ChinnyVision - Ep 96 - 30 Years Of The CPC 6128 (A Chinny Perspective)

[@rickyzambrossiakachristian5727]

What a wonderful video. In 1986 I got my first computer, it was a CPC 664 with printer and second drive. A year later, my father bought a Schneider CPC 6128 (as it was named in Germany). The best machine I ever had since now. Thank you for sharing your memories. It is like a time journey for myself. Best wishes from Hamburg, Germany.

[@Cowcatgames]

I'm French and I owe a lot to the Amstrad CPC! I started programming at the age of 8 on it, thanks to the well written and fully translated manual. Now I'm preparing the release of my first game on Steam :)

[@Cowcatgames]

@Stefano Pavone Wow a reply to a comment from 5 years ago lol Now I'm about to release a new, much more ambitious adventure game. If that interests you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJeZY6CelLJjabM

[@Blerkotron]

A lovely video to watch, Chinny - everybody's first machine is always the one that affects them the most and while many people profess that theirs is 'the best' and that everything else is just nonsense, the truth is that 'the best' is a very personal thing. And while there are plenty of videos on KZbin talking about the machines from the day, it's brilliant to hear personal experiences and memories as well as just looking at the games themselves. The CPC's one of those machines that I never really understood until a long time after the 8-bit era had ended. Only one person I knew had one (one C64 owner too, and one very sad Beeb guy), literally *everyone* else had Spectrums so obviously the three stand-outs had a pretty rough time of it in the playground battles. I suspect the 8-bits came in clusters - you saw what your friends had and requested one of those from your parents, and so on and so on, so the 'cliques' come about based on whichever machine the first batch of kids clustered around. The Amstrad always seemed to get a very rough time from the multi-format mags of the era too, so it wasn't until I actually got to *use* one that I got a reasonable idea of what it could do. And yes, there are a lot of very poor Spectrum ports, but as with any machine there are pockets of very high quality product and many situations where it actually has the best version of a multi-format game. And that manual - good grief! I thought the 48k Speccy BASIC programming guide was pretty good, but it's a pamphlet in comparison - that thing's a brick! Nice to see Protext, too - I had the ST port of that and it got me through college and university! The one thing I do disagree with here is that the Spectrum is in no way a 'games machine' - Clive always intended it to be an all-rounder and a hobbyist machine, something for all the family to use to learn about computing and programming and to do basic household business tasks. It didn't work out that way, of course, and mainly for the hardware reasons you describe, but the fact that the Speccy became such a well-loved gaming platform is nothing short of a minor miracle rather than something that happened by design. tldr, so I'll knock it on the head there, anyway! Thanks for a year of great videos, and may you and your CPC chum have a very merry Christmas! ;-)

[@piccolocpc4590]

Great video! Brings back memories... I grew up with the CPC 6128, and I think the circle drawing program is the first one I ever wrote, too. This manual was indeed very well made, I learnt a lot of things from it. Eventually, I made "menu" programs (to run different games on the same disk), like the one we see at 3:51. That's a great way to get familiar with computers when you're like 7 years old! The CPC was very popular here (in France) too, if not hegemonic; and it was very easy to exchange (and copy... yeah, that's bad) games with friends at school. Everybody had a CPC. Some used it as a TV set (there was a TV tuner for it), some for educational stuff (I did have grammar programs myself). In France there was a competitor, supported by the government, the TO-7 from Thomson, that offered educational programs; but the CPC was multi-purpose, cheaper and more convenient. Because, yeah, at the time parents bought us this computer to have us work on it. Sure, we could do that, but we also played a lot with it. There was a great scene of independent British, Spanish and French developers that provided lots of games. Including good ones! Fruity Frank, Konami's Ping Pong, Target Renegade, Rampage, L'Aigle d'Or, Emilo Butragueño Futebol, Phantis, Cybernoid 2, Beyond the Ice Palace, Barbarian, Skweek, Bumpy... Thanks for sharing these memories. :)

[@chinnyvision]

Always a joy visiting France due to the amount of CPC software on the shelves, and disc games as well!

[@ShadowTD]

Just dragged myself off the sofa where I was watching this to sit in front of something with a keyboard to say Kudos for this video. You manage to hit the nail right on the head with the market that the CPC was going for - a true 'home computer'. If hardware sprites and the SID were the c64's killer features, and the price and software library the Spectrum's, the oft-overlooked (by the mainly gaming focused retro community) Mode 2 was the CPC's. 80 column text was something that a lot of the multi-format magazines at the time correctly gave a nod to the CPC for and rightly so. CP/M on a machine that inexpensive was huge and you would occasionally see a CPC in an office purely because of that. I personally had a fairly well expanded 464 (RAM, DDI-1, Star LC-10) and a copy of Protext on disk - the ROM box was a step too far for my family's modest budget and I was handing in printed homework at primary school, much to the bemusement of my teachers. I always wanted Stop Press! along with the mouse but by this point the 16-bit era was looming large on the horizon and we decided to not invest any further in Arnold. A great video on a great channel - keep up the excellent work, and fight the good CPC fight!

[@chinnyvision]

Cheers. Much appreciated. We used our CPC as a proper computer. Everyone I knew with a C64 or Speccy used them as games machines. One of my friends had a C64, but his Dad used a Pet for word processing!

[@Danester83]

Awesome video . Growing up i had the cpc 464 colour monitor and my much older brother had a speccy and c64 . Now they are all mine as he never wanted to keep them but he always used to say he had the better computer but for some reason still spent alot of time playing my "naff" one. Keep the videos coming i love watching them

[@Intercepto]

Great video thank you for doing these. Nice to see people with similar memories!

[@jamesarmstrong2137]

Really enjoyed the feature length episode, Merry Christmas Chinny!

[@linuxretrogamer]

Great vid. Your gaming history seemed to parallel mine a little. Started in 86 with a 16K Speccy before upgrading to a green screen 464 a year later. Had the CPC right up to Sept 93 when I finally bought an Amiga 600 with my own money. Just wanted to say though that you've done the Speccy a slight disservice as a semi-serious home micro. I've spent a lot of time playing with a Speccy emulator over the past year and I must say I've been blown away by its prowess as a non gaming system. Also the quality of type ins on both systems, especially from Your Computer, where amazing. Definitely commercial quality. Especially those with J Charlesworths name attached - the guy was prolific!

[@sparkyKestrel]

Regarding your comments about how the C64 and Spectrum were only ever advertised and sold as games machines, while I don't know about the Spectrum, Commodore always pushed the C64 for quite a while as a business machine (the company's full name after all was CBM - Commodore Business Machines), and there is quite a bit of high polished business style software for it. The pinnacle was the GEOS system, written by Berkeley Softworks in 1986, which provided a full joystick driven GUI and there were many applications released including a full word processor, spreadsheet, database and even desktop publishing software, all done in WYSIWYG, ie what you saw on the screen is exactly what it would look like when printed. GEOS was fully compatible with the RAM expansions and other addons available at the time (such as the 1581 3.5 inch disk drive) and amazingly enough was even able to work with many addons released AFTER the final version of GEOS in 1988. My copy of GEOS also came with a disk called Quantum Link, which is actually the precursor to AOL, connecting you to a bulletin board style system, again with a GUI mode, which run until 1995 (I never used it though, as it was a US-centric service and I don't and never have lived in the US, and my parents never wanted to run up massive phone bills obviously). GEOS - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEOS_%288-bit_operating_system%29 Q-link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJvKeWVtpZJ5d68 I actually bought an application for the C64 in 1991 called Word Writer 6, which was a word processor that was every bit as powerful as the WordPerfect 5.1 application I was using on the PCs in high school at the time, everything I could do in WordPerfect I was able to do on Word Writer 6, it also had a spell checker and even the ability to record and run 2 different macros. I think it cost around $70 but was worth every cent and I actually continued to use it until I got a Windows based PC in 1997. And Mini Office II, which was quickly shown at the end of your video, was on the C64 too. So while you may think the C64 was only ever a games machine, it was every bit as competent as the Amstrad at running full business style software with full effects.

[@CraigHarrisonsBar]

great vid. cannot agree more with the serious uses of the CPC. I completed my school and 1st year of college work on my trusty CPC 464 with disc drive and 64k expansion using mini office 2. When I started year 2 at Lewisham college I bought a brand new 6128+ and brunword elite on rom module. i used this throughout the final year of college and 2 years at uni in Torquay work. a great machine, I owe it a lot.

[@chinnyvision]

+Craig Harrison Yep. This is exactly what I've always tried to point out when people do those daft battles between the three 8 bits. Its apples and oranges. If you wanted a cheap games machine of course you should buy a C64. No brainer really, far cheaper. But it was essentially a console with a keyboard. A 6128 was far more like a modern computer which could do a bit of everything. And just like today if you want to play purely games

[@retropowerslave]

Very enjoyable video to watch, great work!

[@kingstonlj]

I had the 464 as a kid and have great memories of it. Harrier Attack, Oh Mummy, Roland on the Ropes, are games that really stick in my mind from the early years. I had an obsession with football management games, so used to buy lots of those and spend loads of time trying to build a great team and win things. After I got my Amstrad, a lot of my friends ended up getting an Amstrad too, so it was quite popular in my circles. The CPC range was great, so thanks for a very interesting video, Chinny :D

[@AnthonyFlack]

Funny thing, my first experience with the CPC was a friend's 6128 with the They Sold A Million disk too, of which Jet Set Willy had by far the biggest impact on me. Although the machine my family bought was a 464 with a green screen as we were not so rich. I also learned programming from the CPC's excellent manual, and the games I wrote back then led directly to me being a game developer today (for better or worse!) For the longest time I was using paint programs that I had written myself, so when I did finally get a copy of OCP Art Studio it was a huge deal. This video mirrors my experiences pretty closely actually. Lovely machines they were, and a pleasure to use. I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to computers.

[@Crazy_Borg]

Great video, and some of my memories are similar. My older brother got a CPC 6128 at Christmas 1987 with a green monitor (color monitor would have cost 50% more). He abandoned it somewhere in 1989. So he gave the machine to me, and I also learned to program on in with the CPC manual. And yes it is awesome. I never saw something similar again. It was the same version translated into german here, and "improvement!" it was a ring binder. My first type-in game was bomber. My programming experience as a kid helped me from school up to my final degree, teachers just hated me for relentlessly using GOTO. :) Sadly, friends with CPCs were rare here, I can only remember 2. It was commodore realm all around.

[@manpetepetrop8034]

Well kudos to you!! I also got my first computer (the cpc 6128 of course!!) in Greece, back at Christmas 1987 together with my older brother and... also with a green monitor (sob... the colored one was soo expensive! ) i was 12 y.o. then and it was amazing! I remember my father telling us if we wanted a VHS or a computer because we couldn't afford both of them . And together with my brother we shouted Amstrad!! It was a very popular computer back then in Greece together with the C64 (as kids we always fought with C64 owners on witch system was the best, though i had to admit that commodore had better games, we got a lot of bad Spectrum ports).But my argument was that Amstrad was a "proper" computer where you could do programming and serious stuff and not just play games on it (witch we did... constantly - playing games) Many OPAP shops, the company that exclusively operates and manages numerical lottery and sports betting games in Greece was using Amstrads, and a lot of video tape renting shops had customers logs.The manual was also amazing and it was also translated to Greek! (a very rare thing back then) and yes my first program was also bomber!!

[@chinnyvision]

Did Amstrad distribute in Greece themselves or did they have another company distribute them as with Indescomp in Spain?

[@manpetepetrop8034]

+ChinnyVision - The Retro Game Review Channel As far as I know they where distributed by a private company here in Athens, Eleni kounani in central Athens. I don't know for the rest of Greece, but I assume they where distributed by other p.c.'s.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Being American, I never saw these European machines in my youth. Now I look on KZbin, and I'm sure you'd forgive me and other Americans for watching British KZbinrs and coming away with the impression that the CPC was the redheaded stepchild, more popular in mainland Europe (especially France) but an also-ran in the UK. Honestly, the way you talk about it, the CPC sounds rather like the IBM clones I was more familiar with. Yeah, there were games, but nowhere near as many as the Nintendo Entertainment System (or "the Nintendo" as we referred to it back then). IBMs were for schoolwork for the most part. It had some games, but was NOT a games machine. And I'm NOT bored by seeing the "serious" stuff. It's amazing to hear about what could be done on the thing. You're SO right about how people take things like spell checkers for granted back in the day. Kids these days, they don't know the struggle! And yeah, the initial Sinclair computers... THOSE things were envisioned as work computers!? Never mind the Spectrum, I can't even BEGIN to imagine typing out a book report on a ZX80.

[@chinnyvision]

There's a lot of CPC bias out there I'm afraid. Dates back to the school playground and people still not realising the CPC wasn't designed to compete on quite the same playing field as the Spectrum and C64. Which is why Amstrad were quite happy to market the CPC alongside the Spectrum once they purchased Sinclair. Different markets. Sadly however all some people seem to care about is games. At the time the CPC launched there were no affordable PC clones in the UK (Amstrad introduced the first with the PC1512 in 1986) so it was squarely aimed at the market that would be dominated by low cost PC's 10 years later.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Oh I know how the situation with IBM was. The IBM PC compatible was rather like a virus as far as the home computer scene was concerned, starting here in America after the crash and spreading slowly eastward, which is how you guys were able to enjoy the most of the Amiga and ST, which were just about unheard of here. I'm envious in some ways, even if you guys had to put up with one-button controls for way longer. And man, funny how that works. I remember IBM-compatible PCs (or "computers" as I called them back then, because I knew nothing else) being rather expensive, but the prices sure came down super fast. As to the CPC being pushed out by PCs (and, I imagine, the Amiga and ST), I believe it. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but that seems like it'd be part of the problem with the CPC in the retro community. Many of the games seem to be in-between the C64 and the ZX Spectrum in terms of graphics and performance (though better than the MSX games I've seen on the channel!), and a business computer doesn't really draw much in the way of emotional reaction, save for people like yourself who can appreciate how important these things are. I'll tell you, I hadn't thought about my old Tandy 1000HX for ages, at least until I started watching vids from yourself and a few of the other retro computer channels here on KZbin. I never played games on it, so it never really grew the emotional attachment that my NES does. Honestly, though, I'm feeling MAD nostalgic... Really should see if I can find a Tandy 1000HX on eBay, maybe slam a Gotek in there...

[@robsmall6466]

@@jesuszamora6949 Hi @Jesus Zamora. It's great to hear you discovering more about the Amstrad. May I suggest the following for you to take a look at - CPC Reviews, CPC Wiki and CPC Power. Plenty to look at there 🙂

[@andyhughes5383]

dj slope recommended you as someone to watch your content and I didn't know where to start so I picked a random vid and only a couple of minutes into it I think it's amazing how Un depth you go into cpc.

[@chinnyvision]

+Andy Hughes It's the end of year special so its a bit longer than usual :-)

[@andyhughes5383]

I'm going to watch some more, I enjoyed watching that! I found it really interesting I was born in 86 and all this was going on.. I missed out.

[@Bob_Beaky]

You think your Amstrad's overlooked? Wanna try being a Vic 20 fan! As soon as the C64 came out the poor thing was dropped like a hot potato... I got mine for Christmas in 1984 (it was surplus stock being sold for £30) and I loved it - all the way up until 1989 at which time I succumbed and got a C64. That only lasted for about 6 months before I quickly moved on to a glorious Amiga 500. I always go back to my Vic though - You never forget your first love. :)

[@Optimus6128]

For me, in retrospect, that's what rules about the CPC. How much better it is as a computer for serious work. Higher resolution mode, disk drive that loads instantly, sturdy keyboard with full keys, solid basic, amazing manual (it still amazes me, I haven't seen something like that ever again, modern manuals are a joke), monitor coming with the system, videomode without color restrictions (so artists can use all 16 colors in Mode 0 easily). I know some people started with the Speccy or C64 and they learned programming there, it's possible. But in retrospect, trying those systems too today, maybe I am biased, but they suffer, from keyboard (rubber keys on Speccy, ok C64 keyboard but why two arrows?), loading (C64 is slow even with the 1541 drive), no highres modes and more I hear now here (haven't seen the C64 manual before, don't know how their basic fare). I know the C64 was much better for smooth gaming (with hardware scrolling, tile based mode, hardware sprites, etc) and the Spectrum was the cheapest option.

[@chinnyvision]

+krokeman C64 and XL/XE manual just about get away with it as an introduction. Nothing more. I've never done a page count but with the larger page sizes and thickness the 6128 probably has 4 or 5 times the amount of information in it than the C64 manual.

[@rsnilssen]

I actually learned to program basic in the very way you describe, except on a ZX Spectrum. Here in Norway it were shipped with a manual which was same size as the computer itself, which isn't really saying much. I'd even argue that the ZX computers even lowered the bar for learning basic, due to the token based interface. But that's just my personal experience.

[@gibant1]

I had the Dragon 32, learned Microsoft Basic, and started my first job as an accountant programmer, all the software was written in Microsoft basic. So getting a computer that wasn't just a games machine worked out for me.

[@RetroFormatPublications]

Excellent video. The CPC, especially the 6128 was the best 8-bit computer for productivity, no doubt. It was great for games too when programmed right. I got six CPCs and I got to stop myself from buying more, lol.

[@chinnyvision]

Only 4 here.

[@kiwilove007]

Nice all round summing up - while I did see one or two? Amstrads down here in Dunedin, New Zealand - I didn't really know what they were capable of, etc - have to admit now, they were a good choice hose who'd decide to go Amstrad CPC.

[@Popmetalj]

Wonderful video and this is coming from a C64 fanboy. I finally understand why you revere the CPC - and rightfully so. Oh and from a former Bournemouth resident: I do believe it was the Burlington Arcade, yes

[@chinnyvision]

Cheers. Only learned recently that apparently Addictive Software was around the corner from there as well! Kevin Toms may have seen his own bearded face smiling back at him from the display in the window!

[@technickuk]

We had a CPC6128 for the family too. It was bought by my parents Christmas 85, with a view for games for us kids and word processing for my mum (who used Mini Office II). She had a daisywheel printer (remember those!?), which made a heck of a racket when it printed stuff out. BTW, your screen capturing is crystal clear from your CPC. May I ask what you use?

[@chinnyvision]

Basically I use a high end DVD recorder to convert the RGB to component live, then capture the component using a Black Magic capture card. No RGB capture systems around but lots that do component.So you just convert the signal. The rest is 'special sauce'.

[@crlgroup]

I grew up with c64 and Amiga but I realy love this Episode. Nowdaya we can enjoy every single Hardware and Software and if a game is better in the CPC or Speccy then on the c64, I realy don't have any problems with it. Greetings from Germany.

[@arnaujess]

Great job. I didn't Think it was expensive at the time.. I just wanted to have it. Thanks

[@mrbedford]

I had a 464 and Atari St while my friends had C64/Speccy and Amigas. I was always a rebel!

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

That circle was the first that I programmed too :-O

[@Thrill08e]

i really don´t get this C64-Floppy misconception i keep hearing about. it´s been the #1 device for the C64 ever since the mid-eighties, and not just in the States (for some "rich people"), but in all of western Europe. the only exception seems to be the UK, for whatever reason...

[@chinnyvision]

+Thrill08e It's not a misconception for UK users though (which is the perspective I'm speaking from). My mate had a 1541 for his C64 (indeed until recently I still had it until I sold it to a guy in Poland) but he never bought games for it. He'd inherited it from his cousin with a couple of floppies of copied games including TLL and Attack Of The Mutant Camels. Not once did he ever buy a disk game. Always tape! For him the most important thing was the amount of games he could buy. Five pounds extra for disk meant he could have 2 extra budget games instead. There was a shop in a neighbouring town which was the only place for miles that stocked C64 disk games. He spent 15 minutes looking at what they had before we went to the other shop in town where he bought Black Tiger on tape and a couple of budgets! And of course the 1541 was painfully slow. Sure in later years speed loaders and fast loading carts were developed but the average user in the mid 80's couldn't take advantage of these.

[@willrobinson7599]

Great video. I was a c64 and then an amiga owner. Games where much simpler and I think more fun on the 8 bit systems. Was all about the gameplay

[@Bob_Beaky]

I not had much experience with the Amstrad machines. I did have a pal who had a 464 but his mum and dad didn't like us 'plebs' (we were poor) visiting very often. Love the Amstrad palette. It's so lustrous. Amstrad screenshots were always beguiling for me. :)

[@random_precision_software]

ahhh the Tandy shop!!! what about Dixons !?

[@chinnyvision]

Nearest was Guildford. They were only in the big towns.

[@Athena_cute_AI]

I did some of my homework on Tasword on my 464 with tapedrive. The colour monitor wasn't best for serious work in high resolution mode. Luckily a friend of mine that used his 464for games only had a green screen I bought at a friendly price

[@chinnyvision]

+Ivar Fiske Trick was to use the right colour combinations. Protext could go to a black on grey which worked very nicely in mode 2.

[@andyhughes5383]

sorry type error.... how in depth you go into the cpc... I've never heard anyone speak highly of an Amstrad... makes me want to to have one now :-)

[@Athena_cute_AI]

Amazing to see the zoomed in gameplay of Yie at Kung Fu on my 50" plasma TV. No blockiness! Nice to get some graphics from the real RGB CPC monitor :) Older Amstrad magazines used photos from real monitors and could get really nice two page shots from the games. Later on they started using Desktop publishing on Macs and suddenly the graphics looked very blocky in the screenshots. I wish Retro Gamer could have started using photos of the real displays for image quality

[@chinnyvision]

+Ivar Fiske They just screen cap from emulation. There is a difference between emulation and the RGB out of a CPC even before you get to a CRT. For example on a real CPC the yellow text on the startup screen has a tiny black line all the way around it that you don't get on emulation. All 4 of my CPC's do it.

[@Athena_cute_AI]

+ChinnyVision - The Retro Game Review Channel but... but... it seems to contain more information - I assumed it showed the dots of the screen/ raster

[@chinnyvision]

+Ivar Fiske Its just showing the dots of the phosphor mask.

[@Athena_cute_AI]

+ChinnyVision - The Retro Game Review Channel How are you getting that from an emulator screen capture? Nice to see it there

[@chinnyvision]

+Ivar Fiske ChinnyVision doesn't use emulators. Everything is 100% real hardware unless otherwise specified.

[@phampton6781]

Great video. What you say about the non-gaming programs is true. For myself, it gave the CPC a lot more appeal and lastability than Spectrums. For example, I spent a lot of time in OCP Art Studio. A top class program which even came with a mouse! Like you say in the video, this was mind-blowing stuff. OCP Art Studio always seems like a class apart from other CPC software. It was so advanced, and did things no other packages did, I never understood why there didn't seem to be more CPC software on the same level technically. I think, 3D Construction Kit is the only other that springs to mind.

[@fibrodad1354]

i was speccy and Amiga and then Playstation n PC.... good vid............ And luv the Grange hill pic, zammo n roly

[@chinnyvision]

+JRushPixel Zammo prior to his "problems" :-)

[@TechRyze]

It's 2016, and you just showed me Sultan's Maze for the first time. I had it, but never, ever loaded it, as I assumed it'd be naff. I was right. Try Androne on the Tandy Colour Computer II for a very similar but way better game. I had that before my CPC in the mid 80s. Very impressive.

[@TheDJs3000]

Спасибо :)

[@alpharoid3358]

Having been a child in the 80's and having suffered under every kind of BASIC under the sun (TRS80/Dragon, Speccy, MSX, etc) and considering that the Amstrad is known as "the sluggish computer" in most circles, I must say that Amstrad BASIC packs quite a punch. Only MSX BASIC seemed better, and that's because it used sprites. So no fair. :) But cheers for the Amstrad BASIC crew, they knew their stuff.

[@chinnyvision]

They looked at the gold standard of BBC BASIC and tried to see how they could improve upon it on a very tight schedule. It's fast, it has some quite clever features. No it doesn't have the built in assembler the BBC Micro has, but given the time constraints they did a very good job.

[@MephProduction]

we only used the cpc for games and it was green screen, got me hoocked on Dizzy games. my dad used the c64 for work when he was in the army, before giving it to me in 92 when he started using pc/dos. but i do remember him using that c64 to play beach head, his office at home was in the loft.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

"…in America, some people had the disk drives…" Along with Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands (and I'm sure a few other places in Europe), plus little old Australia. It was pretty much the UK which was weighted towards the datasette - it was dead in America by '85 or so, and for most of Europe, it probably only stuck around because of the titles coming out of the UK. I don't know about the rest of Europe, but by the late 80s, Commodore's bundles down here included the 1541-II, along with a copy of GEOS (granted, GEOS 1.5 or something). I still feel GEOS was amazing - I did plenty of school work in the early/mid 90s with it (before I moved onto a Wintel box). Yes. Commodore BASIC 2 sucked. Yes, the manual was terrible. But there were plenty of other opportunities to learn, and anyone who was serious would do the same (he says being a programmer by trade, all because of a humble machine with 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE). Yes, in my case it was bought for gaming (second hand… so that may impact things), but it doesn't mean that's all I did with it. Regardless, I enjoyed this from a historical perspective… if only to try and widen my mind a bit more.

[@chinnyvision]

+hellfire64 Commodore were bundling the Datasette with the c64 right up until 1991. And after that it became an optional extra. The line from Commodore was the price of the C64 itself to produce had dropped but the datasette hadn't so they could reduce the price by removing the tape drive and making it an extra. I also suspect Amstrad losing interest in the Spectrum may have had something to do with it. Since 1986 Alan Sugar had been undercutting them with the +2 as an all in one bundle, with that gone they were free to do as they wished. In shops the two machines would be placed next to each other and the Spectrum with its built in drive fulfilled Sugars "mugs eyeful' sales criteria. Don't recall C= doing disk bundles. All the big bundles at the high street chains were tape based. They probably did do some (especially towards the end of the C64's life) but I don't recall what they were. I don't think C=UK would have been bothering to push C64 disk bundles too hard as they would have rather people bought Amigas (especially as the original plan for the A600 was much lower cost than it actually ended up). And back when the C64 was more of a viable option for serious software the C128 became avaliable with its 80 character mode and CP/M which firmly positioned that as the "serious" option in the C= 8 bit line.

[@computersforeveryone2598]

In Spain we also had mostly cassette :)

[@knkn5049]

6:13 cant read the name of game S**ff of K*** - what is it?

[@reidrac]

OK, I get your point... but I learnt to program in a ZX Spectrum +2A and it was perfectly fine. Granted that having a disk drive would have been better, but other than that... it was great. For me at least was more than a silly gaming machine.

[@chinnyvision]

+reidrac Oh indeed. But only a complete sadist is going to struggle along with Tasword for example. Amstrad did get CP/M ported to the +3 though. I guess what I'm saying is if you bought a Speccy or C64 for serious stuff it was far from ideal, just as if you bought a CPC as a purely gaming system it was also far from idea.

[@jezz2k]

@@chinnyvision When I upgraded from a 48K to a +3, I took advantage of the RGB out and was amazed by how clear it was. No squinting and proper keys. Even knocked out a few letters on it. Clive would've approved since he didn't intend it to be used as a games machine.

[@TechRyze]

Amazing video. Well done. I'm on my phone at the moment, but wanted to message you to ask which editing packages you use to put together your videos?

[@chinnyvision]

+TechRyze A variety of packages are used but the main edit takes place in Adobe Premiere.

[@TechRyze]

Fantastic stuff. Thumbs up from me.

[@captaincorleone7088]

Whoa the Speccy was never envisaged as a games machine! It was designed by Sir Clive as an educational tool - the manuals for the original 16/48k models were pretty serious and it became extremely popular as a cheapo way into learning programming, especially due to the ease of Sinclair Basic. Many a famous programmer cut their teeth on the Spectrum. There was a wealth of serious software for not only the Spec but also the C64 and without question for the BBC Micro. Speaking of which, you neglected to mention that the Beeb had a built-in modulator and didn't *need* the CUB monitor. Play Exile on the Beeb and ask yourself if that was cobbled together! :)

[@chinnyvision]

What Clive intended and what actually happened are two different things. By the time Amstrad acquired Sinclair, it was a games machine pure and simple. It also simply not relevant to mention the modulator in the BBC Micro. I was comparing like with like. A computer with a monitor v a computer with a monitor. As for Exile, well, perhaps we'll tackle that here one of these weeks.

[@mikehill9806]

Magical..

[@6581punk]

Funny you should show Harrier Attack, my school friend had a green screen 464 bought for him by his mother and showed us this very game and asked what I thought. I said it was "shit". This must have been around 1986 and I was playing the amazing games around for the C64 by then. Mothers never did get the concept of buying a computer that their childrens friends also have (swapping games).