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Re: Commodore 64 Ultimate Starlight

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D> I spent most my childhood outdoors climbing trees or playing sports - or
D> various other things kids used to do pre-internet.
D>
D> I would be inside during the rain. We had an Atari game console and had
D> 5-6 cartridges. One of them was defender and that was the best game we
D> had. That game got old quite fast. Honestly, I was a bookworm. Video
D> games were rather uninspiring to me until many years later. Our schools
D> had Apple 2's because Apple donated them. I wasn't really inspired to
D> learn programming because the teachers didn't TEACH us to
D> program. Back in those days, our schools had one teacher per class for
D> all day. And none of them were trained in computer science. It took
D> years for the school system, at least in my area, to catch up with the
D> times. Nowadays, these schools look like mini-college campii.
D>
D> We had pre-written basic games we'd spend a long time typing into the
D> terminal. Assuming I didn't mess up somewhere, I'd have a few minutes to
D> play hangman or whatever it was. Nothing to write home about. Nothing
D> was saved and, all the work was gone when the computers were switched
D> off.
D>
D> It just didn't hit me hard in those days. I preferred to spend recess
D> time outside instead of in front of a computer typing line code I
D> didn't understand. I had classmates who really soaked it in though and
D> some would hand write basic code at home and do the work at
D> school. Most of us didn't have computers - so our screen time
D> was limited to school. And in the later elementary grade, girls were
D> getting interesting to me and they weren't in the computer room.
D>
D> Anyway, my first computer at home was in the 90s after coming home from
D> the navy. My brother took me with him to Fry's and I helped him select a
D> computer case. The other components he had already identified before
D> the trip. I watched a computer being built for the first time. I had no
D> idea what was what. Everything looked alien to me. Times have changed.
D>
D> I follow the likes of the C64 community out of curiousity. I'm more of a
D> lurker to be honest. My actual daily driver (as in constant use) for
D> my writing hobby is a Tandy laptop. The model 200. I also have spare 100
D> and 102's laying around for mod projects. It does what I set out to do,
D> write. And I can do that well. The keyboard layout isn't all fucked
D> up. I don't see a caps lock in the south pole and the " key isn't in
D> boonyville. They're in the proper position.
D>
D> I bought a C64 mini on sale at gamestop 5-6 years ago. I played a few
D> games for a bit and, well, it's in the closet somewhere. I tried to load
D> other utilities via a flash card but nothing seemed to work without
D> serious hacking. So, so, so not interested in that. The games were
D> OKAY and I could understand what kids my age saw in it. My exposure to
D> the Commodore platform came just a few years ago. Otherwise, it was just
D> a subject in echonets when I dialed into BBSes.
D>
D> I'm currently considering the purchase of an Atari ST 800XL with a
D> modern keyboard replacement. The original keyboard was a hunk of
D> shit while the modern replacements use modern switches and the keys are
D> in the modern locations. Still have a ton of reading to do about the
D> platform and whether I wish to dive into it versus staying with my
D> beloved Tandy.
D>
D> Daniel
D> --
D> sysop  | air & wave bbs
D> finger | calcmandan@bbs.erb.pw
D>
D> --- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
D>  * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
I was awful at sports... total nerd at least until 9th grade.

In elementary, our school was also dominated by Apple IIes, but no
programming.  Just a bunch of MECC games.  In high school they taught basic
computer skills and typing.  Luckily, I was very close with my computer
teacher my throughout my whole school career, and I was made the defacto
computer expert at my school going back to 5th grade.

The Ataris is one area I have not entered yet, but I am sure I will
eventually.  I am familiar with GEM from my Amstrad PC1512.

... Funny how life imitates LSD...

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Re: Commodore 64 Ultimate Starlight Bo Holt <usenet@vk3heg.net> - 2026-04-23 00:30 +0000

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