Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, dies at age 83

My very first computer was a Commodore 64. My grandfather, the day before he died, said to me that I needed to get into computers as they are the future. He gave me some money that day and that evening he passed away peacefully in his sleep. I bought a C64 with this money and I still have it now.

It's people like Jack Tramiel, Steve Wozniak, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others that remind you that individuals, even within powerful teams, can be extremely innovative and important. When that carries from company to company and industries it validates it further: Commodore, Atari, Apple, Pixar etc.<p>I spent about 2 summers at my friends house playing Summer Games on C64 and wrote my first lines of BASIC there, at school I used an Apple II.<p>We need more people like these guys for the next wave.<p>READY.<p>█

Like many here, Jack Tramiel's vision of an affordable yet versatile computer certainly had a huge impact on my life. I keep my old C64 set up in my office to remind me that I have to live up to the expectations of the 10-year-old kid who would stay up late at night trying to make that machine do something amazing.<p>Condolences to Mr. Tramiel's family.

Jack did some amazing things while owner of Atari Corporation too (his son, Sam, was CEO). They helped bring the Lynx to market, developed by Epyx, which was "miles" ahead of other consoles at the time. It had amazing sound, color graphics, and 3D graphics, on a portable in 1989!

The Commodore 64 is what inspired my career in tech. Many firsts including machine language, pascal and game/utility programming.<p>The first software I ever created and sold was Disk Ease, which brought low level control of the 1541 to the normal person. Sold it through ads in the back of Computer Shopper magazine; I was 14. Let me tell you, there is nothing more inspirational than people sending money to your post office box from all around the country for something you built.<p>It wasn't a big seller by any means, but it laid the groundwork for my future.

Because of Commodore 64, I got into programming. RIP Mr Tramiel and thank you.<p>POKE 53280, 0

I wasn't a Commodore user, but as I was heavily into home / hobbyist computing at that time, they had a huge influence on me. At the time, we mostly used TRS-80s and the like, but my school had C64s and I vaguely remember trying to make sure that BASIC code from a book for C64 users would work for me.<p>And only today did I find out that Tramiel was a Holocaust survivor who became one of the most influential figures in the computer revolution of the 80s.<p>My thoughts are with his family and those who knew &#38; loved him.

I learned BASIC on the Vic 20. I had no storage device, so I would get magazines from the library, type in the code, play the game as much as I could, then turn my machine off and lose everything. Those were the days!

My first program was on the C64 when I was very young. Had it not been available to my parents and me at that time, I'm not sure I would have the same passion for technology and programming I have today. Thanks Jack, for helping bring it to the masses.

My first job was to demo Vic-20s in department stores around the SF Bay Area at age 13. Funny that just yesterday I was at my Mom's looking for my "I'm a Commodore Kid - Ask me!" polo shirt.<p>RIP Jack!

"Computers for the masses, not the classes."<p>A cutthroat businessman, but a brilliant mind nevertheless.<p>It was only because of Jack Tramiel, and geniuses like Chuck Peddle and Bob Russel, that easy to use computers were cheap enough to be affordable by almost everyone. At least for me, his influence on modern home computing was greater than Steve Jobs and Bill Gates combined.<p>Now, I hope he did tell somebody where the Magic Sword and the Philosopher's Stone are...

LOAD "CONDOLENCES",8,1

TOS stood for Tramiel Operating System. Yes, he is the one who brought in the Atari ST.

Without him, the world would be a different place. The Commodore computers inspired so many people (adults now) and made all "our" business world, start-up world and hacker world what it is now. By bringing home computers to a huge number of houses, a lot of kids got the chance to experience first-hand what it is like to be in control of a "personal" computer.<p>There is still a C64 scene alive! <a href="http://noname.c64.org/csdb/" rel="nofollow">http://noname.c64.org/csdb/</a>

I found a "lost" article I wrote about Jack from 2007. He was an Auschvitz survivor, almost died in a plane accident, and was an unsung visionary that, perhaps, was the first to truly commoditize compute power.<p><a href="http://www.sdtimes.com/blog/post/2012/04/09/Jack-Tramiel-Commodore-founder-passes-at-83.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.sdtimes.com/blog/post/2012/04/09/Jack-Tramiel-Com...</a>

Apple was cool, but Commodore was affordable. Thanks, Jack, for that $199 C=64. Rest in peace.

I made a Commodore 64 play "Taps": <a href="http://youtu.be/cPtdcv1G01Y" rel="nofollow">http://youtu.be/cPtdcv1G01Y</a>

I still have my Atari 400 (pre-Tramiel) and my 130XE (Tramiel era). We were pretty poor financially as a family when I got them. Without cheap, programmable machines like the Commodores and the Ataris, I doubt I would have been a programmer. I cannot imagine what I would have used these days in the sub $200 market.

I remember I would beg my dad to drive me around on the weekends looking for garage sales to find Commodore 64 software. Sometimes we would get them by the box full, on unlabeled floppies, and spend the whole weekend trying each one. Every once in a while you found a disk filled with a bunch of games. Good memories.

RIP Jack Tramiel! Here is Computer History Museum 25th Anniversary Celebration of Commodore 64 with him on the panel <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk</a> Micro computers were a startup movement in a true sense of the word.

I learned BASIC in the early 80's on a VIC 20. Luckily we had the tape drive so I could save my 'work'. We also had the extra RAM cartridge that was needed for some of the larger games.<p>I really wanted an Apple II though. That's what the rich kids had.

A long interview with Jack in 2007: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk&#38;feature=player_detailpage#t=1020s" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvbsPNBIyk&#38;feature=playe...</a>

RIP Jack. And thanks for my first computer and all those memories.

I learned BASIC on a Commodore PET. Thanks, Mr. Tramiel.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET</a>

It's interesting that Amiga isn't being talked about more in this thread. Also by Commodore, though a bit later than the C64. The Amiga was a powerful little machine for it's time, especially for games and "multi-media" as the state of the art existed then. And it had personality. Personality goes a long way.

My first computer was a C64. 30 years ago, I learned to program Basic and assembly language with it. God bless

For anyone who missed out on the Commodore computers (I had a zx81; then used the family's Sharp MZ80K) there are some modern hardware versions.<p>(<a href="http://www.c64upgra.de/" rel="nofollow">http://www.c64upgra.de/</a>)<p>(<a href="http://www.syntiac.com/fpga64.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.syntiac.com/fpga64.html</a>)<p>etc.

The C64 was the first computer I programmed. Made my life better for it. Thanks Jack! RIP.

R.I.P. Jack thanks for everything! You democratized computers back In the day.

So sad to hear! This dates me I had to get my C64 from a trucker who went on a rare trip to the UK (I lived in a rural area of Spain). I went into software thanks to a C64.

RIP Mr. Tramiel. The C64 and Amiga were both machines that helped define their era. Lots of veteran professional programmers working today got their start on them.

Like many others here, my first computer was a Commodore (VIC20 in my case). Whether I owe my career to this man I couldn't say, but I owe him my gratitude. RIP.

Wow, what memories, the very first line of assembler code I ever wrote was on a C64. Had one for years! Now it's going to be super hard to get another one.

My brown C64 with a 300baud Hess modem and Indus drive - that first $600 phone bill was all worth it. Bless you Jack for your vision and tenacity!

I'll never forget my first computer. Rest in peace, Jack Tramiel. <a href="http://imgur.com/GYHVR" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/GYHVR</a>

Oh, the Atari 7800 could have been so much more. Could have given the NES a run for its money.

Thanks Jack for all these moments playing and coding with my father.

as being c64 scener i'm soo sorry to hear this news. rest in peace! c64 is the milestone of my life. Thank you for great inspiration.

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Thanks for my Atari 520 STF Mr. Tramiel. RIP

A minute without the computer.<p>RIP, Jack. You'll be missed.

<i>"We need to build computers for the masses, not the classes."</i> Thanks for that, as one of the masses, my VIC-20 was crucial to developing my early passion for computers.

Thank you for all the fun Commodore computers gave to my childhood, Jack.

RIP Jack! Big fan of the Atari ST.