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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:35 pm

Really nice article by legendary Bil Herd of Commodore fame (co-creator of the C128) on Hackaday today.

bil-herd.jpg
Bil Herd in his lab.


I love the distinction of his opening lead:
This year marks the anniversary of the most popular selling home computer ever, the Commodore 64, which made its debut in 1982. Note that I am saying “home computer” and not personal computer (PC) because back then the term PC was not yet in use for home computer users.
And then, the dagger of truth pushed straight into the heart:
Some of you have probably not heard of Commodore, which is kind of sad, though there is a simple reason why — Commodore is no longer around to maintain its legacy. If one were to watch a documentary about the 1980s they may see a picture of an Apple computer or its founders but most likely would not see a picture of a Commodore computer in spite of selling tens of millions of units.
He goes on to give a brief walk down memory lane covering the 6502, KIM-1, PET, VIC chip, VIC-20, SID and the C64, C116, C264/C364V, the Commodore LCD, and finally his baby the C128.

Pretty fun read.

I finished reading his book "Back Into the Storm months ago, which covers the same topics in obviously much more detail. I very much enjoyed it and appreciated that he didn't go into painfully technical details. It's written in a very casual and accessible style. Herd did a very nice job keeping things focused on the products and the people behind them. And he shines a light on a very interesting period in computer history about one of the biggest and most influential home computer companies of all time - Commodore. You know, that company missing from most history books these days.

:commodore: <3





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