Commodore 64 -- The GPS

Gmonkey · Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:40 pm Post subject: Commodore 64 -- The GPS

Just saw this article that commodore (of commodore 64 fame in the 80s) is making a new GPS.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000027072594/

EasyD2 · Regular Visitor Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 137

Well that is interesting.

I was slightly disappointed to see that it doesn't store the maps on a 60 minute cassette.
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SimonCatlin · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:20 pm Post subject:

Watch out Apple (3 was it called?), Dragon (32 and 64), Sinclair (ZX80, 81 and Spectrum) and does anyone remember the Tandy TRS 80? Might they all start making GPS as well?

Roll back to 8" diskettes, CPM and Machine Code Programming.. Oh God I feel old and I am only 38!
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Gmonkey · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:41 pm Post subject:

Technology moves backwards into a less technical age...I love it.

SimonCatlin · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:57 pm Post subject:

djc1610 · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:52 pm Post subject:

I can remember working on our Universities Elliot 803 mainframe computer, in 1962, which initially only had 8k memory. Mind you it was a fantastic room heater.

You had to load the operating system and program from paper tape. In that respect the Commodore Pet was light years ahead of the 803.

I did post graduate research work on the 803 and after a few cycles of the program the computer ran out of memory and the program had to be reset. It took me months.

Once we had Commodore |pets in our laboratory I could run the full program in about 10 minutes.

Think what my new digital camera could now do if I could find a way of inputting the program and data.

mikealder · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:08 pm Post subject:

Commodore Pet, thats a blast from the past, I cut my teeth on the Sinclair ZX80, then we got a Pet at school (in my last year), when you look at the technology in your pocket these days vs 25 years previous it is amazing how things have moved on, but this was a small leap in comparison to the advances that will be made over a similar period of time in the future - who knows what will be laughed at after a similar time gap, ask yourself in 25 years what people will think of a PDA, Mobile phone or even GPS unit? - Mike

SimonCatlin · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 1:09 am Post subject:

Let's add BBC Micros as well!
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nej · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:46 pm Post subject:

Ah, BBC Micros. I learnt to program on those, in fact I did my GCSE Computer Science coursework on one, and I'm only 27 now so not that long ago really!

SimonCatlin · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:12 pm Post subject:

I di my A levels on the BBC Micro (we were the first year to use them). We had a teacher (Hello Mr Pugh), who let us run riot with them. In those days a network was something quite special, and he let us build one. He also allowed us to add the extra memory for loading programs (who remembers Wordstar) into something called Sideways RAM.

We physically had to solder a wire onto a 6502 chip, which was the CPU. Imagine kids doing that now (without a pair of saftey googles, thermal gloves, overalls and a letter from their parents). It made us feel that Computing was something special - 20 years later on and I still think it is.. So thanks Mr Pugh!
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djc1610 · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:28 pm Post subject:

Going back even further I can remember the first HP electronic calculator that was very basic and cost over £200. Nowadays that would be about £2000.

The advantage with the Pet. BBC micro etc was that you could understand the programs that were running and write your own. Todays programs are beyond all but the experts.

I'm very lucky as I grew up with personal computers from their very start. For most people not much older than me (67) computers are a closed box (excuse the pun).

Gmonkey · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:29 pm Post subject:

technology still is far from perfect, as we know with maps. I was in new jersey recently and I got the navteq maps i was using made me wish I could rely on the stars in a few instances.

ep1s0d3 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 18, 2005 Posts: 11

the good old TRS-80 loved it love love love and the COCO 1 2 3 i programmed my first BBS on the coco3 using basic, was one of the most known BBS's in the early 1980's and linked then with Delphi BBS in usa

Gmonkey · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:23 am Post subject:

wow that's old school

Eldar · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:06 am Post subject:

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