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Commodore 64 reincarnated on a chip
C|Net News ^ | December 20, 2004 | John Markoff

Posted on 12/20/2004 8:22:38 AM PST by holymoly

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To: Elvis van Foster
I still have mine. And software for a GUI. I don't know how they did that with 64k.

Because Bill Gates didn't write it. My Commodore Amiga had the entire GIU operating system on 1 3 1/2" floppy, 1.44 Mb worth of storage. Today's Bloatware Win XP is several Gb!

61 posted on 12/20/2004 10:16:11 AM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: holymoly

Risk on the Commodore was cool. also I recall a star trek game called "voyage to dakiak" or something.


62 posted on 12/20/2004 10:19:30 AM PST by isom35
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To: whd23
OK try this...

http://www.qvc.com/asp/frameset.asp?nest=%2Fasp%2FisItemNumberRedirect.asp&search=SQ&frames=y&referrer=QVC&txtDesc=c64&SearchClass=&Submit4=Go

63 posted on 12/20/2004 10:33:59 AM PST by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.)
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To: goldstategop
Geos was a legacy system used on Brother's Geobooks and SuperPower Notes. Pre Windows XP days.

There was one for the Commodore too.

Geos for Commodore

64 posted on 12/20/2004 10:38:20 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Drug prohibition laws help fund terrorism.)
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To: RadioAstronomer

Ping


65 posted on 12/20/2004 10:41:28 AM PST by Professional Engineer (Taglinus Classicus. When you have absolutely nothing new to say.)
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To: biggerten

Trust me in 1983 there was no IDE.... I had a 3 CPU system in 1984, and I used all of em... long before clustering was a fad.

2 1541's and the C64. Would have the drives run programs and write their results to the disk when done, and use the CPU to do other things while that was going on.


66 posted on 12/20/2004 10:54:07 AM PST by HamiltonJay ("You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.")
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To: Shellback Chuck
Yes it was called "Geos" and then it turned into "Geoworks" for the PC. It was better than Windows 3.1 but didn't catch on.

The one and only time I was a member of AOL, their client app was based on GeoWorks. They didn't come out with a Windows version until later.

I'm sure there are many annoying things about AOL now, but back then what killed me was the fact that every time I dialed in (at 2400 baud, the highest connect speed in my town at the time), I had to wait 5+ minutes while the AOL client downloaded new graphics for their GUI.


67 posted on 12/20/2004 12:28:49 PM PST by Constitutionalist Conservative (Have you visited http://blog.c-pol.com?)
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To: holymoly
I'm still kicking myself for not buying a 1581 (3.5") floppy drive all those years ago. Who would've ever thought that 5.25" floppies would go the way of the dodo?

Our first computer was a twin floppy drive, back around '1988. The salesman said it'll hold all the memory you'll need in a lifetime, LOL.

Then I sprung 2 grand for a color compaqq notebook in 1995ish. With a 40meg hard drive it become obsolete in less than 2 years.

68 posted on 12/20/2004 12:38:50 PM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: HamiltonJay

I understand that in 1983 there were no IDE drives.

Myself, as a project I built a serial/parallel converter for the C64 to drive a standard Centronics printer.

It's a little fuzzy in my memory now, but there was the cartridge slot, the joystick port, the daisy chain port, and an additional card edge connector in the back. The card edge connector was for the casette drive. I also added an RCA jack for a standard monitor, instead of the output to the TV.

The joystick port worked great as an A/D input (which is what it really was).

I worked that all into a career doing hardware/firmware development for medical device manufacturers. I have pretty much left my assembly days behind now (Fortran and PLM are long gone) and do almost everything in C.

But the 6510 is still remebered warmly.


69 posted on 12/20/2004 1:08:49 PM PST by biggerten (Love you, Mom.)
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To: Tennessee_Bob
Was the GUI called Geoworks or somesuch as that? I had a 128...

GEOS by Berkeley Softworks, I believe.

70 posted on 12/20/2004 4:58:39 PM PST by Swordmaker (Tagline now open, please ring bell.)
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To: Swordmaker
I believe that GeOS was the window interface. It had folders, clickable icons etc. Then there was geoworks which was the office-like package. It contained a wordprocessor, spreadsheet, database, and a drawing package I think. There was even a development environment with a C++ like language I think.

At the time, I was starting to write a lot of reports in college and along with my star dot matrix printer, it came in handy.

71 posted on 12/20/2004 5:18:59 PM PST by avg_freeper (Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)
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To: Jagman

I wrote all my law school outlines and papers on a Commodore 64 and a daisy wheel printer. I remember long nights waiting hours for a 15 page paper to print. I even got a modem.... 300 baud, no graphics, and you could see each character as it appeared on screen....

Boy did it seem fast......

Good times.....sort of.


72 posted on 12/20/2004 5:26:53 PM PST by NCLaw441
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To: HamiltonJay

"Awesome It's got Jumpman! Definately one of the best home computer games EVER!"

That game, along with Karateka and The Seven Cities of Gold, blew my impressionable young mind.


73 posted on 12/20/2004 5:34:54 PM PST by DarkSavant (It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain!)
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To: vollmond
There was an Archon III... sort of, it was basically some idiot who decided to cash in on the franchise, it wasn't the original designers or company. The game sucked so much I have thoughts of violence frequently towards the creator.

As for MULE, watch out for flying moose rats!
74 posted on 12/20/2004 5:38:51 PM PST by DarkSavant (It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain!)
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To: DarkSavant

I had a 128. bought one disk drive and got a second from a friend who had just graduated to an Apple IIe. Good Times

I had a 2800k modem. man where those fast! Some good flight sims. The best was Apollo 18.
recently found a mac emulator and tried to play it again. I got as far as the opening screen. Dying laughing the whole time.
I remember thinking how much better the graphics where than the old Timex/Sinclair I first bought!


75 posted on 12/20/2004 5:48:26 PM PST by SSR1
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To: Shellback Chuck

One of the first programs I wrote was to "read" the lines back to me with the voice synth so I could follow along in the magazine to see where I'd messed-up. Came in real handy when I typed in the wordprocessing program - I think it was called SuperScript.

And the first time I played Elite, I played for 26 hours non-stop.


76 posted on 12/20/2004 5:56:38 PM PST by msgt (Press any key to continue...Press any other key to quit.)
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To: stainlessbanner
And she's cute, too:



She's the one on the right. ;)
77 posted on 12/22/2004 1:15:19 PM PST by Rastus
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