Comments on: The man behind the Commodore 64

Commodore founder Jack Tramiel gives rare interview at 25th anniversary event for his signature creation, on which he still plays Pac-Man.
Video: Commodore 64's silver anniversary

[inachu]

I still like my amiga 500

Amiga 500 still plays lots of the c-64 games.

[krosavcheg]

Frodo, Vice, Magic64, A64

A stock A500 ? No it doesn't. To emulate C64 at half-decent speeds a 68020 accelerator or better is/was required. Exceptions exist of course, a few games run at usable speeds if using less-than-accurate emulation.
Ports of C64 games for the Amiga is another matter entirely.

--
bugmenot-user

[inachu]

I still like my amiga 500

Amiga 500 still plays lots of the c-64 games.

[krosavcheg]

Frodo, Vice, Magic64, A64

A stock A500 ? No it doesn't. To emulate C64 at half-decent speeds a 68020 accelerator or better is/was required. Exceptions exist of course, a few games run at usable speeds if using less-than-accurate emulation.
Ports of C64 games for the Amiga is another matter entirely.

--
bugmenot-user

[g3 creative]

Commodore 64

The Amiga was my very first personal computer and it is still in the loft. I also a Mac Classic.

Memories.

Dave Mac

G3 Creative

[g3 creative]

Commodore 64

The Amiga was my very first personal computer and it is still in the loft. I also a Mac Classic.

Memories.

Dave Mac

G3 Creative

[zenjazzplayer]

Videos of my C-64 art from 1985

I created the content of the video show "This!" episodes 2 through 4 on a Commodore 64 computer in 1985 using the Koala Pad graphics tablet and C-64 BASIC. I also wrote and performed the music for the videos.

You can view these 3 videos of mine at www.savageheart.com (scroll down to the Videos section). They are also on YouTube at www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=zenjazzplayer

I have 2 C-64s, 1541 and 1571 disk drives, and other hardware and software (the 1701 monitor finally stopped working in 1995). They are in boxes. Some day I'll set them up again.

[zenjazzplayer]

Videos of my C-64 art from 1985

I created the content of the video show "This!" episodes 2 through 4 on a Commodore 64 computer in 1985 using the Koala Pad graphics tablet and C-64 BASIC. I also wrote and performed the music for the videos.

You can view these 3 videos of mine at www.savageheart.com (scroll down to the Videos section). They are also on YouTube at www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=zenjazzplayer

I have 2 C-64s, 1541 and 1571 disk drives, and other hardware and software (the 1701 monitor finally stopped working in 1995). They are in boxes. Some day I'll set them up again.

[Ilgaz]

All C64 users know how to make that screenshot

10 PRINT "Computer History Museum"
20 GOTO 10

Ask any average person today how to display a window
containing their name on Mac or PC. They won't be able to
answer.

That was the reason of success for 8bit computers and their
users. Everyone one way or another had to know how computer
truly works and generally had an idea about the logic making
programs work.

[Anon-Y-mous]

I can do that in fewer bits ;-)

10 ?"Computer History Museum":RUN

[Ilgaz]

All C64 users know how to make that screenshot

10 PRINT "Computer History Museum"
20 GOTO 10

Ask any average person today how to display a window
containing their name on Mac or PC. They won't be able to
answer.

That was the reason of success for 8bit computers and their
users. Everyone one way or another had to know how computer
truly works and generally had an idea about the logic making
programs work.

[Anon-Y-mous]

I can do that in fewer bits ;-)

10 ?"Computer History Museum":RUN

[Ilgaz]

Amiga did an evil thing, spoiled us

We , A500 users saw Multi tasking, multiple resolutions and
dynamic loading libraries, 32bit computing way too early.

That is why it is really hard to impress Amiga users even today.

Amiga could preview documents it has no idea about back in
1991 thanks to "data types" library. Now Apple and MS packs the
exact same feature, add couple of direct3d/opengl tricks and
people say "Wow".

If you speak about playing a 3d game on a Machine with 8Mhz
CPU and no 3d acceleration... Well don't :)

[Ilgaz]

Amiga did an evil thing, spoiled us

We , A500 users saw Multi tasking, multiple resolutions and
dynamic loading libraries, 32bit computing way too early.

That is why it is really hard to impress Amiga users even today.

Amiga could preview documents it has no idea about back in
1991 thanks to "data types" library. Now Apple and MS packs the
exact same feature, add couple of direct3d/opengl tricks and
people say "Wow".

If you speak about playing a 3d game on a Machine with 8Mhz
CPU and no 3d acceleration... Well don't :)

[MoonDragn]

Loyalty

He's wrong about loyalty. I was very loyal to Commodore for so long. I upgraded from a C-64 to a C-128 and then the Amiga 500, and the 1200. It wasn't til the company basically went out of the computer business that I stopped thinking the future was an Amiga.

They made alot of mistakes marketing the Amiga. At the time it was one of the most advanced computers out there. If they had marketed it correctly, it would have taken over the industry. It was years beyond the technology of the Apples and the IBM pcs.

They should have been smart and let 3rd party people make parts for the Amiga, and kept only the rights to the OS that runs on it. Then the competition would have driven the price down and made it popular.

They would have made money in selling the OS like bill gates did and the productivity software that went with it.

[jgraebner]

Amiga

Note that Tramiel actually didn't have anything to do with the Amiga. By the time Commodore bought out Amiga (which was originally an independent company), Tramiel had left the company and purchased Atari. Tramiel was actually behind the Atari ST, which was generally the main competitor for the Amiga at the time.

One interesting irony is that many of the designers of the Amiga came from Atari originally. As a result, the Amiga was largely designed by people that had worked on the Atari 400/800 while the Atari ST was largely designed by people that had worked on the VIC-20/Commodore 64.

[MoonDragn]

Loyalty

He's wrong about loyalty. I was very loyal to Commodore for so long. I upgraded from a C-64 to a C-128 and then the Amiga 500, and the 1200. It wasn't til the company basically went out of the computer business that I stopped thinking the future was an Amiga.

They made alot of mistakes marketing the Amiga. At the time it was one of the most advanced computers out there. If they had marketed it correctly, it would have taken over the industry. It was years beyond the technology of the Apples and the IBM pcs.

They should have been smart and let 3rd party people make parts for the Amiga, and kept only the rights to the OS that runs on it. Then the competition would have driven the price down and made it popular.

They would have made money in selling the OS like bill gates did and the productivity software that went with it.

[jgraebner]

Amiga

Note that Tramiel actually didn't have anything to do with the Amiga. By the time Commodore bought out Amiga (which was originally an independent company), Tramiel had left the company and purchased Atari. Tramiel was actually behind the Atari ST, which was generally the main competitor for the Amiga at the time.

One interesting irony is that many of the designers of the Amiga came from Atari originally. As a result, the Amiga was largely designed by people that had worked on the Atari 400/800 while the Atari ST was largely designed by people that had worked on the VIC-20/Commodore 64.

[Andy kaufman]

Anyone remember "Jack Attacks"?

Jack would attack some employee through their cubical wall if they tried to make a Commodore part faster like the 1541 drive, and Jack would attack them to get them to stop because he wanted it cheaper. That was why the 1541 drive was so slow, it was made cheap, but not faster which would have cost more.

Originally the C64 was a tape drive computer, and they added the floppy drive later.

They turned it into a video game:
http://www.download-full-games.com/c64/games/jack_attack.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiLjlzDi7_0

[Andy kaufman]

Anyone remember "Jack Attacks"?

Jack would attack some employee through their cubical wall if they tried to make a Commodore part faster like the 1541 drive, and Jack would attack them to get them to stop because he wanted it cheaper. That was why the 1541 drive was so slow, it was made cheap, but not faster which would have cost more.

Originally the C64 was a tape drive computer, and they added the floppy drive later.

They turned it into a video game:
http://www.download-full-games.com/c64/games/jack_attack.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiLjlzDi7_0

[pugster]

I liked commodore 64

Commodore 64 was the pc that brought computers to the common people. Definately the computer at its day.

[pugster]

I liked commodore 64

Commodore 64 was the pc that brought computers to the common people. Definately the computer at its day.

[danielz40]

Atari and Jack

To me, Jack led Atari through the PC revolution. He was outselling Apple Macs in Europe. He had a following. The only problem I saw was what Amiga saw (and they saw it too late also) was the name. Atari was viewed as a games computer because of the name. The first thing they should have done was change the name away from Atari. Other than that, the whole industry changed my life's heading, beginning with the VIC 20. I was lucky to be involved in the time.

[danielz40]

Atari and Jack

To me, Jack led Atari through the PC revolution. He was outselling Apple Macs in Europe. He had a following. The only problem I saw was what Amiga saw (and they saw it too late also) was the name. Atari was viewed as a games computer because of the name. The first thing they should have done was change the name away from Atari. Other than that, the whole industry changed my life's heading, beginning with the VIC 20. I was lucky to be involved in the time.

[rchacin1]

What about VIC-20

I learned programming on a VIC-20. It had 5K RAM and I installed a cartridge to upgrade it to 12 KB. Today I have a samll web developement firm and my cell phone has 64 MB RAM.

My own version of Kaboom! was kind of popular among other local users. It was freeware althought the term didn't exist by then.

[Proustian]

The VIC-20 was great

and too bad the C64 couldn't run VIC-20 software.

Here is a video of William Shatner promoting the Commodore VIC-20 for you:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZFx7uDWt-UY&search=shatner

[rchacin1]

What about VIC-20

I learned programming on a VIC-20. It had 5K RAM and I installed a cartridge to upgrade it to 12 KB. Today I have a samll web developement firm and my cell phone has 64 MB RAM.

My own version of Kaboom! was kind of popular among other local users. It was freeware althought the term didn't exist by then.

[Proustian]

The VIC-20 was great

and too bad the C64 couldn't run VIC-20 software.

Here is a video of William Shatner promoting the Commodore VIC-20 for you:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZFx7uDWt-UY&search=shatner