Bo Holt <
usenet@vk3heg.net> writes:
|03Quoting message from |11Dennis Katsonis |03to |11Mortar M.
|03on |1112 Apr 26 11:25:58|03.
Re: Re: Commodore 64 Ultimate Starlight
By: Mortar M. to Dennis Katsonis on Sat Apr 11 2026 01:41 pm
Re: Re: Commodore 64 Ultimate Starlight
By: Dennis Katsonis to marika on Fri Apr 10 2026 22:44:14
To be frank, C64 basic wasn't that great, even back then.
Agreed. Considering the number of Commodore micros already in the wild, yo
think they'd have improved the BASIC for the VIC and 64, as these were inte
for non-computer savvy people.
My first computer was a VZ 200, which predated the C64 (I think it was s
as a V-Tech 200 in the US.
I vaguely remember reading about this in magazines, but never actually seen
one. After looking it up online, I can see why. It was only around for tw
year and had low specs. No way could it have competed with the likes of th
C=64 or even the Atari 400. However, it did not pre-date the 64. The VZ-2
came out in '83, while the 64 came out a year earlier.
I got the VZ200 in 1991, quite a bit after it release. My parents got it garage sale cheap (buying a new computer was a bit much back then, just fo
to use). It was a bit dissapointing as I wanted the Atari 1040STE, but as
had just been introduced to BASIC at school, it was fun to try BASIC at ho
and draw graphics and make basic games.
Dick Smith started an electronics store called, Dick Smith Electronics, an
VZ 200 was their rebrand, sold with his face on it.
A little later that year, they got a Vic 20 at a garage sale, which had be
graphics, but lacked the drawing commands. A little later, the C64 came, second hand. You could do sprites, but again, no graphics. Not without entering some other machine code subroutines.
I suppose they had to get it out quick, and once it was out, you can't pat
it.
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I am 45. My gradnfather got me a Timex Sinclair when I was 2, CoCo2 when I turned 5 (really cut my teeth on that one), then his hand-me-down Amstrad PC1512DD when I was in the fourth grade, and then in 192 started as an apprentice at our local computer store and learned to build machines and built
my 486DX-33. I never stopped working in the field since I started in 1992, and I started BBSing back on the CoCo2. I never knew anyone with a Commodore when I was growing up, so I'm enjoying living an alternate-reality childhood with the C64U. I'm trying to spark an interest in computers with my nephews and nieces (they are much younger than 5 still), they already love allmy vintage electronics I bring, and it's fun to play with these things with them.
... Message sent. Destroy immediately upon receipt.
I spent most my childhood outdoors climbing trees or playing sports - or various other things kids used to do pre-internet.
I would be inside during the rain. We had an Atari game console and had
5-6 cartridges. One of them was defender and that was the best game we
had. That game got old quite fast. Honestly, I was a bookworm. Video
games were rather uninspiring to me until many years later. Our schools
had Apple 2's because Apple donated them. I wasn't really inspired to
learn programming because the teachers didn't TEACH us to
program. Back in those days, our schools had one teacher per class for
all day. And none of them were trained in computer science. It took
years for the school system, at least in my area, to catch up with the
times. Nowadays, these schools look like mini-college campii.
We had pre-written basic games we'd spend a long time typing into the
terminal. Assuming I didn't mess up somewhere, I'd have a few minutes to
play hangman or whatever it was. Nothing to write home about. Nothing
was saved and, all the work was gone when the computers were switched
off.
It just didn't hit me hard in those days. I preferred to spend recess
time outside instead of in front of a computer typing line code I
didn't understand. I had classmates who really soaked it in though and
some would hand write basic code at home and do the work at
school. Most of us didn't have computers - so our screen time
was limited to school. And in the later elementary grade, girls were
getting interesting to me and they weren't in the computer room.
Anyway, my first computer at home was in the 90s after coming home from
the navy. My brother took me with him to Fry's and I helped him select a computer case. The other components he had already identified before
the trip. I watched a computer being built for the first time. I had no
idea what was what. Everything looked alien to me. Times have changed.
I follow the likes of the C64 community out of curiousity. I'm more of a
lurker to be honest. My actual daily driver (as in constant use) for
my writing hobby is a Tandy laptop. The model 200. I also have spare 100
and 102's laying around for mod projects. It does what I set out to do,
write. And I can do that well. The keyboard layout isn't all fucked
up. I don't see a caps lock in the south pole and the " key isn't in boonyville. They're in the proper position.
I bought a C64 mini on sale at gamestop 5-6 years ago. I played a few
games for a bit and, well, it's in the closet somewhere. I tried to load
other utilities via a flash card but nothing seemed to work without
serious hacking. So, so, so not interested in that. The games were
OKAY and I could understand what kids my age saw in it. My exposure to
the Commodore platform came just a few years ago. Otherwise, it was just
a subject in echonets when I dialed into BBSes.
I'm currently considering the purchase of an Atari ST 800XL with a
modern keyboard replacement. The original keyboard was a hunk of
shit while the modern replacements use modern switches and the keys are
in the modern locations. Still have a ton of reading to do about the
platform and whether I wish to dive into it versus staying with my
beloved Tandy.
Daniel
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