I'm feeling nostalgic...

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:06 pm

Okay, this weekend I picked myself up a Commodore 128 to replace the one that put me through college. And tonight I loaded up GEOS and played around with it for a bit.... more on my blog, here.

So now I'm really feeling nostalgic for, what I call, the Golden Age of personal computing. Who'd like to share some cool pics of old 8-bit PC era (or earlier) hardware that they own?

My "new" C=128:

mowestusa · Post by **mowestusa** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:25 pm

Thanks Judland for the post. Although I never had a C-64 or C-128, I did have an Amiga 2000HD with the IBM 8080 board, so you really had two computers in one.

I'm so sorry now that I took it to a recycling center. Back when I got my first Windows machine a 133 with Win95 I thought I would never have a use for the old Amiga. Back then I was moving around every 6 months while finishing school and getting into my profession. Back in my Amiga days, I felt like it was an adventure every time I turned the machine on.

It was not until I discovered Linux that I realized that computers could be a hobby and a fun one at that again. The Amiga had a strong CLI and a great GUI just like Linux today.

My current fun is using my Toshiba 166 Laptop with NetBSD load on it and booting into a CLI environment. I will have to take some pictures soon. It isn't 8 bit, but right now it is the oldest computer that I'm using for real work on a weekly basis.

Fun Stuff.

mowestusa

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:37 pm

mowestusa wrote:I did have an Amiga 2000HD with the IBM 8080 board, so you really had two computers in one.

Cool. I always wanted an Amiga, but I was just finishing college and a new career at the time, so I never had the money to buy one.

I think it was around '94 / '95 when my original 128 packed it in. I believe the sound chip finally went.

It was a great machine. I used it day, after day, after day, after day, even after I bought my first IBM PC-clone (running MS-Windows 3.1).

KStorm · Post by **KStorm** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:03 am

I had a Timex/Sinclair 1000 (with the 16k memory module!!!!) almost 25 years ago. That was a blast. Not to mention the cassette-based storage...

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 9:00 am

KStorm wrote:I had a Timex/Sinclair 1000 (with the 16k memory module!!!!) almost 25 years ago. That was a blast. Not to mention the cassette-based storage...

I'm assuming that you no longer have it with you.

I remember that my uncle had a Timex Sinclair. He bought it as a kit. I also remember him loaning it to us for a couple of days. I spent quite a while typing in a program (some kind of river raft game), played it for a few times, then had to turn it off (it was bed-time or some silly thing like that).

Gee, I wish he had a cassette drive!

I certainly found that membrane keyboard difficult to type on.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 9:22 am

I wanted to mention:

The Commodore community lost another talented coder this past weekend.

Jim Butterfield past away on June 29th, 2007, due to cancer.

I remember watching Jim on TVO (a public television channel in Ontario) when I was a teenager, which contributed to my interest in micro-computers to this day.

So long, Jim. Thanks for the memories!

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:10 pm

Sorry to hear Jim passed away. I used to have a ton of his books. I was lucky enough to meet him. He came to Houston , Texas at CHUG (Commodore Houston Users Group - now defunct) to give a lecture on C=64 assembly language. He was a gentleman and a scholar. One of the best lectures I ever attended. I bet he has an awesome computer to play with Now!