 8 years old. Watching my kids play games on their iPads today, I can’t help but think how lucky I was, to experience the C64.
My family was too poor to get me one, so I had to walk miles to the nearest KMart and play with the floor model. I loved every minute of it, and it did shape who I am today. I have a computer now that I couldn't have even dreamed of, and I take nothing for granted.
Those 4 books that came with the C64, and their sprite grids in the back, were epic. I remember trying to write games in year 3, so about the same age you were. Certainly fun times. Computers have lost that character these days, everything is so clinical and sterile.
If you want your kids to get into programming, why not introduce them to it? Older generations might say modern computing is sterile or whatever, but as a new kid, I'd just say it's easier to get into. I think the first programming-like things I did was editing Entity data in Minecraft in some mod and changing textures in a pirated PSP version of it. There's so many different ways to get your kids interested in this stuff! And if it's not their thing... what's wrong with that?
@@SmileytheSmile Take apart an Amiga 500, take note they've named every chip and given them human names; Denise, Paula, Agnus, et al. They went so far as to etch the names in to the mainboard of the computer next to the chips. Take a look at SID from the C64, and the communities that grew from that chip and still thrive near 40 years later. You missed what I meant by "sterile" entirely. You say you're a "new kid" and that's perfectly fine, but without an understanding of the way computers used to be you'll never understand the difference to what we have now, and what we had then. I still game regularly, and I'm a 70's kid, my 12900/3090 is enough to kick start a planet! One of the last remnants of the old school era are demo parties, It would be worth your while to check out some of the compos on youtube. I go to Revision and Assembly nearly every year, and while jpegs these days take up megabytes for a single still image, we're still making cinematic masterpieces that run for minutes accompanied with a soundtrack - all in the space of 64kb. This, again, spawned from the old school era of "cracktros". It's a fascinating world, and will offer you a glimpse in to a side of computing you sadly missed out on. I'm not bashing modern computing, I love it, never has it been easier to run your own server, your own email server, your own file share, even hacking games is a walk in the park these days. But it has lost its character, and there's no denying that.
I used to crawl on my hands and knees along squeaky floorboards (to not wake anyone up) to disconnect the phone in my parents bedroom and plug in my dial up modem, because that was as far as I could reach with a telephone extension cord. My parents hated this. Joke was on them as it led to me holding down a 15 year career in the IT and financial services industry with skills I learnt from the BBS era. Much more valuable than those years at university
I was a certified Commodore repair tech back in the 80's. At Commodore training in Pa. I spoke with the lead tech about their competition, and he explained that his company was focused on their current marketing through department stores. That's how they sold millions. It was the best product for that price range. I spent many years repairing them. The floppy drives always needed realignment though. Thanks for the memories. Cheers!
@@egorharrowsmith4330 Things are much better after almost 40 years. Last year I got the Raspberry Pi5. Still tinkering but not as much as the old days. I thought I'd retire doing some programming and hardware. But not doing as much as I thought. ;(
My first computer was a C-64. A friend of mine had a vic-20, and I was completely enamored. I literally had a paper route to earn money to buy one. I also bought a 1541, and then (if memory serves) a 1571 floppy. I also had a modem... 300 baud. I was fascinated with programming, and between the various books I found in book stores, I had memorized all 64k of memory, and had made a few rudimentary games. It was, and still is, my favorite computer of all time. I learned so much playing with that thing. My most vivid memory of any game I played on it was a text based game for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and visiting BBSs to get tips on how to beat it. Good times.
I had a C64 and was similarly enamored - and then they did it again with the Amiga 500 - those two computers seemed to promise so much and then delivered even more.
The Vic is a beautiful machine. I have both the Vic and C64 Maxi from retrogames and I tend to use the C64 more as the Vic is comparatively archaic, even for me but it's still my favorite (and the better looking) of the two.
Thanks for the trip back memory lane. I was a grown adult BBSing regularly. After the C64, I moved to the Amiga. Eventually, I read in an Amiga magazine about this new thing called the Internet. I quickly signed up to a dialup service and the world opened up to me. As soon as ISPs offered always online services, I signed up right away. To make a long story short, I was BBSing from the 80's until 95 when I reached out to the world thanks to the Internet. It has been a great adventure for this 64-year-old man.
To say the truth I don't remember anybody surfing the internet with an Amiga 500, may be through a modem and a regular telephone line but I don't really remember it, I firstly experienced the internet at the univesity to say the truth, quite late I'm afraid, I remember low speed and the Netscape browser, and I didn't enjoyed it too much because I didn't consider the content any interesting or accesible, the whole thing, speed, contents, not available at home (may be because of the price, my case), after that I ended up working with the C, C++ and Java languages. I forgot to comment in a prvious post that the Apple systems are regarded as more simple to use, I didn't really experience it.
I have many wonderful memories using my C64 in the 80's. I had just about every accessory you could get for it. My hobby then and now is astronomy. I would write my own software for recording my observations and photography sessions and store them to a floppy. I still have all those today even the nightly observations of Halley's comet in 85/86. Loved that little computer.
Around 1989 or so my Buddy had a Commodore 64 and when he showed me you could send a "letter" by hooking the thing up to the phone line, it blew my mind. I was only 9 years old and it was my first experience using a computer beyond games or "educational programs". At the time we couldn't even imagine we'd be watching people make their own "TV Shows" on a computer monitor.
Having a modem back then and dialing into a BBS basically turned you into a "Wargames" level hacker. I remember some BBSs even having live text chat! Back to the Future!
Hi! I saw your Video and Subscribed! I bought my first computer at Dolgins', a department store: Commodore Vic-20, then a Commodore-64, then Amiga 500! I wrote a simple space invaders game in basic! I learned basic spending countless hours with Compute's Gazette Magazine: They had printouts of simple, slow videogames you could type in for the cost of the magazine! They had 4 or so programs at the back of each of the Computer Magazines! It sold as, a "Commodore Vic-20, The Friendly Computer!" I had a blast, and I am 56 years old!
And the sound/speech! I so wonder if, after speaking so clearly for an hour or two or more, she gets tired. I work with people and in various languages, but alas, I sound "angry" when I try to pronounce clearly. Anyway, many of her fellows have pleasing voices, just slightly less understandable sometimes.
You've done an outstanding job explaining the unexplainable. And it's great to see you're doing really cool stuff with your setup. Best wishes from a former c64 scener (I ran one of the most acclaimed C*Base BBSes on a c128d with 100MB SCSI HD, 6MB Ramlink, Swiftlink, 56k modem in the mid 90s). I hear that my gear is still used today by someone to run a telnet-enabled scene BBS.
❤ Veronica thank you so much. I was co-sysop myself of “The Quarter Mile BBS” and I ran it remote. My friend Fred was hosting the computer in his house. It was the first BBS in the Glades. And we offered Fidonet networking. You explained it all so well! My first PC was a C-64 in 1982. We used an ad logo “The Quarter Mile bbs, the other alternaltive” This is the best explanation of a C-64 on youtube channel. Thank you again! Yes we restricted users for 15 minutes. Then if they upload files, we will offer them credit minutes. Our BBS used Searchlight BBS platform by Frank Larosa You brought emotions of nostalgia to my heart. Those were the golden days. With fidonet we even connected soldiers on the war of Irak in 1991. The BBS was disconnected in 1993. Sadly the Internet took over. I also still own a C-64 original, Amiga 500, 600 and 1200 Greetings from Wellington, Florida
I got my first computer in 2006 (it was an old Pentium even by those standards) but learning about the older technology is so fascintaing. I feel nostalgic about the times I never experienced...
I feel the same way about stuff from the 60s and 70s. Well before I was born but important in establishing the baseline we still live with today. Thanks for watching!
@@halthammerzeit - By the end of the 80's and early 90's one of the most popular and fastest loader was the Action-Replay cartridge, they even made some freezers for the Amiga. I had them all from the original EPYX Fast-Load to Super-Snapshot and others. Good times. :)
Funny to hear someone who grew up in the 90s talk about the good old C64. I grew up in the early days of those computers - hat a PET, a C64, a C128 and an Atari - by far the best one of the bunch. Never got to the Amiga because at that time the 80186 and later the 80286 computers came out - of course after the inevitable 8086 type that one needed to have - and that was the start of Minix and BSD type operating systems. Once USENET came to Germany (where I grew up) we started a mailbox system capable of transmitting Usenet stuff via UUCP - so cool, on 2400 and later 9600 baud Zyxel Modems. Good old days.
I was an early Mac 128 user and have used nearly EVERY model over the years.... but one time I had the first Amiga .... it was pretty amazing....... ahead of it's time
I had an Amiga too, no one in my town had one, went to meetings with big signs saying forbidden to copy. Those signs were only there for if police would come, everyone was copying from each other. Went to other towns to copy games at peoples houses, because I never found a store where you could get Amiga games in a 100 mile radius, the store only sold the Amiga computer. I got an Amiga because my friend in another town had one and told me to get one. He had lots of games for me to copy and from his neigbours as well. I was a kid back then didnt know how computers worked and at first tought copying was how everyone got games. Amiga those were the days. I might still have the Amiga at the attic of my parents house, do you know if it would sell for much these days ?
I remember learning basic programming in high school on a Radio Shack model TRS-80 computer. Gosh this brings back memories. I used to go to the Radio Shack store in the mall and write programs on their display models of the TRS-80. I got chewed out a couple of times for doing it by the manager who didn't see that what I was doing was simply writing a simple interactive program to get potential customers interested in the computer by simply asking them their name and introducing the computer to them then telling them for more information talk to the sales person. Oh well, I was a teenager and just having fun. Used to play games on a friends Commodore 64 too. Love the content so pls keep it up.
I'm 45, so I grew up when the old computer technology was popular. I had never used the Commodore 64, but I remember seeing it. It wasn't until the early to mid-90s when I began using computers for a computer class in middle school and typing class in high school. It's amazing how many electronic devices use the the Internet in this century. I remember using the old disks and smaller diskettes for saving writing files. When you mentioned using the old modems before using the Internet, that reminded me of a scene in the great action film F/X 2, where a pre-teen boy, using a mall electronic store's computer, communicates with the two heroes in the movie and tries to send them a secret file, but then a hired hitman prevents it. I won't give away too much of the movie, but the heroes rescue the boy and capture the killer since one of the two heroes in the movie is a movie special effects specialist. That scene was so much fun to watch! Anyway, thank you so much for showing us how to use the old Commodore to get online. It so interesting and informative. I know enough about computers to do many basic tasks, however, much of the programing language you used I'm just not that familiar with. Anyway, thanks again.
TH-cam served up your channel and I'm glad it did. I'm an old IT professional but I came up through the PC lineage so I lack knowledge of all the other platforms from the 80's thru the 90's. You are helping me get into that history. I think you and your channel are awesome.
Thank you for watching! I certainly used PCs for most of my childhood (I used a 386 throughout most of my school-age years), but Commodore (particularly the Amiga) was always something I wanted to get into (particularly games and multimedia). As soon as I could get my hands on this stuff, I did! :)
That brings back memories when in '83 I used my pressed my phone into the two rubber cups to dial up the University's mainframe and work from home! Perfect since computing time was much cheaper during the night and it saved me from driver to the computing center in the middle of the night during Ann Arbor winters.
@@VeronicaExplains i see that. You really invested a lot of money on connection to wifi and Ethernet. That’s a lot of dedication to give the Commodore 64 access to today’s internet. Loved the video.
The 80's were an interesting time for home computers. Younger folks wouldn't understand the struggle we had back then: I had a Commodore 64, one friend had a TRS-80, another had a Texas Instruments TI99/4A, another had a Timex Sinclair 1000, and another had an Atari 1200XL. We could NOT share programs, games, peripherals, etc. with each other due to each architecture being unique and closed. This is just MY example- by the mid-to-late 80s, there were dozens MORE unique manufacturers out there, some that weren't even compatible with other models by the same manufacturer! Being a kid in this era, I made a list of all the computer companies and tallied how many cool games, programs and components each had available. That's how I chose the Commodore 64 (the 128 wasn't available yet at that time). There were two pretty cool peripherals for the C64 that were rare even back then, and I had one of them: The Currah Speech 64 was a cartridge that plugged into cartridge port, and it had a wire comming off of it that you also had to plug into the DIN port. It had hi and low robotic voices, and you could make it speak whatever key you pressed, or you could write it into BASIC programs by using the SAY command (much like you used the PRINT command). I had a ton of fun making my computer verbally insult my sister... The other rare component was something I really, really wanted, but it was way to expensive for my lawn mowing income: The Spartan by Mimic Systems. This was a big box that plugged into the back of the C64 and used all the C64 rear connections (think of it like a huge docking port that you backed the C64 up to). What it did was convert your C64 into an Apple II clone. The reason for it's size is that you could open the lid and install Apple II cards into it (and cards back then were quite a bit larger than they are today). It's especially hard to find today, as not many were made when it was new, due to the company's owner being a bit of a nutjob and not a lot of Commodore owners really wanting or needing an Apple. Still would be cool to have!
Just stumbled on this video. What a trip down memory lane! My wife and I bought a C64 brand new when the price dropped to $199. We couldn't afford any peripherals at first. The monitor was a b&w 10" TV we already had. Eventually we bought the datasette. For the first few years we simply used it as a terminal to login to the university mainframe. Eventually we ran a BBS on that C64 with 2 1541s and 2 1581s.
Holy crrrap. You just hit like a million nostalgic buttons for me and I don't even have that much familiarity with the C64. You talked about modems and BBSes, and doing modern stuff with ancient tech, but then you outdid yourself and mentioned Tracker music! I'm in love lol
Had a Commodore 64 and a 64/128 machine. Got many years of use out of both. Very good memories made with family because of these computers and their games.
The C64 was my first computer, we found it at a garage sale. I can't remember what came with it, but I ended up with a decent collection after a few years. There were actually a ton of games for it. One of the advantages of having low end graphics and limited capabilities is the bar for entry was really low, so almost anybody could make a game that could compete on the market if it was fun enough. That and the C64 came with a programming language built-in so /anybody/ who owned one could write programs for it without having to have special software. It's how I started learning programming and how computers worked at a low level. I never did experience a BBS as it was past my time, all the phone numbers I could find were shutdown by the time I found a modem at a garage sale/thrift store I can't remember. Nowadays gamers have become so spoiled by high-end graphics that are expensive and time consuming to produce that it's very hard for independent game producers to compete, there are some notable exceptions, a few that became wildly successful but they're more the exception than the rule. It goes to show that our frame of reference for things is based on our experiences. For somebody who started out on the commodore the NES had great graphics, and then when you went up to the SNES it was mind blowing. Nowadays people who grew up on high-end 3d games would look back at SNES and look down on it as having bad graphics. I've seen some videos and a ton of work actually went into those old games to get them to work on such limited hardware, they had to be really smart and creative to squeeze a bit more performance out of what they had. I even know a lot of the better games for the commodore seemed to be written at least partly in assembly, for which I can only give the utmost respect to the programmers for, as I've tried my hand with assembly for a little while and it is utterly headache inducing. I'm not aware if they had compilers back then, or could even really comment their code as that would take up valuable storage space. Nowadays game designers, heck software designers in general seem to rarely care about efficiency or optimizing things since most people especially the gamers they're targeting as their customer base have pretty powerful hardware. It goes to show that most people when they think they have ample amounts of resources will squander them, and only care about preserving them and making the most of what you've got when the supply is limited. I wonder if that's what is happening with windows as it just gets more and more bloated with every year. The designers are probably programming it on the newest hardware available, so everything no matter how bloated or inefficient runs fine for them, but when you try to put it on older hardware it really stars to feel it. Meanwhile I'm guessing Linux devs have worked on whatever old hardware they've got, I know some linux users have crazy powerful home server setups, but I think most just want something that'll run on whatever hardware they have even if it's several years out of date. I mean you can get some really decently powerful computers refurbished nowadays. They might not technically be compatible with the latest windows but it's not due to lack of horsepower. Wow, I just noticed how many times I used the word "nowadays" and now I feel old even though I'm only in my late 30s. I was really into old computers and software for most of my life, i think mainly because that's all I could get for cheap/free. Still though there was a ton of stuff available.
What a wonderful video review! The C-64 (with tape drive) was my first computer as a kid, because my parents wanted something educational, I never had an Atari or any gaming console growing up. Consequently, I went into an IT career and just stuck to PC gaming. This brings back fond memories just as I turned 50. Thanks!
I managed a PDP-11 at work when these became popular. I knew people were getting into DIY computing at home but I had so much access to cool stuff at work I missed all of this until DOS came out and I couldn't resist anymore 🙂
Wow! That's brought back so many memories! In the early 80's I started with a ZX81, then went to a Spectrum and then an Acorn BBC Micro. These were followed by a Commodore 64 and an Atari ST. Happy days! Spending hours typing in some code from a magazine and having it crash when you ran it!! Having to debug either the code or your errors. Thank you!
This was really great! I've noodled a tiny bit on Commodore emulators, but never the real deal. I'm really glad you went through what each section of each command does, instead of just typing them in or telling someone what to type. I also love that you go through the device's ports, switches, and peripherals. A lot of videos assume we already know this stuff, but these things are decades older than a lot of us, and they're hard to get your hands on today. Awesome video! I'm really glad I found your channel!
Awesome video! I’m fascinated with retro computers and would love to own a Commodore 64 someday. I was a kid in the nineties and Windows 95 was the first OS I ever used. It blows my mind that there was a version of the internet in the eighties!🤯
My first computer was the Sinclair ZX80 which had 1k of memory. I got it in a kit form and built it in high school in my electronics class. My teacher was thrilled that I did this project and I learned a lot from him. My next computer was the C64. My word what an upgrade from my Sinclair! This was all back in the 80's and we were all so excited at what was happening. I really got into gaming and programming when I had my C64. Anyways I could go on but I'm glad you are keeping the retro computers alive and well.
Loved the nostalgic journey. I started on a C64 and PET, playing Zork1, etc. Also want to compliment you on your very natural and relaxed screen presence, great audio and lighting.
As someone who has been watching classic computer TH-cam videos for years now (and wanting to get into the hobby) I really appreciate the amount of effort you put into teaching us about it instead of going straight into the jargon of the projects. I'm glad I stumbled across your channel and I hope your channel continues to grow because your videos are incredibly informative. Thank you!!
I have connected to the "net" via various routes. My own homemade wifi modem (esp8266), the ultimate 2 via ethernet etc etc BUT could never get my RR net cart configured. Thanks to this video I have managed it (using contiki partially) - a big thanks for that!
The C-64 was in many ways, to the computer industry, what the Ford Model T was to the car industry. There are so many parallels it is ridiculous. I know what you mean about legacy stuff still hidden in the OS's used today. If you go back further and look at teletype technology, you can see where all those modem setting came from too. I have some 5-bit and ASCII teletype machines. The worst part of dial-up was long distance charges. Where I lived when I was a teen with my C-64, almost everywhere was long distance. Why was the 1541 slow... Because they wanted it backwards compatible with the VIC-20. Not that many people ever used the VIC with a floppy drive.
Instant sub! I wish I'd known about your channel when I was still learning the basics. Such a breath of fresh air to see genuinely interesting (even for experienced users) topics approached in this beginner-friendly way. Props for the good subtitles too!
Message to your viewers...never underestimate the C64. Having grown up with one of these, they have been pushed and still are to get more out of them. Check out the demos from recent years in the 2010's, the games still getting made, ported and what not. And most recently the port of Sonic the Hedgehog master system version, albeit with a RAM expander, but that 1MHz 6510 CPU can still run it at amazing speed.
C64 became obsolete because of lack of RAM . CPU, VIC and SID were comparable to later 16-bit systems (both home computers and consoles) . It did not help that support for floppies was minimal (1541 was basically separate expensive computer) .
@@aleksazunjic9672 True t a certain extent...which is why the REU and similar RAM expanders (I seem to remember one that actually did a couple of megs? Possibly something from CMD, who also did the unit that allowed you to use a faster modem with the 64) were popular. GEOS *almost* worked as and early GUI desktop system, except for that lack of RAM making switching tasks painfully slow. More RAM and/or a much faster storage system help considerably, though still not quite actual multitasking. Though thinking about this, I can't remember...did they ever do a GEOS for the 128 (as opposed to running the 64 version in 64 mode)?
@@VulpisFoxfire There was Geos 128 just for C-128 although it was not particularly popular - by the time it get out (1988) Amiga 500 was already there. Overall, it was a matter of price, C64 had many compromises to be affordable to working class.
My first personal computer was the VIC-20, cousin of the C64. I wrote a mini-assembler for it in BASIC. And, believe it or not, there was a cartridge for the FORTH programming language (a somewhat obscure stack-oriented language that's still around). Memories!
@@scottb4029 But it never did. BASIC 2.0 was all the C64 ever got in stock config. There's a kinda deep story to why Commodore never updated the basic in the C64. It has to do with copyrights and a special and specific agreement with Microsoft. Commodore would have been much better off by developing their own version of BASIC for the C64.
My first computer was also the Vic-20. I remember that there were many cartridges for various functions. I recall playing a game called Blue Meanies on cassette tape! Yes, memories!
My Gawd !!! this video just popped up in my feeds and I'm grateful. My first foray into 'puters was getting "Pong" when it released in 1972. Once I got hooked on this new technology, My parents asked my teachers in school what we could get for home. C64 !!!! When I enrolled in computer class in school , I was able to do more stuff than my teachers so they got me to teach the class. Fast forward, I have been a computer specialist for 30+ years and I owe this to the C64 and how it opened my mind to a whole new world. Thanks V loved this video !! Keep up the good work !
I wrote a text-based adventure game called "Adventure in Hoolok Cave" on my ZX81. It was full of bugs, as I didn't plan it very well, but I still have fond memories of it.
This video was so delightful. I would love to see more retro computers videos. How to use them with more modern displays and loading software on a c64 today.
back in 1980 my company allowed me take home a modem to dial-up the companies big DEC-10 machine. My fellow group house people spent many hrs. connecting to the DEC-10 playing the classic game 'Adventure trying find the Gold goblet. We even had maps of all the different routes we had tried for the capture. Since I always had access to these Big machines I did not need these little pc's.
@@elizabeththompson4424 great! what Linux version? I got introduced to Unix in 1980 when of my co-worker used ftp to download the complete set of Unix manuals. Note: he worked in the evening so management did not know he spent time doing non work related activities.I worked on Dec-10,20's Vax's pdp-11's and Alpha's.
5:00 It would have been good to explain the BBS technology a bit more for the younger viewers. The most important part that may be missed by younger people is that the networking worked over analog phone calls and to keep connection open to the BBS both you and target computer system had to have active phone call constantly going on (and your single outgoing connection was reserved for this purpose - having "multiple tabs open" and using multiple services in parallel wouldn't have been possible and if somebody tried to call your phone, it was just emitting reserved sound signal for the caller and you never knew anything about that phone call). If BBS wanted to have multiple connections at the same time, they either needed multiple phone numbers and multiple phone lines, or some kind of more expensive setup and config with the local phone operator that allows taking multiple parallel phone calls to the same phone number. And this was all done with analog copper wired landline phones. GSM was invented over a decade later.
Actually, usual setup for BBS would be to allow user to connect, pickup all private messages, and messages on topics he was subscribed , and then he would be disconnected. In this way line would be free for the next user, and call fee would be reduced for the user. Technically, you would be online just for a few minutes necessary to transfer data.
@@aleksazunjic9672 That technology didn't exist for many years. One of the reasons I set my TBBS system and linked it to FidoNet was that "points" didn't EXIST at the time.
@@bricefleckenstein9666 As far as I know, TBBS did support offline work (via QWK) . FidoNet was of course based on ability to do stay on dial-up as short as possible.
@@aleksazunjic9672 The QWK module wasn't added for YEARS after TBBS existed - even the MS-DOS version of TBBS had been around some years before the QWK module came out.
@@bricefleckenstein9666 Completely irrelevant for this story, as even FidoNet started in 1984. Therefore, even in late 1980s it was a common thing to use BBS in offline mode.
A fun and interesting video. Thank you :-) However, from what I remember of my BBS days, back in the 80's, it was not me begging everyone to get off the phone so I could get onto CompuServe, but rather my sister begging my parents to get me off the computer so she could get on the phone :-) Cheers from Canada.
I owned a lot of the original hardware in the 80's and still have a bunch in my collection, but I have and use an emmulator version of everything to keep my hardware as collector hardware which it mostly is to me anyways
I had a complete Commodore 64 setup as a kid in high school. Wrote many book reports and my senior term paper on it. As a weather geek, I could get raw data from the National Weather Service as it came in, as they had a dial up connection for registered users.
My computing life began with the TRS-80 Model 1, sold for $599 in 1977, about $2900 in today's money. It had a whopping 4k (!!) of memory but a wonderful manual that taught us newbies how to program. The first example was a classic: The manual said to type it, watch it reply with, "Hello" and take a walk, look out a window and marvel at what we'd just done. I actually did that. I never acquired a Commodore 64, but moved up to a very different, far more powerful TRS Color Computer in 1980. This was both cheaper at $400 (today $1420) and capable, so much so that thanks to this and that I had to use one until 1992, programming my own apps, and rose to the standards of modern PCs.
As always great and interesting content from you. 😊 As a kid, me and my brother got one of those C-64 as a Christmas-gift and we sure did have lots of fun playing games. But the waiting... LOADING... and hopefully there was no error when the cassette-player had finished reading from the tape. 🤣
The stupid part was , if you were an honest guy you'd buy all the games, only to have to wait 15 minutes for it to load because they hadn't used a tape accelerator to save on cost. The cracked game could be loaded in 30 seconds with a tape acceleerator.
Wow! Thanks for taking me back to my teen years. I had a C64 and a C128. I ran a BBS back in the day. Retro Gaming nostalgia. I met a lot of friends that I still have till this day. Good times, good times. Great job explaining.
Yeah and remember when that movie come out called 'The Net' with Sandra Bullock and the internet was all oooooooooow top secret government stuff , you had to be someone important to go on the INTERNET
Wow, I learned so much from this video. I have recently wanted to get back into the Commodore 64 as I also had one as a kid. My first big boy job was in 1987 at Zayre Home Office as an accounting assistant. One time they gave me a week to work on balancing a stack of reports by hand. I told them I would have it for them the next morning if they let me take it home, so that evening I used Microsoft Multiplan on my C64 and got all the work done for the next morning. This video is just packed with helpful information. I just fired up a C64 I bought on eBay the other day, and now I want to buy the peripherals you showed. Thank you so much!
VERONICA…I just found your channel and subscribed. First you are a SWEETHEART ❤! I am 77 years old and I am Ham Radio Operator and a computer nut! I started with a Radio Shack Model ONE with 4 K OF RAM! Then a Radio Shack Color (Coco) Then a Commodore 64 ETC ETC… Thanks so much for making this Great video on the 64 Commodore! I have sent your channel to a few old farts like me who will enjoy it to! I really enjoy seeing your enthusiasm and all of the work that it takes to make these videos possible 👍❤️🙏
I love hearing someone talk about how limiting 64K of RAM was when a few years before that I soldered sixteen 2114 chips onto a big board to get 8K more RAM. And at that time there were virtually no options for 1200 baud modems other than renting them from the phone company. I saw systems like the C64 to be a huge step forward.
My dad's office had a network server with a 120 baud modem. That translates into 15 bytes per second across the network connection (phone line). I don't know how much memory it had. But the 10MB hard drive was a separate chassis with a separate power supply, about the size of a bookshelf, about the cost of a new car.
Cost, of course. The expensive thing did what they needed it to do. So they didn't spend more to upgrade it. Executives and managerials don't know technical things but they do know where the money comes and goes.
@@pwnmeisterage 300 baud modems were inexpensive in the early 70s compared to computers. I guess if you're running a teletype printer then speed doesn't make any difference.
I originally had the Commodore 300 baud modem. It was a serious upgrade from the Teletype 110 baud connections I'd used some of the time in college. And what version of the Big Board ever had less than 64K RAM? Both my I and II had that much.
I’m going in a bit of a different route. For my retro fix, I use an emulator which creates my old Apple computers (][+ and the //c). Someone actually got the code off actual Apples for this. Someone is even updating ProDOS (now as freeware). I would love to get that up onto the internet.
Love this!! We used C64s at school and it was where I learned programming in BASIC - my first computer was an Amiga 500 - thanks for bringing the memories back Veronica!
You are one cool chick. My first computer was a C64 in 1986 that my dad bought at the BX at Robins AFB, GA. He was cheap and we used TV's as monitors. Never had money to buy much accessories, but bought a lot of clearance games and apps. You now gave me the itch to revisit this old tech.
Wonderful information. Thank you! Wishing I would have kept my Vic, 64, and Amiga 500 now. Have to agree with you on the Amiga 500. It was such a game changer (pun intended) during its time. Fond memories of Color64 and Major BBS'. Keeping the 2400 baud SupraModem flashing all night. Had to laugh seeing that PI 1541. Awesome!
I got a C64 back in 1983 and used it regularly for a few years before moving on to PCs. It has sat in a box all this time but I fished it out of deep storage a couple weeks ago. I am hoping to bring it back to life, but gotta be patient and careful. 1. Need to get a safe power supply for it (only have the original...verboden te gebruiken!) 2. A way to connect it to a monitor. 3. I also like that floppy drive emulator you used. It was neat to see the many ways that you could use the C64. I didn't do nearly as much with it back in the day as you demonstrated in the video. Thanks for the great content!
I loved my Commodore 64. I remember it took you 20 minutes to load a game off the cassette. Later I bought the floppy disk drive and was in heaven. I later bought the unidirectional dox matrix printer . Good times. Ohh and the 600 Baud modem to log into Compuserv. 😂
Yep and before the internet, they had BBS boards you could log into to look up and download stuff. I think it took me about half an hour or more to download a picture back then. lol
I love your commentary, sidebar notes, etc. It really shows that you know this content in-depth. I too remember the BBS days growing up with my C64, and your description really brought back memories. Great video!
Veronica, there were more than just BBS' available back in the 80's for Commodore computers (or Commies as they were known). You could access CompuServe, Tymnet, and QuantumLink (aka QLink). I met my late wife on QLink, she was in the Phoenix Area and I was in the Washington, D.C. area. Trivia: The company that produced QuantumLink, Quantum Computer Systems was later known as AOL and was originally based out of Vienna, VA. The C-64/128 were extremely versatile computers. I used them to be able to remotely access the telephone switching systems that I supported so I could asses if I actually needed to go into the office to fix something or if I could fix it with a command from my computer. (And still get paid overtime for the trouble call. LOL) I also used it to plan the move and consolidation of two telephone offices into one new one.
I started on the Vic20, then the C64, progressed to the Amiga 500, 2000, 1200, and finally a 2000 Video Toaster. Loved them all but the only one I still have is the C64. Great content, it's made me want to unbox it again.
I used the C64 and peripherals to write papers form my university Master's Program. Its utilitarian value could not be underestimated. I had one professor who was impressed by the quality of the printed product.
I feel so old. The VIC was my first "bbs" computer, but the 64 and the Amiga was where I used BBS's the most. This brought a tear to my eye. Keep bringing that old world to light!
This was one of the first computers I really got into. I messed with trash 80's but you couldn't do much with them. What I remember most about this computer was dialing into bulletin boards was amazing, like sci-fi stuff. The modem in 1984 was a station you actually put your rotary dial hand set in, it used the old phone tone system to connect. I remember the best game I ever downloaded on this system was called Jump Man. This system was the launch of my IT career.
Ahh, you're like a retro angel ❤❤❤. Grown up with an C64 and then switched to an Amiga 500. In the meanwhile I bought again one, modified to HDMI, USB support and so on. So awesome what these machines can do with modern hardware/ solutions an its more important, that angels like you are spreading this information! Go ahead with much more ideas like this 👍👍👍🙏✨️
I used to program in COBOL with Hollerith cards on an IBM 370 mainframe. I still have a Commodore PET and a 64. I completely explored and mapped the Zork Underground Empire and spent days playing "Jumpman" and M.U.L.E. (greatest game ever) . I had spare phone lines and ran "The Entrepreneur BBS" in for recreation.
I remember my dad taking off Christmas Eve day, and later that night, bringing home this keyboard and a long rectangle looking box (1541 drive). I fell in love with the C64. Trading games with others was the thing to do in the 80s and 90s. While I was in Germany, We traded games with our landlord and his buddy. This got me a lifetime pass to the public pool (swimmbod). I miss those day. We still have the C64 and C128 (complete setups) Thank you for a walk down Memory Lane.
This is one of the only videos I've ever seen on TH-cam that I've subscribed to the channel in about 10 seconds... and then about 12 minutes into the video I suddenly take notice of the shirt.. mecc! Museum Madness! So I did a quick search to make sure I was right, that mecc is the company that made that game - and then I see a list of super nostalgic stuff like DinoPark Tycoon and Oregon Trail! Thank you for this it made me really happy.
Born in '79, Commodore 64/128 was my first computer in '85. I didn't have a modem (my first logon to a BBS was in 1990 on a 386SX PC), but this video hit me with a nostalgia hammer and I appreciate you very much.
I started computing on a Macintosh SE, and never had a Commodore. But I got into a local BBS in high school in the 90s and met my wife! Thanks for the throwback!
Very Nostalgic! I worked on C 64, BBC micro, Sinclair, Macintosh and the likes way back in 1985. 64KB was our big universe. Nice to see them live and kicking
I borrowed my friends C64 in 1985 at age 16 just to learn how to type. I went to business school at age 19 in 1988, and I was already typing 40 words a minute when using a typewriter in class. Btw: the first game I played on the C64 in 1985 was Ghost Busters by Activision, with classic Commodore speech. Simply an 8 bit gem for it's time. Enjoyed your video.😊
I have always felt that a person who can explain their craft with humor is a master of his or her craft. You madam, are a master (and thanks for the humor).
I have a brand new Commodore C64c, still in the plastic, still in the box. Everything in there as it came from the store, back in the mid 80’s. We got this as a gift, right after buying one. It got put on the shelf in a closet for probably 25 years. Folks were cleaning out to sell the house and gave it to me.
I go back to the days of the VIC 20. In 1984 my wife and I opened a software only store, but we soon learned about the growing popularity of the Commodore 64 and began selling the 64 in our shop. Believe me when I tell you we sold a TON of those machines for $199.95. We had that store for 15 years and of course at one point moved into selling IBM and IBM "compatible machines. Machines like Columbia, Lading Edge, Compaq , AT&T and more were big, big sellers. But the Commodore will always get my nod of approval as the machine that got me started in the computer industry.
I still have my Commodore 128D I bought in the Nuremberg PX in '88 while I was stationed in Erlangen West Germany and it still works! I played the Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" submarine warfare simulation just last year that I bought along with the computer. I have the OG Battletech game and four D&D games too. I hope my grandchildren will appreciate it years from now.
This is so cool. I use to run my own BBS between 1986 to 1995 using first 1200 baud then 2400, and upgrading to a 14.4. I use to manager a Radio Shack store in 1986 to 1995, and I had access to all of the hardware at a decent price (well not really that decent). Best time of my life. I still from time to time run my old BBS but now that I'm in my 60's I pretty much leave it alone now. Thank You for the video, I really appreciate it.
I still have my first and last computer from that era, a Timex TS2064 to which I put ZX Spectrum memory, I may select the ROMs with a switch. With a British program I can even receive RTTY (radio teletype) without the need for any additional hardware. I still have it!. Great job Veronica, that's incredible to see a Commodore 64 online!
Used to love the c64, we got one at home in 87, load up a game on tape go outside and kick a football around for 20 minutes with your mates then if you are lucky the game is ready to play. good times :) Great video!!!
You just took me back to 1983!!! I loved my C64!! I ran a BBS, had two phone numbers when i was 18, the first 1200 bps modem, and the first 2400 bps in my geek group.
I had a Commodore PET in 1978. Great fun. Later I had several C=64s for ham radio packet duty. I gave most of my stuff years ago to my nephew who loves retro stuff.
Still have 2 C64's and its little brother a V20 along with tape drive, 360 floppy drive the size of a cinder block, 300 = 0.3 Bit rate [kbit/s] & 1200 = 1.2 Bit rate [kbit/s] baud modems and a Commodore printer from when I was going to U of N for computer science in the 1980's. The Commodores were my last factory builds. Before finishing school I built a bad to the bone(at the time) Heath/Zenith NEC 4.77 MHz 8088 / Intel 5 MHz to 16 MHz 8087 coprocessor 1mb EM, 20 & 40 mb drives that cost about 5 times what my car did at the time and probably nearly as much as the AMD fire breather I just finished. (Damn money is now worth about 185% less so I could have built one that breathed fire AND farted lighting). Every few years I did a new build and have a spare bedroom chalked full of 8088, 80286, 80386, Pentium 3/4, i Series Intels, AMDs, DEC VT 220 terminals and such. Was a hired gun consultant Software Engineer for over 35 years across the country and just kept everything. Anyone know where I can get my hands on a DEC VAX 11/785 or 11/780 for cheep? Almost forgot about the little Timex Sinclair!
Growing up in a gang infested neighborhood in Sunset Park Brooklyn it was very easy to end up with the wrong people doing the wrong things. I walked with my brother 13 miles round trip to Toys R Us and back home to get my very first computer, the Vic20. For the Commodore 64 my dad drove us. I quickly got a modem and began dialing phone number ranges looking for carriers and programming in Basic with no interest in games. I made a new group of friends, these friends did not carry knives or guns. Today I am self-employed managing IT for small to medium businesses. From a simple printer issue to a failover cluster connected to a flash array with immutable checkpoints replicating to a DR site and to Azure and much more. Each day is an adventure and at 57 I feel very lucky to do what I love for a living and to be my own boss.
Nice story
My first computer was a C64 back in the 80’s.
Shaped who I am today, in a big way.
I was reading books on how to program that thing when I was 8 years old.
Watching my kids play games on their iPads today, I can’t help but think how lucky I was, to experience the C64.
My family was too poor to get me one, so I had to walk miles to the nearest KMart and play with the floor model. I loved every minute of it, and it did shape who I am today. I have a computer now that I couldn't have even dreamed of, and I take nothing for granted.
Those 4 books that came with the C64, and their sprite grids in the back, were epic. I remember trying to write games in year 3, so about the same age you were. Certainly fun times. Computers have lost that character these days, everything is so clinical and sterile.
If you want your kids to get into programming, why not introduce them to it?
Older generations might say modern computing is sterile or whatever, but as a new kid, I'd just say it's easier to get into.
I think the first programming-like things I did was editing Entity data in Minecraft in some mod and changing textures in a pirated PSP version of it.
There's so many different ways to get your kids interested in this stuff!
And if it's not their thing... what's wrong with that?
@@SmileytheSmile Take apart an Amiga 500, take note they've named every chip and given them human names; Denise, Paula, Agnus, et al. They went so far as to etch the names in to the mainboard of the computer next to the chips. Take a look at SID from the C64, and the communities that grew from that chip and still thrive near 40 years later. You missed what I meant by "sterile" entirely. You say you're a "new kid" and that's perfectly fine, but without an understanding of the way computers used to be you'll never understand the difference to what we have now, and what we had then. I still game regularly, and I'm a 70's kid, my 12900/3090 is enough to kick start a planet!
One of the last remnants of the old school era are demo parties, It would be worth your while to check out some of the compos on youtube. I go to Revision and Assembly nearly every year, and while jpegs these days take up megabytes for a single still image, we're still making cinematic masterpieces that run for minutes accompanied with a soundtrack - all in the space of 64kb. This, again, spawned from the old school era of "cracktros". It's a fascinating world, and will offer you a glimpse in to a side of computing you sadly missed out on.
I'm not bashing modern computing, I love it, never has it been easier to run your own server, your own email server, your own file share, even hacking games is a walk in the park these days. But it has lost its character, and there's no denying that.
My father bought the C64 to use in his sound studio. We assimilated it pretty quickly, hacking in code at 10yo. Now i'm a programmer.
I used to crawl on my hands and knees along squeaky floorboards (to not wake anyone up) to disconnect the phone in my parents bedroom and plug in my dial up modem, because that was as far as I could reach with a telephone extension cord.
My parents hated this.
Joke was on them as it led to me holding down a 15 year career in the IT and financial services industry with skills I learnt from the BBS era.
Much more valuable than those years at university
I was a certified Commodore repair tech back in the 80's. At Commodore training in Pa. I spoke with the lead tech about their competition, and he explained that his company was focused on their current marketing through department stores. That's how they sold millions. It was the best product for that price range.
I spent many years repairing them. The floppy drives always needed realignment though. Thanks for the memories. Cheers!
Did you ever have that program that could play a song by banging the drive head against the stop?
MUST have been written by a repairman.
;-)
.
@@egorharrowsmith4330 No I haven't seen that program. I see that the C-64 is still a collectors item. Old schoolers best home computer. Cheers!
@@egorharrowsmith4330 Things are much better after almost 40 years. Last year I got the Raspberry Pi5. Still tinkering but not as much as the old days. I thought I'd retire doing some programming and hardware. But not doing as much as I thought. ;(
My first computer was a C-64. A friend of mine had a vic-20, and I was completely enamored. I literally had a paper route to earn money to buy one. I also bought a 1541, and then (if memory serves) a 1571 floppy. I also had a modem... 300 baud. I was fascinated with programming, and between the various books I found in book stores, I had memorized all 64k of memory, and had made a few rudimentary games. It was, and still is, my favorite computer of all time. I learned so much playing with that thing. My most vivid memory of any game I played on it was a text based game for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and visiting BBSs to get tips on how to beat it. Good times.
My first own computer was a hp pavilion 15 ba517ng. In 2017. Used the family computer before tbf.
10 print "vic20";
20 goto 10
run
I had a C64 and was similarly enamored - and then they did it again with the Amiga 500 - those two computers seemed to promise so much and then delivered even more.
* $1000
lda #$00
sta $d020
sta $d021
ret
sys 4096
The Vic is a beautiful machine. I have both the Vic and C64 Maxi from retrogames and I tend to use the C64 more as the Vic is comparatively archaic, even for me but it's still my favorite (and the better looking) of the two.
Thanks for the trip back memory lane. I was a grown adult BBSing regularly. After the C64, I moved to the Amiga. Eventually, I read in an Amiga magazine about this new thing called the Internet. I quickly signed up to a dialup service and the world opened up to me. As soon as ISPs offered always online services, I signed up right away. To make a long story short, I was BBSing from the 80's until 95 when I reached out to the world thanks to the Internet. It has been a great adventure for this 64-year-old man.
Memory lane
The memory was slower back then, but ours was fast
Today memory speeds are so fast, sadly ours are not lol
CCGMS forever!
To say the truth I don't remember anybody surfing the internet with an Amiga 500, may be through a modem and a regular telephone line but I don't really remember it, I firstly experienced the internet at the univesity to say the truth, quite late I'm afraid, I remember low speed and the Netscape browser, and I didn't enjoyed it too much because I didn't consider the content any interesting or accesible, the whole thing, speed, contents, not available at home (may be because of the price, my case), after that I ended up working with the C, C++ and Java languages. I forgot to comment in a prvious post that the Apple systems are regarded as more simple to use, I didn't really experience it.
Nerdy games?
The internet was not new in the 80s. It was invented in 1969 but it may have been made available to the general public as new in the 80s
I have many wonderful memories using my C64 in the 80's. I had just about every accessory you could get for it. My hobby then and now is astronomy. I would write my own software for recording my observations and photography sessions and store them to a floppy. I still have all those today even the nightly observations of Halley's comet in 85/86. Loved that little computer.
Halleys comet, damn I remember that lol
Ah! Mars was really good in 86 and 88. Unfortunately for me, my SP-C8 couldn’t cut through the Martian dust storms.
Around 1989 or so my Buddy had a Commodore 64 and when he showed me you could send a "letter" by hooking the thing up to the phone line, it blew my mind. I was only 9 years old and it was my first experience using a computer beyond games or "educational programs". At the time we couldn't even imagine we'd be watching people make their own "TV Shows" on a computer monitor.
Having a modem back then and dialing into a BBS basically turned you into a "Wargames" level hacker. I remember some BBSs even having live text chat! Back to the Future!
Hi! I saw your Video and Subscribed! I bought my first computer at Dolgins', a department store: Commodore Vic-20, then a Commodore-64, then Amiga 500! I wrote a simple space invaders game in basic! I learned basic spending countless hours with Compute's Gazette Magazine: They had printouts of simple, slow videogames you could type in for the cost of the magazine! They had 4 or so programs at the back of each of the Computer Magazines! It sold as, a "Commodore Vic-20, The Friendly Computer!" I had a blast, and I am 56 years old!
Educational level of your videos is truly astonishing. Absolutely loving almost each and every video you made!
Thank you so much for watching!
And the sound/speech! I so wonder if, after speaking so clearly for an hour or two or more, she gets tired. I work with people and in various languages, but alas, I sound "angry" when I try to pronounce clearly. Anyway, many of her fellows have pleasing voices, just slightly less understandable sometimes.
You've done an outstanding job explaining the unexplainable. And it's great to see you're doing really cool stuff with your setup. Best wishes from a former c64 scener (I ran one of the most acclaimed C*Base BBSes on a c128d with 100MB SCSI HD, 6MB Ramlink, Swiftlink, 56k modem in the mid 90s). I hear that my gear is still used today by someone to run a telnet-enabled scene BBS.
❤ Veronica thank you so much. I was co-sysop myself of “The Quarter Mile BBS” and I ran it remote. My friend Fred was hosting the computer in his house. It was the first BBS in the Glades. And we offered Fidonet networking. You explained it all so well! My first PC was a C-64 in 1982. We used an ad logo “The Quarter Mile bbs, the other alternaltive”
This is the best explanation of a C-64 on youtube channel.
Thank you again! Yes we restricted users for 15 minutes.
Then if they upload files, we will offer them credit minutes. Our BBS used Searchlight BBS platform by Frank Larosa
You brought emotions of nostalgia to my heart. Those were the golden days. With fidonet we even connected soldiers on the war of Irak in 1991. The BBS was disconnected in 1993. Sadly the Internet took over.
I also still own a C-64 original, Amiga 500, 600 and 1200
Greetings from Wellington, Florida
I got my first computer in 2006 (it was an old Pentium even by those standards) but learning about the older technology is so fascintaing. I feel nostalgic about the times I never experienced...
I feel the same way about stuff from the 60s and 70s. Well before I was born but important in establishing the baseline we still live with today. Thanks for watching!
As a new C64 owner, I'm 100% interested in more videos on Commodore's legacy in the computing world. This video was absolutely fascinating.
It's interesting to experience how it all worked in the 80's ;)
For me it was early 90's. Black Box cartridge was a game changer. Loaded games 10 times faster and hotkeys made interface easier/faster.
@@halthammerzeit - By the end of the 80's and early 90's one of the most popular and fastest loader was the Action-Replay cartridge, they even made some freezers for the Amiga. I had them all from the original EPYX Fast-Load to Super-Snapshot and others. Good times. :)
Funny to hear someone who grew up in the 90s talk about the good old C64. I grew up in the early days of those computers - hat a PET, a C64, a C128 and an Atari - by far the best one of the bunch. Never got to the Amiga because at that time the 80186 and later the 80286 computers came out - of course after the inevitable 8086 type that one needed to have - and that was the start of Minix and BSD type operating systems. Once USENET came to Germany (where I grew up) we started a mailbox system capable of transmitting Usenet stuff via UUCP - so cool, on 2400 and later 9600 baud Zyxel Modems. Good old days.
I got a Technology Connections vibe.
Great presentation.
It's amazing what people still do with these retro computers.
Yes! Very good observation. Quite the same feel
💯
Same heh
I was an early Mac 128 user and have used nearly EVERY model over the years.... but one time I had the first Amiga .... it was pretty amazing....... ahead of it's time
I had an Amiga too, no one in my town had one, went to meetings with big signs saying forbidden to copy. Those signs were only there for if police would come, everyone was copying from each other. Went to other towns to copy games at peoples houses, because I never found a store where you could get Amiga games in a 100 mile radius, the store only sold the Amiga computer. I got an Amiga because my friend in another town had one and told me to get one. He had lots of games for me to copy and from his neigbours as well. I was a kid back then didnt know how computers worked and at first tought copying was how everyone got games. Amiga those were the days. I might still have the Amiga at the attic of my parents house, do you know if it would sell for much these days ?
I remember learning basic programming in high school on a Radio Shack model TRS-80 computer. Gosh this brings back memories. I used to go to the Radio Shack store in the mall and write programs on their display models of the TRS-80. I got chewed out a couple of times for doing it by the manager who didn't see that what I was doing was simply writing a simple interactive program to get potential customers interested in the computer by simply asking them their name and introducing the computer to them then telling them for more information talk to the sales person. Oh well, I was a teenager and just having fun. Used to play games on a friends Commodore 64 too. Love the content so pls keep it up.
the TRS had a Z80 CPU....I remember cos I could run the same code (ish) on the ZX Spectrum and vice versa with some mods to graphics handling...
Fantastic content. You are a very cool person! Glad to see people still keeping the flame of this era alive.
Thank you!
I'm 45, so I grew up when the old computer technology was popular. I had never used the Commodore 64, but I remember seeing it. It wasn't until the early to mid-90s when I began using computers for a computer class in middle school and typing class in high school. It's amazing how many electronic devices use the the Internet in this century. I remember using the old disks and smaller diskettes for saving writing files. When you mentioned using the old modems before using the Internet, that reminded me of a scene in the great action film F/X 2, where a pre-teen boy, using a mall electronic store's computer, communicates with the two heroes in the movie and tries to send them a secret file, but then a hired hitman prevents it. I won't give away too much of the movie, but the heroes rescue the boy and capture the killer since one of the two heroes in the movie is a movie special effects specialist. That scene was so much fun to watch! Anyway, thank you so much for showing us how to use the old Commodore to get online. It so interesting and informative. I know enough about computers to do many basic tasks, however, much of the programing language you used I'm just not that familiar with. Anyway, thanks again.
TH-cam served up your channel and I'm glad it did. I'm an old IT professional but I came up through the PC lineage so I lack knowledge of all the other platforms from the 80's thru the 90's. You are helping me get into that history. I think you and your channel are awesome.
Thank you for watching! I certainly used PCs for most of my childhood (I used a 386 throughout most of my school-age years), but Commodore (particularly the Amiga) was always something I wanted to get into (particularly games and multimedia). As soon as I could get my hands on this stuff, I did! :)
That brings back memories when in '83 I used my pressed my phone into the two rubber cups to dial up the University's mainframe and work from home! Perfect since computing time was much cheaper during the night and it saved me from driver to the computing center in the middle of the night during Ann Arbor winters.
I love these episodes. Retro computing is interesting.
It's so fun!!!
@@VeronicaExplains i see that. You really invested a lot of money on connection to wifi and Ethernet. That’s a lot of dedication to give the Commodore 64 access to today’s internet. Loved the video.
especially people who can code things never thought possible.
@@CallousCoder Sure I already subscribed.
Good call on the Amiga 500. It really was the benchmark for home computers and really the last home computer system.
The 80's were an interesting time for home computers. Younger folks wouldn't understand the struggle we had back then: I had a Commodore 64, one friend had a TRS-80, another had a Texas Instruments TI99/4A, another had a Timex Sinclair 1000, and another had an Atari 1200XL. We could NOT share programs, games, peripherals, etc. with each other due to each architecture being unique and closed. This is just MY example- by the mid-to-late 80s, there were dozens MORE unique manufacturers out there, some that weren't even compatible with other models by the same manufacturer! Being a kid in this era, I made a list of all the computer companies and tallied how many cool games, programs and components each had available. That's how I chose the Commodore 64 (the 128 wasn't available yet at that time). There were two pretty cool peripherals for the C64 that were rare even back then, and I had one of them: The Currah Speech 64 was a cartridge that plugged into cartridge port, and it had a wire comming off of it that you also had to plug into the DIN port. It had hi and low robotic voices, and you could make it speak whatever key you pressed, or you could write it into BASIC programs by using the SAY command (much like you used the PRINT command). I had a ton of fun making my computer verbally insult my sister... The other rare component was something I really, really wanted, but it was way to expensive for my lawn mowing income: The Spartan by Mimic Systems. This was a big box that plugged into the back of the C64 and used all the C64 rear connections (think of it like a huge docking port that you backed the C64 up to). What it did was convert your C64 into an Apple II clone. The reason for it's size is that you could open the lid and install Apple II cards into it (and cards back then were quite a bit larger than they are today). It's especially hard to find today, as not many were made when it was new, due to the company's owner being a bit of a nutjob and not a lot of Commodore owners really wanting or needing an Apple. Still would be cool to have!
Just stumbled on this video. What a trip down memory lane! My wife and I bought a C64 brand new when the price dropped to $199. We couldn't afford any peripherals at first. The monitor was a b&w 10" TV we already had. Eventually we bought the datasette. For the first few years we simply used it as a terminal to login to the university mainframe. Eventually we ran a BBS on that C64 with 2 1541s and 2 1581s.
You really hit home the appreciation of our current environment. My 1st modem was a 300 baud.. You really explain things quick and well.
Holy crrrap. You just hit like a million nostalgic buttons for me and I don't even have that much familiarity with the C64. You talked about modems and BBSes, and doing modern stuff with ancient tech, but then you outdid yourself and mentioned Tracker music! I'm in love lol
Had a Commodore 64 and a 64/128 machine. Got many years of use out of both. Very good memories made with family because of these computers and their games.
The C64 was my first computer, we found it at a garage sale. I can't remember what came with it, but I ended up with a decent collection after a few years. There were actually a ton of games for it. One of the advantages of having low end graphics and limited capabilities is the bar for entry was really low, so almost anybody could make a game that could compete on the market if it was fun enough. That and the C64 came with a programming language built-in so /anybody/ who owned one could write programs for it without having to have special software. It's how I started learning programming and how computers worked at a low level. I never did experience a BBS as it was past my time, all the phone numbers I could find were shutdown by the time I found a modem at a garage sale/thrift store I can't remember.
Nowadays gamers have become so spoiled by high-end graphics that are expensive and time consuming to produce that it's very hard for independent game producers to compete, there are some notable exceptions, a few that became wildly successful but they're more the exception than the rule. It goes to show that our frame of reference for things is based on our experiences. For somebody who started out on the commodore the NES had great graphics, and then when you went up to the SNES it was mind blowing. Nowadays people who grew up on high-end 3d games would look back at SNES and look down on it as having bad graphics.
I've seen some videos and a ton of work actually went into those old games to get them to work on such limited hardware, they had to be really smart and creative to squeeze a bit more performance out of what they had. I even know a lot of the better games for the commodore seemed to be written at least partly in assembly, for which I can only give the utmost respect to the programmers for, as I've tried my hand with assembly for a little while and it is utterly headache inducing. I'm not aware if they had compilers back then, or could even really comment their code as that would take up valuable storage space. Nowadays game designers, heck software designers in general seem to rarely care about efficiency or optimizing things since most people especially the gamers they're targeting as their customer base have pretty powerful hardware.
It goes to show that most people when they think they have ample amounts of resources will squander them, and only care about preserving them and making the most of what you've got when the supply is limited. I wonder if that's what is happening with windows as it just gets more and more bloated with every year. The designers are probably programming it on the newest hardware available, so everything no matter how bloated or inefficient runs fine for them, but when you try to put it on older hardware it really stars to feel it. Meanwhile I'm guessing Linux devs have worked on whatever old hardware they've got, I know some linux users have crazy powerful home server setups, but I think most just want something that'll run on whatever hardware they have even if it's several years out of date. I mean you can get some really decently powerful computers refurbished nowadays. They might not technically be compatible with the latest windows but it's not due to lack of horsepower.
Wow, I just noticed how many times I used the word "nowadays" and now I feel old even though I'm only in my late 30s. I was really into old computers and software for most of my life, i think mainly because that's all I could get for cheap/free. Still though there was a ton of stuff available.
What a wonderful video review! The C-64 (with tape drive) was my first computer as a kid, because my parents wanted something educational, I never had an Atari or any gaming console growing up. Consequently, I went into an IT career and just stuck to PC gaming. This brings back fond memories just as I turned 50. Thanks!
I managed a PDP-11 at work when these became popular. I knew people were getting into DIY computing at home but I had so much access to cool stuff at work I missed all of this until DOS came out and I couldn't resist anymore 🙂
Wow! That's brought back so many memories! In the early 80's I started with a ZX81, then went to a Spectrum and then an Acorn BBC Micro. These were followed by a Commodore 64 and an Atari ST. Happy days! Spending hours typing in some code from a magazine and having it crash when you ran it!! Having to debug either the code or your errors. Thank you!
Learning the hard way to save your work as you typed in a program. 2 hours typing thunderstorm knocked out the power and all gone. Never again. Lol
This was really great! I've noodled a tiny bit on Commodore emulators, but never the real deal. I'm really glad you went through what each section of each command does, instead of just typing them in or telling someone what to type. I also love that you go through the device's ports, switches, and peripherals. A lot of videos assume we already know this stuff, but these things are decades older than a lot of us, and they're hard to get your hands on today. Awesome video! I'm really glad I found your channel!
Awesome video! I’m fascinated with retro computers and would love to own a Commodore 64 someday. I was a kid in the nineties and Windows 95 was the first OS I ever used. It blows my mind that there was a version of the internet in the eighties!🤯
Before the C-64 was the Vic -20 22 column,
I set one up for a lady once who thought it was GREAT!!
She could SEE the screen on her tv set.
;-)
.
My first computer was the Sinclair ZX80 which had 1k of memory. I got it in a kit form and built it in high school in my electronics class. My teacher was thrilled that I did this project and I learned a lot from him. My next computer was the C64. My word what an upgrade from my Sinclair! This was all back in the 80's and we were all so excited at what was happening. I really got into gaming and programming when I had my C64. Anyways I could go on but I'm glad you are keeping the retro computers alive and well.
I remember selling the C64 which at the time literally was selling itself. It was a huge step up from from the Commodore VIC 20. 😁
I was wondering if anyone was going to mention the VIC 20. 🙂
Loved the nostalgic journey. I started on a C64 and PET, playing Zork1, etc. Also want to compliment you on your very natural and relaxed screen presence, great audio and lighting.
Zork 1 was awesome.
As someone who has been watching classic computer TH-cam videos for years now (and wanting to get into the hobby) I really appreciate the amount of effort you put into teaching us about it instead of going straight into the jargon of the projects.
I'm glad I stumbled across your channel and I hope your channel continues to grow because your videos are incredibly informative. Thank you!!
i am 57 years young and you braught me back memmeries thank.
I have connected to the "net" via various routes. My own homemade wifi modem (esp8266), the ultimate 2 via ethernet etc etc BUT could never get my RR net cart configured. Thanks to this video I have managed it (using contiki partially) - a big thanks for that!
My first Comp was a C-128/64. I loved my computer! I had tons of games, and got really good at programming1
Nice video. I had them all the C64, Amiga, Atari's, VIC20, Sinclair ZX Spectrum and ZX81. I remember a silicon version of the 1541 drive.
That's when computers were exciting.
The C-64 was in many ways, to the computer industry, what the Ford Model T was to the car industry. There are so many parallels it is ridiculous.
I know what you mean about legacy stuff still hidden in the OS's used today. If you go back further and look at teletype technology, you can see where all those modem setting came from too. I have some 5-bit and ASCII teletype machines.
The worst part of dial-up was long distance charges. Where I lived when I was a teen with my C-64, almost everywhere was long distance.
Why was the 1541 slow... Because they wanted it backwards compatible with the VIC-20. Not that many people ever used the VIC with a floppy drive.
The c64 was my 1st computer in 1984. I'm am IT pro to the Fortune 50 now 🙂
bruh you should join us in secondlife
Instant sub! I wish I'd known about your channel when I was still learning the basics. Such a breath of fresh air to see genuinely interesting (even for experienced users) topics approached in this beginner-friendly way. Props for the good subtitles too!
Message to your viewers...never underestimate the C64. Having grown up with one of these, they have been pushed and still are to get more out of them. Check out the demos from recent years in the 2010's, the games still getting made, ported and what not. And most recently the port of Sonic the Hedgehog master system version, albeit with a RAM expander, but that 1MHz 6510 CPU can still run it at amazing speed.
Was going to mention the demo scene. It really is amazing what some clever coders are able to pull off on that CPU.
See 'The 8-bit Guy'. Nuff said.
C64 became obsolete because of lack of RAM . CPU, VIC and SID were comparable to later 16-bit systems (both home computers and consoles) . It did not help that support for floppies was minimal (1541 was basically separate expensive computer) .
@@aleksazunjic9672 True t a certain extent...which is why the REU and similar RAM expanders (I seem to remember one that actually did a couple of megs? Possibly something from CMD, who also did the unit that allowed you to use a faster modem with the 64) were popular. GEOS *almost* worked as and early GUI desktop system, except for that lack of RAM making switching tasks painfully slow. More RAM and/or a much faster storage system help considerably, though still not quite actual multitasking.
Though thinking about this, I can't remember...did they ever do a GEOS for the 128 (as opposed to running the 64 version in 64 mode)?
@@VulpisFoxfire There was Geos 128 just for C-128 although it was not particularly popular - by the time it get out (1988) Amiga 500 was already there. Overall, it was a matter of price, C64 had many compromises to be affordable to working class.
My first personal computer was the VIC-20, cousin of the C64. I wrote a mini-assembler for it in BASIC. And, believe it or not, there was a cartridge for the FORTH programming language (a somewhat obscure stack-oriented language that's still around). Memories!
The. 64 supposedly had the forth language embedded in the c64s os. If I only knew back then!
@@scottb4029 But it never did. BASIC 2.0 was all the C64 ever got in stock config. There's a kinda deep story to why Commodore never updated the basic in the C64. It has to do with copyrights and a special and specific agreement with Microsoft.
Commodore would have been much better off by developing their own version of BASIC for the C64.
My first computer was also the Vic-20. I remember that there were many cartridges for various functions. I recall playing a game called Blue Meanies on cassette tape! Yes, memories!
@@louistournas120 Just a simple assembler that converted a list of op codes into machine language poked into memory.
Supposedly one of the guys in the forth interest group has written one.
My Gawd !!! this video just popped up in my feeds and I'm grateful. My first foray into 'puters was getting "Pong" when it released in 1972. Once I got hooked on this new technology, My parents asked my teachers in school what we could get for home. C64 !!!! When I enrolled in computer class in school , I was able to do more stuff than my teachers so they got me to teach the class.
Fast forward, I have been a computer specialist for 30+ years and I owe this to the C64 and how it opened my mind to a whole new world.
Thanks V loved this video !! Keep up the good work !
One of the funniest Family Guy jokes was Peter mimicking the dial-up sequence, following it with “You’ve Got Mail”😂
I remember my first ZX-81. 😃 I was so excited to write my first game. 😂 It may seem simple now, but at the time it felt futuristic.
I wrote a text-based adventure game called "Adventure in Hoolok Cave" on my ZX81. It was full of bugs, as I didn't plan it very well, but I still have fond memories of it.
Remember at school fighting about who got the 1 ZX81 because it was better than the other 6 ZX80`s which were white. PS. I won, age now 51.😜
Absolutely want more info on loading things into the C64! Especially the Pi 1584
Same. I’m thinking of picking up a C64 and would love to see/have more info on it.
This video was so delightful. I would love to see more retro computers videos. How to use them with more modern displays and loading software on a c64 today.
There are several TH-cam videos on how to connect an Amiga to the Internet.
Veronica please keep this high quality content coming. We appreciate it!
Your tonality and balance of depth/detail with over-arching concepts is great and reminds me of a certain Technology Connections!
Thanks! I think it's because we're both midwestern techies- I've heard the comparison a lot since starting my channel. :)
back in 1980 my company allowed me take home a modem to dial-up the companies big DEC-10 machine. My fellow group house people spent many hrs. connecting to the DEC-10 playing the classic game 'Adventure trying find the Gold goblet. We even had maps of all the different routes we had tried for the capture. Since I always had access to these Big machines I did not need these little pc's.
my university had a DEC and we could limited connect to it for our projects
back then I didn't know UNIX & now here I am running Linux
@@elizabeththompson4424 great! what Linux version? I got introduced to Unix in 1980 when of my co-worker used ftp to download the complete set of Unix manuals. Note: he worked in the evening so management did not know he spent time doing non work related activities.I worked on Dec-10,20's Vax's pdp-11's and Alpha's.
"You are apt to be eaten by a grue."
5:00 It would have been good to explain the BBS technology a bit more for the younger viewers. The most important part that may be missed by younger people is that the networking worked over analog phone calls and to keep connection open to the BBS both you and target computer system had to have active phone call constantly going on (and your single outgoing connection was reserved for this purpose - having "multiple tabs open" and using multiple services in parallel wouldn't have been possible and if somebody tried to call your phone, it was just emitting reserved sound signal for the caller and you never knew anything about that phone call). If BBS wanted to have multiple connections at the same time, they either needed multiple phone numbers and multiple phone lines, or some kind of more expensive setup and config with the local phone operator that allows taking multiple parallel phone calls to the same phone number.
And this was all done with analog copper wired landline phones. GSM was invented over a decade later.
Actually, usual setup for BBS would be to allow user to connect, pickup all private messages, and messages on topics he was subscribed , and then he would be disconnected. In this way line would be free for the next user, and call fee would be reduced for the user. Technically, you would be online just for a few minutes necessary to transfer data.
@@aleksazunjic9672 That technology didn't exist for many years.
One of the reasons I set my TBBS system and linked it to FidoNet was that "points" didn't EXIST at the time.
@@bricefleckenstein9666 As far as I know, TBBS did support offline work (via QWK) . FidoNet was of course based on ability to do stay on dial-up as short as possible.
@@aleksazunjic9672 The QWK module wasn't added for YEARS after TBBS existed - even the MS-DOS version of TBBS had been around some years before the QWK module came out.
@@bricefleckenstein9666 Completely irrelevant for this story, as even FidoNet started in 1984. Therefore, even in late 1980s it was a common thing to use BBS in offline mode.
A fun and interesting video. Thank you :-) However, from what I remember of my BBS days, back in the 80's, it was not me begging everyone to get off the phone so I could get onto CompuServe, but rather my sister begging my parents to get me off the computer so she could get on the phone :-) Cheers from Canada.
Emmulators allow some of this stuff to work in a virtual software platform, do they not?
I owned a lot of the original hardware in the 80's and still have a bunch in my collection, but I have and use an emmulator version of everything to keep my hardware as collector hardware which it mostly is to me anyways
I had a complete Commodore 64 setup as a kid in high school. Wrote many book reports and my senior term paper on it. As a weather geek, I could get raw data from the National Weather Service as it came in, as they had a dial up connection for registered users.
My computing life began with the TRS-80 Model 1, sold for $599 in 1977, about $2900 in today's money. It had a whopping 4k (!!) of memory but a wonderful manual that taught us newbies how to program. The first example was a classic: The manual said to type it, watch it reply with, "Hello" and take a walk, look out a window and marvel at what we'd just done. I actually did that.
I never acquired a Commodore 64, but moved up to a very different, far more powerful TRS Color Computer in 1980. This was both cheaper at $400 (today $1420) and capable, so much so that thanks to this and that I had to use one until 1992, programming my own apps, and rose to the standards of modern PCs.
As always great and interesting content from you. 😊
As a kid, me and my brother got one of those C-64 as a Christmas-gift and we sure did have lots of fun playing games. But the waiting... LOADING... and hopefully there was no error when the cassette-player had finished reading from the tape. 🤣
The stupid part was , if you were an honest guy you'd buy all the games, only to have to wait 15 minutes for it to load because they hadn't used a tape accelerator to save on cost. The cracked game could be loaded in 30 seconds with a tape acceleerator.
Or, when the 1541 disk drive would overheat and stop working. Finally got start and bought a little fan to put on top of the case.
Wow! Thanks for taking me back to my teen years. I had a C64 and a C128. I ran a BBS back in the day. Retro Gaming nostalgia. I met a lot of friends that I still have till this day. Good times, good times. Great job explaining.
Well thank you for running a BBS back then!
You may recall the nostalgia by "Mom! Get off the phone, I'm online!". lol
The past was better just for one simple reason: no social networks.
youtube is litterally a social network
There was (well is) usenet. Lol. There's another subject for a video!
You're saying it on a social network.
it wasn't better
Yeah and remember when that movie come out called 'The Net' with Sandra Bullock and the internet was all oooooooooow top secret government stuff , you had to be someone important to go on the INTERNET
Wow, I learned so much from this video. I have recently wanted to get back into the Commodore 64 as I also had one as a kid. My first big boy job was in 1987 at Zayre Home Office as an accounting assistant. One time they gave me a week to work on balancing a stack of reports by hand. I told them I would have it for them the next morning if they let me take it home, so that evening I used Microsoft Multiplan on my C64 and got all the work done for the next morning. This video is just packed with helpful information. I just fired up a C64 I bought on eBay the other day, and now I want to buy the peripherals you showed. Thank you so much!
VERONICA…I just found your channel and subscribed. First you are a SWEETHEART ❤!
I am 77 years old and I am Ham Radio Operator and a computer nut! I started with a Radio Shack Model ONE with 4 K OF RAM! Then a Radio Shack Color (Coco) Then a Commodore 64 ETC ETC…
Thanks so much for making this Great video on the 64 Commodore! I have sent your channel to a few old farts like me who will enjoy it to!
I really enjoy seeing your enthusiasm and all of the work that it takes to make these videos possible 👍❤️🙏
I love hearing someone talk about how limiting 64K of RAM was when a few years before that I soldered sixteen 2114 chips onto a big board to get 8K more RAM. And at that time there were virtually no options for 1200 baud modems other than renting them from the phone company. I saw systems like the C64 to be a huge step forward.
My dad's office had a network server with a 120 baud modem. That translates into 15 bytes per second across the network connection (phone line).
I don't know how much memory it had. But the 10MB hard drive was a separate chassis with a separate power supply, about the size of a bookshelf, about the cost of a new car.
@@pwnmeisterage Why didn't they use a 300 baud modem?
Cost, of course.
The expensive thing did what they needed it to do. So they didn't spend more to upgrade it. Executives and managerials don't know technical things but they do know where the money comes and goes.
@@pwnmeisterage 300 baud modems were inexpensive in the early 70s compared to computers. I guess if you're running a teletype printer then speed doesn't make any difference.
I originally had the Commodore 300 baud modem.
It was a serious upgrade from the Teletype 110 baud connections I'd used some of the time in college.
And what version of the Big Board ever had less than 64K RAM? Both my I and II had that much.
Oh oh! She's back! Fangirl mode, engage!
I had found her channel by looking up virtual machines now I feel like I could endlessly watch videos of her talking about anything.
I’m going in a bit of a different route. For my retro fix, I use an emulator which creates my old Apple computers (][+ and the //c). Someone actually got the code off actual Apples for this. Someone is even updating ProDOS (now as freeware).
I would love to get that up onto the internet.
Love this!! We used C64s at school and it was where I learned programming in BASIC - my first computer was an Amiga 500 - thanks for bringing the memories back Veronica!
You are one cool chick. My first computer was a C64 in 1986 that my dad bought at the BX at Robins AFB, GA. He was cheap and we used TV's as monitors. Never had money to buy much accessories, but bought a lot of clearance games and apps. You now gave me the itch to revisit this old tech.
Wonderful information. Thank you! Wishing I would have kept my Vic, 64, and Amiga 500 now. Have to agree with you on the Amiga 500. It was such a game changer (pun intended) during its time. Fond memories of Color64 and Major BBS'. Keeping the 2400 baud SupraModem flashing all night. Had to laugh seeing that PI 1541. Awesome!
I got a C64 back in 1983 and used it regularly for a few years before moving on to PCs. It has sat in a box all this time but I fished it out of deep storage a couple weeks ago. I am hoping to bring it back to life, but gotta be patient and careful.
1. Need to get a safe power supply for it (only have the original...verboden te gebruiken!)
2. A way to connect it to a monitor.
3. I also like that floppy drive emulator you used.
It was neat to see the many ways that you could use the C64. I didn't do nearly as much with it back in the day as you demonstrated in the video.
Thanks for the great content!
I loved my Commodore 64. I remember it took you 20 minutes to load a game off the cassette. Later I bought the floppy disk drive and was in heaven. I later bought the unidirectional dox matrix printer . Good times. Ohh and the 600 Baud modem to log into Compuserv. 😂
Yep and before the internet, they had BBS boards you could log into to look up and download stuff. I think it took me about half an hour or more to download a picture back then. lol
I love your commentary, sidebar notes, etc. It really shows that you know this content in-depth. I too remember the BBS days growing up with my C64, and your description really brought back memories. Great video!
Coming from a person who had a VIC-20, and in college started programming in BASIC this is a blast from the past. Very nice. Thanks 73
Veronica, there were more than just BBS' available back in the 80's for Commodore computers (or Commies as they were known). You could access CompuServe, Tymnet, and QuantumLink (aka QLink). I met my late wife on QLink, she was in the Phoenix Area and I was in the Washington, D.C. area. Trivia: The company that produced QuantumLink, Quantum Computer Systems was later known as AOL and was originally based out of Vienna, VA. The C-64/128 were extremely versatile computers. I used them to be able to remotely access the telephone switching systems that I supported so I could asses if I actually needed to go into the office to fix something or if I could fix it with a command from my computer. (And still get paid overtime for the trouble call. LOL) I also used it to plan the move and consolidation of two telephone offices into one new one.
I started on the Vic20, then the C64, progressed to the Amiga 500, 2000, 1200, and finally a 2000 Video Toaster. Loved them all but the only one I still have is the C64. Great content, it's made me want to unbox it again.
dig it out man! put it to work. There are some great addons for c64 these days. check out the 1541 Ultimate and other carts.
I used the C64 and peripherals to write papers form my university Master's Program. Its utilitarian value could not be underestimated. I had one professor who was impressed by the quality of the printed product.
I feel so old. The VIC was my first "bbs" computer, but the 64 and the Amiga was where I used BBS's the most. This brought a tear to my eye. Keep bringing that old world to light!
This was one of the first computers I really got into. I messed with trash 80's but you couldn't do much with them. What I remember most about this computer was dialing into bulletin boards was amazing, like sci-fi stuff. The modem in 1984 was a station you actually put your rotary dial hand set in, it used the old phone tone system to connect. I remember the best game I ever downloaded on this system was called Jump Man. This system was the launch of my IT career.
Ahh, you're like a retro angel ❤❤❤. Grown up with an C64 and then switched to an Amiga 500. In the meanwhile I bought again one, modified to HDMI, USB support and so on. So awesome what these machines can do with modern hardware/ solutions an its more important, that angels like you are spreading this information! Go ahead with much more ideas like this 👍👍👍🙏✨️
I used to program in COBOL with Hollerith cards on an IBM 370 mainframe. I still have a Commodore PET and a 64. I completely explored and mapped the Zork Underground Empire and spent days playing "Jumpman" and M.U.L.E. (greatest game ever) . I had spare phone lines and ran "The Entrepreneur BBS" in for recreation.
Ahh... Memories of being hours and hours and 99% downloaded on a big file and someone picks up the phone... AHHHH!!!!!!
I remember my dad taking off Christmas Eve day, and later that night, bringing home this keyboard and a long rectangle looking box (1541 drive). I fell in love with the C64. Trading games with others was the thing to do in the 80s and 90s. While I was in Germany, We traded games with our landlord and his buddy. This got me a lifetime pass to the public pool (swimmbod). I miss those day. We still have the C64 and C128 (complete setups) Thank you for a walk down Memory Lane.
This is one of the only videos I've ever seen on TH-cam that I've subscribed to the channel in about 10 seconds... and then about 12 minutes into the video I suddenly take notice of the shirt.. mecc! Museum Madness! So I did a quick search to make sure I was right, that mecc is the company that made that game - and then I see a list of super nostalgic stuff like DinoPark Tycoon and Oregon Trail! Thank you for this it made me really happy.
Born in '79, Commodore 64/128 was my first computer in '85. I didn't have a modem (my first logon to a BBS was in 1990 on a 386SX PC), but this video hit me with a nostalgia hammer and I appreciate you very much.
I started computing on a Macintosh SE, and never had a Commodore. But I got into a local BBS in high school in the 90s and met my wife! Thanks for the throwback!
Very Nostalgic! I worked on C 64, BBC micro, Sinclair, Macintosh and the likes way back in 1985. 64KB was our big universe. Nice to see them live and kicking
I borrowed my friends C64 in 1985 at age 16 just to learn how to type. I went to business school at age 19 in 1988, and I was already typing 40 words a minute when using a typewriter in class. Btw: the first game I played on the C64 in 1985 was Ghost Busters by Activision, with classic Commodore speech. Simply an 8 bit gem for it's time. Enjoyed your video.😊
I have always felt that a person who can explain their craft with humor is a master of his or her craft. You madam, are a master (and thanks for the humor).
I have a brand new Commodore C64c, still in the plastic, still in the box. Everything in there as it came from the store, back in the mid 80’s. We got this as a gift, right after buying one. It got put on the shelf in a closet for probably 25 years. Folks were cleaning out to sell the house and gave it to me.
I go back to the days of the VIC 20. In 1984 my wife and I opened a software only store, but we soon learned about the growing popularity of the Commodore 64 and began selling the 64 in our shop. Believe me when I tell you we sold a TON of those machines for $199.95. We had that store for 15 years and of course at one point moved into selling IBM and IBM "compatible machines. Machines like Columbia, Lading Edge, Compaq , AT&T and more were big, big sellers. But the Commodore will always get my nod of approval as the machine that got me started in the computer industry.
I still have my Commodore 128D I bought in the Nuremberg PX in '88 while I was stationed in Erlangen West Germany and it still works! I played the Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" submarine warfare simulation just last year that I bought along with the computer. I have the OG Battletech game and four D&D games too. I hope my grandchildren will appreciate it years from now.
I was more an Atari man myself. had 400, 800, then 1040 STe. Once Atari faded from US market went to IBM clones building my own even to this day.
This is so cool. I use to run my own BBS between 1986 to 1995 using first 1200 baud then 2400, and upgrading to a 14.4. I use to manager a Radio Shack store in 1986 to 1995, and I had access to all of the hardware at a decent price (well not really that decent). Best time of my life. I still from time to time run my old BBS but now that I'm in my 60's I pretty much leave it alone now.
Thank You for the video, I really appreciate it.
I still have my first and last computer from that era, a Timex TS2064 to which I put ZX Spectrum memory, I may select the ROMs with a switch. With a British program I can even receive RTTY (radio teletype) without the need for any additional hardware. I still have it!. Great job Veronica, that's incredible to see a Commodore 64 online!
Used to love the c64, we got one at home in 87, load up a game on tape go outside and kick a football around for 20 minutes with your mates then if you are lucky the game is ready to play. good times :) Great video!!!
You just took me back to 1983!!!
I loved my C64!! I ran a BBS, had two phone numbers when i was 18, the first 1200 bps modem, and the first 2400 bps in my geek group.
I had a Commodore PET in 1978. Great fun. Later I had several C=64s for ham radio packet duty. I gave most of my stuff years ago to my nephew who loves retro stuff.
Still have 2 C64's and its little brother a V20 along with tape drive, 360 floppy drive the size of a cinder block, 300 = 0.3 Bit rate [kbit/s] & 1200 = 1.2 Bit rate [kbit/s] baud modems and a Commodore printer from when I was going to U of N for computer science in the 1980's. The Commodores were my last factory builds. Before finishing school I built a bad to the bone(at the time) Heath/Zenith NEC 4.77 MHz 8088 / Intel 5 MHz to 16 MHz 8087 coprocessor 1mb EM, 20 & 40 mb drives that cost about 5 times what my car did at the time and probably nearly as much as the AMD fire breather I just finished. (Damn money is now worth about 185% less so I could have built one that breathed fire AND farted lighting). Every few years I did a new build and have a spare bedroom chalked full of 8088, 80286, 80386, Pentium 3/4, i Series Intels, AMDs, DEC VT 220 terminals and such. Was a hired gun consultant Software Engineer for over 35 years across the country and just kept everything. Anyone know where I can get my hands on a DEC VAX 11/785 or 11/780 for cheep? Almost forgot about the little Timex Sinclair!
I had the Timex, and the Commodore 16 back in the mid 80s.