[HN Gopher] Vintage Photographs of People with Their Commodore 6...
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       Vintage Photographs of People with Their Commodore 64 (2019)
        
       Author : pantalaimon
       Score  : 86 points
       Date   : 2022-03-17 12:14 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.vintag.es)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.vintag.es)
        
       | nkoren wrote:
       | Pure nostalgia! I was seven when my father got me one. Apparently
       | I declared in a dramatic voice that "We have now entered... THE
       | COMPUTER AGE!!!". Honestly, the things one could do with that
       | machine were intoxicating.
        
       | poglet wrote:
       | I enjoyed looking at these photos. For some reason I had assumed
       | that kids in the 80's didn't have computers (especially
       | considering lots of kids don't have computers today).
        
         | themadturk wrote:
         | I'm sure it's just a consequence of demographics, but you don't
         | see or hear nearly as much about people who started their
         | computing lives as adults. I got my first computer (a
         | Timex/Sinclair 1000) in 1983, when I was 28, and the first of
         | several Commodore 64s less than a year later...and by the time
         | I had kids, six years after that, I had a PC. The C=64 was as
         | formative to my life as it would have been to any grade
         | schooler in my day.
        
       | mleo wrote:
       | The Commodore 64 is the one computer that I have kept with me
       | over the years and multiple moves across the country. It has been
       | turned on in 20 years and would likely fail in countless ways if
       | I tried, but it has some truly nostalgic vibes.
        
         | 300bps wrote:
         | If you want to try it, don't use the original power supply.
         | They have a common failure where a voltage regulator will fail
         | and feed high voltage on what should be a five volt line. Buy a
         | recently made replacement power supply - there are tons of
         | them.
         | 
         | There are common failure points on most Commodore 64s. PLA
         | chips and memory chips are common and good news is there are
         | modern replacements! 6526 and VIC-II chips are a little less
         | common failures that don't have modern replacements. They
         | probably would if not for the recent chip shortage that killed
         | some promising FPGA projects.
         | 
         | I got my first Commodore 64 in 1982 and my first modem (300 bps
         | Mitey Mo) in 1985. In the past year I've gotten into component
         | level repair of Commodore 64s in general but I'll be tackling a
         | non-working 1541 drive and a non-working 1702 monitor next. The
         | Commodore 64 motherboard is actually pretty easy to repair
         | using a Dead Test cartridge.
         | 
         | Fire it up! SD2IEC, pi1541 and Ultimate II+ are good 1541 drive
         | replacements to use with a real Commodore 64 in ascending order
         | of quality/price.
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | An aside: let these photos be a lesson to us amateur
       | photographers. You don't always need to shoot from a standing
       | position.
       | 
       | I see so many photos of children (especially) where it looks like
       | the photos were taken by a drone given how relatively tall the
       | adult taking the photo is to the child.
       | 
       | I made a point of getting down to my children's level to take
       | photos of them when they were young.
       | 
       | I suppose back in the 1950's or so when people had waist-level
       | cameras we had less of the drone photography thing.
        
         | keiferski wrote:
         | One of the best tips for new street photographers (and any type
         | of photographer, really) is to never take a photo straight on
         | from a standing position. It's not unique and it's the
         | viewpoint that most people see every day.
         | 
         | Instead, lay on the ground, shoot at an angle, get on top of a
         | bench, etc. I can't remember the source, but I once read a
         | quote that summed this up:
         | 
         | "If you don't look ridiculous while taking a photo, you aren't
         | being creative enough."
        
           | simonmales wrote:
           | Another way of saying composition is king. IIRC is another
           | classic photography instruction/lesson.
        
       | srott wrote:
       | Fallen in love...
       | 
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1ux2na/german_wife_...
        
       | washadjeffmad wrote:
       | Is anyone else getting some bizarre and graphic advertisements on
       | this site? I was a little confused why picture of C64s "might
       | trigger" me, then scrolled into images of a vivisection and a
       | sexual assault. There were, eventually, C64 images.
       | 
       | I'm on Google Fi VPN, but I don't think that really accounts for
       | the nature of these ads.
        
         | bsuvc wrote:
         | Yes, the ads are trash and the creator of this should be
         | ashamed.
         | 
         | This "article" is just another example of what makes the web
         | terrible.
         | 
         | The sad thing is the content (vintage c64 pictures) would
         | otherwise be interesting, but I guess the hope of making a few
         | pennies off of some annoying ads is too much to resist.
        
         | Mountain_Skies wrote:
         | I paused my ad blocker and the ads that showed up were annoying
         | and slowed everything down but thankfully none of them were of
         | the type you were served. Ad networks are really weird
         | sometimes in how they select which ads to give to which people.
         | Maybe for you it was random.
        
         | themadturk wrote:
         | Not getting any ads when I hit this site. Using Firefox with
         | uBlock Origin.
        
       | waltwalther wrote:
       | Me with my C64 from 1982 https://imgur.com/gallery/O50fhNZ
        
       | Mountain_Skies wrote:
       | Holy Carpal Tunnel Batman! I had forgotten just how much of a
       | rise there was on the C64 keyboards. The one photo with a
       | Commodore 128 in it shows that was a design consideration for
       | that model.
        
         | rob74 wrote:
         | Well, now you know why the original C64 was (lovingly) called
         | "the breadbox" in Germany. Later "all-in-one" computers (C128,
         | Amiga 500, Atari ST) were better, but the keyboard was still
         | higher than we're used to today...
        
       | kleiba wrote:
       | Who can spot the picture that doesn't actually contain a C64?
        
         | squidbot wrote:
         | Came here for the 128 :)
        
       | blipvert wrote:
       | "this geek does not exist"
        
       | caymanjim wrote:
       | One of the most striking things about these photos is the
       | terrible ergonomic situation. The C64 started out ergonomically-
       | bad with its keyboard four inches above the surface, and then
       | most of these people are using it on top of a dresser or
       | something, with a tiny screen at a bad angle.
       | 
       | I had a much better setup back when I got my C64, but I still
       | blame it for the back and vision problems I have now. It's a far
       | cry from my current standing sit/stand desk with proper office
       | chair and large, bracket-mounted monitor. I used to sit at a
       | wobbly table, wrists at a terrible angle to reach the C64
       | keyboard, with a 17" CRT screen inches from my face. I'm
       | surprised I didn't end up with brain cancer.
        
         | freedomben wrote:
         | It really is remarkable how much knowledge/awareness we have
         | now of ergonomics. I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my 20s
         | because of kinked wrists. Fortunately I was able to avoid
         | surgery by wearing corrective braces for a few months, and now
         | my brain just holds my wrists straight now when I type. It was
         | a really scary time though to think that I might not be able to
         | use a keyboard when my work is all computer-based.
        
         | 300bps wrote:
         | I spent about 12 hours per day on my Commodore 64 and not far
         | off of that on computers today in the software engineering
         | field for several decades.
         | 
         | I pay zero attention to ergonomics and have zero problems.
         | 
         | Many years ago I was referred on HN to this page and it totally
         | changed my outlook on ergonomics:
         | 
         | http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html
        
           | freedomben wrote:
           | That's definitely interesting, and I think there is some real
           | merit to it, although I think it's dangerous not to consider
           | ergonomics. A coworker of mine had severe carpal tunnel
           | syndrome and it was visible on scans, so not just in his
           | head. He had a surgery that dremel'ed out some space for his
           | nerves in his wrists and it helped a lot.
           | 
           | Thanks for sharing though! Really great info.
        
             | 300bps wrote:
             | You seem open to it which is good! One thing I would like
             | to clarify - it isn't "just in your head". That's a common
             | misconception.
             | 
             | These are long term emotional states that cause real
             | physical changes that show up on scans. Myself, I had an
             | EMG that showed nerve damage as evidenced by a plateauing
             | signal on the ulnar and median nerves. I slept with wrist
             | braces for months. Then someone referred me to this and
             | I've needed nothing for many years with taking no
             | precautions.
             | 
             | Emotional states can very obviously cause physical changes
             | - it's why people blush for just one example. Or why people
             | get sick to their stomach when they're in anxious. This is
             | just a less obvious psychogenic physical manifestation.
        
               | freedomben wrote:
               | Ah yes, excellent point about blushing! That illustrates
               | the possibility quite well.
        
       | vidarh wrote:
       | Apparently photos from my childhood are now old enough to be
       | "vintage". I feel old...
       | 
       | I don't think I have a photo of me with our C64, but here I am
       | with a Vic20 in 1982:
       | 
       | http://hokstad.com/images/the-hidden-library/vidarvic20.jpg
        
         | Hackbraten wrote:
         | You look amazing on that photo!
        
         | kingcharles wrote:
         | I took the color cast off this for you:
         | 
         | https://imgur.com/oGCUUSD
         | 
         | Download it and reply and I'll remove it.
        
         | hollander wrote:
         | You could photoshop that color a little darker and browner, and
         | there you have your C64!
        
       | hollander wrote:
       | Looking at that site, the Chinese pictures from 1982.... Those
       | look like they could have been taken in 1962 or 1952.
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-19 23:02 UTC)