I never ever got to see an Amiga in action. I wish I did. There wer some pretty cool demos for the Commodore 64 and the Amiga. The demo scene is still alive, new ones are created each year, and what they c do with that machine nowadays is bloody amazing. I've run new demos an actual Commodore 64 and I was seeing that machine do things that b in the 90's I would have never thought it could do.
That system was simply amazing for the time. Basically has Playstation quality graphics when Atari 7800 was still cool. The audio and video
were just next level. The fact they could do this all on floppies is
even that much more insane!
Its not too late to get one still. Raymond computer might still have a few A1000's or a 500 or 2 laying around
DrClaw
My wife may not like my collecting yet another computer! I'd love to
My wife may not like my collecting yet another computer! I'd love to
Get a new one? :P
ST
Nightfox wrote to Dr. What <=-
I don't remember how the Amiga was advertised where I live. But to me
it looked like another computer (I always thought their beige-box appearance was fairly similar to IBM PC compatibles).
Although it had
good hardware for gaming, you could play games on a PC too.. As far as serious work, I'd heard of the Video Toaster product for the Amiga, and I'd heard the Amiga was popular for video editing due to that. I
imagine the Amiga was probably used for other serious work as well.
I don't remember how the Amiga was advertised where I live. But to
me it looked like another computer (I always thought their beige-box
appearance was fairly similar to IBM PC compatibles).
I think that was just the late 80's-early 90's thing. The newer versions of the C64 came in a slim, beige case as did the C128. As well as many in the IBM-PC market.
I think that beige was just the new standard across the industry.
The Amiga wasn't a bad machine, but it suffered from poor marketing and it was hampered by the IBM-PC taking over the market.
Well there were other home computers that looked different from that, such as the Commodore 64 (all built into a keyboard, more of a brownish color),
Those are ICON computers that all elementary schools in my area had.
They connected to a main server and had a bunch of pre-loaded programs like Word Perfect, Print Shop and some other programs that taught you
how to type.
The fun part was if it was raining on recess we could stay in and play some of the games they had on these computers like Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
Oh, and QUAKE! (@_@)
Naw, forget that! Time for SCORCH.exe'd Earth!
Naw, forget that! Time for SCORCH.exe'd Earth!
I have honestly never heard of the ICON. I will definitely spend some time researching now, though!
It is so difficult to remember, all of a sudden, which computer I first used in school...(o_o) I moved around a lot. Some schools were all
about Crapple, and some were Intel Master Race. Guess which I
prefer? (o_-)
Naw, forget that! Time for SCORCH.exe'd Earth!
McDoob
SysOp, PiBBS
pibbs.sytes.net
... If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
Nightfox wrote to Dr. What <=-
I think that beige was just the new standard across the industry.
Well there were other home computers that looked different from that,
such as the Commodore 64 (all built into a keyboard, more of a brownish color),
Timex Sinclair (similarly, had the keyboard built in and they
were silver, black, or perhaps other colors), etc..
I've also heard
about the Atari 400 home computer, which was beige, but the way it
looked, I always thought it looked more like a game machine than a computer (I think it ran its software from cartridges, for instance).
I often thought there were products that were technically superior that suffered from poor marketing. OS/2 was another - I thought OS/2 was a better OS than Windows, but IBM failed to market it well enough.
Microsoft had some tactics that I think were a bit shady, in pushing competetors out of the market.
Spectre wrote to Nightfox <=-
Well there were other home computers that looked different from that, such as the Commodore 64 (all built into a keyboard, more of a brownish color),
There was a late version of the c64 that looked remarkably similar to
the A500 in form, I don't know that there were any other differences though.
The Commodore 64C was a beige, wedge. Internally, it was the same C64, though.
... A short cut is the longest distance between two points.
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52
--- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
But I think that most consumers perceived beige as something positive and any other color would have meant more work for the marketing depts.
Ogg wrote to Dr. What <=-
Beige was probably the choice to obfuscate dust.
Like any industry, things didn't change across the companies all at
once. Even later, there were IBM clones with non-beige cases to set themselves apart from the other clones.
Beige was probably the choice to obfuscate dust.
StormTrooper wrote to Dr. What <=-
I seem to recall an aqua coloured system at one point, possibly late
80's early 90's kind of timing. Off hand no idea who's it was but it
was branded...
80's early 90's kind of timing. Off hand no idea who's it was but it was branded...
Keep in mind that "branding" didn't mean too much unless you knew the brand. I've seen too many clones by "Bob's Computer" that have a neat looking brand logo on the front that just means "Bob's Computer".
OS/2's first issue was hardware. You needed a much beefier system than most people had. That meant a more expensive PC, or expensive upgrades. So even if you run your MS-DOS app in OS/2 "penalty box" you still need those expensive hardware upgrades.
Next, IBM wanted big bucks for development tools at the start. If you are a developer, you aren't going to pay money for developer tools unless you can get some return on that investment.
Now we are in a chicken/egg issue. OS/2 doesn't sell well because there aren't enough apps. But because it's not selling well, developers don't want to pay to support it.
IHMO: If IBM would have given away the developer tools in exchange for a committment of writing a (hopefully good) app for OS/2, they could have broken that chicken/egg cycle.
By the time OS/2 Warp came along, along with the Intel
80386 (which was much better than the 80286 for this), OS/2 had too much of a bad reputation - and Microsoft had too big a hold on the market.
Keep in mind that "branding" didn't mean too much unless you knew
the brand. I've seen too many clones by "Bob's Computer" that have
a neat looking brand logo on the front that just means "Bob's
Computer".
Beige was probably the choice to obfuscate dust.
I never thought of that, but you might be on to something.
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder why the whole computer industry decided to switch to making black PC cases and devices,
Re: Re: Commodore Computers
By: Dr. What to Ogg on Mon May 02 2022 10:52 am
Beige was probably the choice to obfuscate dust.
I never thought of that, but you might be on to something.
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder why the whole computer industry decided to switch to making black PC cases and
devices, since black tends to show dust more than beige.
But then, maybe that was part of the point.. Being able to see the dust better would help with wanting to clean the dust off and out of your computer.
Nightfox
StormTrooper wrote to Dr. What <=-
Hmmm no it wasn't just a buy yourself some of those sticky squares and call it branded jobs... its been to long now though. It's annoying me I can't recall what it was now..
aqua blue case, and keyboard to match.
Nightfox wrote to Dr. What <=-
It always seemed like you needed pretty good hardware to run Windows
too. By the mid 90s, it seemed like OS/2 and Windows had similar
hardware requirements.
Nightfox wrote to Dr. What <=-
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder why the whole computer industry decided to switch to making black PC cases and
devices, since black tends to show dust more than beige. But then,
maybe that was part of the point.. Being able to see the dust better would help with wanting to clean the dust off and out of your computer.
Things have gotten worse with transparent panels, LED's and
other visually distracting crap. Keyboards that light up
underneath. All an eyesore to be honest.
The beige cases do look dirty though after time. You get
that discolouration around the buttons from your fingers,
which is less evident on black cases. Black cases do seem
to age better.
boraxman wrote to Nightfox <=-
I think this was due to the rise in vanity cases, cases which were designed to look 'cool', with trim, lights and the like. People wanted something that stood out from the beige. It started with gaming PC's,
Ogg wrote to boraxman <=-
It's like fashion now. Anything goes.
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder why the
whole computer industry decided to switch to making black PC cases
and devices,
Probably cost again, and the fact they were being added to "entertainment centres". There was a brief period they tended to be silver, but that disappeared pretty quickly. If you use black, you don't need any TiO2,
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder why the
whole computer industry decided to switch to making black PC cases
and devices, since black tends to show dust more than beige.
But then, maybe that was part of the point.. Being able to see the
dust better would help with wanting to clean the dust off and out of
your computer.
I think this was due to the rise in vanity cases, cases which were designed to look 'cool', with trim, lights and the like. People wanted something that stood out from the beige. It started with gaming PC's, and coincided with the rather silly embellishments you'd see on memory modules and graphics cards.
Things have gotten worse with transparent panels, LED's and other visually distracting crap. Keyboards that light up underneath. All an eyesore to be honest.
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder why the
whole computer industry decided to switch to making black PC cases
and devices, since black tends to show dust more than beige. But
then, maybe that was part of the point.. Being able to see the dust
better would help with wanting to clean the dust off and out of your
computer.
It depends on what the customer wanted the computer for.
If it was to be something that's a workhorse that stays pushed back into a corner, you'd want it to be something that doesn't stand out and doesn't need care.
If it was to be something you wanted people to notice when they walked into your office, then you wanted it to be a "flashy" color and you'd spend the time keeping it clean.
I've heard of entertainment center PCs, but I've never actually seen anyone set up a PC for use with their TV. Microsoft even stopped making their Media Center edition of Windows that they used to make long ago..
I velcroed a Raspberry Pi to the back of my TV. Does that count? :)
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
I've heard of entertainment center PCs, but I've never actually seen
anyone set up a PC for use with their TV. Microsoft even stopped
making their Media Center edition of Windows that they used to make
long ago..
I velcroed a Raspberry Pi to the back of my TV. Does that count? :)
Depends on the quality of plastic. Some of my beige cases have discolored, some have not.
I've heard of entertainment center PCs, but I've never actually seen anyone set up a PC for use with their TV. Microsoft even stopped making their Media Center edition of Windows that they used to make long ago..
I've heard of entertainment center PCs, but I've never actually
seen anyone set up a PC for use with their TV. Microsoft even
It was a thing here for a while, it seems to have lost out to streaming and hand held devices these days. I had one set up for a while, but I'm more the exception than the rule... I found it reasonably difficult to drive in that scenario.. The kids couldn't drive it.. it was basically always me...
I think M$ dropped MediaCentre because no one used it.. the power house was XBMC, X-Box Media Centre, or Kodi which was a fork of the same. I didn't deal with these much though.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Nightfox <=-nyone
Re: Re: Commodore Computers
By: Nightfox to Spectre on Tue May 03 2022 09:23 am
I've heard of entertainment center PCs, but I've never actually seen
set up a PC for use with their TV. Microsoft even stopped making their Media Center edition of Windows that they used to make long ago..
Nightfox wrote to Dr. What <=-
If it was to be something you wanted people to notice when they walked into your office, then you wanted it to be a "flashy" color and you'd spend the time keeping it clean.
I wouldn't consider black or beige to be flashy colors.
Ogg wrote to boraxman <=-
Depends on the quality of plastic. Some of my beige cases have discolored, some have not.
I think this was due to the rise in vanity cases, cases which were designed to look 'cool', with trim, lights and the like. People want something that stood out from the beige. It started with gaming PC's
I'd claim it started in the late 90s before gaming became a marketable thing - weird translucent covers over optical drives, CD storage on the top, matching keyboards with lots of dedicated buttons and mice, proprietary speakers that hung on monitors like wings, flip covers over USB ports, and translucent covers reminiscent of the iMac. In fact, now that I think of it, they were probably all lame attempts at capturing some of the iMac color buzz.
It all may have peaked with that weird Packard Bell "corner PC".
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder why the
whole computer industry decided to switch to making black PC cases
and devices, since black tends to show dust more than beige.
But then, maybe that was part of the point.. Being able to see the
dust better would help with wanting to clean the dust off and out of
your computer.
I think this was due to the rise in vanity cases, cases which were designed to look 'cool', with trim, lights and the like. People wante something that stood out from the beige. It started with gaming PC's, coincided with the rather silly embellishments you'd see on memory mo and graphics cards.
Things have gotten worse with transparent panels, LED's and other vis distracting crap. Keyboards that light up underneath. All an eyesore honest.
I don't mind a transparent panel on one side too much (it actually makes it easier to see the dust buildup inside your PC). I don't like LEDs though.. My current motherboard and graphics card both have LEDs, and I've used their software tools to turn them off. Sometimes I leave my
PC on overnight to work on a task, and I don't want a light show in the room.
Nightfox
Beige was probably the choice to obfuscate dust.
I never thought of that, but you might be on to something.
If that's the case (no pun intended), I'd have to wonder
why the whole computer industry decided to switch to making
black PC cases and devices, since black tends to show dust
more than beige. [...]
[...] But then, maybe that was part of the point.. Being
able to see the dust better would help with wanting to
clean the dust off and out of your computer.
[...] But then, maybe that was part of the point.. Being
able to see the dust better would help with wanting to
clean the dust off and out of your computer.
Nah.. I doubt that manufactures cared about that. They would
WANT the machines to break down so that they would be replaced
more often.
Dr. What wrote to Nightfox <=-
Nightfox wrote to Dr. What <=-
If it was to be something you wanted people to notice when they walked into your office, then you wanted it to be a "flashy" color and you'd spend the time keeping it clean.
I wouldn't consider black or beige to be flashy colors.
Beige wasn't flashy. That was the "ignored box in the corner" color.
But black was flashy. "Flashy" as in "intended to stand out and be noticed."
I remember back in the early 90's where your Mom/Pop stores would paint the beige/white cases black with spray paint. Not only that...but they would charge the customer a pretty penny to do so.
Nightfox wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
Re: Re: Commodore Computers
By: ACMEBBS to Dr. What on Wed May 04 2022 02:17 pm
I remember back in the early 90's where your Mom/Pop stores would paint the beige/white cases black with spray paint. Not only that...but they would charge the customer a pretty penny to do so.
I don't recall seeing any shops near me that did that.
aqua blue case, and keyboard to match.
I want to say SGI, then. But I thought their cases were more purple.
Re: Re: Commodore Computers
By: ACMEBBS to Dr. What on Wed May 04 2022 02:17 pm
I remember back in the early 90's where your Mom/Pop stores would pai the beige/white cases black with spray paint.
I don't recall seeing any shops near me that did that.
I remember back in the early 90's where your Mom/Pop stores
would paint the beige/white cases black with spray paint.
Not only that...but they would charge the customer a pretty
penny to do so.
Now...the only way it seems to get a white/beige case is by
buying an old PC nd reusing the case.
boraxman wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
One which was OK was the Amstrad PC2386. It had the expansion cards towards the side, not the back, and the expansion cards could be
covered by a door which slid on. Made accessing the headphone port of
the Sound Blaster easier, but to open the case was hard.
Ogg wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
Why? Isn't beige available as a spray paint?
Now...the only way it seems to get a white/beige case is by
buying an old PC nd reusing the case.
Why? Isn't beige available as a spray paint?
Seems like painting your case was more of a thing back in the beige
days, I kept the case beige but painted all of the drive faces bright green and orange.
It might be, but I have a feeling a black PC case might not take beige paint well, and some of the black might show through in spots. But I haven't tried that though..
Which Commodore Computer was your favourite?
A - Pet 2001
B - Vic 20
C - 64
D - 128
E - Amiga
$ The Millionaire $
Why? Isn't beige available as a spray paint?
It might be, but I have a feeling a black PC case might not take beige paint well, and some of the black might show through in spots. But I haven't tried that though..
Ogg wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
Hello ACMEBBS!
** On Wednesday 04.05.22 - 14:17, ACMEBBS wrote to Dr. What:
I remember back in the early 90's where your Mom/Pop stores
would paint the beige/white cases black with spray paint.
Not only that...but they would charge the customer a pretty
penny to do so.
Now...the only way it seems to get a white/beige case is by
buying an old PC nd reusing the case.
Why? Isn't beige available as a spray paint?
Nightfox wrote to Ogg <=-
Re: Commodore Computers
By: Ogg to ACMEBBS on Thu May 05 2022 08:25 am
Now...the only way it seems to get a white/beige case is by
buying an old PC nd reusing the case.
Why? Isn't beige available as a spray paint?
It might be, but I have a feeling a black PC case might not take beige paint well, and some of the black might show through in spots. But I haven't tried that though..
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