sidcrowe Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Conan just did a joke. Said the pope said that computers were the future, then Conan said he then threw back a curtain and said "Behold the Commodore 64!" "Now with Pong," Conan added Not much of a thread, but a good joke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 (edited) Conan just did a joke. Said the pope said that computers were the future, then Conan said he then threw back a curtain and said "Behold the Commodore 64!" "Now with Pong," Conan added Not much of a thread, but a good joke 1031126[/snapback] The Catholic Church can be a bit behind the times sometimes. Wasn't it only about 30 years ago that they finally admitted Galileo was right? PS: I don't think Pong was ever officially released for the C-64. Yes, I'm anal. Edited March 10, 2006 by skunkworx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Conan just did a joke. Said the pope said that computers were the future, then Conan said he then threw back a curtain and said "Behold the Commodore 64!"1031126[/snapback] Yeah yeah, C64, C64, C64 ... whenever people talk about classic computers, the only one they ever mention is that stupid C64. That and the crappy, sloppy, cobbled-together-with-bailing-wire-and-masking-tape Apple ][. Does anyone ever remember the Atari 400/800 computers? Does the XL or XE series ever get any love? NO!!! IT'S ALWAYS THE G***AMN BUTT-UGLY COMMODORE 64 !!! Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. It's nice to see classic technology getting mainstream attention, regardless of the platform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay2068 Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 C64 rulez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I watched it this morning. Nice to hear the Commodore 64 mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedouin Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 c64 > Atari. People remember it because it sold millions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LocalH Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 As far as I know, the C64 is still the all-time best-selling single model of computer, ever. It will probably never be surpassed, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwalla Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 The C64 - had it - actually a few of them in the 80's due to the superior engineering of the C64 power supply (NOT!). Seriously though, it's a great computer just like the Atari systems except it's best enjoyed through CCS64 and VICE thesedays. I do have an 800XL setup which I frequent for the tons of carts i've collected over the years. Next to the flaky power supplies, the only thing i've held against the system is it's 'disk intensive/time consuming/disk error' nature which has been completely solved through the use of CCS64 and VICE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitardude Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 the Commodore 64 was a videogame system that used floppy disks! It's the link between the '83 crash & the NES . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockman_x_2002 Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 The C64 - had it - actually a few of them in the 80's due to the superior engineering of the C64 power supply (NOT!). Seriously though, it's a great computer just like the Atari systems except it's best enjoyed through CCS64 and VICE thesedays. I do have an 800XL setup which I frequent for the tons of carts i've collected over the years. Next to the flaky power supplies, the only thing i've held against the system is it's 'disk intensive/time consuming/disk error' nature which has been completely solved through the use of CCS64 and VICE 1031533[/snapback] Actually those problems aside, I personally prefer the real system over emulation. To me, it seems like the video quality is better on a TV screen than through an emulator. Is it just me, or does it seem like the C64 uses something similar to the Sega Genesis "color blending" to simulate more than the 16 colors it actually has. So far as I can tell, it seems to make the image quality better than on emulators as no emulator has yet come out that does this same "blending" technique. Am I just seeing things or do others see this color blending stuff too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 he Vic20 and C64 certainly can be noted as being a major reason for the videogame crash, the prices of computer dropped into video game console territory and made many consumer question as to why they should buy a VCS or Intelly or Atari 5200 when they could buy a C64 for their kids. Atari - instead of persuing the Apple ][ went toe to toe in the low end market against the C64 and internal poor decisions cost them the 83' holiday sales season with a massive delay in their XL computers being manufactured, Commodore literally had that year to itself. An unfortunate victim was the TI99 line, a 16bit system with a LOT of potential, damned shame. Curt the Commodore 64 was a videogame system that used floppy disks! It's the link between the '83 crash & the NES . 1031572[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedouin Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 I'll tell a story here. I was about 4 or 5 years old -- I can't remember. It was probably 84 or 85. My dad was looking to buy me a computer and found a guy in the classified selling an Atari 800XL. We went to the house and the guy demoed it. My dad decided he wanted to buy it so the seller started packaging everything up and putting it away; as he was doing so, some screw or piece of metal fell out -- I can't remember what exactly. When we saw that we decided to power it on to make sure everything was okay -- but it wouldn't power on at all. Can you imagine how excited I was to see it being packaged up, and then how devastated to watch it break down? It was months before I finally got a computer -- though it turned out to be a brand new 64-C with two joysticks, Frogger, and some other cartridges (the 1541 didn't come until later). The thing is, the Atari software started disappearing from shelves a couple years before Commodore stuff did. I don't know if that was specific to my area or a nationwide thing. In the end it was probably a better decision. I regret moving to PCs after selling my Commodore though. I wish I didn't buy into peer pressure and instead got an Amiga, IIgs, or Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 (edited) Is it just me, or does it seem like the C64 uses something similar to the Sega Genesis "color blending" to simulate more than the 16 colors it actually has. So far as I can tell, it seems to make the image quality better than on emulators as no emulator has yet come out that does this same "blending" technique. Am I just seeing things or do others see this color blending stuff too? 1031698[/snapback] The technical term is "dithering." The basic trick is to align pixels of two different colors in a checkerboard pattern. Most systems support this trick, even the 2600 to a very limited extent. You see it more often on systems that had a limited color palette, such as the C-64 (16 colors), the Apple II (6 colors) and the Sega Genesis (64 onscreen, 512 total, relatively low when compared to the SNES). When displayed on a TV, the checkerboarded pixels blur together somewhat, helping to give the appearance of a new color (some color pairs work better than others, of course). On a PC monitor, which generally has a much sharper picture than a TV, the checkerboard pattern merely looks like, well, a checkerboard pattern. Edited March 11, 2006 by skunkworx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmydelaKopin Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 What?! No love for the TRaSh-80? With its classic tape drive? Yall have to play some TRS Haunted House sometimes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Yall have to play some TRS Haunted House sometimes... 1031726[/snapback] I remember playing Haunted House while standing in Radio Shack And Dungeons of Daggorath too. And that old 4(?) line LCD portable computer. Old... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Atari - instead of persuing the Apple ][ went toe to toe in the low end market against the C64 and internal poor decisions cost them the 83' holiday sales season with a massive delay in their XL computers being manufactured, Commodore literally had that year to itself. An unfortunate victim was the TI99 line, a 16bit system with a LOT of potential, damned shame. Curt And that is probably the biggest reason that the C64 became a bigger seller than the Atari systems: the C64 didn't bring much to the table that the 400/800 didn't already have; Atari just couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot, and their marketing couldn't compete with Jack Tramiel's "carpet-bombing with cheap computers" strategy. Because of that, the C64 gets a lot of credit that the 400/800 series deserved, and I guess it still bugs me to this day. But anyway ... I don't want to incite another platform war here. I do agree about the TI: the 99/4A was my very first computer, and it's sad that TI was forced out of the market before it had the chance to develop and grow the platform further. I would have loved to see the 99/8 become a product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 But anyway ... I don't want to incite another platform war here. I do agree about the TI: the 99/4A was my very first computer, and it's sad that TI was forced out of the market before it had the chance to develop and grow the platform further. I would have loved to see the 99/8 become a product. 1031734[/snapback] It did. Sort of The Geneve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 It did. Sort of The Geneve 1031738[/snapback] Ah yes, that's right ... but then, how many people were fortunate enough to get one? I can remember drooling over the Geneve 9640 in the old Triton catalogs, but unfortunately, I didn't have about $700 to spare when I was fourteen years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcrowe Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 They just ran the Finland special He did mention a C64 and Pong in one bit...not bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I can remember drooling over the Geneve 9640 in the old Triton catalogs, but unfortunately, I didn't have about $700 to spare when I was fourteen years old. Well - you weren't the only kid who was short a few (or many thousands) of dollars back in the day... Though I seem to have mostly made up for it now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Whoo, my first post with the new editor. Anyway, the C=64 is better punchline than Apple IIs or Atari 8bits, because the name Atari is more associated with the 2600 (also it was more popular) but "Apple" and "Two" are more common words than "Commodore" and "Sixtyfour" I started with an Atari 8bit but then managed to get ahold of a C=64 and didn't look back, even though the former had a lot more things you could easily do in BASIC. Unless you were aware enough to get into some of the APX stuff, the C=64 had a much stronger and longer lived gaming library. (Probably fueld by piracy, though) Plus my Uncle who I got the system from had years of Compute's Gazette on disk...that was sweet. Here's a general question: which was more powerful, the C=64 or the NES? I think NES might've been better at somethings, but if you ever get the chance, compare the two systems on "Skate or Die"....no contest.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 An unfortunate victim was the TI99 line, a 16bit system with a LOT of potential, damned shame. Yeah, but the TI99 was the ugliest of all IMO. It was also expensive, and I never saw anything very exciting when I'd play with the demo units in stores. Did anyone else read that story about how Atari inadvertently sabotaged the TI99... something about giving them an idea that caused them to fail their FCC RF test? -Bry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonie Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Whoever said the Vic 20 and C64 were the catylist for the crash, I agree. I got a vic in 82 and a 64 in 83. I never looked at a console again. I'm sure I'm not the only one. The computers were better than the 2600 and the CV, so there you have it. As for which machines were better vic/64 or 400/800. It's a toss up. Price is what sold the commodore line. I wanted an 800 so bad, but the price was absurd when I could get a 64 for $200. The 400 was more expensive than the 64 and had the membrane KB. I have a 400 now, got it for $10 from some geek I knew 20 yrs ago. I play games on it all the time. My 64 is in a box. Pulled out my 64 last week as my 12 yr old son was interested in it. I'd forgotten how good the games were for that. Many are better than the 400/800, many are not. I may keep it out for a while. Nothing beats the real thing on a tv. EMulation just doesn't satisfy me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okto Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 That and the crappy, sloppy, cobbled-together-with-bailing-wire-and-masking-tape Apple ][. The Apple ][ was way better than the Atari 8bits. Expansion, thousands of software titles, a better BASIC, a better keyboard. Oh, and people actually bought them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 The Apple ][ was way better than the Atari 8bits. That's a good one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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