Comments for The Silicon Underground

Comment on Windows XP released October 25, 2001 by Jim Grey

Jim Grey — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:06:10 +0000

XP was objectively good in its time. The nostalgia is earned.

Comment on How many VICmodems Commodore sold by Steve Aubrey

Steve Aubrey — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 01:05:07 +0000

And *that* is how to think about math. Nice work, and good confirmation.

Comment on Who bought Gateway computers? by Dave Farquhar

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 20:37:24 +0000

In reply to Shirley Dulcey. Thank you for that tidbit, strong how-the-mighty-have-fallen vibes!

Comment on What happened to Epyx by Dave Farquhar

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 20:34:18 +0000

In reply to Jon. Yes it was a factor. I may have covered it in my blog post about the Lynx. If I somehow missed it (I'll be honest my mind's been on the PHP vulnerability this week), I'll cover that in a future revision.

Comment on What happened to Epyx by Jon

Jon — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 08:06:12 +0000

Wasn’t the disastrous Epyx deal with Atari for the Handy a large factor in the company’s demise? I’m sure I’ve heard or read an interview with one (or more!) of Dave Morse, RJ Mical or Dave Neidle where they express a lot of bitterness and regret about the whole episode. I’m not sure about the detail of the story, but it apparently involved withheld payments from Atari, litigation and a whole load of aggravation for the Epyx team. Dealing with Jack “Business is War” Tramiel was never easy – and with hindsight, keeping Epyx alive to provide software for the Lynx would have been in Atari’s long-term interest.

Comment on Who bought Gateway computers? by John Boxall

John Boxall — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 06:20:04 +0000

Gateway was very popular in Australia in the late 90s. They had an assembly line here as well, and a few very nice retail stores. Bought one in early 1999, lasted for almost a decade.

Comment on What happened to Epyx by Rusty

Rusty — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 19:31:34 +0000

Epyx and their games represent very good memories for me. I really liked most of their games, but Jumpman and Summer Games were my all time favorites on the C64. Those two games provided many hundreds of hours of fun, and convinced more than a few of my friends to get a home computer. I was very sad when they went out of business.

Comment on Who bought Gateway computers? by Shirley Dulcey

Shirley Dulcey — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 03:17:08 +0000

In the US, Gateway is now a brand that is only available from Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Comment on Who bought Gateway computers? by Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 02:23:01 +0000

My favorite tidbit about the rise of Gateway 2000 was that tech profile from the time claimed that their first office was out of “Sioux City’s 100-year-old Livestock Exchange building, paying $350 a month in rent. The cow manure was cleaned from the building, and Gateway’s new offices were furnished with used furniture.”

Comment on Commodore’s knockoff Atari joystick from 1982 by Magnum

Magnum — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 05:52:13 +0000

I had a 1311 joystick for my C-64 and it was indeed terrible; rapidly replaced with a Thrustmaster.