Commodore 64 - 25th Anniversary Celebration

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[Recorded Dec 10, 2007]
The Commodore 64 was an 8-bit home computer released by Commodore International in August, 1982, and during it's lifetime (between 1982 and 1994), sales totaled close to 17 million units, making it the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were developed for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office applications, and games.

The C64 made an impressive debut at the 1982 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, as recalled by Production Engineer David A. Ziembicki: All we saw at our booth were Atari people with their mouths dropping open, saying, 'How can you do that for $595?'

The term personal computer was a common term in the early 80's and was used as early as 1972 to characterize Xerox PARC's Alto. During this era of microcomputer innovation, the market was dominated by the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC), the Commodore 64, the Atari 8-bit family, the Apple II, Tandy Corporation's TRS-80s, and various CP/M machines.

Although the history of the Commodore is rich, the histories of the people and the companies that developed these early personal computers are also critical to the personal productivity tools and business solutions we often take for granted in our daily lives.

This panel discussion is a celebration of the Commodore 64 computer and how it spawned a tremendous market for home, small business, distributed and networked technology.

Channel: Science & Technology
Uploaded: December 15, 2007 at 3:09 am
Author: ComputerHistory

Length: 01:32:15
Rating: 4.72
Views: 31366

Tags: Computer History Commodore 64 Jack Tramiel Steve Wozniak PC

Video Comments:
26589580 (August 17, 2008 at 3:50 am)
I'm proud to have a C64 under my bed.
lonelyroflknife (August 3, 2008 at 2:34 am)
that guy is a tool
ARInternetTelevision (August 23, 2008 at 7:29 am)
He definitely a tool in defining the history of the Commodore! Smart man, indeed!
Gaz134 (July 16, 2008 at 3:10 am)
C64 came out (retail) about 5 months after I was born... by the time I was 3 I was playing batman the caped crusader (and finishing the thing) on the C64. It was my first step into gaming and something that will stick with me forever, amazing computer and i'm made up Commodore are back!
Keeper1st (June 27, 2008 at 8:51 am)
Ah yes, the 1541... the noisiest space heater ever made!

My TV to this day consists of a VCR connected to my Commodore 1702 monitor. VCRs have come and gone, but the monitor is as good as new -- well, the plastic case was broken when it flew across the room and smashed into a solid oak desk during the 1989 earthquake (I was three miles from the epicenter; it was like a bomb -- no warning -- but went on for 30 seconds).

They don't make monitors like that workhorse these days!
conradhw (June 19, 2008 at 12:33 am)
I've also experienced MSX, the old Atari 2600 eventhough I didn't have them. Same goes for Playstation (and PS2), Xbox (and 360). I considered buying a PS3 (technically superior), but my mind is set on Xbox360 just to play games. But you can do so much with a PC nowadays, you'd be stupid to neglect yourself to excell in a certain area (for instance music).
conradhw (June 19, 2008 at 12:14 am)
Eventhough my dad had a PC, eventually I got one myself (when Doom came out). DOS, Norton Commander are all too familiar to me. Today I have a Intel Quad Core 2.4 Ghz, EVGA 680i SLI, Nvidia Geforce 8800GT, 2GB 800Mhz DDR2, 600GB WD Stripe, Samsung 22" SyncMaster, Logitech Z10, Logitech G7.
conradhw (June 18, 2008 at 11:50 pm)
C64 got me familiar to the world of computing (and programming from magazines, and the world of hex/dec), and games - I had a SX-64 (upgraded with high-speed diskdrive, and final cardridge 3). Amiga took it another step further with the graphics and music capabilities (I learned to write music using protracker) - I had an A500 and eventually the more perfected A1200 (with HD). And I had an Atari Mega-STE running CUBASE, and music equipment (Roland synth/module).
conradhw (June 18, 2008 at 11:39 pm)
I was brought up using a C64 and I've experienced, and watch computers evolve up to today. But the C64 is where it all started, it familiarized people with computers that are programmable, utilizing its full potential in sound and graphics. The Amiga was a natural successor. Both were equally good and impressive in their time. Atari was comparable to amiga in some ways (amiga being more popular/superior except for MIDI).
joxter74 (July 23, 2008 at 6:08 pm)
Amen :)