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Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83
- hackermom 14y agoThank you for all the fun Commodore computers gave to my childhood, Jack.
- kylemaxwell 14y agoI wasn't a Commodore user, but as I was heavily into home / hobbyist computing at that time, they had a huge influence on me. At the time, we mostly used TRS-80s and the like, but my school had C64s and I vaguely remember trying to make sure that BASIC code from a book for C64 users would work for me. And only today did I find out that Tramiel was a Holocaust survivor who became one of the most influential figures in the computer revolution of the 80s. My thoughts are with his family and those who knew & loved him.
- vidarh 14y agoAn anecdote from Michael Tomczyk (who Tramiel gave overall responsibility for the VIC-20 launch) that seems quite fitting: 'I once asked Jack how he coped with his Holocaust memories. Without missing a beat replied, "I live in the future."'
- selectnull 14y agoBecause of Commodore 64, I got into programming. RIP Mr Tramiel and thank you. POKE 53280, 0
- fourmii 14y agoPOKE brings back so many memories!!
- wslh 14y agoI even made a t-shirt to remember it: http://swain.webframe.org/tshirts/ http://swain.webframe.org/tshirts/ (eight from the top)
- lanstein 14y agoI have a disk at my office that my five-year-old brother labeled: "poke, peak"
- justinhj 14y agoI wonder if growing up with a computer where you can poke bytes directly to its memory and video hardware makes you fundamentally less afraid or mystifyed by the technology
- markus2012 14y agoI feel I must add: POKE 53281, 0 So the whole screen is black.
- ssdsa 14y agoAnd POKE646,12 so the text color is a medium gray.
- Keyframe 14y agoRIP Jack Tramiel! Here is Computer History Museum 25th Anniversary Celebration of Commodore 64 with him on the panel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk Micro computers were a startup movement in a true sense of the word.
- fourmii 14y agoRIP Jack. And thanks for my first computer and all those memories.
- hub_ 14y agoTOS stood for Tramiel Operating System. Yes, he is the one who brought in the Atari ST.
- bitwize 14y agoA.k.a. the "Jackintosh". :)
- tremendo 14y agoWhich came about also after Jay Miner took the Amiga away. I believe Tramiel acquired Atari hoping to get the Amiga chipset, which Miner then took to Commodore.
- rbanffy 14y agoIn the end, I liked the STs better. The Amigas were, of course, more capable and more in line with Commodore and 8-bit Atari tradition, but the minimalism of the ST is refreshing to the point of reminding me of the simple elegance of the Apple II. Even a plan-B can become a masterpiece.
- waterlesscloud 14y agoAh, the ST. My first major purchase with my own money, made from working a billion godawful hours of overtime at my summer construction work job in college. And worth every damn penny of it.
- mikecane 14y agoHahahaha. I laugh because I put in the OT too in order to buy one. Mine was in an office, though, as a Mac(!) temp.
- kabdib 14y agoNo, it didn't. It stood for "The Operating System". [I worked on it, and Leonard Tramiel, who was in charge of the software team, named it. I think you can attribute the lack of a creative name to the fact that we were all very tired: The software was started in September 1984, and we shipped the 1.0 ROMs in May].
- dr_ 14y agoI learned BASIC on the Vic 20. I had no storage device, so I would get magazines from the library, type in the code, play the game as much as I could, then turn my machine off and lose everything. Those were the days!
- nollidge 14y agoLOAD "CONDOLENCES",8,1
- more_original 14y agoRUN
- nollidge 14y agoSYS64738
- rhizome 14y agoMy first job was to demo Vic-20s in department stores around the SF Bay Area at age 13. Funny that just yesterday I was at my Mom's looking for my "I'm a Commodore Kid - Ask me!" polo shirt. RIP Jack!
- dgallagher 14y agoJack did some amazing things while owner of Atari Corporation too (his son, Sam, was CEO). They helped bring the Lynx to market, developed by Epyx, which was "miles" ahead of other consoles at the time. It had amazing sound, color graphics, and 3D graphics, on a portable in 1989!
- mosburger 14y agoWasn't the Atari ST during his tenure as well? That was an excellent little machine that doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
- OzzyB 14y agoWell the ST definitely got alot of love from musicians due to the MIDI ports that it had. Now that was forward thinking -- brought MIDI sequencing to the masses. --- [Additional Edit] The C64 is also getting alot of love today from musicians due to the wonderful soundchip it had. There is a great company called "MidiBox" that provides kits for you make your own "8bit soundmachines". http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_sid.html http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_sid.html
- dgallagher 14y agoYeah. The wiki article has a list of what they released: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Corporation One neat thing they were developing, but never came to light, was Jaguar VR. It was a virtual reality headset, using IR-tracking, which let you play VR games. Only a few working prototypes exists: VR headset: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFZCgNBxkcM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFZCgNBxkcM Game shown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJmnmRzWipo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJmnmRzWipo Another of VR headset: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCQJrd-4rk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCQJrd-4rk
- Tichy 14y agoMust check the state of Oids simulators. I always was envious of my friend with his Atari ST, because Oids looked so cool...
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- dca 14y agoMy first program was on the C64 when I was very young. Had it not been available to my parents and me at that time, I'm not sure I would have the same passion for technology and programming I have today. Thanks Jack, for helping bring it to the masses.
- korbinus 14y agoThanks for my Atari 520 STF Mr. Tramiel. RIP
- zedr 14y ago"Computers for the masses, not the classes." A cutthroat businessman, but a brilliant mind nevertheless. It was only because of Jack Tramiel, and geniuses like Chuck Peddle and Bob Russel, that easy to use computers were cheap enough to be affordable by almost everyone. At least for me, his influence on modern home computing was greater than Steve Jobs and Bill Gates combined. Now, I hope he did tell somebody where the Magic Sword and the Philosopher's Stone are...
- georgieporgie 14y ago"We need to build computers for the masses, not the classes." Thanks for that, as one of the masses, my VIC-20 was crucial to developing my early passion for computers.
- inovica 14y agoMy very first computer was a Commodore 64. My grandfather, the day before he died, said to me that I needed to get into computers as they are the future. He gave me some money that day and that evening he passed away peacefully in his sleep. I bought a C64 with this money and I still have it now.
- brandall10 14y agoThat is a beautiful story. My grandfather had a similar influence - bought me a Vic 20 as my first computer (optical/laser engineer, programmed in C). At 6 years old I did my very first programming in BASIC on that thing, wrote out a typing tutor from a book called Parrot - had a crudely animated parrot head that made noises when you typed wrong. Couple years back tried to find the Vic 20 in my parent's storage and sadly only the box remains :(
- daniel_iversen 14y agoWonderful. My grandfather likewise bought me my first computer - also a Commodore 64. That was truly my entry into the world of IT. Jack Tramiel really made a difference to the world I think by speeding up affordable home computing!
- wvenable 14y agoMy first computer was also a Commodore 64. We had Commodore 64s in our school and my grade 3 teacher called my parents in for a meeting and told them they need to buy me a computer. My family pooled together and I got one for Christmas -- best present event. I used it for many many years and I wish I still had it.
- D_Alex 14y agoMy first computer was a C64 also. It cost A$699, plus $99 for the tape drive. In 1982 money. My father's salary was about $40,000 per year then. Can't think of money better spent.
- vidarh 14y agoWe had to go on a waiting list in Norway to get ours because Commodore had a hard time ramping up to meet demand and so availability depended a lot on market. Probably went on the waiting list end of 1982, and got it spring of '83. Until then we'd been borrowing a VIC-20 for some time.
- zedr 14y agoA long interview with Jack in 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk&feature=player_detailpage#t=1020s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk&feature=playe...
- mikecane 14y agoApple was cool, but Commodore was affordable. Thanks, Jack, for that $199 C=64. Rest in peace.
- vidarh 14y agoIn Europe the difference was staggering - in many countries Apple was pretty much a total unknown until the Mac. I don't remember ever seeing an Apple computer in any of my local computer stores in Norway, for example, while VIC 20 and C-64, and even some PET's were all over the place. I started with a VIC 20, then got a C-64. Pretty much all my friends had C-64's at some point or other in the '83-'88 time frame. Nobody I knew had an Apple computer...
- moylan 14y agohere in ireland most schools and libraries has an apple ii. but they were expensive fragile things that nobody understood or touched. when the c64 came out our school got 6 linked to one floppy drive. we went nuts over them. but when it came to a my first computer i went with a zx spectrum as most of my friends had one as it was slightly cheaper. in my class of 24 or so. 3-4 spectrums, 1-2 c64s and 1 amstrad (poor sod, great computer, few users so few software swaps available)
- vidarh 14y agoOutside of the UK and Ireland I think the Spectrum gets most love for being to a large extent responsible for the hard push Commodore made for low price. Tramiel wanted a ZX-81 killer early on, so we got the VIC 20, etc... Sinclair Research were really impressive in managing to get something out that cheaply, and outside of the UK I don't think they get enough credit for the impact they had on the computing industry through the competitive pressure they created. The interesting thing is Commodore made or almost made almost all the mistakes Sinclair made with the Spectrum models. Often more than once - they only got away with it because they were totally schizophrenic and had multiple competing teams and were so chaotic that eventually winning solutions came out of it. E.g. the crappy keyboards on the early ZX / Spectrum machines, which was a big part of making them perform so poorly outside of the UK and Ireland. Commodore did that with the first PET, then again with one of their later home machines, as cost cutting measures - they didn't learn the first time. But they often confined their worst mistakes to a single market, and so quicker saw the cost of their mistakes and fixed them.
- anigbrowl 14y agoI learned BASIC on a Commodore PET. Thanks, Mr. Tramiel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET
- mjwalshe 14y agoIn my first job i used to develop for PETs did a project with the BSI that went towards the research for applying iso 9000 to software amongst others And I can still remember the quirks of the different disk drives that you had to use to get them to work effectively :-)
- shill 14y agoI learned BASIC in the early 80's on a VIC 20. Luckily we had the tape drive so I could save my 'work'. We also had the extra RAM cartridge that was needed for some of the larger games. I really wanted an Apple II though. That's what the rich kids had.
- remixhacker 14y agoR.I.P. Jack thanks for everything! You democratized computers back In the day.
- rbanffy 14y agoA minute without the computer. RIP, Jack. You'll be missed.
- simmons 14y agoLike many here, Jack Tramiel's vision of an affordable yet versatile computer certainly had a huge impact on my life. I keep my old C64 set up in my office to remind me that I have to live up to the expectations of the 10-year-old kid who would stay up late at night trying to make that machine do something amazing. Condolences to Mr. Tramiel's family.
- Zikes 14y agoThat is the most sincere motivational statement I've heard in quite a while. Thank you for sharing it.
- iqster 14y agoThe C64 was the first computer I programmed. Made my life better for it. Thanks Jack! RIP.
- nbatavia 14y agoWow, what memories, the very first line of assembler code I ever wrote was on a C64. Had one for years! Now it's going to be super hard to get another one.
- DanBC 14y agoFor anyone who missed out on the Commodore computers (I had a zx81; then used the family's Sharp MZ80K) there are some modern hardware versions. (http://www.c64upgra.de/ http://www.c64upgra.de/) (http://www.syntiac.com/fpga64.html http://www.syntiac.com/fpga64.html) etc.
- drawkbox 14y agoIt's people like Jack Tramiel, Steve Wozniak, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others that remind you that individuals, even within powerful teams, can be extremely innovative and important. When that carries from company to company and industries it validates it further: Commodore, Atari, Apple, Pixar etc. I spent about 2 summers at my friends house playing Summer Games on C64 and wrote my first lines of BASIC there, at school I used an Apple II. We need more people like these guys for the next wave. READY. █
- rbanffy 14y ago3583 BYTES FREE
- ssdsa 14y agoNo matter if it is 3583 BYTES FREE or 38911 BYTES FREE or some other number - the start-up text was an important message to all users: There's this language (BASIC) available right here at the prompt, ready for you, just type away. And there are N bytes free, available for you to do whatever you want to do.
- rbanffy 14y agoI was raised on the ]█ (later the ]▒) prompt, but I agree with you. We lost a lot when computers started greeting people with OS prompts and mouse pointers.
- brianobush 14y agoI agree, but people commonly argue that there is so much more available today. However, the one thing we lost is the focus to turn the machine into something more.
- rbanffy 14y agoI think the kinds of media being produced shifted. Machines like the Apple II or the VIC-20 were machines to produce computer programs (and to play games). Then computers became machines to produce spreadsheets, reports and memos, then machines to share photos and comments. It was an unavoidable transition, as those who are interested in producing programs are no longer the majority of computer users.
- andyjohnson0 14y agoLike many others here, my first computer was a Commodore (VIC20 in my case). Whether I owe my career to this man I couldn't say, but I owe him my gratitude. RIP.
- drey08 14y agoI'll never forget my first computer. Rest in peace, Jack Tramiel. http://imgur.com/GYHVR http://imgur.com/GYHVR
- codequickly 14y agoMy first computer was a C64. 30 years ago, I learned to program Basic and assembly language with it. God bless
- ssdsa 14y agoWithout him, the world would be a different place. The Commodore computers inspired so many people (adults now) and made all "our" business world, start-up world and hacker world what it is now. By bringing home computers to a huge number of houses, a lot of kids got the chance to experience first-hand what it is like to be in control of a "personal" computer. There is still a C64 scene alive! http://noname.c64.org/csdb/ http://noname.c64.org/csdb/
- mikecane 14y agoSee also this: http://www.commodorefree.com/issues.html http://www.commodorefree.com/issues.html
- pgrote 14y agoThe Commodore 64 is what inspired my career in tech. Many firsts including machine language, pascal and game/utility programming. The first software I ever created and sold was Disk Ease, which brought low level control of the 1541 to the normal person. Sold it through ads in the back of Computer Shopper magazine; I was 14. Let me tell you, there is nothing more inspirational than people sending money to your post office box from all around the country for something you built. It wasn't a big seller by any means, but it laid the groundwork for my future.
- bemmu 14y agoI'd like to hear more about this story. I know personally at 14 while I was doing programming, it would have been super scary to call a magazine to place an ad or have the money for such an ad. How did you end up doing that?
- VonGuard 14y agoI found a "lost" article I wrote about Jack from 2007. He was an Auschvitz survivor, almost died in a plane accident, and was an unsung visionary that, perhaps, was the first to truly commoditize compute power. http://www.sdtimes.com/blog/post/2012/04/09/Jack-Tramiel-Commodore-founder-passes-at-83.aspx http://www.sdtimes.com/blog/post/2012/04/09/Jack-Tramiel-Com...
- tangue 14y agoI didn't know Jack survived Auschwitz. It makes me even sadder. Being able to create those machines after such a life commands respect.
- cpg 14y agoSo sad to hear! This dates me I had to get my C64 from a trucker who went on a rare trip to the UK (I lived in a rural area of Spain). I went into software thanks to a C64.
- siavosh 14y agoI remember I would beg my dad to drive me around on the weekends looking for garage sales to find Commodore 64 software. Sometimes we would get them by the box full, on unlabeled floppies, and spend the whole weekend trying each one. Every once in a while you found a disk filled with a bunch of games. Good memories.
- muyuu 14y agoThanks Jack for all these moments playing and coding with my father.
- protomyth 14y agoI still have my Atari 400 (pre-Tramiel) and my 130XE (Tramiel era). We were pretty poor financially as a family when I got them. Without cheap, programmable machines like the Commodores and the Ataris, I doubt I would have been a programmer. I cannot imagine what I would have used these days in the sub $200 market.
- dy9 14y agoA9 52 20 D2 FF A9 49 20 D2 FF A9 50 20 D2 FF
- vidarh 14y agoFor the curious, it's: LDA #$52 JSR $FFD2 LDA #$49 JSR $FFD2 LDA #$50 JSR $FFD2 It outputs "RIP" on a Commodore 64. To my eternal shame, I had to look up the kernel vector at $FFD2. (it outputs a character to the current device, usually the screen, on the C64). At least I can redeem myself partially by having remembered the opcodes...
- nsxwolf 14y agoOh, the Atari 7800 could have been so much more. Could have given the NES a run for its money.
- arundelo 14y agoI made a Commodore 64 play "Taps": http://youtu.be/cPtdcv1G01Y http://youtu.be/cPtdcv1G01Y
- mapster 14y agoMy brown C64 with a 300baud Hess modem and Indus drive - that first $600 phone bill was all worth it. Bless you Jack for your vision and tenacity!
- mkramlich 14y agoRIP Mr. Tramiel. The C64 and Amiga were both machines that helped define their era. Lots of veteran professional programmers working today got their start on them.
- SXSWMMO 14y agoRIP Jack! Big fan of the Atari ST.
- mkramlich 14y agoIt's interesting that Amiga isn't being talked about more in this thread. Also by Commodore, though a bit later than the C64. The Amiga was a powerful little machine for it's time, especially for games and "multi-media" as the state of the art existed then. And it had personality. Personality goes a long way.
- vigo 14y agoas being c64 scener i'm soo sorry to hear this news. rest in peace! c64 is the milestone of my life. Thank you for great inspiration.