The BBC was kind enough to point out that one of the most significant early personal computers,the Commodore 64, went on sale in August 30 years ago. For many people, this machine was their introduction to personal computing, and for two members of the Ars staff, thinking about the machine brings up strong memories.

For me, stepping up tp the Commodore 64 from my TI-99/4A was a quantum leap forward in computing. The multimedia experience alone was worth the price of admissionincredible graphics and sound that seemed light years ahead of the market. Then there were the games. From arcade knock-offs to innovative 2-player experiences, you never got bored with the c64. Every visit to Zayer (yesteryear's Walmart) meant spending any allowance or yardwork money I'd saved up. But nothing was more exciting than sliding in a brand new 5.25" floppy diskif you were lucky, it was an epic adventure game with multiple disks!

Watch and listen to the majesty that was Giana Sisters (a thinly veiled rip-off of another game with siblings of Italian heritage).

Racing Destruction Set featured an addictively competitive 2-player mode.

Look at this madness! A full GUI environment for the Commodore called GEOS.

As great as the gaming was, it was my introduction to the magical world of modems and BBSs that changed everything. Owners of the "Hayes compatible" Commodore 1670 1200 baud modem will surely recognize the letters ATDT as the gateway to another dimension of human interaction, predating most people's awareness of the Internet. For a time, I even ran a nighttime BBS (since I couldn't tie up the family phone line during the day) using the venerable Color 64 BBS softwarean expensive outlay at $50 but with real, live colors!

How good was the Commodore 64? So good that, even when the new c128 model came out, most owners never moved beyond c64 mode (though this probably speaks more to Commodore's failure to achieve any traction with software developers on the new platform). While I eventually transitioned to Commodore Amigas, and thenwith the rest of the worldto Windows, Mac, and Linux, I'll never forget the pioneering days of Commodore when the world of personal computing and interconnectedness lay before me, intriguing, foreign, and impossibly engaging.

- Jason Marlin, Technical Director

When I was growing up, computers were something the other kids got. My parents made it clear that, if i wanted one, I was paying for it myself, and a morning paper route just wasn't cutting it for most of the models on the market. Then the Commodore 64 came out, substantially cheaper than any of the competition, and just barely within reach (though my parents helped out with a disk drive).

That machine introduced me to lots of cultural aspects of personal computing that are still around to this day. Like the platform wars with Apple ][ and Atari users, who were each convinced that their choices were superior. Or user communities, both at high school and college, of people who shared tips and software. And a lot of that software was piratedI simply didn't understand how the software economy worked, or how much hard work went in to getting that software put together.

Read more here:
Three decades of the Commodore 64