I am looking for one of these at a cheap price, I will pay up to 100$ including shipping if I have to pay for it\
Email is jaya.buckwheat@gmail.com
- author:James Doocey (Ireland)
date:Monday 20th April 2020
text:I did see an original 1977 Apple II computer at a museum running integer basic and I must admit integer basic whilst limited is a good programming language for the time
- author:James Doocey (Ireland)
date:Monday 20th April 2020
text:I did see an original 1977 Apple II computer at a museum running integer basic and I must admit integer basic whilst limited is a good programming language for the time
- author:James Doocey (Ireland)
date:Monday 20th April 2020
text:I did see an original 1977 Apple II computer at a museum running integer basic and I must admit integer basic whilst limited is a good programming language for the time
- author:Régis Schmidt (France)
date:Saturday 20th August 2016
text:At the end of the 80''s, I designed a device called "TAO" with a 6502 assembler
- author:infinite100
date:Friday 15th August 2014
text:|-
Wozniak used the last bit in the video processor register to enable colour. Normally you would have needed at least 16kb to get four colours, the Apple would do it with just 4kb.
Unfortuneately, this meant that everything was based on multiples of 7 rather than 8, making it an absolute pig to program and very difficult to connect to the internet.
- author:Nate (Ohio, US)
date:Monday 6th February 2012
text:My Chemistry teacher STILL uses it to simulate the effects of acids and bases.
- author:Ted (Canada)
date:Friday 19th August 2011
text:My neighbor authored a sound program for this machine that played "Oh Canada" with amazing clarity! I played it in class in high school ( 1980), and my teacher and class were in awe. Somewhere along the way, my Apple II+ failed, ruined the program and prevented me from getting a printout. My neighbor sold his machine over 20 years ago.
- author:jayessell (USA)
date:Friday 31st December 2010
text:|-
I had s/n000105.\
1977\.\
I did computer animation in 1980s!\
See my YouTube and Flickr vids $ pics.\
Same user name: jsl151850b\
Also... In my Flickr pics.... The simulated leather Apple $$ bag!\
Yes... The Apple $$ was a LUGGABLE pc!
- author:wally (Ohio, US)
date:Wednesday 8th September 2010
text:When I was in high school, I had my dad for chemistry. He used to use the Apple II in conjunction with his spectrometer for his Chemistry II classes that he taught.
- author:Erik (Australia)
date:Saturday 24th April 2010
text:The high school I go to had one of these when I was in 8th grade, until the motherboard went bad, and I was given it for free. Basically, I took it for parts. Also, the Apple II didn''t have a floppy disk drive until 1977, and before that was the 10 or 20 minute loading times off cassette tape. It was a nightmare because the tapes wouldn''t load when the volume and tone controls weren''t set right. It took 10 or 20 times for it to work properly. With the floppy disk, all of that went away, and loading times went down to 20-30 seconds.
- author:PoopskinTheLiar (Onett)
date:Friday 9th January 2009
text:You seem to be forgetting the Apple-1, Link.
- author:Henry (USA)
date:Thursday 7th December 2006
text:Hey I have a MySpace Check it out!
- author:Link (Hyrule)
date:Friday 8th April 2005
text:The First PC. The 'microcomputers' that came before it had toggle switches and blinking lights instead of keyboards; the PET and TRS-80 that were its contemporaries were neither as expandable, nor as successful.
- author:Ivelisse Colon-Nevarez (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
date:Friday 31st December 2010
text:|-
This was the first ever computer we have at home when we we''re just teens back then. My big brother was the owner. He used it to practice BASIC programming and to do projects for high school and at the University. He collected a huge quantity of games developed for this machine, like Mission Impossible (my favorite), Maniac Mansion and more. These games came in 5.24" floppy discs.\
We no longer own these machine. Years later, my husband downloaded an emulator and now I can play my games like old times.
- author:John (USA)
date:Thursday 20th March 2008
text:'Well, I got the C64 after I had the AFP IM-1. I had to suffer over a year with no storage. That was rough. Then my dad bought a 1540 from some guy that said it would work. I didn''t know. How utterly frustrating. Finally got a 1541. I have done so much with it. I used it live on stage with the MusicPort keyboard attached, I have used it as a MIDI sequencer, sampler / drum machine (Datel Sampler 64 hardware), database (The Consultant), editor for posters for my band (Tech Sketch lightpen and Wico trackball), & telecommunications. Of course the most important use was prgramming for games. I actually found my old disks of my unfinished project and they''re readable. I had reprogrammed the character set and made about 20 animated sprites. Hardware:I later sold the C64 and !%$! when I had acquired an SX-64, which I still have. It doen''t boot. Drive light stays on, nothing happens. I have also recently acquired two 1541s, two 1702 monitors, and a 1983 C64 off eBay. Check out the 25th
C64 anniversary with Jack Tramiel and Steve Wozniak:http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1193702785'
- author:lodger (Germany)
date:Friday 12th October 2007
text:|-
Well, this was my second computer which I got in1988, after my parents bought a VIC-20 in late 1984.Yes, I have been waiting four years for a C64 to be mine and even in 1988, when Amigas and STs began to sell in large quantities, this machine was still a "big name" amongst computer hobbyists here in germany (and possibly around the world).
Today, I have a very, very small collection of old Commodore computers. It's my personal contribution to those machines, since I had such a good time with them. My collections includes an Amiga 1200 (running OS 3.5 and NetBSD 3.1 and connected to my LAN), an Amiga 500 (with an external MIDI interface), a C128D (european version) and two C64s. I even have a "RetroReplay" and a "MMC64" cartridge for the C64/C128 systems along with the RRNet ethernet adapter, so I can do some simple telnet and very, very limited web browsing (utilizing ContikiOS by Adam Dunkels). Especially the fact that after more than 20 years beyond its initial release there is (amongst other cool hardware add-ons) something like an ethernet adapter available for the good ol' "breadbin", makes this machine a real legend!
I know that Speccy, Apple II and BBC users do feel the same towards "their" machines, but for me Commodore and most of their systems (execpt, maybe, the infamous C16/116/Plus 4 computers - sorry Mr. Herd) still count as the #1 computer company / computer products of all times.
P.S.: I \*still\* pitty the end of Commodore and their last yet most advanced computer system: the Amiga - how happy the world would be, if those babies had only won the competition and their marketing department had been less destructive.
- author:Erik Jordan (Earth)
date:Wednesday 3rd October 2007
text:|-
I got my first C-64 from a HAM radio operator, because these units apparently are popular with them. There is allegedly a program out there somewhere which allows the C-64 to interface with a Ham Radio and act as a Morse Code/Text Coder/Decoder. In short, Morse code signals would be translated to text on the screen, and one could reply by typing out text, which would be sent to the HAM Radio as morse code!
I also remember that this was the very first computer I ever programmed on, and I am still quite impressed with its capabilities. From a 3-D Pac-man clone to a game with actual speech in its loading screen, this little unit always amazes me. It also has amazing compatibility with Atari 2600 and 7800 joysticks, and limited compatibility with the Sega Genesis controller.
My current set up for my C-64 consists of a C-64, a shoebox full of software, a Commodore 1702 color monitor (can even be hooked up to any standard A/V source, mono sound), dual VIC 1541 5.25" floppy drives, an Epyx Fast Load Cartridge, a Modem 64 to swap with the Fast Load, two Atari 2600 joysticks, and a home-brew buffer for the joystick ports made in a standard Radio Shack project box.
- author:Juan Jose Velez (Mexico)
date:Thursday 28th June 2007
text:This model of Commodore computer, as the C16, was also distributed in Mexico by a company called Sigma. They even sponsored a TV show named "Con-Cursor" in channel 13 (Imevision in those days) where they used C64 machines with games or educational programs for the players to compete against each other on the TV Show. The prizes were Commodore keychains, shirts, jackets... up to full computer sets. I even had the chance to go to the show to see my brother compete with the basketball One on One game. The players could register and practice in the CENTROS GALILEO Commodore learning centers. Also, Sigma had a monthly printed newsletter called "Chips and Bits" with info about the computers, from c16 to Amiga.
- author:Skel (Oakville, Ontario, Canada)
date:Tuesday 17th October 2006
text:|-
The first 1581 disk drives that came off the assmembly line over it's first year of production had a flawed controller chip installed in them. The devices were recalled by Commodore the next year to have a newly programmed chip installed, but many devices were never collected and are still out there to this day.
Years ago.. when the 64 was still a hot number, I purchased a 1581 disk drive from a friend of mine who ran a local BBS but was shutting it down. I was setting one up and needed the advanced space this floppy offered. The disk ran great but has since stopped. All it does now is make a "blub Blub" noise but no red light blinks, might this be from that problem? The computer reports that the device is not ready.
- author:Skel (Oakville, Ontario, Canada)
date:Tuesday 17th October 2006
text:Take a close look at the C-64's User Manual for the 1541 disk drive. As was mentioned in the PET profile, the Tapes from the 80xx could be read by the C-64. Likewise, the 1541 disk drive used the Pet 40xx & 80xx disk format system allowing it to read the old PET formatted diskettes BUT NOT WRITE to them. It wasn't just tapes that could be read, but diskettes as well. Indeed, several diskette programming instructions in the Commodore 64 Basic V2 such as the save procedure "s0:" and "Duplicate" (completely useless on the 1541's single disk system) were hold-overs from as far back as the first PET disk drive systems.
- author:G.Y. (Georgia, USA)
date:Saturday 23rd September 2006
text:I remember those days, I was around 15 when my parents bought the Commodore64, with the 1541 disk drive, C=64 Monitor, Printer. I mostly used it for gaming. Hard to believe after all these years it still works, everything, even the monitor still runs. I had games like Platoon, Ikari Warriors, Kung Fu Master, The Dam Busters, Strike Force Cobra, Ace of Aces and many more. My brother had the GunShip game, and I had the Huey II sim game. Those were some great memories back in those days. What was so fun was every month I would ride with my mother, me and my brother and go to the mall to a store that selled commodore64 games. We would pick one that we wanted after looking through them all, that was so fun and interesting times. I learned alot about computers working with the commodore64. The commodore64 was me and my brothers first computer. Like I said ealier, it still works :-)
- author:Chris Brown (USA)
date:Saturday 26th November 2005
text:I used a large number of these machines to run point of sale show stands for In-Car Entertainment. The computer allowed the setting up of an entire system to the customers selection, including all the switching via the user port and many, many relays and digital CMOS support ICs, prior to installation in their vehicle. It included basic product specs, pricing of components etc. The programming (by me) was originally in BASIC, but as time went on with updates, the memory began to fill, and this resulted in a complete re-write of 64K in machine code - hand assembled! I locked myself away for days on end! Even later, we added a second bank of 64K SRAM which was paged in and out via the expansion port! We used these machines from 1983 thru 1992 Those were the days, when every byte of memory was coveted like the holy grail:-) In my opinion, these were the first truly 'sensible' home PCs
- author:Søren Pedersen (Denmark)
date:Monday 24th October 2005
text:|-
"Crash course" on loading stuff on the 64:\
To load whatever comes first from a tape in the special Datasette tape recorder, hold down SHIFT and press the RUN STOP key - if the play button on the datassette isn't already pressed down, the message PRESS PLAY ON TAPE on the screen will prompt you to do so.\
To see what's on a floppy disk inside an attached Commodore 1541/1570/1571 floppy drive, type LOAD "$",8 and hit the RETURN key. And when it has finished loading, type LIST and press RETURN to display the directory.\
To load a specific file from the disk, type LOAD "filename",8,1 (where filename is the name of the PRoGram file you want to load) and press RETURN, and when it's finished loading (after, say, a few minutes!), type RUN.
Good news for those who loved the music in the C64 games: the "music scene" of the 64 is alive and kicking...!
For a player that'll play C-64 tunes on your Windows PC, go to http://www.gsldata.se/c64/spw/sidplayw.html
For a HUGE collection of C-64 tunes that'll play on the aforementioned player, head towards http://www.hvsc.c64.org/
Some folks like to remix and remake them tunes. Here are 1500+ MP3's with tunes from C-64 games - re-made in a way you've never heard them before! http://remix.kwed.org/
Yeah -- C-64 simply was the greatest -- 'nuff said!
- author:Scott (Canada)
date:Friday 18th May 2018
text:The C64 was my second home computer (following the VIC-20) It still remains my favorite 8-bit gaming computer of all time) The only criticism I have is that it could no handle vector graphics properly.
- author:Simo Jabir (Canada)
date:Tuesday 2nd May 2017
text:When I see the messages 10 years before its really amazing how the technologies are developed now with the iptv , voip no need to many things to enjoy the life we just need a good internet provider such the one i have https://www.bravotelecom.com/en-CA/internet-provider-residential.php
- author:Fabio (Italy)
date:Saturday 22nd April 2017
text:|-
From 1982 to 1993, all models and Commodore 64 versions:\
\- C64 Silver Label\
\- C64 Breadbox\
\- Commodore 64C\
\- C64 Golden Edition\
\- C64 Aldi\
\- Commodore 64G\
\- Commodore 64GS\
... others with "Commodore 64" brand
- author:Job (Netherlands)
date:Thursday 18th June 2015
text:THE REAL C64 BASED WEBSERVER
- author:zozo (france)
date:Thursday 30th October 2014
text:j''en ai eu un mais pas longtemps il est tombé en panne a force de le bricoler. j''ai aimé cette machine en 1986 !je me souviendrai toujours de ma surprise quand j''ai réussi mon 1er programme en langage machine ! j''ai couru dans toute la maison en criant youpiiiiii !!!! quelle bonheur que de programmer des datas et des pokes ...
- author:Tommy (Denmark)
date:Sunday 26th October 2014
text:|-
Bought my C64 in 1986 when I was 16 years old. Now I´m 44 years old and still have it well preserved in the addict along with my Amiga 500.
I ofcourse sometimes start it up and have fun memories.
:)
- author:Tom (Australia)
date:Wednesday 27th August 2014
text:|-
A piece of computer history. Sometimes I ask myself where we would be without it.
I must say, back in the day I hated the C64. I "grew up" on CBM30XX machines and owned a VIC-20. It was the arrogance of the C64 users toward the VIC which made me not want a C64 and in fact it wasn''t until sometime in the early 90s that I bought one of them (C64G) and only because it was dirt cheap. This one has been passed on to my brother a long time ago but I have since purchased an original C64 (the brown breadbox) and two C64C in a bundle for the horrendous sum of $1. One of the "C"s works the other two have faulty graphics. The screen just shows garbled rubbish on one and stays black on the other. Eventually they will be wall mounted in my study, (together with a VIC-20, a C16 and a TI99/4A). Now I am chasing a "Aldi C64", another C64G and if at all possible, a SX-64 to complete the collection.
- author:Ken Hudson (Crackpot) (Lamar, MO USA)
date:Monday 24th February 2014
text:It was this machine that caused my career change from a marine carpenter to IBM PC repair. Twas a major turning point in my life. Thank you to PET computers and Jim Butterfield for their influence in my life. BTW- What ever happened to Jim?
- author:Roger Jowett (Ulster)
date:Thursday 28th February 2013
text:|-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v$zsjTpFR0oYQ
please help\
trying to convert 8bit video for sam coupe\
this is still not mode 3 interlaced with hmpr bit 5$6 CLUT alterations per scan line HELP we only need a DMA...\
masterdos/basic atom lite support
- author:JOE (USA)
date:Friday 18th January 2013
text:I walked 5 miles and tutored to get my C64. I ran that thing all night and all day long with software from a company called LOADSTAR. LOADSTARS came out on a 51/4 floppy disc once a month for the C64 and contained are sorts of software gems for the C64. We got them from bookstores for $29.00.
- author:Vick Peña (Mexico)
date:Saturday 28th July 2012
text:This was the very first computer I ever used...I still remember me tinkering with the BASIC commands to make a silly program that would simply show all ASCII symbols on the screen...(sigh) It was so long ago...whenever I teach my World History class I still amaze kids by telling them my C64 had powerful 64K of memory...they say it can''t be...
- author:Marco G (Portugal)
date:Saturday 21st April 2012
text:I much as I love my speccy, my neighbor had a C64 - they were rare in Portugal - and I just leave everything I was doing with my speccy to go next door and play some C64 at his house. The colors man ... the colors !!!!
- author:James A. Schumacher (U.S.A.)
date:Tuesday 21st February 2012
text:The Commodore 64 was my very first personal computer. After years of successful use, I''m trying to remember the name of the Commodore program that ran in a way much like the Macintosh. The program used a mouse and icons. Can anyone give me the name of that software?
- author:sandmannc40 (USA)
date:Wednesday 21st September 2011
text:I was stationed in Japan when C-64 came out. I almost purchased one in Japan, but I waited and got one when I got back in the States. Then of course the tape deck, floppy drive, printer, and so many cartridges. I used the Commodore for almost 10 years, then I moved to DOS and Windows 3.0. Then to Windows 95, 98, 2000 (my favorite) XP, Vista. At the time of Vista I was finally tired of problem after problem with Windows and moved to Linux. Never turned back and my old friend the Commodore is now reborn using Linux. I am interested in the Middle range Commodore but I just don''t have the money right now!!! Reminds me when I got my first Commodore. Never having enough money, but getting at least the Computer. Then the Floppy drive, then the Printer and finally the Monitor. Later I got a Commodore 128 with the Floppy drive with that. They 64 equipment worked on the 128. I just wished that the 128 skipped the c/pm and moved to Linux. That is about the time Linux was born.
- author:Jeff Keizer (United States)
date:Thursday 8th September 2011
text:I remember the days when I would spend literally days using my Commodore 64! It is, in my opinion, still the greatest original home computer that ever existed. I could do so much with it. My favorite things to do were programming and some game playing. But usually, I wrote the games myself! It''s great to see this site dedicated to the Commodore 64!
- author:Jeff Keizer (United States)
date:Thursday 8th September 2011
text:I remember the days when I would spend literally days using my Commodore 64! It is, in my opinion, still the greatest original home computer that ever existed. I could do so much with it. My favorite things to do were programming and some game playing. But usually, I wrote the games myself! It''s great to see this site dedicated to the Commodore 64!
- author:Spitz (Suisse)
date:Friday 22nd April 2011
text:|-
Je possède un SX-64,premier ordinateur portable avec\
imprimante MPS-803 et extention SIMONS''64
- author:David (USA)
date:Friday 25th March 2011
text:I picked up a C64 after owning a vic-20 and did my first work with assembly code, making a version of the LIFE program. It updated and switched between two memory areas for the screen display. The memory architecture was so open and well documented it was a joy to work with. Alas, my next computer was an IBM clone and was much harder to figure out, but at least I had some idea what I was supposed to do, something I attribute to the C64.
- author:Your Face (Earth)
date:Wednesday 23rd March 2011
text:using the actual system is 100 times better than an emulator. Too bad our computer today drifted away from the BASIC system.
- author:Aynsley Watson (Edinburgh, UK)
date:Thursday 10th March 2011
text:Since 28 March 2008, Commodore 64 games have been available to buy through Nintendo''s Virtual Console service in Europe$ the first games available were Uridium and International Karate. There is also a C64 emulator application with classic games available in Apple''s app store.
- author:J. Meisenham (Calif., USA)
date:Sunday 20th February 2011
text:Hello. I''m looking for a Commodore 64, with box, poly/styro $s, manual, RF switch and cable, power supply, and (if possible) misc. papers. E-mail at james.meisenham @ gmail . com. Thank you.
- author:James (United States)
date:Monday 7th February 2011
text:'I have an old Commodore 64 system that is experiencing blank screen syndrome. I did some testing, and it appears to lock up after it resets the components. I believe that there is a short somewhere on the board, as the 5 volt regulator gets really hot. So hot, that I can''''t touch it, or else I''''ll get burned. If anyone has any ideas on how I could fix this, please email me at:hydrogenhydrogenfusion@gmail.com'
- author:Ugo Capeto
date:Thursday 4th November 2010
text:What can be said about the old C64 and making music? A lot actually. There was a neat little music app called "instant music" that was rather novel for the time as it kinda guide you in the "sequencing" of notes (was probably following a scale depending on your earlier notes). Other notable music apps are Electrosound, Music Studio, Ubik''s Music, etc. Those apps came about in mid-late 80s (eraly 90s for some).
- author:commodore 64
date:Thursday 9th September 2010
text:what really sets apart the Commodore 64 is the SID chip with its 3 channels of pure chiptune delight.
- author:anonymous (BAHRAIN)
date:Tuesday 31st August 2010
text:|-
even though its a dinosaur the games were classic
i had fun using it when i was a kid and i still play some of the games with the emulator
good old days with the C64
- author:Mary (USA)
date:Sunday 27th June 2010
text:I have some old literature on the commodore 64 computer and catalog from 1982. Also user guides. Are any of these idems worth anything?
- author:Paul (USA)
date:Wednesday 28th April 2010
text:|-
Hi. I have an old friend, who has and even older 5.25" floppy diskette containing cherished family diaries written on (I think) a Commodore II. Do you know of anyone in the Atlanta area who could read this disk and save the files in something more modern or translatable?
Thanks,
Paul
- author:sh4rkbyt3 (USA)
date:Tuesday 13rd April 2010
text:|-
Bluekatt, I hate to rain on your parade but the production numbers alone along with peripherial sales proved the Mac crowd was no where near the size of what you claim.\
It''s sad when someone can''t deal with the facts.
- author:Keith (USA)
date:Friday 12th February 2010
text:im looking for the old gunship game that was for commodore 64. it was a combat flight simulation. please contact me at friskyviddles at yahoo . com
- author:bluekatt
date:Friday 15th August 2008
text:the total amount of macintosh computers today in the world is grossly undervalued there are at least twice as many macintosh units out there today with a number ranging from 50 to 60 million
- author:James (Port Hope, Ontario)
date:Monday 28th July 2008
text:'I too had a 64 as my first computer, I got it april of 1984 in scarborough, ontario. I also had it when I lived in whitby until 1986. I even ran a small bbs on it:The Universe, a big name for a small board. My original 64 wore out in 1988 but now I have another with a few other commodore & atari computers. They still get used on a daily basis. Now if I could just find some of the old friends I''d made over this machine during those years.'
- author:DENA (Coventry)
date:Tuesday 4th September 2007
text:I wondered if anyone knew what the market value is for a commodore 64?
- author:bluekatt (netherlands)
date:Wednesday 6th June 2007
text:the more macintoshes claim is more then just a little bit skewerd there are at least 60 million macs and or mac users in the world twice as much c64's there ever were
- author:richard lyon (england,birmingham)
date:Tuesday 23rd January 2007
text:|-
just like 2 say hello 2 all the retro heads glad i am not te only 1 got a few games 4 the 64 and the spectrum 48k,128,so if any 1 wonts get in tuch .\
lyonz007.
- author:Skel (Oakville, Ontario, Canada)
date:Friday 17th November 2006
text:In the article, the "User Port" is mentioned as an output device but what is it? The Commodore classic "User Port" was an "Inverted RS-232C"... essentially a fancy name for a simple communications port.
- author:Anoxy (usa)
date:Wednesday 26th July 2006
text:matthew, the BASIC command you want is ON .. GOTO. For your example, 1 X=INT(RND(1)\*10+1) generates numbers from 1 to 10. 2 ON X GOTO 10, 20, 30, ... 90, 100 will select a line based on the value of X. 10 PRINT"Hi":GOTO 1 and 20 PRINT "Hello":GOTO 1 and so forth for your printing needs.
- author:POPROXANDCOKE (EARTH)
date:Wednesday 26th July 2006
text:|-
the original chips in the c64 were the sid chips.\
the remaining stock of sid chips were manufactured into a midi device called a sidstation.
- author:Callum (Australia)
date:Sunday 28th May 2006
text:Does anyone know if the internet is still available on the Commodore 64?
- author:matthew burton (england)
date:Monday 5th December 2005
text:|-
i am looking to write a program which the computer randomly selects lines of my program before sending the line to my printer. so far i have been trying to use the c64s in built random number genaration. it will not however GOTO my variable ( in all it looks a bit like this)\
1 X=INT(RND(1)\*(20+5)-5)\
2 GOTOX\
3 GOTO1\
4 PRINT"...\
5 PRINT"...\
6 PRINT"...\
and so on\
If anyone knows a way around this problem i would be extremely greatfull.\
Cheers.
- author:Michael Clark (Sacramento, Ca)
date:Saturday 18th June 2005
text:|-
I remember having a summer job when I was 14 and wanting to buy the Vic20, My Dad insited I wait another week and get the C-64.
By the time I was 16 I had compilers for every major language on that machine Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, C, Forth, and I taught myself assembler on that machine. I probably read 10,000 magzines on it. Later I had a 128 and that was really the end of the era for me.
I have my Masters in CIS today because of the endless hours I "Wasted" on that machine. if nothing else the system was the most awsome teaching machine I ever had. Sure the MAC was easy (but a paperweight for programmers) and PC faster, the C-64 taught me a lot about how computers wok.
- author:Dan (Melbourne,Aust)
date:Tuesday 19th April 2005
text:I recently put together my c64, I found the components and software at some obscure places. The software(old collections of 5 1/4 in disks) and some peripherals, I discovered at 2nd hand shop inside a waste transfer station, the the keyboard unit and 1541 disk-drive I discovered at a local buisness which mainly sells/repairs small wind generators and sells some old electronic stuff too. I was excited when I found the main components and have more recently picked up a datasette.I was going thru some old tape games and found a chill game called 'Paradriod', I never played when I was growing up if anyone reading has not played it I highly recomend giving it a go. My brother,sister and I had fun on the c64 interimittently as we grew up due to reliability problems.The games we enjoyed were 'Eagle Empire','Galaxy','Donald Duck's Playground','Supergridder",'Attack of the Mutant Camels'.'Bumping Buggies', to name just some.One game that I was introduced to by a friend a couple of weeks
ago is called 'Wizball',he played it when he was young,and now I am getting into it sweet game.Some sites worth checking out are 'www.64hdd.com/', 'www.server64.com/', old school gaming lives on cheers to all
- author:Taimur (Pakistan)
date:Thursday 31st March 2005
text:Although now we are among extremely powerful computers but I still love my C64 and keeping it with me (since 1985) as it was bought yesterday. I have C64, tape drive and Printer MPS 1250. For C64 I wish time had stopped.
- author:qwerty (earth)
date:Friday 25th March 2005
text:|-
Well ron, 'syntax error' means there is a problem(missnumbered line, etc,etc.)\
in the program. And 'press play on tape' is pritty self-explanitory,but it means to press play on the cassete player(that's one way you got information back then!). If you want to load something on one of the big, 5 1/4 inch disks, you would tipe something like:\
load"a dog",8\
(NOTE, the name 'a dog' is only a example.)\
hope I was usefull ron,\
sincerly,\
qwerty
- author:Ron Co (ohio, usa)
date:Wednesday 2nd March 2005
text:I completely forgot the origin of these phrases untill I came across this web page. Does anybody know what "Press play on tape" and "syntax error" means? I had a c64 in '85 or so and my cousin and i still laugh about those two messages.
- author:Thomas (Netherlands)
date:Thursday 10th February 2005
text:|-
I sold my first commodore for 50$ (who would...?)\
recently i worked at a take-in for old/broken electronics\
I saw a lot of C=64 and Amiga\
I have the beige and brown version, and a 1280 desktop model . 2005 still going ....
- author:Dave Kellow (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
date:Friday 28th January 2005
text:Heh. Well, there were lots of 'online games' that you could play over a modem... mostly text-based, and they'd require \*gasp\* 80-columns. Man oh man. How many of us tied up the phone lines with a 1670. Twelve hundred baud, man! It cooks! I wrote essays and cruised bulletin boards, and, you know, stayed in my room and avoided talking to girls with that thing. Good times.
- author:matt (London)
date:Wednesday 19th January 2005
text:Does anyone know if there were "online" commodore games available on bulletin boards or otherwise that users could download before 1985?
- author:Brian Kuhlman (Wisconsin)
date:Monday 17th January 2005
text:I have owned computers all the way back to a Tandy 1000..to this day i still keep a commadore 64 emu on my pc and the cool thing is it works....Programming was fun when you do it yourself....just a thought
- author:Jerry Robinson (London SE)
date:Monday 3rd January 2005
text:My wife made the big mistake of purchasing the C64 for Xmas in the early eighties. I learned the art of BASIC, and wrote a complete game called "Gamble JR Style". I still have memories of allowing my wife to fall asleep, and would spend hours in the middle of the night writing the program. Gone are those days.
- author:qwerty (canada,vancouver bc)
date:Monday 3rd January 2005
text:|-
i must say i realy injoy the commodore 64,it realy is the best\
basic programing computer i have ever ran into.i am looking for\
geos for it currrently.dose anyone know where i can find it?\
please e-mail me if you do
- author:Joe Soivey (United Kingdom)
date:Sunday 19th December 2004
text:I fondly remember the C64, the tapes... the graphics... the dot matrix printer... there isn't a computer like it.
- author:théjy (France)
date:Saturday 11th December 2004
text:I did spend a lot of overnight programming on that machine in 1983-84; BASIC, FORTH and Assembly. It really was the best computer you could get for $600. I remember detecting "stack overflow" by hearing the tape drive engine start (the adress of the tape engine control was next to the begining of memory...).
- author:Adam Christian (NY/VA/GA, USA)
date:Sunday 28th November 2004
text:The C64 is almost my very first memory... From Demos to Games to Music, this computer has influenced my whole life. To this day SID music is one of my favorite types! IK++ ROCK ON!
- author:john green (California)
date:Saturday 27th November 2004
text:When I was a kid. For Christmas I got a C64 and the tape drive. Parents wanted to see if I would use it before they purchased the disk drive. 20+ years later its still running like a champ. I let anyone on my new pc. But I don't let just anyone touch the 64.
- author:Webmaster (France)
date:Thursday 28th October 2004
text:|-
Yes, mef601 is right
Connect your disk-drive to the C64. Turn on computer and disk-drive. Insert a disk into the drive.
Then you can type LOAD "\*",8,1 and RUN to run the first rogram available on the disk or you can also type LOAD "$",8 and LIST to list content of the disk , then LOAD "thenameoftheprogramyouwanttolaunch",8,1 and RUN...
hope that helps
- author:mef601 (NC)
date:Wednesday 27th October 2004
text:|-
Russell- I remember the commands being something like\
Load"\*",8,1 then enter,\
then RUN.\
The commands were usually written on the lables too.
- author:Russell (Austin,TX)
date:Wednesday 15th September 2004
text:I just bought a Commador 64 from a yard sale and it works great. But I have no idea how to use it. I get a blue screen that looks simpilar to a DOS prompt but cant figure a command to get a game running. It also came with a external Floppy (BIG Floopy) Drive and modem. I have no idea how to works thes either. Could someone help please. I would love to try out the game and have a blast from the past
- author:Jack (Central New Jersey)
date:Tuesday 14th September 2004
text:|-
Hi\
I'm cleaning out the basement and came across 2 boxes of mid to late 80s C64 magazines. You remember them. RUN, AHOY, COMMODORE. I need the space but hat to just throw them out. There was a lot of great information and programs, not to mention memories, stored in those pages. I'm not looking to sell them, I'm just hoping someone wants them. I'll hold on to them until Sept 24, 2004. If you're interested you can contact me at "jacksjunk@comcast.net". These are some fairly heavy boxes (probably 30lbs each) so shipping on them would not be cheap. Local pickup in central NJ would be best. If no one is interested by Sept 24 they have got to go.\
Thanks for Reading\
Jack\
jacksjunk@comcast.net
- author:greg (bs2.1@juno.com)
date:Tuesday 24th August 2004
text:i have a program called "dream writter" i used it with my commador 128, now i have a pc, xp wimdows, i am looking for and ineed of and emulator that will translate commador basic to windows xp or 98se. so i can finially use this program? send your reply to bs2.1@juno.com greg.
- author:NUTCRACKKERS (ILLINOIS )
date:Tuesday 3rd August 2004
text:I HAVE TONS OF COMMADORE 64 STUFF. MY FATHER IN LAW PASSED AWAY AND HE WAS A USER AND COLLECTOR. THERE ARE OVER 1000 DISKS, 3 MONITORS, 6 KEYBOARDS, 6 DISC DRIVES AND LOTS OF BOOKS AND PROGRAMS. MY HUSBAND AND I WANT TO GIVE THEM AWAY TO SOMEONE THAT WILL PICK THEM UP IN BRIDGEVIEW, IL. WE HAVE THEM ALL IN ONE ROOM AND WILL NEED TO DISPOSE OF THEM WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK.
- author:brian brisby (calgary alberta canada)
date:Tuesday 27th July 2004
text:looking for anyone that has any books or notes on righting program code for the 64. It may sound funny but i work for a company that still uses the old eprom to run a vending machin. if you can help me thank.
- author:Revlater (Cleveland, Ohio)
date:Wednesday 14th July 2004
text:This was my first computer.. Geez, it sure was a great system.. I dont have any complaints about it at all.. I sometimes wish I still had one..
- author:Quick Basic (PA)
date:Wednesday 23rd June 2004
text:To hook up your c-64 to a TV do NOT use the coax Type cable (that goes to the old 1702 monitor) Instead use a tv-rf switchbox (or cable adapter for newer TVs) and a composite cable from the single jack on the computer to the switchbox (You can get one at RadioShack as well as the switchbox but the cable is 3 cables you need to pull apart)
- author:Squatdog (Perth, Australia)
date:Monday 7th June 2004
text:i wonder if these machines will be worth shitloads in 10 or so years?
text:I had a C64 when I was 4 years old, until I had 6... and it really was something that marked me for good. I have so many good memories, I remember coming from the kindergarden, watching the Pink Panther and playing in my C64, exactly in that order. Today I'm studying computer engineering, and I love computers, although I must recognize that I usually think I would enjoy more playing again in my C64 than having the latest Pentium 4. I don't think I'd be able to express all the emotions I experience when I think in this computer in only one English sentence. And Ali, my favourite games were Galaxian, Vampire, Frantic Freddie, Impossible Mission, Ms. Pac Man and Gyruss. I also recognize I was quite afraid of Friday 13th (but I played it too:))!
- author:Yves (Quebec, Canada)
date:Thursday 1st April 2004
text:|-
Nice memories?\
\- a C-64,\
\- a few good friends\
\- Cola glasses\
\- Blue Max game loaded and running\
Yahoo!
- author:Ali Tabibi (Tehran, IRAN)
date:Thursday 25th March 2004
text:|-
I have a C64C and it is my first PC. Nowdays I don't use it. My favorite games were MP Soccer, The Last Ninja 1,2,3. What were your favorite games?\
I have a Fujitsu Simens Laptop and a PC. I'm waiting for your nice memories about it.
- author:Ted (Oceanside, CA)
date:Friday 5th March 2004
text:|-
My first computer was a C64 and I was so impressed with it. I still have 2 of them along with 2 - 1541 drives and 4 - SFD1001 drives with all the cables, IEEE interface, power supplies, and 1 monitor.\
I ran the second largest BBS in San Diego at the time. Most of my disks are gone, but I still have the C-Net BBS program and all the manuals. Am thinking of selling the whole set-up one of these days.
- author:Steven Westerviller (Columbus, Ohio)
date:Wednesday 11th February 2004
text:|-
I have a Commadore 64 computer consisting of the keyboard, 1702 monitor, and manual. If anyone expresses a desire to have one, all you have to do is contact me and if you pick it up, it is yours free. Everything works fine. It's just taking up needed space. I am disabled and have no use for it. I normally check my e-mail 2 times a week, usually on Thursday and Friday evenings. It still has its original box. Anyone inters=ested, please let me know how to get in contact with you. I do not make long distant calls due to my very limited income.\
Steve
- author:ricardo (belgium)
date:Friday 6th February 2004
text:i have a special model that they used in school with special keys for drawing software
- author:bRENT (michigan)
date:Wednesday 14th January 2004
text:I am looking for a couple of old c-64 games called bards tale and bazooka bill! please e-mail me if you know anything.
- author:Christopher Parker (Massachusetts)
date:Thursday 30th October 2003
text:|-
I have an old Commodore 64 sitting in a box in my basement. I had tried a while ago to hook it up to my TV, but all I could get was static. How do I hook this up to my new TV? It has co-ax and RCA (red, white, yellow) connections.
I would love to be able to use my C64 again.
Also... anyone know where I'd be able to get a reference guide or something for C64 commands? Like... listing the contents of a disk, etc?
Thanks a bunch!
E-mail me with any of this info, if you'd like.... but I'd rather see it on this forum. (Both would be cool.)
- author:Yves Mc Donald (Quebec, Canada)
date:Wednesday 1st October 2003
text:'I collect Apple \]\[ stuff mainly but I just had an irresistible offer for a C-64. It will soon sit side by side with my Apples in my collection. Yeah, in my teen years, my friends had C-64''s:way cool sounds and graphics indeed. Too bad the BASIC interpreter and its DOS suck (compared to AppleSoft anyway) and a slooow disk drive. An excellent machine otherwise.'
- author:Christopher James Wood (Port Macquarie, Australia)
date:Thursday 25th September 2003
text:I used to have the old brown commodore 64. I used to make programs and play games. It help me with programming and I got it after my Commodore Vic 20. Now I play computer games with my PC and I now can use the internet and have fun downloading great programs that related to the Commodore 64.
- author:george (canada)
date:Sunday 21st September 2003
text:|-
ahhhh the c-64 what memories, it was way ahead of its time and I still miss it. I still have two of them and two 1541 disk drives in the basement.
I remember programming in assembly mixed with basic calls it could do some cool stuff.
I remember VORPAL, the disk drive speed loader that you had to convert your disks to its format and made the disks load very fast and it was disk based and always there on the disk.
Does anyone remember the two pins on the joystick port that forced a reset when shorted...... a pen with a metal top provided me with lots of fun with other students in the computer lab at school. I guess it was cruel to reset the computer when they spent all that time typing in their simple programs. And the computer teacher hated me because i was always correcting her and the other students came to me for help and not her haha. She tried to fail me but could only get me down to 85% (took off marks only on me for like forgetting a period on hand written assignments or using the correct answer on a test ("I dont care if the book is wrong") etc)
poke 48980,0 (i think that was the background color register)
- author:jonnymc (newcastle)
date:Wednesday 10th September 2003
text:where can i get old games like kickstart or any other from commador 64
- author:Retro_sand_monkey_TG-621 (England)
date:Tuesday 2nd September 2003
text:Ah I love the C64 I still have it under my bed with about 500 games!
- author:mike winton (grove okla)
date:Friday 15th August 2003
text:|-
Hello\
I'm looking to buy a commadore 64 monitor .Can anyone help me? thank you very much\
mike
- author:Chulang Searles (Barbados West Indies)
date:Sunday 10th August 2003
text:|-
The C64,C64c is the computer responsible for the development of The IT sectors in Barbados. It was popular in Business, schools. It was the computer that was responsible for home computing to rise in Barbados.\
It was consider to be a power house in its time with Word Perfit etc being availible for it. I had not the pleasure of owning a C64, but did many repairs on them. The second computer was the Apple II. ZX Spetrum and BBC Acrons. Acrons were used in microporcessor controlls training.
- author:TYS (ENGLAND)
date:Wednesday 6th August 2003
text:ANY ONE KNOW WHERE I CAN DOWNLOAD C 64 GAMES? IM NEW TO ALL THIS PC LARK SO AS MUCH INFO AS POSSIBLE PLEASE
- author:Tyler Walraven (Oskalosa,IA,U.S.A)
date:Thursday 24th July 2003
text:I think the C 64 is the best computer in the world . Ihope they make itr again . Tyler Walraven age 11
- author:Ronald Robinette (Cumb., Md USA)
date:Thursday 17th July 2003
text:I apologize for mis-spelling my e-mail name, my correct e-mail address is, BRITENOTE@HOTMAIL.COM. Not bright, right.
- author:Ronald Robinette (Cumb., Md USA)
date:Thursday 17th July 2003
text:|-
My first computer was a Vic 20, I loved it, but I soon moved up to the C-64 to get the advantage of it's huge 64 k of ram. I have had an IBM pc, or a\
clone there of for more then fifteen years but i still miss the excellent Commador basic. Does anyone know if Commador basic is available as software that I can run from a floppy disk or cd- rom? Any e-mail info about this would be welcomed by, BRIGHTNOTE@HOTMAIL.COM
- author:Olivier (France)
date:Saturday 12th July 2003
text:Check http://www.lemon64.com/, you should find everything you need here (Emulator & games). Enjoy...
- author:teri (ohio)
date:Friday 11th July 2003
text:Hey everyone. I'm looking for an emulator that runs old commador 64 games, specifically Burger Time. My parents still have our commador in their basement unused. I miss some of those old games! :-)
- author:George Kirk (Whitby, Ontario, Canada)
date:Thursday 29th May 2003
text:|-
Oh the memories - the thrill of going to a friend's house at the age of seven to play cool games on his computer, then finding a 64 under the christmas tree that year (1983)...and then using it until 1992 to play games, make long-distance phone calls for free, the whole BBS scene.
Wild stuff - thanks for the memories. The newest generation of kids will never know how great it was to squeeze so much out of 64K of RAM.
- author:Starfox ( Yorkshire U.K)
date:Friday 9th May 2003
text:Great site and wonderful memories,I got my C64 for Christmas 1983 and it's still works fine.The first game I ever played on the C64 was Beach Head,does anyone remember it, I thought it was one of the best games ever.
- author:David (Sweden)
date:Wednesday 9th April 2003
text:Anybody know where to get the midi interface hardware for a c64? Seems too tricky to make one by hand :( please email me if you know me00don@ing.umu.se
- author:J. Hirtle (Earth)
date:Wednesday 8th January 2003
text:|-
This was my first computer, so let me add a few things I was taught: The tape drive used a "special" 10 minute long audio tape cassette to store information (any longer was bad I was told) and if you didn't have the entire tape rewound, then the program wouldn't always load! For a monitor, we used a TV set. We later got a 5.25 inch floppy drive and a word processing program that would let you type up to 7 pages of text (any more and the machine would slow down and freeze). Our first one (which you have pictured) did die, and we replaced it with a slightly redesigned model that was more lower and more streamlined sometime in 1988-1989. For games we had "Lemonade Stand" and "Oregon Trail". We also got a magazine that had programs printed out in it so that you could type them into the computer manually.\
The one thing I never found out was how to transfer the information from the old Commodore 64 to IBM compatable floppies (or Macintosh which I use today)
- author:Paul (dayton)
date:Friday 1st November 2002
text:I LOVE THE COMMADORE 64!!! I think i want to start colecting old computers. I find them facinating.
- author:JulWCZar (Hungary)
date:Monday 30th September 2002
text:|-
C64 was cool. Unfortunetly, the new generation of computer addicts will never experience what was using a "Commodore 64 Personal Computer".
I sold mine in 1996 for 10.000 HUF (aprox. 100 $).
- author:ElecTro (Home)
date:Saturday 17th August 2002
text:i love my c64...i got 2 of them for 10 bux at a flea market and am oh so happy. So may ppl talk about making music on it but i really dunno how or what software i should get...please help me.
- author:jendoz (Israel)
date:Thursday 15th August 2002
text:|-
damn'!\
what a great computer it was :)\
i had ne when i was 10 and\
my friend got it from someone\
shame its no more now\
a true piece of classic stuff!
- author:REking16 (Earth)
date:Thursday 8th August 2002
text:There were two add-ons that, although rare, were rather significant, the REU and SuperCPU. The Ram Exapansion Unit allowed for substancally more memory (16MB?) while the SuperCPU boosted the system speed to 25Mhz. Also, the commodore disk drives (1541, 1541II, 1571, etc.) were computers on their own, each having their own CPU and RAM. This is why Commodore disks can't be used in modern drives.
- author:Gabriel (Boca Raton, FL)
date:Wednesday 10th July 2002
text:Ah the memories! The good ol' C-64 greatest home computer ever made. Even now it is amazing what 64K could do, coupled with SID and VIC. Had it for 6 years and did so many things... From school projects to GAMES and GAMES and GAMES. Awesome website!
- author:Chris Carpenter (Ft. Myers, FL)
date:Wednesday 26th June 2002
text:'Great site, great computer. The C=64 was everything to me in the 80''s, games, clubs, friends, hardware, software... so many memories. I only gave up my last bit of stuff to Goodwill in 2000 after I had moved into my new house, I hope its new owner loves it as much as I did. Two things i kept:the color monitor, which still looks great, and the few original boxed fantasy games I have aquired over the years. I want to especially thank some of the software developers out there, you guys and gals made some awesome games and programs, very few of which I paid for. If I could go back in time and pay for Mail Order Monsters, Racing Destruction Set, Bruce Lee, Phantasie, and about a dozen others, I would. Your hard work may not have been paid for, but it was certainly appreciated.'
- author:Shar Kurtishi (Gjakova (KOSOVO))
date:Wednesday 26th June 2002
text:|-
Hmmm what can I say, it has reminded me a lot, I still feel those sweet memories spending hours and days in front of my monitor (thats why i have glasses today). I started thinking when i bought my first personal computer C64 in Sarajevo in 1991 just before the war. Programing on basic\
20 print"My first computer"\
run
- author:if 10 then goto 20 (Atlanta, USA)
date:Friday 14th June 2002
text:The C-64. What can I say... To begin with, it was better designed than any other computer in it's time. Just look at the Apple II or IBM's and you'll see what I'm talking about. Then the games. This was post-Atari/pre-nintendo times and the graphics were awasome. And the music! This machine could emmulate voice! I still have a working C-64 with monochrome monitor, Geos software, printer, 300+ working games and programs and it is hooked up to an Ensoniq Mirage digital sample via a midi interface. This was my music machine back then, and it still rocks! I keep it for one day donating it to a 'physichal' computer museum. Thanks for the memories. Great site!
- author:Happy Fellow (Italy)
date:Wednesday 12th June 2002
text:|-
The Commodore 64 is the most remarkable piece of computer history: it is a great home computer, an amazing game system... a friend.\
With the C64 I programmed in BASIC and enjoyed many great games. My C64C is broken but I use the great CCS64 emulator.
- author:Happy Tom (Earth)
date:Wednesday 12th June 2002
text:'I had one of the orginal Commodore 64''s. There was a easy way to tell. There was a error in the main "kernel" of the Commodore 64 that caused the computer to freeze up. If you took the cursor down to the very left corner of the srceen and put a three lines of soid charaters like this: fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff. The whole computer would frezze! Still, I miss my happy "micro-computer" I really enjoy your site.'
- author:Søren Jensen (Denmark)
date:Friday 24th May 2002
text:The C64 is a true legend! I mostly used it for computer games - and it really did the job. Along with other Commodore products (VIC20 and Amiga 500) it is a good friend of my childhood :-)
- author:Simon Rosseel (Belguim)
date:Sunday 5th May 2002
text:|-
I love the c-64, it is really the best system i ever had!\
GREETZZZZZZ
- author:Bastiaan Winde (The Netherlands)
date:Sunday 5th May 2002
text:|-
Recently I bought the Sequential Circuits Model 64 MIDI-sequencer :-)\
Isn't it fun!?
- author:Peter Badrick (Durham, UK)
date:Thursday 18th April 2002
text:Got my C64 for Xmas '83, and still use it today. It was the beginning of my computing life, and I now have a small collection of Commodore machines.
- author:Jessica Nordyke (Kansas)
date:Wednesday 10th April 2002
text:I loved the c64! Recently, I found out that I was about 9 months old when my father bought the computer. I was forced to give it up when I was about 15 or 16 because it was starting to die. The thing that really bugs me is that the monitor that my father bought for it is still alive and working well to this day. When I came here to this site, I searched for c64 and started to remember the wonderful memories I had of using it as a kid growing up on it. I'm currently working on a web comic about the c64. :)
- author:ArVie (Belgium)
date:Monday 8th April 2002
text:This was my first computer and still it is my favourite and the GREATEST of all. Now with some good emulators, I can have the old feeling again sometimes. Those were the days...
- author:Warlock (UK)
date:Tuesday 26th February 2002
text:|-
I remember seeing some AMAZING C-64 demos in "the day", most noticably one which played music while multiplexing 128 sprites on the screen... vertically in a sinus pattern (text scrolly :) )
Ah, memories!
- author:Saar (Israel)
date:Thursday 21st February 2002
text:|-
indeed an amazing computer !!!\
i spent most of my childhood programming in basic and logo and enjoying its amazing games...thank you very much for bringing these sweet memories back...
- author:Joseph Hays (USA)
date:Wednesday 6th February 2002
text:I still use my C64 to this day. No it isn't that powerful, but it is fun
text:I have a KAPRO PC - 286i that I purchased in around 1985. it was used for personal and business use. We ran spreadsheet and kept ledgers and other programs on it. It has been put away in storage until now. I have all disks and books but can''t get it to load the programs. Keeps showing boot error or non registry disk. Would like to get it operational again and go back into some files. Anyone out there know how to reset and reinstall of the master disks?
- author:Lee Lichtenwalner (United States)
date:Monday 7th March 2016
text:I used to assemble, service, and sell Kaypro computers in Virginia a long, long time ago. Started with the 8088, then V20, 80286, 80386, and that "powerhouse" the 80486. I used to diagnose memory errors at the chip level$yes, one dreadful RAM chip at a time. They were profitable at one point, getting as much as $45 per system on volume. It was an incredible experience$that plus my LichtenA@arpa.net email address...LOL
- author:Shoal Creek
date:Thursday 10th May 2012
text:My dad bought a Kaypro PC for our family for Christmas, 1986. The model we purchased had a V20 CPU that would toggle between 4.77 and 8.0 MHz. It had 768 KB of RAM (later upgraded to 2 MB with an expansion card) and a 10 MB hard drive (later upgraded to 20 MB, then 32 MB). It came with two DS/DD half-height 5 1/4" floppy drives. We also added an internal modem. It came with this ATI All-In-Wonder EGA adapter that could emulate full EGA on the green screen that came with it. I wrote my very first program on this computer using GW-BASIC.
- author:Richard (US)
date:Thursday 30th December 2010
text:'Howard:If you recall, the Kaypro 286i was not only the first IBM AT compatible computer to hit the market, it was also the first one to WORK! The IBM AT''''s had problems accessing their hard drives in their early shipments. Kaypro had specified a different controller chip and avoided the problem, but still shipped the early 286i''''s with dual floppy disk drives instead of hard drive versions, just in case. The Kaypro 286i was as close to a bulletproof design as was to be had in those days but the price tag was so high that most buyers opted for the IBM version. The Kaypro''''s carried a 30$ margin between selling price and dealer cost, and the IBM units usually carried a 40$+ margin, so Kaypro dealers just didn''''t have the room to play with price the way IBM dealers did, plus the Kaypro dealer had no choice but to pay for expensive air shipping, driving up the dealers selling expenses.'
- author:Richard (US)
date:Thursday 30th December 2010
text:|-
The Kaypro PC was introduced with a 4.77 MHZ intel 8088 processor and a 10 MB hard drive. Later on, the system was equipped with a switchable processor card that could toggle between 4.77 mhz and 8 mhz (later 4.77/10 mhz), and hard drives were bumped up to 20 and later 30 mb capacities. The system was also available with 2 360KB floppy drives, and later on, the system was shipped sans monitor, video card, and only one floppy drive, giving dealers ultimate flexibility in how the machine was configured for the end-user.
The mainboard was a passive device, supporting the 8 bit bus that connected the processor card to the video card and the multifunction (disk controller/memory/i-o) card and empty expansion slots. Kaypro sold the Kaypro PC as a computer that was upgradeable to run Intel''s 80286 microprocessor, and briefly released an 80286 processor board for installation in the KPC. The problem was that the system was locked into an 8 bit bus, allowing the 80286 processor to have only 8 bit access to system memory, video, and the hard drive. Thus, the slow access to memory and storage held the performance back so much that the speed improvement was barely noticeable. The card sold for about $600 as I remember, and were recalled with little fanfare. The idea of an upgradeable computer was an excellent one, and had there been a way to practically accommodate the need for a 16 bit bus, would have revolutionized the market.
Kaypro was also the only company I know of that guaranteed IBM system compatibility. If you bought a Kaypro PC and it failed to run any business class software that would run on a similar IBM PC, then Kaypro would rewrite the ROM BIOS to "fix" the problem at no charge.
And for what it is worth, the "PC" in Kaypro PC stood for "Professional Computer".
- author:Dustin (USA)
date:Tuesday 8th June 2010
text:|-
We purchased a Kaypro PC in, I think, 1986. It had an 8086 processor that ran at 8 MHz or 4.77 MHz depending on the position of a toggle switch on the back of the system. Apparently hard disk drives weren''t standard on these models because ours only had two 360 KiB 5.25" floppy disk drives. We also had the full 640 KiB of RAM installed. I was unaware any model offered 728 KiB until reading this article.
My memory is a bit fuzzy on the specifics, but I remember it coming with MS-DOS 3.1, a version of WordStar, a primitive Windows-like TSR system, and a terminal program for use with a model (which we didn''t own).
I typed many papers on that system. I played a lot of games, too. Populous and SimCity were two of my favorites.
- author:howard boyle
date:Tuesday 1st June 2010
text:the K286i was my 2nd project as an engineering project manager for Kaypro. It was quite a challenge and I believe it was the first "clone" of the AT in the market. We had the chassis and chevron front made in Taiwan and the keyboards made in Hong Kong orginally. Our goal what to be plug and part compatable with the IBM AT and it was. The hardest part of the project was decoding the insides of a couple of the IBM proms but we were able to overcome that issue too. The orginal ROM was from Award Software and it was challenging as they were developing the code at the same time we were doing the hardware. I learned a lot from that project. Howad
- author:Bart (USA)
date:Wednesday 28th April 2010
text:The Kaypro PC was my first computer. The model I had came with an NEC V20 chip for the processor. This started my computer legacy of not having an intel branded processor in any machine until someone gave me a laptop in 2005. I don''t dislike intel it just always worked out that the best deal at the time was not intel. Anyway, my kaypro came with EGA graphics with a monochrome monitor. It came with a low density 5.25 floppy and I added the low density (720 kb) 3.5 inch floppy. Later I added a 32mb seagate rll drive. Then upgraded to vga and added a math coprocessor. The original system cost about 1800.00 US. It served my well and sometimes wish I still had it to tinker with.
- author:Mikko Niska (Finland)
date:Wednesday 28th March 2007
text:The Kaypro I still own was bought July 1987 and it has had no repairs or any maintenance ever since. The only extra part installed has been modem. My Kaypro is PC/XT and it has 30 MB hard disk, 1 floppy disk, PC-DOS 3.21, no mouse and monitor is Eizo 3030 12" monochrome and printer Epson FX-105. Recent years it has been used by children for playing PC games of late 1980´s. If needed I suppouse the serial number of Kaypro is 402581 - the only number I found from backside. It has been a good computer!
- author:Sevki Alemdar (Turkey)
date:Wednesday 6th September 2006
text:paid nearly 2000 USD in 1987 from a KAYPRO dealer in Turkey for its 8088 PC version. He took my order and gave me his own 286i. But later on he went bankcrupt and disappeared. So I used this machine till the end of 1993. The main board was very heavy but was very powerfull computer at that time. I still have it in a box.
- author:Mike (Ohio)
date:Wednesday 14th December 2005
text:My first IBM compatible was a Kaypro PC. I went all out and purchased the dual floppy drive machine with a color (CGA) monitor after comparing several machines. My choice was between a Tandy 1000, Epson PC and the Kaypro (which I purchased after seeing positive reviews in Creative Computer and Byte magazines) - if you don't remember those you're not an old-timer like myself. I used it for a number of years, upgrading the video to EGA and adding a 20mb harddrive (for $300!!!) until a lightning strike near my home fried the motherboard (it came in through the phone line, frying the modem and the motherboard). I never upgraded my machine to the 286 level, because both the retailer in Cincinnati and Kaypro had gone under during that time. I ended up trading up to a Gateway 2000 25mhz 386 machine.
- author:Douglas (Alaska)
date:Wednesday 3rd August 2005
text:Our family got one of these machines in 1985. At the time, my grandpa was working for the government and that's what they were using then, so we got one cheap. We had a Intel 8086, but I think we upgraded it later. We also had a 5.25" floppy drive and a 30MB hard disk. We got the system with Windows 2.1 and then we got Windows 3.1 in 1992. We used the system until 1996, when sadly, one day it crshed completely. It wouldn't recognize a Windows disk. So we got read of it.
- author:Don (Hawaii)
date:Wednesday 15th June 2005
text:I grew up in the area where Kaypro Computers was located. I went to Jr. High right next door to the campus in Solana Beach. Several of my friends ended up working for Kaypro in the early 80's. A good friend of mine became the head of European sales for Kaypro at a tender young age. They were great computers and definitely on the bleeding edge. Too bad Andy Kay decided to close doors but in the end he wasn't able to keep up with the dollars that IBM and others had to wage a marketing war.
- author:G.I. Polak (Netherlands)
date:Wednesday 13rd April 2005
text:|-
Hi,\
I still own a KAYPRO PC system and wondered if the brand KAYPRO still existed. My KAYPRO PC had a 30 (!!) MB HDD, and a 5,25'' FDD and an Intel 8086 CPU. Later on I added a CD interface with an external CD player to the system. I also ran MKS toolbox on it, remotely logging on over a 2400 Baud Modem, to the company's NCR 32/800 system I worked for, being able to give remote assistance if needed. Nowadays I have my own Wifi LAN with Linux, Win2000, PDA, cell phone etc. It was great working with th KAYPRO PC experimenting with BASIC, Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, Auto Cad, and even Oracle (!!) and helped me to become a computer engineer.
- title:Ralph Baer and Al Alcorn Play Ping-Pong Video Game - 2008
url:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqyDmSobC54
text:'Length:2min 09 s'
comments:
- author:Daniel (spain)
date:Tuesday 9th February 2021
text:In Spain, a clone machine was launched circa 1973. It uses switch rather than cartridges to swap the games.
- author:Tom (USA)
date:Wednesday 29th August 2007
text:Just remember - Pong wasn't the first home video game. Magnavox Odyssey predated it by a year to the month. I worked part time in a Magnavox TV store at the time and we couldn't sell many Odysseys because people thought they had to have a Magnavox TV to use it! People had no previous experience with video games so their ignorance was excuseable.
- author:Alex M. (Seattle, WA)
date:Saturday 4th February 2006
text:|-
The oddysey \*IS\* a digital system. But rather than using a general purpose CPU it has dedicated game circuitry. The behavior of the ball, and paddles, and the existence of bounce zones, etc, are controlled directly by the cartridge pins. One pin is output of +5V to the cartridge. The rest are all inputs, and the cartridge asserts +5V on any of those inputs to activate a given behavior. So all a cartridge is is wires running from the one input pin to a certain set of outputs, that set varying by cartridge... it's really just a bunch of jumpers!
I am te proud owner of one of these, and when it failed on me, I took it apart and reverse-engineered it so I could figure out how to repait it. :)
- author:Chad C. (California, USA)
date:Tuesday 24th May 2005
text:|-
SEARS & ROEBUCK offered a simple home-entertainment-system back
in 1974-75 ? It was called: HOCKEY-JOCKARY from Telegames .
It feature some of the games Odyssey had; Practice, Tennis-for-Two,\
Jokary, and Hockey . Variants made a total of eight games to be played .
This game system did feature an onscreen player score count of up to 15 !\
A Digital Counter of Modulo-16 would be needed for this effect . .
So it might have been analog crktry, but it needed Digital Logic IC's !
Controls were very simple; Potentiometers in handheld dial-knob tubes .\
They only created an up or down motion control . .
It was Model# 362.997310
- author:Chad Castagana (California, USA)
date:Tuesday 24th May 2005
text:|-
The first game of PONG, or 'Tennis For Two' (the first electronic
video game) was realized at Brookhaven Institute .
It utilized the laboratory's Giant Analog Computers
and Relay Logic to create a, on an Oscilloscope Screen,
a game of Tennis For Two(PONG) . .
The article from Old-Computers.com said that this game
console of Magnavox ODYSSEY had no c.p.u. ,
does that mean it had not have digital logic chips ?
It had game cartridges ? Were they not ROM ?
If this was an analog system, then what were the
game cartridges made of ? Was the game system a
hybrid of digital ROM chips and analog video circuitry ?
Sincerely, Chad Castagana, USA
- author:Steeeeeeev (Atlanta, GA)
date:Thursday 5th August 2004
text:'Groan.. I am OLD... My brothers and I had this when we were little... where did 30 years go? :)'
- author:materia_chocomog (Canada)
date:Sunday 29th June 2003
text:|-
Ahh, I remember this.\
When I was 8 my friend's mom had one. It was quite cool, although (even to this day) I thought the controllers were really weird.\
Funky games, though. Never turn down the chance to play it!!
- author:Elisha (male) (USA)
date:Monday 9th June 2003
text:I think this system is very cool because it is the first ever system....
text:Our info comes from this page. More interesting pictures there!
comments:
- author:MacDeath (France)
date:Monday 28th February 2011
text:|-
As told concerning the PC 6001 MK II, this computer is quite similar to an Amstrad CPC... and Like the british CPC664 or CPC6128 is supplied with in-built diskDrive.
But on CPC it was the "exotic" 3"inch diskdrive.
Would be fun to see if the two computers may actually be compatible provided some minor Hacks or emulation...
- author:stefo
date:Friday 13rd August 2010
text:This "Basic N66" is an enhancement of the Basic found in PC-6001 MK2 but is the same Basic that can be found on the PC-6001 MK2 SR (Basic N66 $ N66SR)
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