By Christof Kerkmann Jan 22, 2012, 3:06 GMT
Las Vegas, Nevada - A lot of the devices that first appear at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas fail to make a splash. Others change the world.
Into that latter category would have to go the Commodore 64, which was introduced at the CES 30 years ago, eventually becoming the most-sold computer in the world. It helped pave the way for the PC revolution and has continued to live well past its official end, even if just in virtual form.
The C64 that debuted in January 1982 had little in common with modern high-power machines. Its brown exterior reminded one of a breadbox and, inside, it sported a mere 0.985 megahertz processor, along with 64 kilobytes of working memory. Like most computers of the era, it had no hard drive.
Programmes were run from and data stored on external data devices, initially cassette decks. Later those were upgraded to floppy drives, into which users stuffed 5.25-inch discs. Nor was there a graphical interface, as has become standard today with Apple and Microsoft. Instead, upon startup, users were faced with a blinking cursor on a blue screen.
Those who used one will remember nights typing LOAD and then RUN to start up games, opening children of the 1980s up to entire new worlds of gameplay.
It was those games that made the C64s exciting, making them a must for many a child's bedroom. But the fact that the C64 was also a real computer - programmers could write for it using the computer language Basic - helped it create a toehold for computers in modern homes, first in children's bedrooms, then in the rest of the house.
In many cases, specialist magazines published programme codes, which true fanatics could then manually input into their computer. But most people were drawn to the Commodore 64 thanks to its huge selection of games, with colourful graphics and decent sound.
There were sporting titles, like Summer Games, in which players jostled their joystick until it broke in an effort to win the 100-metre sprint. There were adventures, like Maniac Mansion, where players were tasked with freeing their friend Sandy from the clutches of a mad scientist, being sure not to stuff a hamster into a microwave during the course of their mission.
And there were jump-n-run titles, like the Giana Sisters, the protagonists of which bore a passing resemblance to Nintendo's famous plumbers from Super Mario. Other fans focused on simulators, whether of air battles or ancient Roman times. Indeed, many of the games have survived into the modern era, although with significant improvements to both graphics and sound.
Many younger computer fans didn't have the money for all those games, but that turned out not to be much of a problem. An 'illegal subculture of crackers and copiers' soon sprang up around the C64 scene, without public adult culture getting much of a whiff of it, writes journalist Christian Stoecker in his book, Nerd Attack.
Indeed, no-one really thought too much about copyright law back then, but at least the love of C64 games prompted people to buy more of the computers. About 22 million are estimated to have been sold.
But still, the C64 met the fate of most technology. Eventually, the computer seemed hopelessly outdated. Commodore went bankrupt in 1994, stopping production and leaving all those Commodore 64s out there to disappear into basements or into heaps of old electronics.
But not quite. There are still fans who fool around with the old Breadbox out of a sense of nostalgia. Others look forward to a round of Maniac Mansion or the Last Ninja on modern computers, thanks to emulation programmes that give the old machine a new, virtual life. Many of those old games are still available online. Just like before, they're not exactly legal, but still easy to find.
And one US company is trying to make some money off the computer vibes of the 1980s and 90s. It bought the rights to the C64 and is now offering a new computer in the old design, the C64x. It comes with a modern Intel processor that is up to modern computing challenges. If you want to relive your youth, it allows you to switch over into classic mode.
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