Jump to content
IGNORED

Most popular classic computer of your country?


tamago

Recommended Posts

I've noticed that the Spectrum (speccy) seems to be more popular in Russia. While the Atari 8 bit is popular in Poland. The C64 / Amiga seem to be popular (for obvious reasons) in Germany. Where are you from in the world and what is the most popular (classic) computer in your country? Why do you think this is so?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My guess for USA is:

Amiga

Mac 68k

C64/128

Atari 8

ST

DOS

TI

TRS-80

 

I'm likely a bit wrong with the order. Amiga appears as #1 mainly because there is a small vocal core of hobbyists who still think Amiga is a viable, living platform rather than a collector patform(!) So maybe Amigs shoul dbe further down the list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Probably the ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 in the UK. Atari computers were more successful in Germany.

 

I remember a friend of mine showing me a German demo comparing the fast and colourful Atari 800XL to a hare and the slow Commodore 64 to a tortoise. I owned a Commodore 64 :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed, in Germany it was all C64 and Amigas. A few Amstrads and a few Ataris, but I think even the C16 did better here. Here it was all about Commodore back in the day.

 

Well, I don't think you can put Amstrad/Schneider and Atari on the same level. If you bring in the Amiga then the ST will be on the second place, not any of the Volks-PC...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I don't think you can put Amstrad/Schneider and Atari on the same level.

 

I was just thinking of the 8-Bit Ataris here. First time I saw one in my whole life was when we met in Karlsruhe (or Frankfurt?) :lol:

 

If you bring in the Amiga then the ST will be on the second place, not any of the Volks-PC...

 

Well ok, in a two player race between the two 16 Bit machines the ST made the second place ;)

 

But you're not saying the ST outsold the C64 in Germany? I don't even think the Amiga did...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I don't think you can put Amstrad/Schneider and Atari on the same level.

 

I was just thinking of the 8-Bit Ataris here. First time I saw one in my whole life was when we met in Karlsruhe (or Frankfurt?) :lol:

:rolling:

The A8 ranked right behind the C64 and far before the ZX spectrum (which comes third IMHO).

In our "regular store meetings" at Karstadt every Saturday we had a 50/50 situation between C64 and Atari XL users but in reality it was more about 80/20 I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh... Maybe it's all very regional impressions. I only knew that Atari computers existed from stuff like "Listing of the Month" in Happy Computer. I remember two(!) guys in school having an Amstrad CPC (and I grew up less than 30 kilometres away from the Schneider Rundfunkwerke in Tuerkheim :ponder:) and one having a VC-20 and that's it. Just about everybody had a C64. Most of them later upgraded to an Amiga.

 

Same with consoles. I had a Kindergarden girlfriend whose father worked in a development division of Phillips from where he brought home an Odyssey 2, the only non-2600 console I've ever seen before the NES was launched. I only knew about Coleco- and Intellivisions existing from the Imagic catalogs :lol:

 

Or the Oric for example. I didn't even know that a computer with that name existed, before someone posted a mini game compo entry 2-3 years ago :ponder:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Greece it would have to be:

Spectrum

Amstrad CPC

C64

Amiga

Atari ST

 

I am not counting IBM compatibles.

The Atari 8bits were not big sellers, I only knew 2 people that had them (myself included) and I can only give a figure of 10000 Atari ST's being sold in Greece. Of course that is a figure given by the Greek Atari representative and I am not sure about it's correctness. Basically the cheaper ones were the best sellers though that turned around with the Amiga, probably due to the fact of the better games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or the Oric for example. I didn't even know that a computer with that name existed, before someone posted a mini game compo entry 2-3 years ago :ponder:

Hehe, my friend had one.

I Think he was the only one in Germany who ever owned one :)

As far as I know the oric was very common france.

 

The Oric was very popular in France, but I'm not sure if it was THE most popular.

 

I do remember when I was in Paris, I saw a Telestrat (french version of the non-released Stratos) in a department store. At the time I was an Oric user and I was amazed at what it could do. Unfortunately for Oric though, it was too little too late.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the United States, I think most people missed out on the non-PC 16 bit era, which is a shame. Those are some of the best computers ever made. The most popular classic computers in the US in alphabetical order.

 

(Apple)Apple IIe and other in same family

(Atari) Atari 800xl and others in same family

(Commodore) C64

 

Nobody ever cries over the old days of the PC jr, or the VIC20.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

.. with ZX Spectrum on a good 2nd place, at least if we speak about the early years. Of course, in the 16-bit generation it was almost equal shares of Amiga and Atari ST, at least from the start. The Swedish market saw most home computers in one form or another, even if some would only be distributed for a few months!

 

Of the international brands, I believe TRS-80 CoCo and Acorn BBC were struggling the most to get into the market; both being quite expensive home computers. In the case of Acorn, the BBC Micro was prevented for a long time due to claimed RF interference, which I suspect was plain bogus. You see, the state owned telephone company were the ones who issued licenses to import new computer brands. At the same time they had a daughter company who were in the middle of developing a new school computer (Compis). Add 1+1 = 3 and one can see why they wouldn't want the BBC "school computer" to become one more competitor to their own computer in development. All other random brands were possible to import and sell, and although the BBC is technically very advanced for being a 6502 computer, I don't think Acorn would overlook a serious issue with RF interference, not to mention how bad it would look to the British Broadcasting Corporation to have ordered a computer that caused interference with other equipment when it was used. </conspiration theory>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well for me I would have to vote for the Atari 800XL computer and the Commodore 64/128 computers all three had great graphics capabilities, I no longer have my Atari 800XL but I still have my Original Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 with manuals and games they were mostly used by my parents for various tasks but then when they got an IBM PC they willed them to me to "Play with" as they put it. most of the games were Educational but they were fun at the time.

 

I just Recently dug out my Commies to try and learn assembly with them but so far I got only one working Unit (I think) the Commodore 128 but I would much Rather have my C64 working as it uses less space on the Coffee table.

 

Liberty_OSS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...