I just reached reputation 72 today!
This is the story of my life so far: 68 years and counting.
Prequel: A Brief History of my Family in France
The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 79
When I arrived in Brest at the end of 1982, I had only the first computer that I bought in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1980.
I was using it on the ship I was posted on and at home too. And I was programming it with the Pascal compiler that I had created.
Commodore 64 Portable (SX-64)
In 1983 in Brest, I bought my second computer, a Commodore 64 Portable (SX-64).
Although it was a "portable" computer, it was rather heavy: 10.5 kg (23lb). But it had everything: small display, keyboard, CPU, a memory 0f 64 Kbytes, and one floppy disk drive.
Portable Commodore 64 (SX-64)
source
My goal was to port my Pascal compiler to the Commodore 64.
In a small computer shop, I had met a young man, whose name I don't remember. He owned himself a Commodore 64, and he agrees to work with me to port the compiler.
The microprocessor was an 8-bit MOS Technology 6510 microprocessor, a close derivative of the 6502 from the same company.
So, it was completely different from the Intel 8080 or the Zylog Z80.
Although the Commodore 64 had 64K of RAM, the upper 20K were shadowed by a ROM that contained the BASIC interpreter and Kernal. So, to access the full 64K of memory, you had to swap out this ROM, and when you wanted to use the Kernal, you had to swap back in the ROM.
We managed to create a small operating system that roughly emulated CP/M, the operating system of my first compiler, to port my Pascal compiler in its both modes and to write a 6502 assembler and disassembler.
I never sold all this, but I think I gave it away to most people who asked for it.
I cannot remember exactly what happened later to my Commodore 64 Portable. I believe that at some point it broke down and I threw it away.
Amstrad CPC 464
On the Cybèle, I bought another microcomputer, an Amstrad CPC 464. It was to stay on the ship and to be used by the officers and myself.
Amstrad CPC 464
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I mostly bought it to play video games.
I remember that I play for many hours a game whose name I cannot recall, where the goal was to escape from prison.
When I finished the game, I was disappointed that there was no more challenge. I don't like a game that finished, I much prefer never-ending games.
Continue to Part 81
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Summary
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14
Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21
Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28
Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 - Part 32 - Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35
Part 36 - Part 37 - Part 38 - Part 39 - Part 40 - Part 41 - Part 42
Part 43 - Part 44 - Part 45 - Part 46 - Part 47 - Part 48 - Part 49
Part 50 - Part 51 - Part 52 - Part 53 - Part 54 - Part 55 - Part 56
Part 57 - Part 58 - Part 59 - Part 60 - Part 61 - Part 62 - Part 63
Part 64 - Part 65 - Part 66 - Part 67 - Part 68 - Part 69 - Part 70
Part 71 - Part 72 - Part 73 - Part 74 - Part 75 - Part 76 - Part 77
Part 78 - Part 79