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Post by mrrockitt on Apr 26, 2018 21:47:04 GMT
Thought I would kick things off here! Controversially on a C64 site, my favourite ever computer was actually my beloved BBC B! My Mum worked for a computer company around 1982-83 and so could get computers for half price. She insisted on the Acorn BBC (as a lot of parents probably did then) because she thought it would be 'educational' for me and my brother! I did dabble with basic and have a few Mathematics and English educational programs on there but obviously games soon took over for us.... I guess most on here will say C64 but anyone brave enough to admit that another system is their favourite?  |
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Post by gurce on Apr 27, 2018 4:55:56 GMT
While I'll admit that c64 was my first computer, there were a few computers that I pined over and wish my dad would have bought for me.
The first one was a machine our family encountered at a department store. It had a menu where you could select from various games and educational things. The graphics were incredibly blocky, but we were hooked on the geography game, guessing the capital cities of different countries.
Dad was on the verge of buckling to our pestering attempts for him to buy it, but he held back, did his research over the coming months, and settled that the c64 was the right machine for his kids.
No regrets of course, love the c64.
I'm not sure what that early system I saw was called, but after googling about, I think it *might* have been a fairchild channel f.
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Post by RetroBiker on Apr 27, 2018 5:51:54 GMT
We had a PET, CBM 8016 and an 8032 at school just in time for me to do Computer Studies O-level. I loved the fact that could could find out absolutely everything about what was in it and how it worked (I've always been obsessed about how things work). There is no way my family could ever have afforded one. The first computer (of a sort) I ever owned was a Casio FX-702P which I bought by saving up 2 years of summer job money (and still have and use). I know a lot of people here are mostly just into loading and playing games, but for me, it was about programming the things. I enjoyed typing in programs from magazines when me and my mate could afford to club together and buy one.
Later, at uni, I used a BBC Micro in the library for a couple of years, which was great, and wrote my first assembler.
The Mini is my first real experience with the C64. While waiting for it, I did loads of research. It seems to have all the best features of the PET and the BBC, so am really loving the experience!
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Post by tomxp411 on Apr 27, 2018 8:00:09 GMT
My favorite 8-bit was definitely my Commodore 128. That got me through all of high school and my first year of college.
There are times where I'd really love to see a modern, 32-bit rendition of that 8-bit computer. I'm actually starting design work on just that - basically (no pun intended) an operating environment that's Commodore BASIC ported to modern PC's... for now, it would be an application that runs on Windows or Linux, but I think I'd eventually like to create a custom Linux distro with this as the operating shell, much like RetroPie or Combian run on bare Linux.
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Post by 8.Bit Gamer on Apr 27, 2018 12:33:53 GMT
For me it was the original rubber keyed ZX Spectrum 48k. I remember getting one for my birthday in 1984 I think it was, and thinking it was the most amazing thing ever. The first game I loaded up was Chequered Flag, followed by Horace Goes Skiing... ZX Spectrum Mini anyone....? I'd back it (but only if it came with a microswitch joystick ) |
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Post by mrrockitt on Apr 27, 2018 18:53:32 GMT
Me too!
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Post by synchromesh on Apr 27, 2018 23:36:15 GMT
Started with the Vic and then upgraded to the Commodore 64.
Nothing has ever given me such a buzz as when I purchased those two specific machines. No even the Amiga.
Moving on to the PC was very a very reluctant decision.
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Post by saramakos on Apr 27, 2018 23:49:32 GMT
I won't necessarily call it my favourite/, but my strongest nostalgia is for Microbee computers from Australia in the 80s. I had one, my cousins had a C64 and I envied them their colour screen and their SID chip sound/music. But now I love both systems, realise that the C64 was the better gaming system but the Microbee was the better system for work/homework due to having CP/M, Multiplan, Wordstar and 80 column screen.
Got myself the C46 Mini, recently got a C64C but still haven't got a Microbee (dad gave ours away when we got our first 386) :/
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Post by MIK on Apr 28, 2018 5:24:03 GMT
I wanted a C64 but at the time they were £299 and the oldies got a Commodore Plus/4 instead. Had a lot of fun with it during the last years of school, but as soon as I started work I rushed out to get a C64 and hunted down a copy of Ghosts'n Goblins having been blown away by the music on a demo machine in WHSmiths - yeah baby I had finally arrived!  |
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Post by mrrockitt on Apr 28, 2018 19:10:34 GMT
I won't necessarily call it my favourite/, but my strongest nostalgia is for Microbee computers from Australia in the 80s. I had one, my cousins had a C64 and I envied them their colour screen and their SID chip sound/music. But now I love both systems, realise that the C64 was the better gaming system but the Microbee was the better system for work/homework due to having CP/M, Multiplan, Wordstar and 80 column screen. Got myself the C46 Mini, recently got a C64C but still haven't got a Microbee (dad gave ours away when we got our first 386) :/ I know very little about the Microbee...was it based on something else or completely original? |
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Post by saramakos on Apr 28, 2018 23:13:38 GMT
I know very little about the Microbee...was it based on something else or completely original? It was its own system. The first versions had a BASIC ROM as an OS, the later ones running CP/M instead. The Wikipedia article actually has some good history in it. |
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Post by MIK on Apr 29, 2018 7:33:56 GMT
We had BBC's at school and we only ever played one game on the thing... Thrust! |
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Post by spannernick on May 1, 2018 16:02:27 GMT
Mine was the Commodore Pet,It was the first computer I used,playing games on cassette,they were WHSmiths C15 tapes,can't remember the games on them. Then the BBC model B, I got my 1983 C64 in 83/4 I think,that still works and upgraded the case to a C64C case. Not really use it cause I have a C64C motherboard in my homemade case.. The C64 Compact case --------------------  |
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Post by MIK on May 1, 2018 20:57:58 GMT
The brown F-keys make it look Amiga-ish Nick. I haven't really watched the video below properly, it's just so you can see a black Amiga A1200.  |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2018 22:23:16 GMT
I was lucky enough to own a C64/1541 and an Atari 800XL/1050 both hooked up to a Philips CM8533 monitor. The C64 was great but the 800 just blew it out the water with what it could do and the amount of US software that was out for it. I had a few overseas guys that I swapped discs with. I still remember when Ballblaster and Behind Jaggi Lines came through the letterbox, these were renamed when officially released by Lucasfilm.
The C64 is a close second though - who can argue with the feeling of seeing and hearing Impossible Mission for the first time!
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Post by deerwings on Oct 27, 2018 23:41:35 GMT
I originally had a Timex Sinclair Z80 machine with the membrane keyboard. No graphic support. Black & White display, thermal printer, even ended up getting the ram expansion cartridge and we had a 'winky board' which was a little circuit that would display audio levels on 2 LED's so you could load programs from tape. If the volume was too loud on the player, it would cause distortion and the programs wouldn't load properly.
Then I got a TI 99/4A that I burned the power supply out in because I was young and stupid living in Germany and not realizing the differences between 110v and 220v.
Then I got a Commodore 64 and later a C128. Had one of the ugly brown 1541 floppy drives, then we got a 1541-II which never worked properly even on the 128. Later got a 1571 drive that worked beautifully for years. When I moved recently, I couldn't take any of it with me because I had nowhere to store it. Now I regret doing so!
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habboy
BASIC
8 Bit Veteran
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Post by habboy on Dec 6, 2018 15:54:45 GMT
Im loving my C64 mini BUT....I was a BIG time 8 Bit Atari User in the 80's. I had an 800 then an 800xl and finally a 130xe before I upgraded to 16 bit Comps (Atari again!!). I ran a BBS and was a prominent figure in a local user group. I must admit, i was always jealous of the C64 as it seemed developers were a lot more keen on making games for it.
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Post by crispin on Dec 7, 2018 3:35:18 GMT
Im loving my C64 mini BUT....I was a BIG time 8 Bit Atari User in the 80's. I had an 800 then an 800xl and finally a 130xe before I upgraded to 16 bit Comps (Atari again!!). I ran a BBS and was a prominent figure in a local user group. I must admit, i was always jealous of the C64 as it seemed developers were a lot more keen on making games for it. I messed with a ZX Spectrum for a while at a local computer club, as a little kid, beside using 6502 domestic comp that nobody heard of (" Eagle"). Suddenly, I' ve got C64 under very weird circumstances ("from nowhere"). But as my best friend got Atari 800XL at the same time, I fall in love in Atari before C64!Later, I became C64 addict, but also I spent most of my kids free-time at some computer repair shop - plenty of fun there. There I learned plenty of things about many different kind 8-bit computers...(but very few of Atari!)... and loved them all... As was that song in " Frank" movie: "I Love You All"  Then 16-bit era came. I was lurking at Amiga when ever I got a chance, but it was too expensive for me in any of possible combinations. Then incidentally, at the sunset of 16-bit era, some other friend bought Atari 1024ST cheaply! I instantly fall in love with it, practically took it from him! My "meditation ritual" was to load " Maupiti Island", went to the beach (in game, south one iirc) and just stare at the waves, listening to the digitized sound of sea, domestic birds, and so on... So I have mixed feelings. C64 1st, probably, but... Atari 800XL and ST are very close. Then Amiga, Spectrum, Amstrad, Apple II... I never had VIC-20, or C16 116 Plus/4 (until very recently!) - but I am missing them and love them like I had it. |
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habboy
BASIC
8 Bit Veteran
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Post by habboy on Dec 7, 2018 14:40:08 GMT
Price was key, thats why i went for the Atari products. Not that the C64 was much more, but, I think I bought one of my 130xe's for $50!!
Speaking of the Timex Sinclair, did anyone BUILD one from the kit they sold?
I did :-)
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Post by mutterminder on Dec 7, 2018 17:40:50 GMT
My first computer was the TRS-80 Model I. I saved my money from a summer job, and pre-ordered it at Radio Shack. I was the first one in my town to own a computer. It only had 4K of RAM and Level I BASIC, but it was a real computer for only $600. At first I had no programs for it, except for the examples that I typed in from the users manual. Then I bought a book call BASIC Computer Games. They were not in the same dialect of BASIC, but I learned how to make them work in Level I BASIC. Over the next couple of years, as I could afford to upgraded to Level II BASIC and 16K of RAM. When the Atari 800 came out in 1979 I was very envious of it's graphics and sound capabilities, but it was outside my price range. When the 800XL came out in 1983, I was finally able to afford it, and I loved that machine. I still have a great fondness for my TRS-80, but the games on the Atari greatly outclassed it. A lot of my friends had the C64, and when the 800XL came out, they were about the same price, but the Atari had more colors, and I thought that all of the games looked better.
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Post by ShaneRMonroe on Dec 8, 2018 3:47:26 GMT
My first computer was the TRS-80 Model I. I saved my money from a summer job, and pre-ordered it at Radio Shack. I was the first one in my town to own a computer. It only had 4K of RAM and Level I BASIC, but it was a real computer for only $600. At first I had no programs for it, except for the examples that I typed in from the users manual. Then I bought a book call BASIC Computer Games. They were not in the same dialect of BASIC, but I learned how to make them work in Level I BASIC. Over the next couple of years, as I could afford to upgraded to Level II BASIC and 16K of RAM. When the Atari 800 came out in 1979 I was very envious of it's graphics and sound capabilities, but it was outside my price range. When the 800XL came out in 1983, I was finally able to afford it, and I loved that machine. I still have a great fondness for my TRS-80, but the games on the Atari greatly outclassed it. A lot of my friends had the C64, and when the 800XL came out, they were about the same price, but the Atari had more colors, and I thought that all of the games looked better. Ah my friend .. the first computer I touched was a TRS-80 Model III / 16k ... superleet tape drive. Had a great Star Trek game on it. |
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Post by virtualsky on Dec 18, 2018 4:02:20 GMT
My favorite 8-bit computer, well not only 8-bit but favorite computer overall, is my C128. In my opinion, it's the best designed PC of all time and I still use it to this day.
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lucifer43
Armalyt
Load "*",8,1 is a powerful line of code
Posts: 53
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Post by lucifer43 on Jan 10, 2019 21:15:03 GMT
First we had an Apple IIe, then later in 1985 a Amstrad cpc6128 (sorceryyy!!)
The C64 was a familial one we play with my Cousin (rip Fred by the way, saddly ..), good times and the sid was soooo impressive compared to the sound of Amstrad (but still a great computer!).
Remember my dad bringed home a ZX spectrum with a monchrom(yellow?) display, but didn't remember the use of it as I was only a 6 year old Kid (now im 43!)
things was cooler these times...I had great memories on my CPC 6128 with Sorcery+ Cauldron II,exploding fist , gauntlet ,Top Gun,Robocop ,Green Beret, Knight Lore(glad to have it now for the C!) , and many more games..Nostalgia!
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Post by crispin on Jan 11, 2019 0:45:50 GMT
Amstrad cpc6128 (sorceryyy!!) Yes, Sorcery! I like it at Amstrad, I play it later at C64. Great game. Amstrad version I saw was at monochrome monitor, sound was not as good as at C64 (naturally), but still, something was so adorable at CPC version! |
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lucifer43
Armalyt
Load "*",8,1 is a powerful line of code
Posts: 53
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Post by lucifer43 on Jan 12, 2019 18:32:24 GMT
For me Cpc version of Sorcery were far better has it has more than 40 levels (and better graphics) ... only 17 on the C64 (to finish the game you have only 3 minutes on C64!).Indeed quite different game as C64 version come 1 year before the amstrad version, so when i play it now its like "omg a pre-version of my favorite 8 bits computer game" lol..but still a very good game.
Cauldron was better on C64 because he has a scrolling and better sound off course, so each computer had his own killer app!
Now what is signifficant of the 8bits-era was the incredible difficulty to finish a game(Cauldron is for me one of the hardest ever), no saving, almost pixel to pixel gameplay but maybe its really what the video-games must be to be so-called..
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