[HN Gopher] Commodore History Part 1: The Commodore Pet
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       Commodore History Part 1: The Commodore Pet
        
       Author : SQL2219
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2021-02-23 12:03 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.the8bitguy.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.the8bitguy.com)
        
       | cmrdporcupine wrote:
       | In the early 80s (I think 83?) I did a week long summer computer
       | camp at a local community college, and it was all on the PET. I
       | recall having to do an interview because I was too young for the
       | camp so my parents had to get special permission. We had just
       | bought a VIC-20 at home, so I was even able to bring my cassette
       | drive in and save the BASIC programs I wrote at school and run
       | them at home.
       | 
       | The thing that impressed me the most was we got to run the
       | classic Colossal Caves "Adventure" on the machine. Spent hours
       | playing it at camp.
        
       | mattr47 wrote:
       | This was the first computer I used. We had one in our 3rd or 4th
       | grade classroom, circa 1978 ish, at Montclair Elementary School
       | in Oakland, California.
       | 
       | I remember learning basic and also playing some type of lunar
       | lander game.
       | 
       | Went from that to an Atari 400, to VIC-20 and then to the C64.
       | Loved every memory from those years.
        
       | obiefernandez wrote:
       | This was the first computer I used and learned to program on
       | starting in my third grade enrichment class. Lots of fond
       | memories.
        
       | Slartie wrote:
       | My dad had one of these, it was stored in the attic because it
       | was already hopelessly outdated, until little me found it. I
       | found the various graphical characters pretty interesting (that
       | was before I could read, let alone read English BASIC commands)
       | and started to "draw" stuff with it on the screen. Eventually I
       | figured out very simple programs, like printing the same
       | repeatable pattern over and over on the screen like a chain, and
       | how to store those on a cassette and load them again later. And
       | that was around the same time that I got an upgrade to my dad's
       | old C64 - which again was already pretty dated when I got it, but
       | that didn't really matter back then, because I had a big
       | collection of pirated floppy disks with programs and games to
       | sift through and even more curiosity to learn everything about
       | this weird machine.
        
       | klelatti wrote:
       | The PET was the first personal computer I used: it was a common
       | choice in the UK in the period before the BBC Micro was
       | introduced.
       | 
       | Oddly, I feel it has more of an Apple feel to it than the Apple
       | II. Striking and futuristic design and a closed box seems now
       | like a precursor of the Jobs era Apple designs.
        
       | steve_gh wrote:
       | Great memories. My first programming experience, and my first
       | computer.
        
       | adamredwoods wrote:
       | Many years ago, my father and I went to look at a used Commodore
       | PET, with the rectangular layout, and I really liked it! The
       | buttons were so colorful. My dad wasn't into it, and we didn't
       | buy it.
       | 
       | So glad we didn't as we eventually bought a Vic-20! I still love
       | the 'PETscii' graphics to this day.
        
       | tyingq wrote:
       | I'll bet that keyboard on the left machine was maddening :)
        
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       (page generated 2021-02-23 23:01 UTC)