jack tramiel Archives

How thousands of Atari cartridges ended up in the desert

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 28, 2014July 14, 20171980s, 1990s, apple, atari, atari 2600, commodore, jack tramiel, New Mexico, nintendo, Tandy, VCR, video game

The famous story of Atari burying millions of dollars of unsold videogame cartridges, including the infamous E.T. cartridge, is no longer just a legend–it’s been confirmed.

How they got there was mostly a misunderstanding of the nascent business. Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Commodore was more than a stock scam

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 15, 2013October 27, 20171980s, 1990s, amiga, apple, atari, Chuck Peddle, commodore, debts, dell, hp, IBM, intel, irving gould, jack tramiel, stock scam, Texas Instruments, TI

From time to time, I see the phrase “Commodore stock scam” or something similar come up in discussion or in books. Commodore, in case you don’t know, was a high-flying computer company in the 1980s that was literally making computers as quickly as they could sell them while Apple struggled for its survival, and was in the enviable position of being the main supplier of chips for its competitors. Imagine if Intel sold computers at retail next to HP and Dell, while still selling chips to Dell. That was Commodore in 1984. I don’t have 1984 figures, but in 1985, Commodore had 38% of the computer market all to itself. IBM and its clones, combined, had 49%. Apple had 13%.

But a decade later, Commodore had squandered all of that away and was out of business. That’s why Robert X. Cringely sums up Commodore as Irving Gould‘s stock scam, then goes back to writing about Apple.

The real story is more complicated than that. More interesting, too.

Dave Farquhar

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The Rise of Commodore

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 4, 2012November 23, 20161980s, Canada, commodore, commodore 64, jack tramiel, vic 20

I found an account of Commodore’s rise to prominence on a vintage computing forum. It’s interesting reading. Then again, I’m partial to anything about the rise of Commodore.

Dave Farquhar

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The Byte digital archive

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 23, 2012July 31, 20161980s, amiga, apple, Apple Macintosh, atari, atari st, commodore, Commodore Amiga, irving gould, jack tramiel, Jerry Pournelle, macintosh, motorola, public domain, vintage computer, XT

Here’s a treasure trove for retro computing enthusiasts. Archive.org created the Byte digital archive. It’s exactly what it sounds like: A collection of digitized issues of Byte magazine available online, free.

Numerous archives of vintage computer magazines exist, many of which are of questionable legality so I’ll refrain from saying anything specific about that.

Dave Farquhar

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What happened to GEM?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 10, 2012February 21, 20221980s, 1990s, apple, apple ii, Apple Lisa, atari, atari st, commodore, Digital Equipment Corporation, Digital Research, IBM, jack tramiel, macintosh, motorola, piracy, SCO

GEM was an early GUI for the IBM PC and compatibles and, later, the Atari ST, developed by Digital Research, the developers of CP/M and, later, DR-DOS. (Digital Equipment Corporation was a different company.) So what was it, and what happened to GEM?

It was very similar to the Apple Lisa, and Apple saw it as a Lisa/Macintosh ripoff and sued. While elements of GEM did indeed resemble the Lisa, Digital Research actually hired several developers from Xerox PARC.

DRI demonstrated the 8086 version of GEM at COMDEX in 1984, and shipped it on 28 February 1985, beating Windows 1.0 to market by nearly 9 months.
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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My favorite Phillipe Kahn story

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 2, 2012altair, Bill Gates, commodore, jack tramiel

I just saw Phillipe Kahn (not Khan) in a Best Bait-n-Switch commercial, introducing himself as the inventor of the camera phone.

But that’s not my favorite Phillipe Kahn story.

Dave Farquhar

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The web reacts to Jack Tramiel’s death

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 10, 2012August 1, 20171980s, 1990s, apple, CBM, commodore, IBM, jack tramiel

Numerous tributes appeared today as word of Commodore founder Jack Tramiel’s death spread. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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RIP, Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 9, 2012August 1, 20171980s, apple, atari, atari st, Chuck Peddle, commodore, commodore 64, dell, IBM, jack tramiel, Linus Torvalds, motorola, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Texas Instruments, TI

Commodore founder Jack Tramiel, the orchestrator of the first line of affordable personal computers, died this weekend at the age of 83.

I don’t know exactly what to think about it, and I’m probably not alone, though it didn’t take long for tributes to pour in. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Umm, no, that’s not Commodore, and that’s not an Amiga

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 23, 20121950s, 1980s, amiga, amiga os, apple, commodore, commodore vic 20, IBM, intel, jack tramiel, kenmore, macintosh, sears, whirlpool

Some stories floating around are suggesting that Commodore is still around, and they just released a new, overpriced Amiga.

Well, there’s a company slapping “Commodore” and “Amiga” labels on PC cases that look kind of like Apple Mac Mini cases and stuffing off-the-shelf components in them, but they’re Commodore Amigas in name only. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Steve Jobs and the Commodore PET

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing November 5, 2011October 11, 20171980s, 1990s, 6502, amiga, amiga os, apple, apple ii, Chuck Peddle, commodore, commodore 64, intel, irving gould, jack tramiel, KIM, macintosh, Mehdi Ali, MOS, motorola, pixar, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, tape drive, Texas Instruments

There’s a nasty rumor floating around that in Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography, Steve Jobs, Jobs alleges that Commodore copied the Apple II when making its first computer, 1977’s PET. Here’s the story of Steve Jobs and the Commodore PET.

The book doesn’t come right out and say it, but it insinuates it. I know how the PET came to be, and the PET would have happened whether the Apple II ever existed or not.
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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