Now, for something completely different. Reflections on the Commodore 64
Written by Translator on July 20, 2008 – 8:45 pm -Crossposted at http://Dailykos.com
A comment the other day jogged my mind to remember my Commodore 64 computer. How many of you used one years ago? To jog your mind, it had 64k memory, hence the name. No graphic interface, no mouse, just a keyboard.
I wish that I had not discarded it, along with the printer and the 1451 (as I recall) single sided floppy (5.25″) disk drive. It would have been better to keep those items in a box for posterity, but what can I say?
The C-64 was probably the first computer that was really available for the masses. It was easy to use (for the time), had a huge 64 kilobyte memory, and understood BASIC, so you could program it yourself. There were even some third party programs that actually worked well.
The C-64 was an integrated keyboard, processor, and associated memory and motherboard components, and would let you plug it into a TV to use as a monitor. You could add the single sided floppy disk drive, which was really essential in those days before flash memory or hard drives. One of my professors called the 5.25″ disk the “clipboard of the ’80s”. That is pretty apt. Does anyone out there have any 5.25″ floppies left?
Tags: 5.25 inch floppy, Commodore 64, Computers, Teaching, Z-80, Zilog 80
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