Sunday, November 26th, 2006

Time

Event

9:44a

Flashback to 26 May 1994 - The Commodore 64 computer From time to time I include essays written by myself in the pre-blog days. This was originally written on 26 May 1994 on a Mac Classic using MacWrite II. The Commodore 64 vs the Mac Some of us who have been using computers for a while may have noticed with some nostalgia that the plug has been pulled on Commodore computers. It was not long ago, only five or six years that the Commodore 64 was one of the biggest selling computers in the world. Not only were they being used for domestic purposes but some manufacturers used them to programme robots on assembly lines and TV stations used them as graphics generators. I would not be surprised if many of our members had used them in their pre-Mac days. I for one completed a university degree with one, and then I used it to manage the business of a remote Aboriginal community in the Victoria Desert for six months. It never missed a beat. In comparison to a Mac they were very cheap, although we did not appreciate the fact at the time. About $700 could set one up with a computer, disk drive and a printer. Macs when they first appeared in Perth were three or for time more expensive. I kept my old Commodore 64, mainly because I had a lot of files on five and a half inch disks which I wanted to keep and possibly re-access one day. About a month ago at a flea market I could not resist buying another C 64 for $2, then last week at the same flea market I picked up another complete with a disk drive and all mint condition for $20 the lot. One never knows when it will come in handy. You might be wondering what all this has to do with Macs? Well I think there is a lot of things the two companies could have learned from eachother. Commodore in its heyday knew how to market computers to the masses, Apple didn’t then, and I do not think they have improved much since. Look at the Newton, apart from the prototype which was shown at a meeting last year I have never seen one - anywhere. Of course Apple seem to be making squillions anyway, or so we are led to believe. My kids who commandeered the $20 Commodore reckon that in spite of its now relatively puny RAM, it has games superior to anything they have seen on a Mac. Whoa I can hear you say, it can’t be. Yes it can. Not only do they think the 64’s games are superior, but also those for a much older Vic 20. Somewhere along the line it seems that computer games programmers have lost the thread. Blinded by the opportunity to use almost as much RAM as they like the best modern games take up heaps of space but often are jerkier than the stuff that was around about a decade ago. In addition it always astounds me that I can almost immediately turn up a fault with a new piece of Mac software I have purchased when its beta version has supposedly been tested by thousands of computer experts. So if we forget about games and puny ram, what else was good about the 64s. Well they were compact. The entire computer was contained within the keyboard and they used a standard TV set in the lounge room as a screen. The power supply was separate too. In fact everything was modular and interchangeable between different models, for example the Vic 20 and the Commodore 64. I think Apple could still take a cue from this. There is no good reason why a well designed modern power supply should not last for a hundred years. Why not develop a standard remote power supply to handle the requirements of a multitude of future Apple models? This would enable a lower manufacturing cost of the actual computer unit, not to mention a saving in weight, case size etc. Those early programmers were cunning in more ways than one. Much of the software could not be copied unless one was a dedicated hacker or knew some one who was. Pirating was carried out then, but it is far easier to do now with Mac software. PW. 26 May 1994. © MMVI Paul R. Weaver. About the writer Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a couple of million words. Technorati Profile Who links to me? (Comment on this)

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