Tuesday, September 9, 2014

RISE OF THE REGIME, EP.0: INTRODUCTION




The Typewriter Insurgency Manifesto is here: http://typewriterinsurgency.webstarts.com


From left to right, top to bottom: Atari 2600, SEGA Genesis, Nintendo NES, Nintendo GameBoy (x2), Mattel Electronic Football.


From left to right: Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, Commodore VIC-20.


The Commodore 64 computer; the best-selling computer of all time.

Did you ever wonder why I named my 'floppy disks' the way I did? Here's your answer!



64 kilobytes of memory was astounding when this computer came out.


The technical specifications are listed on the side of the box.

The 'P' in the serial number means that it was manufactured in Pennsylvania.


6 comments:

  1. Very thought-provoking post, this! Coming from the age of manual typewriters, I applaud your reverence for the magnificent machines...from typewriters to the development of our modern equipment. Truly a magnificent obsession!

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  2. Gosh. Now I'm going to have to go and get my old C64 out of storage!

    Great post. And... Hello from Mr Kernaghan!

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  3. Hmmm. Good start. I think, however, it was not the internet, but rather word processing combined with email that did in the typewriter. WP was well established before the internet became available and was heavily used in business, just as typewriters had been. It was a natural replacement and it was natural for it to spread as the prices came down. Convenience beats almost every other quality in the world.

    == Michael

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    1. Yes, that's all completely true. WP wrestled the typewriter to the ground in the 80s, and that the information regime that killed it off hadn't truly come to stay until the internet arrived in 1991. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back… With one fell swoop, the information regime had created a time suck that would entice and entrap the earth's population, stealing them away from typewriters for good. The information regime is what killed the typewriter and kept everybody else away from it, going so far as to hypnotize them into thinking that typewriters are useless.

      My attempted point being that word processing beat the typewriter to within an inch of its life, but the internet stole the masses for good and falsely told them that the typewriter was obsolete and useful for nothing but jewelry. Word processing machines would were here to stay in the office and the home, but when the internet connected them together it was all over and was the final nail in the coffin… the coup de grace. Until now.

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  4. Wow, our first computer was a Windows 95. My brother and I played that Nintendo until it broke. Couldn't afford multiple consoles. In it's final years, you had to use a pack of Bazooka Joe bubblegum to push the game cartridge down. Otherwise, it wouldn't make a good connection and you'd get a bad picture on the screen.

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  5. Awesome. I have some fond memories of the Commodore 64, but I had to go to the neighbor's house to use it (or at school - that's what we had to work on in middle school). At our house it was the 14K of raw programming power known as the TI 99/4A. I could program the heck out of that thing. And could beat you at Parsec. Big time.

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