That was a big deal. I think we had two or three computers before we had one in color. We started with an Apple IIe, my dad got some sort of Dell, and the first time we had a color computer in the house was when we borrowed an original toaster Mac.
I don’t remember after that.
In middle school (late 80s) when we were doing BASIC or art in the computer lab, everyone rushed to get one of the color ones in the room. I think there were only four.
It used to take 40 mins to load a game on the cassette, and sometimes after waiting 40 mins it wouldn't work, and you had to do it again. But at the time it was state of the art to us.
I had a C64. Thought it was cool that I could use my Atari joysticks with it ('well, isn't that convenient?) because they were super abundant.
I'd love to have one that worked as new--i know you can find 'em, but I'd worry about 40 year old capacitors.
Oldest computer I think I've ever seen in the wild was a pristine Magnavox Odyssey. Went to some funky independently owned hardware store one day and the owner just had this perfect condition working Odyssey running behind the counter. He said he plays around with it on slow days, but I think he just liked showing it off.
We had a vic 20 for years and I loved it. My first computer and it ran off tapes. Finally upgraded to a Commodore 64 in 1989 after much pleading and it had floppy disks.
I never heard of the Vic-20! We had a C64 that we adored. Boy, the number of joysticks we went through, haha! Four kids playing constantly; they’d never last long.
I had an Atari. You could buy magazines that had game listings in assembly language, and type them in. If you didn't make any typos, they would run. The Atari used an 8-bit 6502 chip, and learning the instruction set was not difficult. You could add and subtract, rotate bits, peek and poke, and that was about it.
Ah! Imagine being the kid that gets the Vic-20 but nothing else… no media no way to store anything. I had to write my own games and play them only until the unit was turned off and lost the program. I would probably have gone into software development if it weren’t for that. Probably for the best.
In 1984 I begged my parents for a computer. A week before xmas I was digging under the xmas tree trying to shake boxes to figure out what I got. As i pulled a large box out from the tree it accidentally got snagged on another box and ripped half the wrapping paper off revealing a Commodore 64. I was terrified that my parents would see the ripped wrapping paper and return the computer before I ever even got so I carefully replaced the wrapping paper as best i could and moved it back under the tree hiding the torn side. On xmas day, when i was told to start pulling presents from 'santa', i grabbed the commodore box and intentionally scraped it against another box and I was like "Oops, it ripped". My parents probably knew damn well that it did just rip but they never said anything. Today I am a senior software engineer at a multi billion dollar company... Thanks mom & dad.
Wow that’s quite a story. Wish I was as smart as that. I’m just a poor sap that works in a grocery store. Interesting where life takes you. Hope success continues to follow you. Thanks for sharing
I had one. My construction worker dad knew computers were the way of the future and he wanted his girl in on the ground floor figuring out how to use one. Kept getting syntax errors, but I’m quite proficient now. :) My old man was the best.
I had a Vic 20 (my dad thought it would be cool for me to try out). It was awesome. Upgraded to Commadore 64 for my birthday. The 64 lasted 6 years, got a modem, dialed into BBB's in the SF Bay area, used QuantumLink (turned into AOL later), played games on it, so much fun!
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It's a personal COLOR computer. Wow!
That was a big deal. I think we had two or three computers before we had one in color. We started with an Apple IIe, my dad got some sort of Dell, and the first time we had a color computer in the house was when we borrowed an original toaster Mac. I don’t remember after that. In middle school (late 80s) when we were doing BASIC or art in the computer lab, everyone rushed to get one of the color ones in the room. I think there were only four.
Don’t joke about the Vic 20, amazing computer
I have great memories playing golf on this computer. I didn’t know what to do with myself.
We had one. The game we had was "asteroids".
It used to take 40 mins to load a game on the cassette, and sometimes after waiting 40 mins it wouldn't work, and you had to do it again. But at the time it was state of the art to us.
I had a C64. Thought it was cool that I could use my Atari joysticks with it ('well, isn't that convenient?) because they were super abundant. I'd love to have one that worked as new--i know you can find 'em, but I'd worry about 40 year old capacitors.
I have a C64 sitting on my workbench right now. Unsurprisingly it doesn't start!
Oldest computer I think I've ever seen in the wild was a pristine Magnavox Odyssey. Went to some funky independently owned hardware store one day and the owner just had this perfect condition working Odyssey running behind the counter. He said he plays around with it on slow days, but I think he just liked showing it off.
I have my C64 and a 1541 disk drive that still work from 1983. That thing paved the way to my current career.
We had a vic 20 for years and I loved it. My first computer and it ran off tapes. Finally upgraded to a Commodore 64 in 1989 after much pleading and it had floppy disks.
Confirmed - cassette tape drive :)
I had a Spectrum.
I’m assuming that’s not the same Spectrum that ended up being a global communications company??
No, a Sinclair Spectrum. [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum)
Okay I see
You thinking Spectrum Holobyte?
Got me started in computers and made me a successful career.
I bet you learned about sprites.
Color! I had a Timex Sinclair, yours was a supercomputer compared to that!
I had this
light cigarette cough cough There's a coffin in here! \- VooDoo Castle
I be liking parrots, matey - Pirate's Adventure I got lost in that word game, man...
I never heard of the Vic-20! We had a C64 that we adored. Boy, the number of joysticks we went through, haha! Four kids playing constantly; they’d never last long.
Just like my hot wheels cars. I played with them until they disintegrated
I had a Vic 20. Got a girlfriend shortly after and it was her or it. I still have her.
I had an Atari. You could buy magazines that had game listings in assembly language, and type them in. If you didn't make any typos, they would run. The Atari used an 8-bit 6502 chip, and learning the instruction set was not difficult. You could add and subtract, rotate bits, peek and poke, and that was about it.
Ah yes, Compute! Magazine. I spent a lot of time hunting down typos and saving the programs to the cassette deck 😬
Ah! Imagine being the kid that gets the Vic-20 but nothing else… no media no way to store anything. I had to write my own games and play them only until the unit was turned off and lost the program. I would probably have gone into software development if it weren’t for that. Probably for the best.
Yes, but the Atari joystick did not come with it
Been there, had that!! Later upgraded to the 64 with the 1541 disc drive and cassette player. And the dot matrix printer.
I still have mine, with the box. It's broken. I'll carry it around until I die prolly.
Wow. Im feeling like a kid again with all these old console/pc posts.
I had an Atari 400 back then. I hated the keyboard on it.
I had that computer. The keyboard did suck. There were no keys, just a plastic surface you had to hammer with your finger.
oh, yea! that was my first computer also and I had a 300 baud modem to dial into bulletin boards....
I've got one I rescued from a garage sale in the box barely used and collecting dust. I don't know shit about it. I only messed with c64.
I had one, too! Awesome 😎
In 1984 I begged my parents for a computer. A week before xmas I was digging under the xmas tree trying to shake boxes to figure out what I got. As i pulled a large box out from the tree it accidentally got snagged on another box and ripped half the wrapping paper off revealing a Commodore 64. I was terrified that my parents would see the ripped wrapping paper and return the computer before I ever even got so I carefully replaced the wrapping paper as best i could and moved it back under the tree hiding the torn side. On xmas day, when i was told to start pulling presents from 'santa', i grabbed the commodore box and intentionally scraped it against another box and I was like "Oops, it ripped". My parents probably knew damn well that it did just rip but they never said anything. Today I am a senior software engineer at a multi billion dollar company... Thanks mom & dad.
Wow that’s quite a story. Wish I was as smart as that. I’m just a poor sap that works in a grocery store. Interesting where life takes you. Hope success continues to follow you. Thanks for sharing
DESTROY HIM, MY ROBOTS
It was state-of-the-art in 1980. In 1982 they released the Commodore 64.
I had one of those as well. Also the Commodore 120 later on
Potty Pidgeon
That was also my first Computer.
I had one. My construction worker dad knew computers were the way of the future and he wanted his girl in on the ground floor figuring out how to use one. Kept getting syntax errors, but I’m quite proficient now. :) My old man was the best.
I had a Vic 20 (my dad thought it would be cool for me to try out). It was awesome. Upgraded to Commadore 64 for my birthday. The 64 lasted 6 years, got a modem, dialed into BBB's in the SF Bay area, used QuantumLink (turned into AOL later), played games on it, so much fun!
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