© Mark Ollig
It began in 1976 as Apple Computer Company. The following year, their name became Apple Computer, Inc.
In 2007, the company shortened it to Apple Inc.
To most of us, they are known as Apple.
Feb. 24, Apple filed a new patent application with the US Patent Office titled “Computer in an Input Device.”
A future Apple Mac will find its computing and various control ports housed inside an input device; the keyboard.
In their patent filing, Apple says moving a desktop “can be inconvenient, awkward, and difficult, especially when frequently repeated.” Of course, this is no surprise to those of us who own a desktop or tower computer system.
Apple also stated that its specially designed keyboard would balance the new computer’s power and portability functions.
When folks in the computer industry began calling the future Apple Mac the “magic keyboard,” I started reminiscing about a specific computer from 40 years ago.
Some of us are old enough to remember the Commodore 64 home computer manufactured in 1982 by Commodore Business Machines.
Instead of a standard large desktop housing unit, much of the computer’s electronics and ports were inside its alphanumeric full-size keyboard case.
In 1982, we didn’t call the Commodore 64 a “magic keyboard;” however, because of its boxy rectangular shape and beige-colored plastic housing, people sometimes called it a “breadbox.”
Most of us thought it was high-tech looking, with its 66 dark brown plastic capped typing keys, and yes, it seemed somewhat magical, being the Commodore 64 didn’t require the computer desktop case.
The Commodore 64 was displayed during Chicago’s 1982 CES (Consumer Electronics Show).
Back then, I didn’t own a Commodore 64; I had a Sinclair ZX81 computer at home and used an IBM 5150 personal computer at work.
However, I had played some games on the Commodore 64 and was tempted to buy one. It was priced at $595 in 1982, which equals $1,712 today.
It was nicknamed “C64” because it contained 64KB (kilobytes) of Random Access Memory (RAM).
Those who owned a C64 may remember playing games such as Visible Solar System, Radar Rat Race, Pitt Stop II, Ace of Aces, and Jupiter Landing.
The Commodore 64 was primarily a gaming machine. However, it also had a collection of educational and office productivity applications, including word processing and an electronic spreadsheet.
Its operating system was Commodore’s proprietary BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) version 2.0.
Inside the C64 was a MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Technology, Inc. integrated circuit containing an 8-bit 6510 central processing unit running at a clock speed of around 1.0 MHz.
MOS Technology, Inc. was headquartered in Audubon, Pennsylvania, and discontinued its operations in 2001.
The Commodore 64 was in direct competition with the Apple II, Atari 800, Radio Shack TRS-80, and IBM PC.
Around the mid-1980s, the C64 became the best-selling home computer.
I read an estimated 22 million Commodore 64 computers sold between 1982 and 1994.
The C64 included two game controller ports, TV video and audio output connectors, a cartridge memory expansion slot, and a serial connector for a printer or external disk drive.
In addition, using an edge-connector interface with the Commodore 64’s Datassette Recorder (cassette tape unit), the user could store computer programs and data.
Many were drawn to the C64 because of the games, but they soon discovered it could do more than just gaming.
The C64 user could connect the C64 to a telephone line using Commodore’s VICMODEM cartridge, dial into a computer Bulletin Board Service (BBS), and communicate with others online.
A Commodore 64 user could also use a modem to call the online CompuServe network. Their 1982 advertisement noted using the C64 “to get news updates, stock quotes, electronic mail, or computer shopping.”
Folks also used the C64 to learn computer programming.
The storage medium primarily used with the Commodore 64 was a 5¼-inch floppy disk inserted into a peripheral disk unit. The C64 contained no internal hard drive.
After 40 years, the Commodore 64 remains popular with computer hobbyists and even made a resurgence in 2011, when a completely new Commodore 64 was manufactured.
The 2011 Commodore 64x was factory-made using its original keyboard model appearance on the outside, with modern technology packaged on the inside.
Instead of the original 64 kilobytes of RAM, the new C64x had 2GB of DDR3 (double-data-rate 3) RAM and a 1.8 GHz dual-core Atom 525 central computing processor.
The Commodore 64x computer came equipped with a 250GB (gigabyte) built-in hard drive, which is not bad for 2011.
I don’t know of any other classic computer from the 1980s or the 90s having been modernly remanufactured.
You can open a PDF file containing a color brochure advertisement of the original Commodore 64 computer from 1982 at https://bit.ly/3hlJ1q9.
To see the Apple US Patent Office filing “Computer in an Input Device,” check out https://bit.ly/3BZWKMK.
Who knows? Apple’s future computer in a keyboard may end up working like magic.
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| Commodore 64 home computer advertisement photo from 1982 |