This group meets every month to demonstrate, show, share, and talk about a bit of computer history, the Commodore 64. Yes, they also know how to work with a PC, and yes, they belong to Alamo PC.  But one of their abiding interests lies with the Commodore 64.  Diana Jones is their President, and helps hold them together as a group.  They have been meeting together for several years, and have also become personal friends.

Diana is a teacher, and was using the early TI (Texas Instruments) computer in her classrooms, mainly for the students to play games on during late Friday afternoons after their schoolwork was done.  One day around 1989 her TI machine and all the software was stolen.  She  replaced it with a Commodore 64. That was when she discovered the great versatility and  capabilities of the C64. The TI was for games and recess, but the C64 had software for geography, languages, history, maps, math, printing, graphics, writing, and also games. So she set up a schedule for her students: on Monday they did word games, Tuesday was for graphics, Wednesday was for printing (banners, coasters, handouts), Thursday was for music (the original bouncing ball music), and Friday was reserved for the games.  The students loved the computer, and Diana found that it was a great learning tool and a great leveler, even with the handicapped student.

I sat down in the Resource Center recently to talk with Diana and two other members of the C64 SIG, Fred Archer and John Thompson.  I got an earful about the history and the versatility of the C64.  The Commodore 64 became immensely popular in its heyday, and was sold in stores like Sears and Target.

The machine was very versatile. Available software included word processors (Write Stuff,  Batteries Included), desktop publishing (GeoPublish), spreadsheets (MS Multiplan), databases (dBase clones), business software (inventory control,  etc.), graphics and sound (all in the box), music, software for slot car races, and even for Ham Radio operators. People could and did run businesses on these machines.

Also available were magazines with programs on tape or ready to be typed in by hand.  Do you remember typing software into the machine in the early days of computers?  This writer does - into a Radio Shack Color Computer (16 colors). Some of the popular magazines were Compute, Ahoy, Lode Star, and Run. This SIG group has complete sets  of some of these magazines, with tapes.

If you'd like to travel down computer memory lane, come visit the group on the 2^nd Saturday of the month.  But first, tell me the truth: do you have a Commodore 64 hiding in your closet?