| >>Continued Article<< About The Commodore 64 Computer |
This modem became the way of life for many, and to this day, it is still used to communicate around the world. The 300 baud modem was the first in its class to be on the market. It’s hard to believe now that we used to connect using a 300 baud modem. The modem was a small cartridge that simply plugged in the back of your computer. To connect to the modem you used a phone line which was plugged at one end of the cartridge and the other end to the phone line. To give you an idea how slow these modems were, think of a 56k modem but 20 times slower. In a nut shell, a 300 baud modem would be like watching someone typing to you word for word. The 300 baud didn’t last long in the market. Companies came up with better developments. Soon followed the 1200, 14.4, 2400, 2600, and then what some of use still use today, the 56k modem. |
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A 1200 baud modem cartridge that plugged in the back of a Commodore 64 computer. |
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The modem served many purposes, the main one being able to communicate with others globally. You also had the advantage of transferring files, playing games with others by using TCP/IP hook up, downloading, and many more options. Even some businesses got involved using this latest technology. As for the users at home, we were able to log on to the world by using a modem and a software program called a “term program”. This allowed you to connect to a system that ran a setup called a BBS (bulletin board system). Don’t get this confused with forums that we use today. What the BBS system entailed were the ability to log on and chat with many users, email access, download and upload games, check forums, play games with other users and more. If you were bored you could telnet to other BBS’s around the world. With all this technology on the rise for many years, the Commodore industry shut its doors and had reached the end in April, 1994 when it was discontinued. |
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We have come a long way from the 8 bit 64k systems and its technology. Today we are much more technologically advanced than we were 20 years ago. Today we connect to the world using the Internet via DSL, Cable Broadband, T1, T3 lines and many other resources. The printers have even come along way from the dot matrix printers we used back then. We now have all-in-one printers that can do much more than just printing. You are able to print, fax, scan, and copy. Some printers even allow you to connect your digital camera to your printer using a USB cord. You are then able to select options right from your digital camera to tell the computer how you want the pictures printed. |
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An OKI Microline 321 Dot Matrix Printer |
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Let’s not forget about the games, which was one of the main purposes of the C64. Today the graphics look so real. I admit the games today are a blast to play, but I still enjoy playing the old school games. We are seeing today a lot of the old games being brought back to life. A lot of them are clone games that resemble the likeness of the good ole’ games back in the days.
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