Happy Birthday Commodore 64, with Bil Herd - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2022, 04:44:40 pm
content: Bill Herd on the 40th anniversary of the commodore 64.Early days at Motorola, MOS and Commodore.

author: eugene
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2022, 07:04:15 pm
content: I stopped listening when he said the C64 is "the most popular home computer ever built." I'm sure it depends on how you define "home computer", but still...

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2022, 07:34:47 pm
content: While the video is obviously a bit biased, the C64 is factually the best selling home computer of all times.The term has become a bit fuzzy of course these days, but back in the 80's, everyone knew what a "home computer" was. It was just a computer that individuals could reasonably afford, and meant for private use.Please mention any other computer, not as a class/range of machines (like "PC compatibles"), but as a single, definite computer model, that sold as well?

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2022, 01:56:59 am
content: I could sit, in living room at night, after work, and type in various machine language pieces. You could watch, it was so fast, for sequencing things, or even listing some hexadecimal memory blocks, at blinding speed...actually way faster than the 60 hz TV frames.Of course, using Basic was slow, but interesting, informal...(bought mine at Toys 'R Us...)

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2022, 03:39:06 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 25, 2022, 07:34:47 pmI remember being at the shops in the lead up to that one particular Xmas and noticing the shoppers with the big c64 box slung under their arm or the box in the trolley. The amount of peeps gathered around the demo setup at the store was fascinating.I found out later that there was a concerted deliberate push in my country at that time for that seasonal market. I think where Eugene was, the distribution might have been more tempered.

author: eugene
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2022, 03:43:05 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 25, 2022, 07:34:47 pmI'm sure that I can't think of any that sold as well. At least not without stretching the definition of computer too far. Honestly, I'm not sure why the claim that the C64 was the most popular anything bothered me...

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2022, 04:19:21 pm
content: Quote from: eugene on April 26, 2022, 03:43:05 pmI know. It's because, of course, it should have been the newbrain.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2022, 05:55:17 pm
content: Well, maybe it's not so much the "home computer" that caused a problem here, but the term "popular".While the author of the video says best-selling in the description of the video, he says "popular" in the video. It's not quite the same thing. Best-selling is an objective fact, popular has some subjective side to it.And while it sold very well almost worldwide, it sure was more "popular" in some countries than in some others.

author: eugene
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2022, 07:39:16 pm
content: No doubt it would have loved them too if I had owned one. I ended up going with Radio Shack Color Computers, both because I am a natural contrarian and because my older brother was a fan of them. I probably would have found a Newbrain satisfying too.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2022, 12:15:52 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 26, 2022, 05:55:17 pmIt was impossible to clone, thus in Brasil nobody had one (an era where the internal market was completely closed to foreign retail products). Despite we heard about it through specialized magazines at the time, "popularity" was definitely not an adjective I would tag to it (perhaps "pie-in-the-sky")

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2022, 12:48:52 pm
content: Quote from: eugene on April 25, 2022, 07:04:15 pmHe clearly defines "home computer" as a non x86 based 'PC style' computer which IMHO is correct. Ofcourse smarter people bought the MSX which at least had a real VPU with 2D accelleration (which standard PCs didn't have for a long time).Still I'm wondering whether you could classify today's mobile phone as a home computer. It is still called a mobile phone but I have to say I use mine mostly not for making phone calls.

author: eugene
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2022, 01:50:26 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on April 27, 2022, 12:48:52 pmYeah. When trying to think of a specific model of home computer that sold more than the C64 the only thing I could come up with was something like an Xbox 360. It's a computer and it's used at home, but I think I'll just accept the C64 as the winner and get on with my life.