The Commodore Story

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Changing the world 8 bits at a time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For many years now we have been reminded of the amazing success of Apple, IBM, and Microsoft and how each of these companies launched the Personal Computer revolution. It is true that the victors write history and it is true that Apple, Microsoft, and IBM (precisely the first two) certainly dominate the computing world that we all live in today.

But being someone who was introduced to Personal Computers way back in 1980 at the beginning of the revolution, I know only too well that there were companies that made a significant impact on the world but unfortunately didn’t last to see how it would turn out 40 years later.

One of these companies which I feel genuinely made the most impact was Commodore. With their initial PET series launched at the same time that Apple released the Apple II and then followed up with the VIC-20 and then the world beater Commodore 64, no other company put more personal computers into the hands of normal people like Commodore.

In fact Apple, Tandy (Radio Shack), Atari and a dozen others combined would still fall short of the enormous sales figures that propelled Commodore into 30 million houses and small businesses around the globe.

Until recently Commodore part in the Personal Computer history has mainly been forgotten but now a fantastic new documentary called The Commodore Story has been released, and I have been lucky enough as an early Kickstarter backer to see the final version and WOW.

This documentary is fantastic and does its absolute best to show how Commodore played an essential part in the history of the Personal Computer.

The Commodore Story Offical Trailer

Breakin the Borders

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2017 has been an amazing year for the retro computer community with an endless supply of books and documentaries on offer and of truely professional quality.

My newest instalment arrived today, 400 pages of stories, interviews and screenshots all enclosed in brilliant hardcover showing the history of one of my favourite computers of all time the Atari ST.

The Atari ST was a machine that I spent plenty of time with in the later half of the 1980s, learning to program in C, ST BASIC (not a fan of) and my favourite STOS.

In Australia where Commodore was King and the C64 had an amazing following who almost all turned to the Amiga at some point the ST was a very strong contender and with the full support of Atari Australia Pty Ltd was well supported for many years (unlike the earlier Atari 8bit line).

It is great to see the Atari ST getting it very own book, volume 1 and volume 2in production. I really look forward to finding a few hours over Christmas reading and taking in the history of this fantastic machine.

The Amiga Years

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Author: Brian Bagnall

The long-awaited continuance of Brian’s first book titled Commodore a Company on the Edge has finally made its way to my door.

Mine turned up in the mail from Amazon a week or so ago and I couldn’t have been happier.

I read Brian’s first book about Commodore many years ago now and have been sitting patiently for the next installment and will now find some free time prior to Christmas to get stuck into it.

There have been plenty of books written over the years on Apple and their role in pioneering home computers and even a few about the role Tandy played in getting computers into the homes, schools, and business. But until recently the Commodore brand had all but been forgotten by the mainstream press while never overlooked by the tens of thousands of fans of these magnificent machines.

The Amiga Years picks up the story where volume 1 left off and carries it through the 1987 and not only includes the beautiful Amiga 1000 but the most successful model in the Amiga lineup the A500. There are also chapters on the C128 and the continued success of the C64 in spite of many mainstream press outlets saying that it was all over.

For further information on this awesome book check out the details on Amazons website. 

 

 

40th Anniversary

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The legacy continues with the release of the next installment of the ATARI branded Flashback console, this time Flashback 8 has become readily available from various retails stores and online sites (but shop around as the price does appear to vary).

Flashback 8 is the 40th Anniversary of the original release of the ATARI Video Computer Systems (VCS, but known better these days by the name 2600).

This release contains 105 games, many original Atari classics such as Adventure, Yars Revenge, Space Invaders, Asteroids and many of my all-time favorite titles from Activision.

Two of my favorite games were included in this release of the Flashback and it was great fun running them on a 42″ flat screen, unlike the small 12″ screen I had as a kid.

H.E.R.O.

 

 

 

 

 

Pitfall

Another retro console :-)

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In recent years the retro community and those wishing to relive their youth have been spoilt with choice, whether it be new games for classic systems, books, magazines and console remakes just as the recently released Nintendo Super Nintendo Entertainment System Mini.

Available in limited numbers (like the original release NES Classic Mini from last year) so you had to be quick and lucky to get hold of one.

It was a Saturday morning about 8 am and I was out and about when I remembered that the Super NES mini was released officially today. So, I headed to my local department store to see if there was any chance of picking one up.

The queue had already formed, plenty of geeky looking guys and girls all patiently waiting for the store to open. So, I queued up and waited as well. Soon an employee came over and asked whether I was interested in the Nintendo and provided me with a ticket, number 35 or 47 available.

The unit contains 20+1 games (20 to play and 1 to unlock) and plugs into any modern TV via HDMI cable (supplied), two joysticks and only had to add power which came from my TV USB port.

It contains an easy to use menu, and quick to start a new game and have some fun. So far, my favorite title is Super Mario Kart. Now I just need a few spare hours to play a few titles and all will be good.

Great documentary !!

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We have been spoilt for qualify Retro computing books and documentaries over the past three to four years now and this week I watched another fantastic high-quality video called “Memoirs of a Spectrum Addict” which takes a detailed look at the ZX Spectrum, its history, developers, games, and fans.

The film is a unique tribute to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Memoirs of a Spectrum Addict has re-enactments, interviews like you’ve never seen before with major Spectrum industry figures, and features real people who grew up influenced by the Sinclair ZX Spectrum!

Growing up in Australia where the Commodore 64 was king of all home computers we didn’t see too much of the ZX Spectrum accept in reviews and advertisements which appeared in the many UK magazines. While the Spectrum was sold in Australia by local distributors it never really gained a huge following due to availability, unlike the Commodore which was sold everywhere for computer shops to large chain outlets like K-Mart.

The ZX Spectrum was very well supported by Australian companies like Melbourne House (Beam Software) and we never really got a chance to learn the in’s and out of the machine which despite its limitations like hardware scrolling, sprites and awesome sound of the Commodore SID chip managed to produced some fantastically good games.

Atari handheld console

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Wow, its been years since I first tried the Atari Flashback console (the one that looked like a miniature Atari 7800) and while it was fun I was a little disappointed after a few hours. The result was to pack it up and hide it in the back of the wardrobe and pretty much forget about it.

Fast forward 12 years and I started to read articles and comments on a new Atari Flashback, a portable colour unit with 60 built-in games and the ability to run more Atari games from an SD card (if you have the ROMS).

So I tracked down a copy on eBay (from the UK) and ordered one to arrive just in time from my Christmas break and lucky for me it did.

I have gotten around to adding ROMS via the SD card yet but Ill soon attempt this to see just how easy it is. In the meantime, I found some time to play a few of my favourites like Adventure, Asteroids, Centipede and Frogger.

Just awesome on the small screen.

7 awesome retro books

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Every year I attempt to purchase a few books which Ill read and then find a home on my bookshelves for future reference and more than likely a possible re-read when time permits.

This year Ive been absolutely spoilt for choice and I cannot remember a previous time when so many good books on Video Games, Retro Software, Vintage computers and the companys than manufacture and produced them.

Starting with the Art of Atari which I think is one of the best coffee table books Ive ever read on Atari, focussing on artwork from the early arcades and VCS box art and telling the stories behind them.

If your into all things Atari or simply love the golden age of video games then this book will take you a walk down memory lane, and the artwork in simply amazing.

The next book is called Little Book of Video Games, and as the title says its little at only 128 pages and available in Kindle and Hard Cover (mine is the hardcover).

This fascinating book takes you through the history of computer games, from the golden age of arcade games in the late 1970s and 1980s, and the introduction of home computers, handheld games and, of course, all the classic consoles, right through to today’s revolutionary gaming without controllers.

Now the next few books come from Fusion Retro Books and written by Chris Wilkins. The first is The Story of the Commodore 64 in Pixels which is simply a great book covering much of the life of the worlds best-selling home computer which was of great interest to me as my company Alphaworks get a mention in the chapter on cartridges and the resurgence that occurred in the late 90s early 2000s.

The next few books were all based around the Sinclair Spectrum, while I only had a minor connection to this classic home computer I found two additional books again from Chris Wilkins which contain interviews with the programmers who wrote the classics and reviews of many popular titles. Unfortunately for me, I was only able to purchase volume 2 and 3 with volume 1 being out of print, so lets hope Chris does another print run so I can finish off my collection.

Being a longtime lover of Text Adventures since the late 70s I was surprised to see a book written about these wonderful titles.  The Spectrum of Adventure: A Brief History of Interactive Fiction on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum written by Thomas A. Christie.

The Spectrum of Adventure chronicles the evolution of the text adventure on the ZX Spectrum, exploring the work of landmark software houses such as Melbourne House Software, Level 9 Computing, Delta 4 Software, the CRL Group, Magnetic Scrolls, and many others besides.

Covering one hundred individual games in all, this book celebrates the Spectrum’s thriving interactive fiction scene of the eighties, chronicling the achievements of major publishers as well as independent developers from the machine’s launch in 1982 until the end of the decade in 1989.

The last book added to my growing collection is probably my favorite simply based on the subject matter. Commodore VIC 20: A visual History which started life as a kick starter which I and many others backed has turned into an amazing book (only have the PDF version so far but the hard covered coffee table book is on its way).

A chronicling the history of the VIC 20, its peripherals, game cartridges and advertising this book has a wealth of history fully detailing all of Commodores releases and the box art scans are the best Ive ever seen for the VIC.

If you ever owned a VIC 20 or simply love retro computing Id strongly recommend grabbing a copy.

3583 Bytes Free

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When I was a young kid back in the early 1980’s my parents decided that these new fang dangled video games machines would be fun to have but certainly wouldn’t encourage me to do my homework and to study harder so they turned instead to one of the many new and fascinating home computers coming onto the market and this is how I got introduced to the amazing little Commodore VIC 20 and BASIC 2.0.

It was Christmas morning 1981 and there is was, the Friendly computer along with a tape recorder and a couple of games on a cartridge and a manual describing how to plug everything together and what commands it understood.

Well knowing nothing about computers (except for a 20-minute play with an Apple II at school once) I set about following each page and diagram and before I knew it all the leads and connectors had homes and it was ready to turn on.

So what exactly is CBM BASIC V2 and why is there 3583 bytes free…

Ok, it’s on and by the looks of things READY. But really having no idea what to do or type I sat there watching the blinking blue cursor, just hoping something amazing would happen. Well, of course, nothing amazing happened and typing some random words achieved only a vague message stating there was a Syntax Error.

It was this stage that I continue to open the remaining packages, one of them with a huge dragon on the cover. Little did I know but I was opening Adventureland a text adventure game by Scott Adams and soon I’d be hooked. No only on adventure games but the idea of wanting to learn how such programs were made.

So there I was standing in a forest with exits all around and a voice BOOMING out to me. Treasures, adventure and a game that kept me entertained for many hours and when all treasures were safely stored away and the adventure was completed, including a map of everywhere I’d been and everything I’d seen, I was left wondering how was all this possible.

Over the next few months, I read page after page of commands, typed in line after line of example programs and cursed occasionally when errors in my typing caused SYNTAX ERRORS! But it wasn’t too long before I had some working and fun little programs which were great, but none of them were like Adventureland.

Soon I discovered more adventures, a whole series of Computer Classics which loaded in off cassette tape (slowly) and often would pause and need to load in additional information at certain points of the game but nonetheless these were fun.

I wasnt looking before I ventured off to our local library to see whether they would have any computer books which I could borrow and learn from, maybe type in listings and perhaps information on how to create adventure games. Well, I was in luck, as now only did the library have books, it had two fantastic books on text adventures.

I couldn’t have asked for anything more, two books on adventure games. One of these books showed you how to create them and the other containing listings of complete text adventures including Adventureland by Scott Adams.

Now armed with information on how to makes these amazing little programs along with a number of examples from various authors on how they created adventures I set about creating my very own text adventure in just 3583 bytes of code.

Old bookstore charm

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Is there any other place in the world that has the charm of an old bookstore where millions of words and thousands of stories covering just about every topic you could possibly imagine reside at your fingertips.

On a recent visit to Brisbane, I dropped into one such bookstore, with isles and isles of books from floor to ceiling I spent quite some time reading, reviewing and eventually selecting a few pre-loved titles to had to my personal collection.

If you havent had such a journey in awhile then Id strongly recommend it.