Beyond Obsolescence – The Computers That Keep on Going

As technology changes at an increasing pace, adaptability is of the utmost importance – this is where human factor shines brightest.

The Right to Repair Movement supports legislation that empowers consumers to repair their own devices, lengthening their lifespans. Modular designs in technology offer replaceable components to reduce planned obsolescence.

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum (or “Speccy,” as it was popularly known) was an immensely popular British home computer in the early 1980s. It introduced computing to many and inspired people wanting to learn programming; additionally, its popularity inspired an ecosystem of magazines, community forums and local coder clubs that flourished around its release date of 1982. Indeed, it became Europe’s best-selling home computer at that point!

Sinclair ZX81 became so wildly popular that it inspired an entire generation of young people to learn programming, becoming a symbol of British technological progress – indeed Sir Clive Sinclair himself received a knighthood for his contributions to computer industry.

The Speccy was an unusual computer in that it utilized a proprietary ROM to store its programs, making it much faster at loading and running than other machines at its time. Furthermore, its price point made it accessible to a wider range of people.

Memory efficiency was of utmost importance in its design. To save space, the Speccy’s video RAM was divided into two areas – bitmap block and attributes block. Each 8×8 pixel block could display either one or two colors depending on its respective bit’s status.

Elite Systems’ Spectrum-inspired remake ditches the proprietary ROM in favor of an app to provide games and BASIC programming capabilities. While not ideal, as only certain titles can be played through this method (due to licensing issues), but nevertheless it remains an impressive and stylish device.

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 was one of the most acclaimed home computers ever released in 1982, becoming an instant classic and inspiring generations of programmers and designers to build them in factories at its height of production: over one million units were manufactured monthly!

The design of the Commodore 64 remains legendary to this day. Utilizing very little power, it was capable of running many programs from games to word processors with little hassle and had access to an expansive software library that connected printers and modems; furthermore it introduced desktop publishing and computer graphics into mainstream computing culture.

Although the Commodore 64 wasn’t as powerful as some of its rivals, its price/performance ratio and user friendliness made it the go-to home computer of its day – becoming the undisputed leader for years.

After Commodore’s demise, fans of the C64 continued to create new software and hardware for it. A number of emulators are available that enable users to play classic games on modern computers; there are even companies producing modern PC’s that resemble classic machines from that era.

Jeri Ellsworth completed a three-year project which led to the release of the Commodore One, an exact copy of C64 that runs on modern hardware (DIMM, Flash memory and an SVGA monitor) for about $200. FPGA (field programmable gate arrays) are used as they perform similar functions as the original C64 chips.

Commodore 128

The Commodore 128 (C128) was the final 8 bit computer produced by Commodore Business Machines and came three years after its predecessor, the Commodore 64. Like the Sinclair Spectrum before it, the C128 was designed to replace its older brother by appealing to users looking for something modern that was fully compatible with CP/M software and featured an 80 column text mode as well as a graphical display and 80 column display mode.

The 128 was intended as an upgrade from the popular C64 with increased functionality and performance, specifically by providing for larger addressable memory, an extra graphics chip for 80 column mode graphics rendering, and supporting both popular CP/M-based business software and the Commodore BASIC interpreter.

Unlike its predecessor, which depended on external monitors for video output, the 128 was equipped with its own RGBI monitor allowing high resolution video with crisper and more detailed imagery. Furthermore, its keyboard featured numeric keypad and function keys for enhanced user control; additionally its hardware was further strengthened with the inclusion of a Zilog Z80 CPU which allowed it to run CP/M and utilize its extensive library.

Although the 128 was technically more advanced than its counterparts, sales weren’t nearly as robust. This may have been partly caused by a lack of peripherals designed specifically for it and an overall decrease in interest for CP/M software as people began preferring PC compatible systems like Microsoft DOS instead. Marketing was also an issue as Commodore management were not as enthusiastic about supporting it as engineers working on it were.

Amiga 500

Amigas were one of Commodore’s flagship home computers in the late ’80s, and as such were pioneers of advanced graphics and sound technologies, inspiring many young gamers. It’s easy to see why so many young gamers found solace in its colourful sprites, pounding techno soundtracks, and witty humor of classic games from Sensible Software, Team 17 and Bitmap Brothers remain immensely popular today among gamers of all ages.

The Amiga 500 was intended for home users, unlike its more costly sibling the Amiga 1000 which targeted business environments. Running on Motorola 68000 microprocessor, this computer featured 512kilobytes of RAM expandable up to 1 megabyte using third-party boosted memory boards. Like its more costly sibling the Amiga 1000 it also had an excellent graphical OS known as Workbench that could run multiple programs at the same time while supporting audio hardware which allowed for playing digitalized music as well as fast processing power for video production and graphics creation purposes.

An Amiga 500 could produce either monochrome composite or RGB output, and with the use of an optional Amiga 520 adapter could even connect directly to a TV, enabling you to superimpose computer graphics over live video feed. Furthermore, its Paula sound chip delivered stereo output of digital trumpets, flutes and pianos – with optional MIDI interfaces providing access to external synthesizers.

The Amiga was a compact machine featuring one 3 1/2-inch disk drive built into its case and a second that could be attached via external connector. The keyboard was integrated into its body of computer, featuring an enhanced keypad with cursor keys in an inverse T layout and larger function keys. Ports were identical to those found on Amiga 1000 with two ports having their gender changed to accommodate cables made specifically for IBM PCs.

Amiga 1200

The Amiga 1200 was an immensely popular model from their line-up, known for being both compact but powerful. Upgrades could easily be installed using expansion hardware and software options available for it, including their signature custom chipset which offered high levels of backward compatibility while various auxiliary custom chips offered display de-interlacing, graphics acceleration, etc.

As it had both power and memory capacity, its popularity made it an ideal platform for creative software such as music tracker programs and 3D rendering packages like LightWave 3D. Furthermore, its Commodore Video Toaster hardware was used by Rolf Harris for his TV series creation while Todd Rundgren used the device for video editing software for his videos.

In addition to offering a vast array of games, the Amiga was also an early platform for genre experimentation, featuring several groundbreaking first-person shooters, futuristic sports sims and innovative driving games based on prototype breadboard chipsets developed by Commodore engineers during their 1970s work and later experimentally ported to an Amiga using multitasking system TRIPOS.

Though initially popular, Amiga popularity began to diminish with the arrival of fourth generation console gaming systems and multimedia-enabled IBM PC compatible computers. Commodore filed for bankruptcy in 1994 and Escom purchased their remaining assets, releasing an Amiga 1200 just in time for Christmas 1995; though never reaching similar levels of popularity as its predecessors.

As with its predecessor, the 500, the 1200 could be upgraded with various connectivity and expansion options, such as larger hard drives, CD-ROM drives and an internal DVD drive. Furthermore, its standard USB adapter allowed access to numerous input devices, making it the perfect retro game console when coupled with keyboard and mouse input devices.