Given the choices in 1981, I could not even afford that. The TImex TS1000 seemed cheap to me and not worth the $99, which would have been my entire savings. So I decided I'd just keep bugging the librarian at school to use the terminal. I already had a Atari 2600 for games. I saw "computers" and gaming as separate at that time. I was 13/14 in 1981 Bill On Sat, May 29, 2021 at 11:10 PM Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
OK. Time to throw my story into this ring...
My first computer came as a surprise. When I was 15 years old, my parents surprised me with the notion that they wanted to get a home computer for me (or was it for the household?) Na... it was for me.
I really only had operating experience with Radio Shack computers at the time because they were at the local mall. On most mall trips, when I ran out of quarters playing video games at the arcade, I went to Radio Shack to play with their computers until the manager kicked me out. So it was obvious to go to Radio Shack and look at their computers.
As a snotty teenager, Radio Shack employees had little patience for those who came into the store to poke around on the computer systems on display and then not buy anything. However, when you bring your parents along, and they have blank checks they are prepared to write, the employees suddenly grovel over any whim you might have about a computer. Of course, the TRS-80 Model III and 4 were off the list due to their hefty price tags. So, the only other option was the Color Computer. This was 1981, before the CoCo 2 came around.
So there I was, in temporary command of a mercedes grey Color Computer, with the employee hawking over me, making sure I understood everything about the system in order to be happy with what it had to offer. It was $499.00, and it came with nothing else. The cassette was extra. Software on cassette and cartridge was $29.99, $39.99, and up. It had 4K of RAM and that funky flashing cursor that traveled on a 32x16 display.
The price kind of put my parents off. It was still a contender as an option, but they wanted to look around to be sure they were going to be getting a good deal. I wasn't aware of any other places to buy a computer. We did not have a Toys R Us in the area to see the Atari computers. There was a local department store called Mailman's that stocked the Atari, but I already knew they cost more than the Color Computer. My parents were the ones who found about and knew of a local dedicated computer shop called Computers Unlimited. So, we took a trip to that place.
Remember, it is 1981, and I knew little about the computer industry, much less the consumer market.
When we walked into Computers Unlimited, we saw quite a number of Apple II computers. They were a licensed Apple dealer. They were also a licensed Commodore dealer. There were a few PET computers on display. PET computers were unknown to me at the time.
I played around with some of the Apple II computers while my parents talked with the salesperson about the various costs and configurations of the Apple line. After a while, my parents asked the salesperson if there was anything else that wasn't so expensive.
Now you know, there is a time in everyone's life where something hits your senses just right that you swear you see a glowing light and hear angels singing. This was my time. In what could be perceived as a slo-mo film sequence, we all watched as the salesperson pointed his entire arm to a display that was on the other side of the room. The first thing I saw was a poster for a Commodore branded computer called the VIC-20.
Well... that poster actually GLOWED in my eyes, and I could hear angels singing, because it called to me with its auspicious statement of a home computer that had 5K of RAM (25% more than the Color Computer had), full color display, and a price tag of only $399!
Before the salesperson could even put his arm down, I was off in a dash and standing in front of the display model. I started working the keyboard, making it display the quintessential PRINT "HELLO" GOTO 10 program code. I found it to be far easier to use than the Color Computer, as I was easily able to correct my programming mistakes simply by moving the cursor around the screen and correcting the errors on the spot. Full screen interactive editing is what they called it. I couldn't do that on the Color Computer. I had to either re-type the entire line on the latter, or use an EDIT command. Too cumbersome...
I was hooked! I had so much fun with the VIC-20 at that display. The screen size was weird at 22x23, but I could live with it. I was entertained with the notion that I could change text color on demand using the CTRL key, and I could make primitive graphics using the C= and SHIFT keys in association with the character keys on the keyboard. This was the one! There was no need to look further, nor go back to Radio Shack.
So my parents bought me the VIC-20, a PET style C2N cassette recorder, a couple games on cassette (RACEWAY and VIC-21 Blackjack), a home finance program, and an issue of Transactor magazine, so I'd have some programs I could type in. I still own all of these items today.
This was in October 1981. Needless to say, I spent the next few weeks indoors, and hardly played with my friends. I was too obsessed with having a home computer of my own, and seeing what all I could do with it. I learned a lot with that simple computer, which eventually led me into a career of computer programming.