"Your favourite 8-bit computer ?" Topic

The C64 of course. Also had a soft spot of the weird, but cuddly Coleco Adam.

My favourite was my first, a Dragon 32 with tape recorder. Very simple machine, awful graphics compare to Spectrum or Commodores.

However it was my introduction to programming and computer games and was the one that I had the most fun with.

C64 for me as well, since I could afford the silly thing.

The TRS-80 gets a special mention though, I saw it running a Duck Hunt game and when I found out it was programmable and I could write my own games – I was hooked.

My first computer was a TI-99 4A. When TI got out of the PC business, they sold them off dirt cheap (I think mine was $49 USD at Montogomery Ward's). I loved it, because I could program in BASIC at home, even if I did have to use the cassette recorder interface to store anything I wanted to save.

Doug

My old Apple ][, on which I learned C and assembler and for which I actually had a couple of games published.

I got my Dad's ZX Spectrum after he tired of trying to program it. It gave me years of joy and frustration. As I got a bit older I became aware of my friends having faster, better machines, and for a time there was nothing I wanted more than a Commodore 64. I eventually got one and although it was probably near the end of the 8 bit age, I got plenty of enjoyment from it before graduating on to the Snes etc.

However now I look back on the ZX with the most affection. There's something about its warm primary colours and blip sound effects that's more pleasing to the eye today than the C64's technically superior but decidedly odd large rectangular pixels and weird colour palette, though in the sound department the C64 wins hands down. My brother who's a DJ tells me people are still making electronic music with the C64 chip!

I always liked the Radio Shack Color Computer II. I got to know it moderately well when I worked for Radio Shack back when it was available.

ZX Spectrum was a great machine to program for. I wrote a number of commercial games for it in the mid 1980s before moving on to the ST and Amiga

mike

Aahhh, the zx spectrum-I still have it sitting in my loft with a stack of programmes as well as the tape recorder we purchased to run them on..

I had an Amstrad 464, but was always a bit envious of my friends' C64s and (later) Amigas.

Kaypro – dual floppy disk drives – portable – the cat's meow!

Had a C64 for years.

Still have my c64…. although I haven't had it up and running for a few years.

C64!,
syntax error, load "*" ,8,1
loading dragon riders of pern on cassette, before they even had fast load cassettes -the thing took 30mins (plus) to load!!

and who could forget elite!!!

ahhhhh Elite and mule on the c64. goor times!
I learned basic on my Timex Sinclare though.
It was long before my c64.

Was the Atari 800 an 8-bit? That's what we had, with 5.25" floppy, cartridge and cassette drives.

I learned to program BASIC on a TI-99 4A, and played many a game of Lemondae Stand and Oregon Trail on the school's Apple IIs…

C64 because it got me through my MS in operations research. But my Timex Sinclair 1000 has pride of place in my heart for getting me into computers.

C64.

My first was the TRS-80, on which I played Avalon Hill games such as North Atlantic Convoy Raider. Later I inherited my dad's Commodore 128. They're both buried in a closet.

Mom bought me a C-64 when they first came out. Still have it. Every few years, I'll set it up for the OLD Talonsoft Ace games. Sometimes I miss the old tape drives. Watch tellie while waiting. Watch it on the Tv I wad using for a monitor.

C64

Vic-20!

Bard's Tale on the C64.

I had a Kaypro II -- hmmm was that 8-bit? I think so but can't remember for sure -- which I got rather late in the era (handmedown the same year my college roommate had a 2-floppy Mac).

But I wrote a number of papers and much D&D world data and quite a few letters and resumes and college applications using Wordstar printed to my Epson FX-80.

Replaced it with a 386sx that had enough RAM to run OS/2 or Windows 3.x and a huge hard drive (80! Megabytes!) and an HP LaserJet IIP.

TRS 80 my Dad bought. I figured it out then taught my Dad how to use it. Bought Tandy's for years after that, then IBMs.

Thanks,

John

Fat Arnold (Amstrad CPC6128).

All the best,

John.

Still got my ZX Spectrum, although it's the Amstrad +2 version. My original Sinclair 48k version fell apart. Chaos is still one of my favourite video games, and because you can now play it online, I don't have to drag the Speccy out of storage.

I learned Basic on a TRS-80 Model II. My school also had the model with the double disk drives for truly awesome amounts of high-speed storage! I wrote three games for the thing— a chemistry quiz game (really just a computer controlled multiple choice game), a typing game that combined a Space Invaders/Galaxian style alien attack with mad typing skills (), and a sure enough text adventure game, which I later rewrote and improved for the original Mac and released as shareware on AOL. (I actually got one (1) check for it!)

At home I had a Timex/Sinclair and my grandfather's VIC 20 for a while, but they weren't as easy to program or as versatile (for me, at least) as the "Trash-80." I never wound up doing much with them— but I still have the Timex-Sinclair and the memory expansion module (16K- WOOT!).

Apple ][+, definitely.

C64 of course.

Another vote for the TRS-80 Color Computer.

It wasn't very powerful, but it was a lot of fun.

Had an Atari 400 with a tape drive first…then replaced it with a C64 with a floppy drive.

C64

Atari 800 with an 840 Floppy

Back in the day, I wanted an Apple II+ and the Atari 800.
Still do.

My dream home includes a room dedicated to fully functioning classic computers: A TRS-80, an Apple II (of some sort), a C-64, an Atari 800, a classic Mac (or Mac Plus), and what the heck, an Amiga.*

I'd get a kick out of programming those kinds of machines again. I never had the chops to get far with the fancy things of today.

(*But no IBM PCs, thanks. I never liked 'em from the moment they came out, and that was before I got my first Mac.)

The Sinclair ZX-81 was my first computer, and it taught me to think outside the box. I wanted to write a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up with a rocket ship, but horizontal scrolling on the ZX was slower than a snail on barbiturates. So I wrote it with vertical scrolling, and turned the TV on its side to play it. It worked great! And the letter "Y" on its side made a good little rocket ship.

Atari 800 with 840 floppy

C64 and a TRS-80 (also had a Gen 1 Atari). Very cool back-in-the-day. Programming in basic was cool too. Neat to think how far we've come in computing since those days and to be alive to see it evolve as far as it has. I've heard that Apollo spacecraft (I believe the ones involved in the Moon landings) had the computing power of a digital watch. Then, all of a sudden, you could have that on your desktop. I had to jump on that wagon back then and I'm glad I did.

Amazingly, I still know people today that don't have a clue about using a computer (or other new tech for that matter). It's getting to the point where you really can't function in the world without some knowledge of it. In fact, I just recently heard on the news something about Intel announcing that the next "logical" step for computer and digital interfacing is a direct implant into the human brain so that you can "see" the media via your mind, rather than having to sit in front of, or carry, a device with you.

Scary…

IBM PC Portable (I mean luggable). 28 pounds, built in 9 inch monitor (yeah, 9, not 19), dual floppies, and a keyboard that flipped up and became the base when I carried it over to a friend's house. Learned BASIC and Dos 2.x. Still working with computers today.

Yikes. I'll pass on the brain interface for now.

As for the Apollo bit, I do know that the computer systems onboard the Voyager space probes had only 16K of RAM. Think about how tight the programming had to be to achieve what those machines were expected to do!

Parzival, I'm with you. Forget about brain interfaces! Too weird.

Man, you're right, the programming had to be "tight" to get the performance those probes were capable of. Never thought of that, great point.

MicroBee.

Especially the Computer-in-a-Book model.

link

Apple IIc

As a student, I built a custom expansion card (ZIF socket and breadboards) and wrote a little robotic control program to drive a mobile Armitron toy from Radio Shack on this platform.

Apple 2. Still got mine and the green screen monitor.

Apple 2, twin floppy drives, great for the day.

C64. I had one with all the add ons. Tape player. Dot Matrix Printer. You name it I had it.

Fast forward 10 years. Was at my friends summer house. Weekend we all went up to get away from the city and relax. Went into town and hit the second hand store. They had a C64 in a box with a ton of stuff. they wanted $20 USD for it. I only had $10 USD, buddy who was a nerd like me was in the same boat.

The one built around the CPU I made in EE class a million, million years ago. Second best is another vote for the TRaSh-80 – those were awesome – nearly impossible to crash, no matter what you plugged into it!

What no mention of Franlkin or the BBC micro?