Friday Flashbacks* (*insert timetravel type sounds) – A computer or an aging member of a band?

Yep, the old Commodore 64!

I must have been about eight years old when I was introduced to the world of computers. Our first computer, the C64, very likely cost the equivalent of far more money than I paid for this one I’m using now.

It was the best thing since sliced bread and I’ll tell you why.

The games were on tape and took approximately 15 minutes to load.

Graphics were terrible compared to the virtual reality games you get now. Cars, for example, would be made by creating a rectangle with four circles closely placed near each corner.

You could spend eight hours in a day typing up a program that came with the manual. You’d think after that long you’d have something substantial out of it wouldn’t you? Actually, what you’d get is an orange ball bouncing across your screen.

You couldn’t connect to the internet. Goodness me, we didn’t even know what the internet was then!

And we thought it was fantastic!

The Commodore’s competition? Yes, you remember!

The Sinclair Spectrum. Bleurgh!

So what made the Commodore better?

The Commodore had a proper clicky keyboard with proper clicky keys while the Spectrum had these naff little cushioney pads that would get stuck into the keyboard if you pressed too hard.

The Commodore was bigger and more robust compared to the Spectrum’s teeny weeny frame. How on earth was that expected to last?

The Commodore had better games.

The Commodore kicked Spectum’s electrical behind.

And kept kicking.

But still, for some reason unbeknown to me the Spectrum did have some fans.

So Commodore or Sinclair Spectrum? Which camp were you in?