[Gigantic Purple Slug]

Superb machine that many people probably cut their programming teeth on.

This post has been edited by Gigantic Purple Slug: 24 April 2012 - 05:51 PM

[eight]

Gigantic Purple Slug, on 24 April 2012 - 09:10 AM, said:

Superb machine that many people probably cut their programming teeth on.

I was the only kid in the world with a Commodore +4. What a neglected bit of history that thing was.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

eight, on 24 April 2012 - 09:27 AM, said:

I was the only kid in the world with a Commodore +4. What a neglected bit of history that thing was.

Well I can add it in there if you want.

But I suspect the number of votes it will get will be equal to the number of games you managed to trade with your mates (+1 Of course).

[eight]

Gigantic Purple Slug, on 24 April 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

Well I can add it in there if you want.

But I suspect the number of votes it will get will be equal to the number of games you managed to trade with your mates (+1 Of course).

It's alright. I didn't have any mates.

Background here.

[neil324]

From that list technically the C64 was streets ahead, the SID chip alone was the dogs b*llocks.

Jack Tramiel died recently.

This post has been edited by neil324: 24 April 2012 - 09:50 AM

[callaght]

I absolutely loved my Spectrum 16k although I was gutted it couldn't play spectrum 48k games

But the C64 has to have been my favourite 8-bit machine.

I started programming on the Spectrum - well, copying code in the magazine 'Input' at the age of 5!!

I'm a bit slow though because I'm now in my mid 30's and only now would I say I'm a competent C programmer.

30 years to learn - lol! What a thicko!!

This post has been edited by callaght: 24 April 2012 - 09:53 AM

[SpewLabour]

Here - where's the Atari 400 on that list?

[eight]

callaght, on 24 April 2012 - 09:51 AM, said:

I absolutely loved my Spectrum 16k although I was gutted it couldn't play spectrum 48k games

But the C64 has to have been my favourite 8-bit machine.

I started programming on the Spectrum - well, copying code in the magazine 'Input' at the age of 5!!

I'm a bit slow though because I'm now in my mid 30's and only now would I say I'm a competent C programmer.

30 years to learn - lol! What a thicko!!

I must have got quite good at programming because I remember I had somehow managed to create custom fonts(!) for the +4 (well as best you can in an 8x8 pixel block) which IIRC meant drawing them on graph paper, converting to some kind of hex code and then poking them to the relevant location, or maybe to RAM and then changing what for want of a better word I will call the "directory" to look them up somewhere else.

I had side scrolling going too.

Does this make me some kind of unfulfilled prodigy? As I have never programmed anything more complicated than a VCR since.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

SpewLabour, on 24 April 2012 - 09:56 AM, said:

Here - where's the Atari 400 on that list?

Added, because it no doubt had pole position.

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

We had an Amstrad CPC in our house but always wanted a BBC with a disk drive so Chuckie Egg and Arcadians would load nice and fast.

[callaght]

eight, on 24 April 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

I must have got quite good at programming because I remember I had somehow managed to create custom fonts(!) for the +4 (well as best you can in an 8x8 pixel block) which IIRC meant drawing them on graph paper, converting to some kind of hex code and then poking them to the relevant location, or maybe to RAM and then changing what for want of a better word I will call the "directory" to look them up somewhere else.

I had side scrolling going too.

Does this make me some kind of unfulfilled prodigy? As I have never programmed anything more complicated than a VCR since.

Yes, it sounds like you would have made a very good programmer!

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

I voted for the ZX81, simply because it was the first computer I owned, aged 9. It came with a massive 1k of memory, and I remember that it was considered a challenge among programmers to create as sophisticated software as they could within the 1K confines. Eventually I got a 16K memory add-on, which I remember had to be secured to the back of the computer with gaffer tape, or else it would fall off and the machine would crash. I was absolutely infatuated with 3D Monster Maze - about the only computer game I ever spent any significant time playing.

[SpewLabour]

Gigantic Purple Slug, on 24 April 2012 - 10:02 AM, said:

Added, because it no doubt had pole position.

Good games machine, apart from that it was a lump of junk! I loved it, though.

[snowflux]

Had to give the Jupiter Ace a vote. AFAIK, I was the only geek who was geeky enough to buy one, with its FORTH programming language, next to no commercial software and a case reminiscent of a yoghurt carton.

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

Knew a kid with one of those penny-pinching frugal-in-a-crap-way Dads - not only he got a 'bargain' betamax VCR when they were all but dead but also secured a closeout deal on a Dragon 32. That kid was not happy.