[HN Gopher] Commodore History Part 1: The Commodore Pet ___________________________________________________________________ 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 | Slartie wrote: | My dad had one of these, it was stored in the attic because it | was already hopelessly outdated, until little me found it.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 :) ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-02-23 23:01 UTC)