The C64 is simply the greatest and most sold home computer of all times.
No argument there‼
This means that most people using a computer in the 80ies have had contact with this computer.
I just turned 50 less than a year ago... I was 12 when I got my C=64 ... I'm not gonna be 80 for a few more decades yet ...
I still own my original C64 with all periferals and I have restored it (broken PLA, broken R/W head on 1541, broken belts on Datassette). I went on and bought a wedge type C64, a C128 and a C128D. I own an extra 1571, a 1084S, apart from other hardware.
Why?
Well, some people collect coins, others collect stamps, many on this forum collect test equipment. Why not collect vintage computer? I own other vintage computers like: ZX81, ZX Spectrum 48k, Silicon Graphics Indy and O2. I collect programmable calculators, too.
My favorite calculator of all time was the HP 16-C ... I used it in my junior college days until it got stolen and I couldn't replace it cause HP stopped making them for some reason (to my knowledge they are STILL making and selling the 12C for some reason ... why not the 16C? HU HP? WASSUP WITH THAT? :-) ... The 48Gx was nice too. I love RPN ... just feels more natural in my brain for some reason.
But there are more reasons:
1) The C64 is one single computer, where you can actually understand how it works. From CPU to PLA, from disk drive format (tracks & sectors) to RAM layout. You can understand EVERYTHING in your free hobby time. Including direct access to VIC and SID. Sure, you can program a modern PC with C, C++, Python, Java, etc. But you will never 100% understand what is going on. What I have learned due to the C64 served me well to understand the theory behind many of the PC technologies.
I would take exception to that comment but only to a point. When I write Java code, I could break down for you what the Java interpreter actually does under the hood. I know it interprets the code into machine language and it interfaces with the operating system's kernel which then interfaces with the drivers that exist between it and the hardware. Where that detail stops, of course, is in the actual explanation of what the drivers are doing with the hardware they support ... what I do know is that at the lowest level, that software is feeding instructions to other processors (in the case of a graphics driver) or sending out commands over a USB port or throwing packets out onto the NIC ... and my Java program would most definitely be supplying those functions with what they need to know in order to do their job so that everything flows along nicely.
I've never directly coded the hardware in a C=64, but I have written directly to the sectors of the 1571 floppy before with a make-shift database program I made in 1987 ... I never heard of SQL until about 1997.
2) Some people are sentimental, others are not. I am a sentimental person and my life is filled with big losses. My mother died when I was 13. That year my father bought me the C64. Not to make up for it, of course, but I know he spent a lot of hard-earned money to give me something to keep my mind busy in these troubled times. I am not sure if he ever understood how important that was for me. I won't go into details of my life story, but yes, the C64 has had a major impact on my life. How could I not own one (or a few of them)?
Your father was a good man, no question about it! And sorry you had to experience that kind of loss at such a young age ... that had to be extremely difficult and without question, it altered your life and your development and is very core to who you are now. And it sounds like your dad stepped up and did what every decent father should do in that situation so thank god you had him.
And THERE IS NO QUESTION ABOUT IT ... I would NEVER have been as successful in my career as I have been had I not had the Commodore 64. Elon Musk also had a C=64 as his first computer ... and look at how successful he is.
But for me, personally, it was a tool, not a friend. :-)
4) Restoring and repairing vintage gear is really satisfying as a hobby. Not too complex, but with some degree of dificulty. The reward can be great: a C64 looking new and fully working!
I can
definitely see the appeal in that - absolutely!
5) Dads wanting to show their kids how gaming was in the 80ies.
I spared my kids the "when I was your age" talks because I remember how much I hated them when I was a kid.
6) Games were not bad at all! While today you have amazing games like GTA V, RDR2, etc., I often don't have the patience to go through a whole training course (which is what the first level normally is). On a C64 you switch it on and load a game and you are ready to go.
Then I don't recommend EVER trying World of Warcraft if you lack the patience to learn something that has infinite layers in infinite directions ... HOWEVER, World of Warcraft does what no game ever did before it ... the first time I was in a live 40 man raid on Molten Core ... I was pinging off the walls because it was just so intense and the success or failure of that 40 man raid depended on each person knowing their character, knowing their skills, and implementing their skills properly and with the right timing ... because 1 person screwing up could and did wipe the whole raid. It is an INTENSE way to game where interconnecting with other people becomes mandatory ... so it can be engaged as a loner sport, but when you want the real marrow from the game, you have be socialized with others. And for THAT, I think WOW is amazing.
7) Collecting vintage computers is an investment: prices are going up, as there are fewer devices available and the demand is increasing.
as a general rule, I tell people that electronics are NEVER an investment so buy them for the service they offer you if you need or want that service, but by no means should you ever consider the money you spend on electronics as an investment. It's more like going to vegas with your spare cash that you deemed as cash you could lose without consequence.
What you're talking about is more like antiquing or any collector sport where supply and demand change the true monetary value of the thing being sought after.
Hope that gives enough reasons.
YES, well done sir! That was indeed insightful for me and I appreciate you taking the time to write it.
And yes: a modern PC is no comparison to the C64 in terms of CPU, memory, etc. But that is not the point.
This MacBook Pro that I bought last month has 32 gigs of ram ... that is literally 500,000 times more ram than my first computer had (the C=64). Could you imagine how much that amount of ram would have cost back in the 80's? I'm thinking probably in the billions!
And yes: VICE can 99.99% emulate all aspects of a C64. But the experience is not the same, staring with the missing keyboard labels.
Regards,
Vitor
PS: It annoys me a lot when a thread goes offtopic with rants. Please stick to the subject and be polite.
Sorry, but when people say stupid and ignorant things, I have to post corrections because I'm not a fan of ignorance breeding ignorance ... someone has to set the record straight or we'll just end up with a bunch of stupid people on the Internet saying a bunch of ignorant things ... and I'm not ok with that! Not on my watch at least and certainly not on my thread!