Welcome to my blog. If you haven’t already figured out, the main focus will be primarily the Commodore 64 but will also feature computer related topics and discussion.
It’s quite possible you may not have heard of what the Commodore 64 computer is, so let’s begin there.
The Commodore 64 was released August 1982 by Commodore Business Machines (CBM). The computer is self contained within a plastic case with a built in keyboard. It uses an external power supply pack. The computer also has an output for which a monitor or TV would be hooked up. Two joystick ports are located on the right hand side and on the back you will find a cartridge/user slot. Also located on the back are two DIN plug serial ports for connecting of disk drives, tape drives or a printer.
The on-board memory was only 64K but the graphics and sound that would emanate from the machine were amazing. The video display is a 320X200 with 16 colours. Processing all that is a MOS Technology 6510/6502 chip set running 8 bits clocked at 1.023 MHZ. The computer came preloaded with BASIC care of our good friend Bill Gates of Microsoft.
When flipped on, you are shown a soothing two-tone blue screen flicker on and greet you. The system is ready to be instructed and you knew it.
At this point you could insert a disk into an external drive and load up the program of your choice simply by typing in a few commands (similar to DOS). If you wanted to use the cartridge or user port, locate the big slot on the back and insert the cartridge, making sure the power switch is off first.
The Commodore 64 was very versatile and easy to use. The instruction hand book was a good reference. If you wanted to learn more, books would be available at the library for loan. Some weekends were spent just typing out programs and then debugging only to find that for some reason it still didn’t work.
When the computer came out swinging, the price to purchase was about $595 US. The machine was actually a successor to the VIC-20 (which looked much the same but with less memory). The Commodore 64 was available for a period of 12 years with production ending in April 1994 but not before it had a face lift in 1986 with a fresh new look.
Commodore had made a name for it’s self over the years and it’s amazing how a typewriter company turned to calculators and then later with the acquisition of MOS Technologies they were able to make a mark in the computer industry.
Commodore continued to provide products after the C64 including C128 and the Amiga line but Commodore could not keep up with technological changes that IBM PC & Apple had now dictated. As such consumer demand shifted and Commodore had lost market share therefore contributing to the end of the Commodore Empire.
Stay tuned for my story….
