Best looking 8bit computer?

[sjgray]

No doubt:

Porche, you know...

Common misconception. Not true. This case was designed by Ira Velinski while working at Commodore. Ira designed the Max Machine case as well. Porche did design a case but it was not workable. Commodore was happy that people thought it was designed by porche as it made the machine more desireable.

I will agree with you though. Nice design.

Steve

[orion70]

Wow, didn't know that.. Congratulations to whoever designed it, indeed
I took this info here:

The case is designed by Porsche Design, and it has an ultra-smooth look to it.

and here:

It is said that Ferdinand Porsche was involved in this design. It's not true since he died just a few years after the end of World War II. In fact, Commodore enlisted the services of Porsche Design, a separate firm from the famous car maker that specializes in the less glamorous world of industrial design. PD was founded as a side project of Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand's son.

...and several other sources. But reading carefully here and there, and especially the book by Bagnall about Commodore history, I realized it was more a marketing legend!

[Boray]

Hmmm.... Why doesn't that computer have any function keys or graphical symbols? Seems like a DESIGN flaw.

[TBCVIC]

I like the Comx 35

[Boray]

I don't get how any of you can suggest anything but the Vic-20!

[Vic 2000]

@Boray

When i first bought my Vic-20 late 1982 in Mariestad Sweden, i thought that Vic-20 looked like some kind of toy computer with it's round quite odd form. Same thing when C64 arrived. It looked like a toy computer, while Atari 800 and 400 looked like B-movie scifi toy computers. Yet Atari 800 had some of "pro" in it's design.

Later C64 got a more proffessional look when C64C was released.



Today, when i look back, both Vic-20 and C64 don't look bad at all, quite good designed computers.

[rhurst]

Presenting runner-up to the Kenbak, the Wang 2200:

[Vic 2000]

Ha ha ha ha

THAT'S what i call a scifi B-Movie computer.

[Questarian]

Presenting runner-up to the Kenbak, the Wang 2200

Wow, 1973, Pre-microprocessor, CPU made of a couple hundred TTL chips, tape drive... Must have one! There's an emulator for that..

[rhurst]

My father worked for WANG, briefly, in the 1980s. My first high school instruction (Computer Math) was on one of those ($5K each, there were only three) in 1981. That Christmas, I got the electronic board game, Dark Tower (still got it), and reverse-engineered it into a handwritten BASIC program. I wanted to input it on one of the WANG computers, but my teacher was too shocked by the length of my listing and said it would likely be impossible because of memory constraints. Two had 4K, the other had 8K.

I got my VIC 20 in February 1982, and would demo it to the class just before our summer break. I also demoed my Dark Tower BASIC game, in color with sound. My teacher was so impressed by how much "power" was packed into a $300 computer, that the next year, he would get his class re-outfitted with 30 Commodore PET 4032: one for each desk.

[Vic20-Ian]

My father worked for WANG, briefly, in the 1980s. My first high school instruction (Computer Math) was on one of those ($5K each, there were only three) in 1981. That Christmas, I got the electronic board game, Dark Tower (still got it), and reverse-engineered it into a handwritten BASIC program. I wanted to input it on one of the WANG computers, but my teacher was too shocked by the length of my listing and said it would likely be impossible because of memory constraints. Two had 4K, the other had 8K.

I got my VIC 20 in February 1982, and would demo it to the class just before our summer break. I also demoed my Dark Tower BASIC game, in color with sound. My teacher was so impressed by how much "power" was packed into a $300 computer, that the next year, he would get his class re-outfitted with 30 Commodore PET 4032: one for each desk.

Did you release Dark Tower?

[Mayhem]

Hah hah, that was my first thought too... so... where's your version of Dark Tower then Rob?

[rhurst]

Did you release Dark Tower?

Labeled as Dark Fortress, even as a "16 going on 17", I was worried I might be breaking some copyright law. It's as lame/pointless as it gets, but to me at the time, it was my first complete game.
My BASIC stuff is in my collection's floppy image and direct from the vic20 basic subfolder.

[Vic 2000]

If we are aloud to add 8bit consoles as well, this is design. Black and rainbow can't fail.

Atari Jr. 2600 rev A

Click on the thumbnail for a bigger picture.



Atari 5200 was the opposite and big as a house. The Atari 5200 trackball controller was even bigger then a NES console.

[joshuadenmark]

My vote goes to the Wang 2200, real scifi look