Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 was the first computer for many families. This program looks at what you can do with the famous C-64. Demonstrations include The Wine Steward, Skate or Die, Strike Fleet, the Koala Pad, Master Composer, Tetris, and Berkeley Software's GEOS. Includes a visit to a Commodore Owners Users Group meeting and an interview with Max Toy President of Commodore. Originally broadcast in 1988.

This item is part of the collection: Computer Chronicles

Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: commodore; C-64; GEOS

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Reviewer: Ilgaz - - March 9, 2008
Subject: Sad thing is...

C64, with 8 bit CPU and 64KB RAM could really have a full GUI which actually works and produces things back in 1988. I actually used GeOS and believe me, it could be more stable than current OS X or Linux and some tasks were easier. Just look at how fast that "file" dialogue opens.
Remember how long it took for Windows 95 to come up providing a similar experience and imagine how many years the computer evolution was lost because of the PC/Microsoft monopoly.

Reviewer: Campfire - - January 21, 2008
Subject: Ah, the good old days!

I seriously miss my Commodore 64. Even more, I miss all those monthly magazines full of programs and applications and snippets that could be typed in and saved, and often customized in powerful and illuminating ways. I miss having control of my computer, instead of feeling like it doesn't really need me at all, dialing up who-knows-who in the middle of the night and "upgrading" itself in mysterious ways, all on its own. My first word processor I typed in out of a list in Compute's Gazette Magazine. It was a few thousand bytes long, and it did everything I really NEED from Word, which sprawls across tens of thousands of megabytes of my hard disk. I learned so much from my C-64--things that my PC would never permit me to learn today, because I might interfere with it doing whatever it wants without me.

Reviewer: NoiseCollector - - October 19, 2007
Subject: Commodore dropped the ball

I remember going into Electronic Boutique, Now EB games or gamestop... There was a small section of IBM a few Apple items and 3.5 walls full of commodore stuff.. I logged onto compuserve in the late 70's on a VIC-20 with a 400 baud modem... I think. This is great nostoalgia.

As for curators choice, it's not 2004 anymore.

Reviewer: Rafal Kudlinski - - December 31, 2005
Subject: Live long Commodore 64...

Computer Chronicles is a really excellent tv show ... on this episode you can get more information about commodore 64 including excellent GEOS operating system ... You may not know that but Quantum link (AOL of the 80's) is available again for commodore 64 users ... you may want to visit http://www.quantum-link.org/ for more info ...

Reviewer: http:www.724internet.com - - September 28, 2005
Subject: http://www.724internet.com

Commodore 64 links is our site.

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Reviewer: Gavin Baker - - April 20, 2005
Subject: Great nostalgia piece

I highly recommend the "software review" at the end -- an electronic encyclopedia on CD-ROM. The CD only cost $300, plus $800 for a CD-ROM drive! (You could also choose to pay $1 a minute to access the encyclopedia online.) Really brings projects like Wikipedia into perspective, doesn't it?

Reviewer: cpt_mocha - - September 9, 2004
Subject: Totally Awesome!!

The Commodore 64 was one of just a handful of computers in PC history to ever gain a huge following and devoted groups of users all around the entire world. This episode does a pretty good job of capturing some of that old school feeling with interviews with some folks from various users groups, programmers, and musicians. Who ever thought you could buy a PC for $300 and program it to do all this really advanced stuff!

The olden golden days of the Commodore, Amiga, and Apple II were sadly forgotten in the 90's with the introduction of Windows 3 and eventually 95. A majority of users were for some reason tempted away from the innovative and useful (Commodore, Apple, Mac, etc) and drawn into the dim world of Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Gateway, beige boxes, and so forth.

It wasn't until relatively recently with the explosion of open source, Linux, DIY PC's, and contemporary enthusiasts groups and web sites, that a lot of that 80's spirit came back to life just in a much more advanced manner and somewhat de-centralized. But hey, it's back and that's all that matters. It's like the 1984 Mac commercial, we don't have to worry about Big Blue, Big Brothers, Big Microsofts, or any other greedy PC makers lacking in innovation and character. Long live the C64 and the good old 80's, and thanks to all the people that are helping to keep that spirit alive in today's products.