It’s quite amazing how technology has developed in our
lifetime. In particular, I think about computers. In the office, we have Linux
clusters of thousands of computers performing parallel computers. The smart
phones in our pockets have more memory and compute power than the Cray
super-computer I used for number crunching when I started my professional
career in the early 1990s.
Does anyone remember Commodore 64? It was my first computer.
I bought it in 1982, when I was in highschool. I worked an entire summer to
earn up the $500 I needed to buy it.
Commodore 64 was a gray box with the electronics inside and
the keyboard on top. The memory was 64 kiloByte, and the storage was a cassette
recorder. I used the TV as display, connecting the computer with co-ax cable.
We had only one TV in our family, so I had to wait till my father had seen the
late news 11pm before I could use the computer. I guess that’s when I became a
night owl (which I still am).
The early software was published in computer magazines, as
code listings, and you had to type it in yourself (just imagine typing in the
source code for Windows 7).
Commodore 64 wasn’t much of a computer, but it was good
enough to learn the fundamentals of computer programming. I could do my math
homework, and make some very simple computer games. I always thought playing
computer games was boring. When I had made a game, I quickly got tired of it,
and made a new one.
(The picture is from
Wikipedia. Unfortunately, I sold my Commodore 64 when I got my first IBM PC. For
those who want to play and pretend, there are Commodore 64 emulators on the
Internet.)
Nowadays the C64 lives on in music. There is a subgenre to synth called bitpop which uses the SID sound.
ReplyDeleteCool. I didn't know. I did a big mistake when I sold my C64. It would have been fun to have to show to the kids, what a home-computer used to be. I thought the C64 was fantastic when I bought it >:)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXkxixWZU3A
DeleteAnd now I am down the rabbit hole, so there'll be a bit of a theme for some of my t-tune posts..
that's cool. I didn't know that this kind of music existed. Will keep an eye on your t-tune posts (maybe I should start my own t-tune series) >:)
DeleteYes, do! We will make t-tune a Thing on the internet! And turn people's thursdays and tuesdays into musical days :D
DeleteOk. I will start when this. AZ stuff had come to an end >:)
DeleteI wasn't an early adopter of home computers, but I did start out with a KayPro. Went from that to a Mac Plus and have been Mac ever since.
ReplyDeleteSue Ann Bowling
Homecoming Blog
Stormy's Sidekick
Blogging from A to Z April Challenge
My husband has an old Commodore in his closet. It hasn't worked in years, but he refuses to give it up.
ReplyDeleteAyden
we bought two Macs in 1987, one for the kids, one for us. been apple people ever since.
ReplyDelete