Something special for the thirtysomething set: GEOS, the 8-bit graphical user interface for the Commodore 64.



If you recall, the first Macs left the best selling computer of all time in silicon dust, but what teenager had several grand to plop down on a home computer? Berkeley Softworks came to the rescue in 1986 with this brilliant Mac-like OS for the bullet-proof (and affordable, even on a paper route income) 1MHZ C64. I do recall that the operating system took so much memory that it required a 5-1/4" scratch disk just to open applications such as geoWrite and geoDraw, but it breathed a whole new life into the trusty little beige one-piece. Toward the end of it's life cycle, Commodore bundled GEOS with every new C64 shipped, and it ranked as the thrid most popular OS in the world for a time.

If you happen to have an old C64 or 128 sitting around the house, you can download GEOS from CBM Files.

I must say, I miss Commodore very much. Programming Choose Your Own Adventure style stories in BASIC on a metal bodied PET at the Royal Oak Schools TAG program was my first real experience with the world of bits and bytes, and later lusted after the Amiga 2000. Commodore was truly the people's computer.