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A long strange trip it's been

Posted By: rwatson

A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 04:31 PM

Got this in an email and Wow we have come a long way from this ,Cartridges and text based games.You young kids won't remember this but I'm sure there's a few old timers her who do and a bit farther back,Even the post title is from a bit back

https://www.howtogeek.com/724683/the-first-pc-to-sell-millions-commodore-vic-20-turns-40/
Posted By: Sluggish Controls

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 05:11 PM

I was there. A young lad, working my butt off all summer months and more to get my dream machine biggrin
Purchased it in England, and then my Mom sent me back to France two weeks later. I then had to spend more cash on a darn PAL / SECAM converter, ha !

Cheers,
Slug
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 05:14 PM

I grew up pretty darn poor for most of my childhood so the first PC I bought with my own money wasn't until 1992 which was my freshman year in college. I'm sure some of you here remember Packard Bell?
Posted By: Crane Hunter

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 05:42 PM

My parents bought a C64 in 1984 but I don't recall even seeing a Vic-20 until quite a few years later.
Posted By: WangoTango

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 05:49 PM

We had a Vic 20 in the early 80's (my parents). I used in to play Centipede. I did not buy a computer until 2003, I didn't feel the need until then.
Posted By: rwatson

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 05:58 PM

Bought my Vic 20 at a yard sale with one cartridge.Dracula something or the other a text based game and was hooked immediately and followed the upgrade path,,C-64--IBM 8088 with no hard drive just a couple floppy disk drives and after that I'd upgrade to play a new game and then another game would come out and another build..Gotten to old to be messing inside a case anymore the fingers aren't as nimble as before so bought a good HP machine that plays everything I want to play.I figure this is my last machine,But at least I'm enjoying the ride..LOL got a Dead CD playing
Posted By: MarkG

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 06:21 PM

I have only one pic of a Commodore (1989...unpacking first apartment) but I can't tell (or remember) if that one was my VIC-20 pr C64 (both purchased second-hand)...

[Linked Image]

Posted By: rwatson

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 06:23 PM

LOL Mark old school TV there
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 06:24 PM

Is that pic from 1989 or more like 1982? biggrin
Posted By: MarkG

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer
Is that pic from 1989 or more like 1982? biggrin


Lol. I started a decade behind (remember your comment on my wedding pics?). biggrin
Posted By: LB4LB

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 06:43 PM

Love that old TV too Mark. I remember we had a Commodore on the dinning room table way back when. It had a cassette tape drive. Only game we had was Yahtzee.

Anybody remember the old Gateway Computer stores? How about your first Super VGA monitor?
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by LB4LB

Anybody remember the old Gateway Computer stores?




Yup, I do. Those only lasted a couple of years. Only Apple can get away with having brick & mortar stores for their electronics and manage to pack them full of people (at least until the pandemic).

Even the Microsoft stores that I visited pre-pandemic were usually nearly empty. Maybe at most I'd see 4-5 people in the store.
Posted By: MarkG

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by rwatson
LOL Mark old school TV there


Recycling one more pic, as I still had that TV in my second apartment (I prefer not to replace stuff until it breaks)...

[Linked Image]

It broke in the middle of Desert Storm (early '91), so we quickly replaced it with a 20" JVC which is now the bedroom TV. Sometimes things just keep ticking.
Posted By: rwatson

Re: A long strange trip it's been - 05/03/21 07:35 PM

(I prefer not to replace stuff until it breaks)...

Yeah Mark I'm like that with wives..I wonder if that old TV would work today.I guess with an antenna (not the old rabbit ears with aluminum foil) and a converter box.One thing I kinda miss was the excitement of a new game release..Now a game comes out and I figure OK looks good I'll wait a couple months and see what the bugs are before buying it.Like now have my eye on the new Rome release and following the boards at Steam..Bought too many duds in the past to jump in blindly
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