Commodore 64 Makes a Comeback

PCWorld ^ | 07/14/03 | David Legard

[bedolido]

Popular computers, games from the 1980s will be relaunched.

Tulip Computers, which owns the Commodore brand name, plans to relaunch the brand to take advantage in an upsurge of interest in the obsolete Commodore 64 (C64) computer and its 1980s-era games, the company said in a statement Friday.

Tulip estimates that there are still 6 million Commodore users, who can choose from a range of 6,000 games which were developed for the system.

Tulip is working with Ironstone Partners, which will handle all sales of Commodore 64-related products worldwide and take over the main C64 Web portal. Enthusiasts have made over 10 million game downloads, the site owners have said.

Unauthorized use of the Commodore name by other organizations will be stopped, Tulip said in the statement.

Playing Games Even if the Commodore 64 hardware is obsolete, enthusiasts have written emulators for Windows PCs, Apple Macintoshes, and now PocketPC-based PDAs to enable original Commodore games to run on those systems.

Commodore was one of the pioneers of the PC industry, entering the market in 1977 with its 8-bit PET (Personal Electronic Transactor). The C64 was launched in 1982, followed a few years later by the Amiga.

Slowly, the crucial graphics edge that these systems enjoyed was eroded by successive improvements in Microsoft's Windows OS, and Commodore went into liquidation in 1994. Tulip, based in Amersfoort, Netherlands, bought the Commodore brand name and other assets in 1997.

[RottiBiz]

A few years ago, I saw in the local classified that a Commodore 64 club was looking to buy computers, games, etc.

I called the number and told them I was donating my son's computer and all the games and accessories to a local animal shelter's Thrift Store and if they were interested they could buy them there.

The shelter volunteers were amazed that everything was sold the first day.

[flutters]

The Commodore was the first affordable computer for our small business. I’m in the printing business and the Commodore was a blessing to our business and the industry. Before the Commodore, we had two choices for typesetting copy - set the type by hand using a Kroy machine that had a 12” disk that you had to rotate to each letter, number, or punctuation, then press a button to ‘print’ the character. The type came out on one long strip and you had to physically paste the strips of type into position on an art board. It was very time consuming and one slip-up made for a complete redo. The second option was to send the copy to a typesetter. This put us at the mercy of the type house – it was also time consuming and generally the copy would come back with errors which meant it went back and forth 2 or 3 times just to get correct copy.

We also started our first computerized accounting system on a Commodore. Oh, the memories. We’ve came a long way.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Patience is a 1541 drive.

I had my C-64 fixed several years ago. If you've ever been inside of a C-64, you might have noticed the entire circuit board was almost completly covered by various chips. The repairman told me that the last last models that came out had all of the functions on only one chip.
Anyone else remember the super heated power supply?

[Aquinasfan]

When I was graduating from engineering school in 1984, I heard that Carnegie-Mellon was mandating personal computers for all incoming freshman.

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard of. What do they need a computer for?"
-A stupid thing I once said

[quack]

Anyone else remember the super heated power supply? Oh yeah!Had to sit it on it's side so it wouldn't melt whatever was under it.And of course,you HAD to turn everything on in a certain sequence for it to work. Let's see,first the t.v.,then the drive,then the keyboard.

[wcgo2]

Wouldn´t it be great if computers today were that hi-tech? Mine eats up replacement parts like a fat guy eats "craisins"

[DonQ]

Lordy, how this touches me. I owned a C-64 from 1984 thru 1999 and was absolutely happy with it, including terrific word processing programs (Pocket Writer2 and also FontMaster2) and I even wrote some stuff that was published in bona fide C-64 publications (because I could understand at least some of the C-64 programming but not PC programming).

The only reason I got rid of my C-64 (technically not exactly the same one I bought in 1984, because the keyboard, disk drive, printer, and every other hardware had been replaced at least twice) was because my wife was keen on linking up to the Internet ... and in the four years since I replaced my beloved C-64 with a moderately priced PC, she has been on the Internet for a cumulative total of about two hours. Except for Internet, there's hardly anything I need from my PC that I couldn't also get from my C-64.

For those of you who don't know much about the Commodore computer, I'll give a brief sketch. The Commodore company came out with a number of very basic desktop computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, came out with the VIC-20 around 1980 ... the name meant (I think) Video Interactive Connection ... and it was the first home computer capable of color video. It could do only really simple stuff ... less than what a pocket organizer today can do ... but back in 1980 it was considered very impressive. Then in 1982 the C-64 was introduced, and it was either the first or among the very first home computers capable of both sound and color, and it could do considerably more than the VIC-20. It had as a built-in programming language a Commodore version of BASIC, so that users could contrive their own (simple) programming. The C-64 went through a number of modifications (e.g., there was an early program called Little Computer People that could run on the first generation of C-64 but not on the chips used in later generations). It was, circa 1983-1988, the single most popular home computer - far more popular than the IBM - with the greatest number of programs available at retail, and at its peak about 8 dedicated magazines in the English language and three or four more in European languages.

The Commodore-64 and other Commodore computers have an interesting and eventful history ... which includes clues as to why Commodore eventually went broke.

[BrooklynGOP]

Summer/Winter games were fun too :>

[jalisco555]

The MicroProse simulators were very addictive and I played for hours and hours. Airborne Ranger, AH-64 Gunship, Stealth Fighter

There were some pretty darn good wargames for the C64 too. I especially liked Kampfgruppe and Mechbrigade by SSI and Crusade in Europe and Decision in the Desert by Microprose. The latter two are early Sid Meier works.

[Bob]

Life was something connected to local BBS's at 300 baud!

Just don't let the battery run down in your VolksModem. :=)

[Paleo Conservative]

There are numerous C64 emulators available on the web, most of them free. A quick Google search for "Commodore 64 emulator" turned up thousands of hits. Who'd pay for a "retro C64" when the market has already been satisfied for free?

Unauthorized use of the Commodore name by other organizations will be stopped, Tulip said in the statement.

Sounds like anyone posting an emulator on the web for downloads will be targeted.

[DeFault User]

Just don't let the battery run down in your VolksModem. :=)

Back then, text like the pace of life scolled by more slowly on the screen. Everything seems to run at broadband speeds of 1-2 Megabits now.

Come to think of it, broadband is a metaphor for my waistline too.

[ChewedGum]

I had a great solution for that. Take powersupply (I'm talking the big VIC-20 expoxy filled one) and put it in a plastic bag. Then lower plastic bag into bucket full of cold water. This would allow my VIC-20 to operate for more that 20 minutes...In fact, I had mine running for 3 days continuous using this method. I hope my kids never do ANYTHING like this.

Gum

[Charles Martel]

Sounds like anyone posting an emulator on the web for downloads will be targeted.

Yes, it certainly does. Get 'em while they're still available.

[The_Victor]

Sounds like anyone posting an emulator on the web for downloads will be targeted.

Good luck to them. The software is all public domain now. They can prevent the use of the name, but who cares what they call it, the emulators aren't going away.

[Political Junkie Too]

I still have my TI-99

I had one of those. Then I got an Apple //e. Now I run all my old Apple software on my IPAQ.

-PJ

[MaryFromMichigan]

Boy! Does this bring back memories of our TI99/4A!

Back around 1980, my hubby and I spent many happy hours playing Parsec, Centipede, Congo Bongo, Miner 2049'er and BurgerTime. And I remember how cool it was when we picked up a voice synthesizer!

Could that really have been TWENTY years ago? LOL!!!

[bedolido]

Could that really have been TWENTY years ago? LOL!!!

Hard to believe it was 20 years ago. I see my kids getting old (very strange). Our youngest is 31. Slowly the child becomes the parent and the parent the child, Erma Baumbeck. Erma wrote that she used to hold her arm out to support her child when she had to brake quickly. She saw her child become the parent when she was driving with her daughter and her daughter held out her arm to support her (erma).

Slowly the circle of life continues.

[muggs]

Just forwarded the link to my son. I think this will bring back some fond (and not-so-fond) memories. I can't remember if this was his first computer or maybe it was a Vic-20.

[djf]

I had a Timex Sinclair. After that, I had one of these:



Dual 130K single sided floppies, built in monochrome, sadly, didn't come with the forklift ya needed to haul it around. Remember they used to brodcast programs on the radio!

I heard a mint TRS-80 is worth a coupla bucks, if you have all the packaging and original doc.