Usage for your 128

[xlar54]

What do you use your 128 for?  I thought this might make a good poll topic, but I think there's alot here to add rather than stock choices.  Those who know me, know I enjoy programming the 128, and I like picking apart software to see how it was written. Ive always been intrigued by GEOS and how the whole event driven development works under the hood.  Being a much simpler system than, say, Windows, GEOS shows how a bare bones event driven operating system or shell works.  When I first tried to learn programming Windows under Win32, I was SO confused. But being a developer by trade, coding on the 128 reminds me why I do what I do - because it's creative and enjoyable.  And it's cool to see a 20+ year old machine do some of the same things that we consider "innovative" today.

Telecommunications was fun back in the day, but today the Internet makes it not very interesting anymore.  If local dial up BBSs still existed, Id definitely be a user.  Today people dont even ask for a modem to be installed in their PC anymore.

I also collect as much Commodore software as I can find, which makes sites like this very helpful. Nostalgia mainly - I dont play the games much.  And hacking to some degree, getting it to do things it wasnt meant to do (setting up 64HDD was quite cool).   Finally, since I have a larger payroll than I did when I was 10, Im having fun playing withe some of the toys I couldnt afford back then via ebay.

[Stephane Richard]

Me, I'm more into application building, sounds and music.  I like to create function user interfaces (text or graphics) that hopefully makes things easier and quicker to use.  For many cases this doesn't imply a necessary use of S.A.A. standards specifically in the field of C.U.A. sub standards (Commun User Access).

I don't mind a game or two, but gaming is not my forte on computers. ;-)....

[BigDumbDinosaur]

My main interest is in bare metal programming, e.g., twiddling chip registers, messing with the kernel, etc.  Games hold little interest.  Back when BBSes were popular, I used to frequent them.  But, in general, the closer to the hardware I can get, the better.  I also like developing business applications.

[xlar54]

Music has always fascinated me.  To me, making sounds come together into a melody is a real talent.  When you listen to great musicians, and stop to think that someone *thought this up*.  Thats really amazing to me.  I know with computers we have shortcuts to a lot of things, but there is still no shortcut to raw talent and creativity when music is concerned.  Remember Amiga MOD files? Some of that stuff was just incredible (not leaving out the infamous SID of course).  I dunno... a person can take a blueprint and tools and build a house, car, even software application... but there's something about music composition that doesn't even compare.  Very cool, and hats off to those of you who do this.

[Andrew Sutton]

What can I say, I just got my C128 this year!! I'm intrigued with the hardware of the machine, it's different video outputs for example. The 80 column mode text with my amber monitor reminds me of my dad's ADDS terminal from years ago that was "surplus" from when he worked at GM Truck and Bus.
I wish I kept an old IBM color monitor, should have worked with the C128. I'm not a programmer, but I can do simple BASIC programs. I got a sense of something special with the C128 after reading the book, "On the Edge, the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore".