The Story of 5 Unreleased Commodore Computers

erek

erek

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Messages
10,898
Never owned a commodore myself, but really like them anyhow:

"This video looks at the story behind 5 different unreleased computers by Commodore Business Machines."


 
I remember using Commodore PETs in grade school, there were like 2 in the computer lab we went to for all of about an hour a week. Looking back, I wasted a lot of money on Commodore products that I kind of regret because it was just for the gaming side of things and didn't really get any sort of useful skills out of them other than maybe not being such a noob with the PC side of things that I eventually fell into in my late teens.
 
I learned to program on Commodore PET (CBM). BASIC. But when programming games I poked my own machine language routines for laser fire, etc.
 
Commodore and MOS Tech was a marriage made in desperation.Unfortunately, the two hard-asses names Jack an Chuck (that built the first all-in-one personal computer for half the cost of Apple II) couldn't acknowledge their lack of interpersonal skills or long-term vision, and kept tripping over each other.

After Atari said no to the VIC chip as a successor to the 2600, it took Commodore three years to find use for it, and it only shipped because The Other Intellect was simply impossible with current DRAM.

The Commodore 64 almost wasn't released in time to rule the gaming computer market, because Commodore chairmen were too happy with their rising stock values from VIC-20 hardware and software sales. Jack had to develop the VIC II in secret.

That, and they basically had two-person team working on the 16-bit 6502, so of course it was 5 years later than Intel or Motorola.
 
Last edited:
sfsuphysics said:
I remember using Commodore PETs in grade school, there were like 2 in the computer lab we went to for all of about an hour a week. Looking back, I wasted a lot of money on Commodore products that I kind of regret because it was just for the gaming side of things and didn't really get any sort of useful skills out of them other than maybe not being such a noob with the PC side of things that I eventually fell into in my late teens.
Click to expand...

Don't feel too bad, you got general computer skills. Also you probably forgot how expensive PCs were back then. The reason shit like the C64, Tandy Color Computer and such were able to make a market was that PCs were fucking expensive. Wasn't until later that their prices started to become affordable for most people.
 
I've only owned Amiga's, first one was an Amiga 3000 I bought in 1992 and bought a Video Toaster 4000 for it the following year.
Also had a few Amiga 2000's and an Amiga 3000T that I picked up used in the mid 90's.

This was my Amiga 3000T back in 2002 or so, about to fire up Lemmings 2 :The Tribes.
amiga3k.jpg
 
defaultluser said:
That, and they basically had two-person team working on the 16-bit 6502, so of course it was 5 years later than Intel or Motorola.
Click to expand...
Did you mean the 16-bit 65C816?
The 6502 was 8-bit; just trying to clarify. :)
 
Sycraft said:
Don't feel too bad, you got general computer skills. Also you probably forgot how expensive PCs were back then.
Click to expand...
I remember paying $200 for 8 MEGAbytes of ram... so no I don't forget. Also remember all the bullshit stuff with the UART chips, when my modem wouldn't work to actual speed because the I/O port couldn't keep up with 14.4k modem :D :D :D
 
C64 was the best of the gaming computers you could buy in the early to mid 80's that you MIGHT have a shot at getting, since half the parents I knew didn't want to get "another Atari....the old one is sitting in the garage!" for their kids, the 400 or the 800 in the same general pricepoint, so a lot of kids went C64. One mailorder copy of Fast Hack'Em later.....but I digress. I was lucky enough to con my way into an Amiga 500 by the end of the 80's and that was some epic system playing there for its time, I remember playing Hostage! on Amiga and then seeing it on the Nintendo 8 bit and loling (when the Nintendo 8 bit was the hot machine of the moment, the Phoenix rising from the ashes of the great console crash half a decade earlier). I still have a C64 setup, though not my own, a few years ago it still booted with the Epyx fastload cart and the 1541 didn't implode but with every passing year those caps and belts are just a little bit dryer. I'll never fire it up again probably, and it won't be worth it to get it repaired, but the boxes of floppies......soooo many Nashuas......remind me of simpler times ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top