Great Commodore Related moments for me at VCF 2022,
I wanted to share some great moments for me from VCF 2022. I owned a C64, Amiga 500, Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000, I worked in an Amiga only store and I worked on their ad campaign. So for me this was a big deal. Where do I start? Albert Charpentier was sitting in the small couch area in building 9010D and he was talking about his history and what he did at Commodore. Why he designed what he did and what he did afterwards. It was wonderful. Some small tidbits: He designed the VIC because he liked video games. I thought that was a great bit of trivia. He wanted to make a "Commodore 80" and he wanted to use an Intel Chip. He never heard of the C64 being called the "VW Beetle" of computers and was surprised with all the people making clones. He knew the VIC-20 and C64 were big sellers but didn't seem to realize the impact to so many people. I have to say, the staff from Commodore really don't know how much of an impact their work did. Later on I took him to see the Univac and he was very impressed. He was also impressed by the PDP-8. He had worked on a PDP-8 at one time and was surprised to see one At the Commodore Panel Hedley Davis admitted they didn't like the look of the Amiga 2000. Personally I like the A2000 case but they explained that the A3000 was an aesthetic choice. I also didn't know about the joystick design issue they had. I also realized I want to buy Andy Finkel's shirt collection.
I find it interesting to learn that people who were key players in the industry had lost touch with their own legacy to some extent. At least that's my take on Christian's story. I don't mean that in a bad way. I just find it interesting how a resurgence of popularity over someone's originally popular creation can stray so much from the original creator's perspective. Jeff Salzman On Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 10:37 AM Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I wanted to share some great moments for me from VCF 2022. I owned a C64, Amiga 500, Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000, I worked in an Amiga only store and I worked on their ad campaign. So for me this was a big deal.
Where do I start? Albert Charpentier was sitting in the small couch area in building 9010D and he was talking about his history and what he did at Commodore. Why he designed what he did and what he did afterwards. It was wonderful.
Some small tidbits:
He designed the VIC because he liked video games. I thought that was a great bit of trivia.
He wanted to make a "Commodore 80" and he wanted to use an Intel Chip.
He never heard of the C64 being called the "VW Beetle" of computers and was surprised with all the people making clones. He knew the VIC-20 and C64 were big sellers but didn't seem to realize the impact to so many people. I have to say, the staff from Commodore really don't know how much of an impact their work did.
Later on I took him to see the Univac and he was very impressed. He was also impressed by the PDP-8. He had worked on a PDP-8 at one time and was surprised to see one
At the Commodore Panel Hedley Davis admitted they didn't like the look of the Amiga 2000. Personally I like the A2000 case but they explained that the A3000 was an aesthetic choice. I also didn't know about the joystick design issue they had.
I also realized I want to buy Andy Finkel's shirt collection.
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 12:20 PM Wil via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Where these all recorded and will they be online?
All the talks in Room 1 were recorded and will be made available within a few weeks. The A/V group needs time to edit and process them for the best audio and video available.
Wish I could have made it, and yeah it is funny how folks that were "influencers" from back in the day would have had millions of followers on social media if it existed back then. For me all knowledge came from computer clubs, books and magazines, everything you hear was word of mouth and isolated for most folks. And it was once a month!
Yes. I have learned a lot these days as back in the day there was limited availability of information about what really happened in the companies and who the people were. So glad that I joined this group to see and meet the creators of my favorite machines!
On Apr 28, 2022 12:02, Jeff S via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I find it interesting to learn that people who were key players in the industry had lost touch with their own legacy to some extent. At least that's my take on Christian's story.
I don't mean that in a bad way. I just find it interesting how a resurgence of popularity over someone's originally popular creation can stray so much from the original creator's perspective.
Jeff Salzman
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022, 10:37 AM Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I wanted to share some great moments for me from VCF 2022. I owned a C64, Amiga 500, Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000, I worked in an Amiga only store and I worked on their ad campaign. So for me this was a big deal.
Where do I start? Albert Charpentier was sitting in the small couch area in building 9010D and he was talking about his history and what he did at Commodore. Why he designed what he did and what he did afterwards. It was wonderful.
Some small tidbits:
He designed the VIC because he liked video games. I thought that was a great bit of trivia.
He wanted to make a "Commodore 80" and he wanted to use an Intel Chip.
He never heard of the C64 being called the "VW Beetle" of computers and was surprised with all the people making clones. He knew the VIC-20 and C64 were big sellers but didn't seem to realize the impact to so many people. I have to say, the staff from Commodore really don't know how much of an impact their work did.
Later on I took him to see the Univac and he was very impressed. He was also impressed by the PDP-8. He had worked on a PDP-8 at one time and was surprised to see one
At the Commodore Panel Hedley Davis admitted they didn't like the look of the Amiga 2000. Personally I like the A2000 case but they explained that the A3000 was an aesthetic choice. I also didn't know about the joystick design issue they had.
I also realized I want to buy Andy Finkel's shirt collection.
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 12:02 PM Jeff S <jsalzman@gmail.com> wrote:
I find it interesting to learn that people who were key players in the industry had lost touch with their own legacy to some extent. At least that's my take on Christian's story.
I found the same with Bil Herd, Bill Mensch and John Blankenbaker. They were successful engineers but they don't realize how what they created touched so many people. I have a theory, they come up with a creation and they spend a lot of time on it and it is successful and they celebrate but then it's all hard work on the next creation They don't see that their creations change people's lives. How many of you had your life changed because of your computer? I did because I didn't think of computing as a career path.. How many of you made new friends or had your whole social life change because of your computer? There are many examples of people who said how their computer changed their life. This is something they probably don't see because they work on the next big thing and we get to enjoy their creations. And we are now lucky to be able to meet them and talk with them. What was the saying? "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." We get to meet and talk to the Giants.
At a dinner with Al Charpentier friday night, he was shown examples of the C64 Demo Scene... I was down the table but I think he had no idea about that - seemingly surprised and delighted. He got to hear about a really obscure VIC II bug those geniuses found and worked around. As he left the museum I got to tell him how the VIC20 and C64 helped launch my career, especially with the C64 Programmers Reference. He was gracious and seemed genuinely gratified to hear such things. I wonder how often he has been exposed to people who were influenced like us. He MUST have heard this sometimes, right? Anyway, what a great experience to have so many C= all together in one pace. Interested in seeing if Jeff gets some feedback on their experience with us. On 4/28/2022 5:06 PM, Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 12:02 PM Jeff S <jsalzman@gmail.com> wrote:
I find it interesting to learn that people who were key players in the industry had lost touch with their own legacy to some extent. At least that's my take on Christian's story.
I found the same with Bil Herd, Bill Mensch and John Blankenbaker.
They were successful engineers but they don't realize how what they created touched so many people.
I have a theory, they come up with a creation and they spend a lot of time on it and it is successful and they celebrate but then it's all hard work on the next creation
They don't see that their creations change people's lives.
How many of you had your life changed because of your computer? I did because I didn't think of computing as a career path..
How many of you made new friends or had your whole social life change because of your computer?
There are many examples of people who said how their computer changed their life.
This is something they probably don't see because they work on the next big thing and we get to enjoy their creations.
And we are now lucky to be able to meet them and talk with them.
What was the saying? "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."
We get to meet and talk to the Giants.
YES! What Doug said. :-) Chris On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 5:46 PM Douglas Crawford via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
At a dinner with Al Charpentier friday night, he was shown examples of the C64 Demo Scene... I was down the table but I think he had no idea about that - seemingly surprised and delighted. He got to hear about a really obscure VIC II bug those geniuses found and worked around.
As he left the museum I got to tell him how the VIC20 and C64 helped launch my career, especially with the C64 Programmers Reference. He was gracious and seemed genuinely gratified to hear such things.
I wonder how often he has been exposed to people who were influenced like us. He MUST have heard this sometimes, right?
Anyway, what a great experience to have so many C= all together in one pace. Interested in seeing if Jeff gets some feedback on their experience with us.
On 4/28/2022 5:06 PM, Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 12:02 PM Jeff S <jsalzman@gmail.com> wrote:
I find it interesting to learn that people who were key players in the
industry had lost touch with their own legacy to some extent. At least that's my take on Christian's story.
I found the same with Bil Herd, Bill Mensch and John Blankenbaker.
They were successful engineers but they don't realize how what they created touched so many people.
I have a theory, they come up with a creation and they spend a lot of time on it and it is successful and they celebrate but then it's all hard work on the next creation
They don't see that their creations change people's lives.
How many of you had your life changed because of your computer? I did because I didn't think of computing as a career path..
How many of you made new friends or had your whole social life change because of your computer?
There are many examples of people who said how their computer changed their life.
This is something they probably don't see because they work on the next big thing and we get to enjoy their creations.
And we are now lucky to be able to meet them and talk with them.
What was the saying? "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."
We get to meet and talk to the Giants.
TES!!! What Chris said! :-) On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 5:06 PM Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 12:02 PM Jeff S <jsalzman@gmail.com> wrote:
I find it interesting to learn that people who were key players in the
industry had lost touch with their own legacy to some extent. At least that's my take on Christian's story.
I found the same with Bil Herd, Bill Mensch and John Blankenbaker.
They were successful engineers but they don't realize how what they created touched so many people.
I have a theory, they come up with a creation and they spend a lot of time on it and it is successful and they celebrate but then it's all hard work on the next creation
They don't see that their creations change people's lives.
How many of you had your life changed because of your computer? I did because I didn't think of computing as a career path..
How many of you made new friends or had your whole social life change because of your computer?
There are many examples of people who said how their computer changed their life.
This is something they probably don't see because they work on the next big thing and we get to enjoy their creations.
And we are now lucky to be able to meet them and talk with them.
What was the saying? "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."
We get to meet and talk to the Giants.
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 10:37 AM Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I wanted to share some great moments for me from VCF 2022. I owned a C64, Amiga 500, Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000, I worked in an Amiga only store and I worked on their ad campaign. So for me this was a big deal.
Thanks for sharing Christian!
Where do I start? Albert Charpentier was sitting in the small couch area in building 9010D and he was talking about his history and what he did at Commodore. Why he designed what he did and what he did afterwards. It was wonderful.
I agree. A very nice guy!
Some small tidbits:
He designed the VIC because he liked video games. I thought that was a great bit of trivia.
Video games are exciting and drove a lot of the sales of the Vic-20 and C64. It could do more, but it was the more exciting aspect that many enjoyed.
He wanted to make a "Commodore 80" and he wanted to use an Intel Chip.
He never heard of the C64 being called the "VW Beetle" of computers
I've never heard of it that way. I've heard of it referred to as the Model-T of computers.
and was surprised with all the people making clones. He knew the VIC-20 and C64 were big sellers but didn't seem to realize the impact to so many people. I have to say, the staff from Commodore really don't know how much of an impact their work did.
That's what seems to happen every year. That speakers don't realize the impact that they made and the enormous interest that carries on today.
Later on I took him to see the Univac and he was very impressed. He was also impressed by the PDP-8. He had worked on a PDP-8 at one time and was surprised to see one
Thank you for doing that. I don't always have a chance to show the VIPs our museum. It's too bad I wasn't there, I could have turned on the PDP-8 and showed that it still worked.
At the Commodore Panel Hedley Davis admitted they didn't like the look of the Amiga 2000. Personally I like the A2000 case but they explained that the A3000 was an aesthetic choice. I also didn't know about the joystick design issue they had.
Micros before the PC clones enjoyed the aesthetic look that many collectors enjoy today.
I also realized I want to buy Andy Finkel's shirt collection.
I just want to get a picture of all of them!
participants (6)
-
Chris Fala -
Christian Liendo -
Douglas Crawford -
Jeff S -
Jeffrey Brace -
Wil