[Robotgroup] OT: On CNN- "Commodore 64 still loved afteralltheseyears"

Fri Dec 7 15:17:45 PST 2007

Yes, "Sellam Ismail", cool guy, his collection is a living organism I think, 
it will never be organized :) But, his library is a gold mine, its too bad 
he can't get more space to organize it. I have about 3000 books from the 
80's till now on computer programming etc., but he has 10x that and some are 
real gold mines. People were a LOT smarter 50 years ago and there are so 
many cool things that one can learn from these books.

Andre'

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sam O'nella" <barythrin at yahoo.com>
To: "The Robot Group Mailing List" <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] OT: On CNN- "Commodore 64 still loved 
afteralltheseyears"

I'm guessing you're referring to Sallam?  Nice guy.  I
met him at VCF X this year and got to wander around
his collection (around 5000 square feet of shelves
filled with computers waiting to be set back up).

I never mentioned this but I'm running for VP of the
local Amiga computing society two Monday's from now at
that election meeting. (http://main.org/ctacs).  No
biggie though, the group is similar to TRG where we
mostly meet and eat while discussing Amiga news or
occassionaly someone brings an Amiga to fix.  Yup
we're still out there ;o)

If I ever clean up the house I'll let folks come see
my collection, although I wouldn't hold your breath
since it's only me at the house and you'd be amazed
what a sofa and beer do to any afternoon motivation to
"clean".  I have a lot of Commodore, TRS, and Apple
although nothing like one of our members Bo
(http://zimmers.net) who has one of the largest
Commodore collections in the world.

- John

--- Andre Lamothe <ceo at nurve.net> wrote:

> I have seen/read 1,2, but 3 is interesting.. I will
> check it out.
>
> Also, Discovery channel has been running a series on
> video games, I think it
> might be over. But, I am trying to get an archival
> copy of the DVDs since
> they say they don't know if they will sell them.
> Also, BTW my friend runs
> Vintage Tech and the vintage computer festival.
> Anyone wanting any retro
> items, he has the worlds largest privately held
> collection. I built my
> collection from buying stuff there, atari 800, C64,
> Apple 2, trs-80, etc.
> all computers I programmed when I was a kid. Its
> amazing that they 25-30
> year old machines still work perfectly :)
>
> Andre'
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Eric Lundquist" <eric.g.lundquist at gmail.com>
> To: "The Robot Group Mailing List"
> <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 12:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] OT: On CNN- "Commodore 64
> still loved after
> alltheseyears"
>
>
> My recommended list for descriptions of those glory
> days:
>
> 1) "Pirates of Silicon Valley" -
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/
> Made for tv docudrama telling the sordid tale of
> Gates, Jobs and Wozniak.
>
> 2) "Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder -
>
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0316491977/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197051760&sr=8-1
> An inside look at the creation of a mini computer.
>
> 3) "Cookoo's Egg" by Cliff Stohl -
>
http://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/0743411463
> Tracking a Russian Spy ring for the heck of it.
>
> - Eric
>
>
>
> On 12/7/07, Andre Lamothe <ceo at nurve.net> wrote:
> >
> > Yup, the C64 was very cool, just don't walk across
> the carpet and touch
> > the
> > sound port, the SID chips blow out if you breath
> on them. Nonetheless, the
> > late 70's and 80's were the best time in computers
> hands down. I
> > personally
> > think internet wrecked computers, it made them so
> impersonal and people
> > don't take time with information anymore, they
> just consume it way too
> > fast.
> > We had time to appreciate a new game or app in the
> 80's. Anyway, that's
> > why
> > I build these retro gaming systems like the
> XGamestation and HYDRA to give
> > people a little taste of what we used to do in the
> 80's.
> >
> > For those interested in retro computing (and may
> be younger than some of
> > us
> > that started in the 70's) there are a couple books
> I HIGHLY recommend that
> > you won't be able to put down:
> >
> > 1. HACKERS - by Steve Levy.
> > 2. On the Edge, the spectacular rise and fall of
> commodore
> > 3. "MASTERS of DOOM" - More modern, but still
> about the 2 guys that
> > started
> > programming games in the late 70's on their
> Apple's.
> >
> > I read all of them cover to cover in a single
> night (not the same night of
> > course), they were that fascinating.
> >
> > Andre'
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Vern Graner" <vern at txis.com>
> > To: "The Robot Group Mailing List"
> <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
> > Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 11:13 AM
> > Subject: [Robotgroup] OT: On CNN- "Commodore 64
> still loved after all
> > theseyears"
> >
> >
> > From this link:
> >
> >
>
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/12/07/c64/index.html
> >
> > Comes this article:
> >
> > -------------------------- CLIP
> ----------------------------
> > By Peggy Mihelich
> > CNN
> >
> > (CNN) -- Like a first love or a first car, a first
> computer can hold a
> > special place in people's hearts. For millions of
> kids who grew up in
> > the 1980s, that first computer was the Commodore
> 64. Twenty-five years
> > later, that first brush with computer addiction is
> as strong as ever.
> >
> > "There was something magical about the C64," says
> Andreas Wallstrom of
> > Stockholm, Sweden.
> >
> > He remembers the day he first laid eyes on his
> machine back in 1984.
> >
> > "My father brought it home together with a tape
> deck, a disk drive, a
> > printer, and a couple of games...I used to sneak
> home during lunch to
> > play [on it] with my friends."
> >
> > Wallstrom is the webmaster and designer for
> C64.com, a Web site
> > dedicated to preserving the games, demos,
> pictures, magazines and
> > memories of the Commodore 64.
> >
> > C64.com visitors are mostly nostalgia seekers --
> men in their 30s
> > looking to download their favorite childhood
> games. Emulators let them
> > play the games without having a machine. Popular
> downloads include
> > "Boulder Dash," "Ghostbusters," and "The Great
> Giana Sisters."
> >
> > "It may have not been the most sophisticated
> computer, but it did have a
> > lot of personality and it was lovable and remains
> loveable," said Harry
> > McCracken, vice president and editor in chief of
> PC World.
> >
> > Often overshadowed by the Apple II and Atari 800,
> the Commodore 64 rose
> > to great heights in the 1980s. From 1982-1993, 17
> million C64s were
> > sold. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the
> Commodore 64 as the
> > best-selling single computer model.
> >
> > The computer featured 64 kilobytes of memory (a
> lot for 1982), a huge
> > index of games, a sophisticated sound chip, and a
> relatively
> > parent-friendly price -- $595.
> >
> > On Monday, the Computer History Museum in Mountain
> View, California,
> > will celebrate the C64's 25th anniversary.
> Computer pioneers will
> > reflect on the C64's achievements and contribution
> to the industry. Jack
> > Tramiel, the founder and CEO of Commodore, will
> attend, along with Apple
> > co-founder Steve Wozniak and William C. Lowe,
> father of the IBM PC.
> >
> > "It was the right machine for the time," said
> McCracken. "The Commodore
> > 64 did a lot to popularize computers." Sold in
> shopping malls and
> > discount stores and not just small computer stores
> -- the norm for the
> > time -- the C64 became many people's gateway into
> the world of
> > computers, said Brian Bagnall, author of "On the
> edge: The spectacular
> > rise and fall of Commodore."
> >
> > "It was so new," Bagnall said. Users could play
> many games and also
>
=== message truncated ===

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