Commodore Free 19/Commodore_Free_Issue_19_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv rb 1

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Tnterview with Robert Bernardo
Commodore enthusiast and C= promoter

Part 1 of 4

COMMODORE FREE - Please introduce
yourself to our readers.

ROBERT BERNARDO - Hello to all my
Commodore and Amiga friends!  I'm
Robert Bernardo, long-time C=
enthusiast and president of the Fresno
Commodore User Group (FCUG).

CF - What do you do for a living?

RobertB - I'm an English teacher at a
middle school in California.
Specifically, I teach English as a
Second Language to students in grades
6-8 (ages 11-14).  I'm in my 29th year
of teaching.

CF - How did you first come in contact
with the Commodore brand?  Can you
remember your first Commodore machine,
and do you still own the machine?

RobertB - Back in 1981, I took a class
for teachers; if I remember correctly,
it was something called, -Computers in
Education?.  This was a whole new
world for teachers.  Using computers
in the public school setting was a new
and mysterious frontier, because there
were so few classroom computers in our
area.  Well, we met in an office
setting with rows of Tandy 3 computers
ready to be used.  We were taught the
basics - how to turn them on, what a
floppy disk was; how to load, run, and
save; how to use BASIC language.  We
moved slowly through the day-long
curriculum.  By the end of the day, I
received a pat-on-the-back in the form
of a certificate, and I thought that
was that.

In 1982 I started seeing magazine
advertisements for the inexpensive
Commodore 64.  At the same time, I
took another teachers' class in MS-DOS
which had me relearn the basics of
using a computer, in addition to those
MS-DOS commands.  In 1983 with more
and more advertisements for the
Commodore 64, I started feeling the
need to get one.  My best friend at
that time had the same notion.  We
scanned the magazine and newspaper ads
constantly for a good deal.  Finally
in August of 1983, Federated
Electronics, a chain store throughout
California, advertised the C64 for
$199.95 plus if you bought it, you'd
get the CBM bonus cassette pack for
free.  What a deal!

At that time, I was still a poor
teacher with no credit.  I bought it,
but it was about 2/5 of my monthly net
salary!  The computer was such a
best-seller that the store ran out of
the bonus cassette pack, and I had to
get a raincheck to pick it up later.
I was so excited; I brought the C64
home and eagerly pored through the
user's guide, keying in the sample
programs and watching what they did on
screen of the little black-and-white
TV I used.  However, I couldn't save
anything, because I had no disk drive
nor cassette drive.

It was only a month or two later that
I bought a cassette drive for it, but
not the CBM cassette drive because it
was more expensive; I bought a
knock-off drive for $30.  I bought my
data cassettes from Radio Shack in the
belief that those C-10 or C-20 blank
cassettes were superior to regular
cassettes.  I saved the few user guide
programs but had no source for more.
For what else could I use this
new-fangled wonder?  Then I bought my
first commercial program, the Quick
Brown Fox word-processing cartridge.
Its manual humorously led me through
my first steps in writing a document,
but I had no printer to use!  Then
after using it a few times, I
accidently pulled the cart out with
the computer on; I had shorted out the
cart, and it was useless.

In 1984, the computer magazines
started coming out - Home Computer,
Compute!, Computes! Gazette, etc..
Also the stores started having shelves
just for computer software, not just
one or two pieces of software but
dozens and dozens.  I bought Totl.
Text 2.6, a word processor on
cassette.  I was back into using the
C64 usefully.  My best friend bought a
disk drive and a 1525 printer, the
printer capable of printing graphics.
I had my choice - buy a 1541 disk
drive for $400 or buy a Royal
daisywheel typewriter with Centronics
interface for $400.  A letter-quality
printer... I had to have it.  Not only
was it a sophisticated typewriter, but
it would become a peripheral for my
Commodore.  O.K., printing graphics
was not a high-priority for me.  With
the additional Centronics cable that I
had to order for $20 and a type-in
program included with the typewriter,
Totl. Text 2.6 was able to use the
Royal typewriter.  Because my best
friend was deeply interested in
Commodore, too, he would key in
magazine type-in programs for me and
save them to cassette so that I could
use them.  A lot of those programs
were games and utilities, and some
were educational programs for
children.

In the summer of 1984, I took a
teachers' university class on what was
basically word-processing class with
the program, Bank Street Writer for
Apple II.  Yes, there were rows and
rows of Apple II's for teachers to
use, and though I dutifully did my
lessons on the Apple II, I always
thought of the alternative of the C64.
For our final project, we were to
write a multi-branching story for
students to read.  The other teachers
used the Apple II's, but with the
permission of my instructor, I brought
in my C64 and datasette drive and
wrote the story with the C64 and Totl.
Text.

By September, 1984, I brought my one
C64 set-up to the classroom - one of
the first teachers to have a computer
in the class.  With the typewriter/
printer and the C64, I was able to
write letter-quality papers and then
mimeograph those for students.  The
students used educational games from
the magazines, like Sea Route to India
(a simulation) and Hangman.

When the Gemco department store
declared bankruptcy in 1985, the store
had a clearance sale of everything,
including a huge selection of
Commodore items.  I bought my next
Commodore computer then, a SX-64, for
$400 plus tax.  I now had a disk
drive, and that opened up the bigger
world of Commodore programs on disk.
Students were now able to use
commercial, disk-based programs, like
Cave of the Word Wizard.

Good thing that I got the SX-64,
because the old C64 had become flaky.
I had replaced the original power
supply when my best friend had his C64
die due to a bad power supply.  That
bit of prevention wasn't enough.  The
keyboard became unresponsive.  Some
replacement 6526 CIAs and a keyboard
cleaning couldn't help it.  I had to
retire it.

Later in 1985, Commodore 128s and 1571
disk drives had dropped in price to
$200 each.  I went to the  Montgomery
Ward department store, bought the 128,
and reserved a 1571, because those
drives had sold out.  A few weeks
later when I came back to pick up the
delivered 1571, I had to show my
driver's license just to release the
1571 into my hands; those drives were
in such demand.

The 80-column display was a special
treat; what I saw on the screen was
more akin to what was printed out.  I
was on the hunt for C128 programs that
specifically catered to the machine's
abilities.  In those days, I was not
part of a user group, the nearest, the
Stockton Commodore User Group being 3
hours away, with meetings held on a
weeknight.  I had to depend on C=
magazines and retail stores to keep me
informed on what was happening with
Commodore.  I'd go to the local
bookstore to pick up the monthly
Loadstar disk magazine; I'd go to
Sears, Montgomery Ward, Software Etc.,
or Software & Such to select C64 and
C128 programs off the shelves.  I'd go
to the gigantic Commodore Business
Machines-sponsored World of Commodore
shows that were held in Los Angeles in
one year and San Francisco the next
year.  Thousands and thousands would
go to those shows!  I remember in 1986
I walked up to the CBM booth and
directly asked a representative if CBM
was going to drop support for the C128
in favor of the brand new Amiga
computer.  The rep gave me a look of
disdain and denied that the C128
support would be cancelled.  Of course,
now we know the truth.

By early 1986, I was doing class
grades with the Info magazine-rated
spreadsheet program, Vizastar 128.  In
the middle of doing my first grades
with Vizastar, the C128 system decided
to quit working!  Grades were due in a
few days!   Not knowing whether it was
the C128 or the 1571 that had gone bad
and not having time to repair the
system at the local Commodore repair
shop, I ordered a C128DCR from Lyco
Computer in Nevada.  It was over $600!

 The computer came in time, and I was
able to finish my grades.  That
computer served me well; from 1986 to
2003 I used it to calculate grades  It
was only in 2003, when the school
district told me I had to do grades on
their system, that I stopped doing
grades on the C128.

Over all those years, there would
always be a Commodore in the
classroom, first with the C64, then
the SX-64, and then finally a mix of
C64s and C128s.  During the heyday of
my putting C= computers in the class,
I had up to 4 or 5 systems on the side
tables, ready for the students to use.
By 2003, the district was pouring
Windows desktop computers into the
classroom, and the Commodores had to
be moved aside for those.  However, I
still have a C128DCR in the room.
Earlier in 2007, I brought in a PET
2001 for students to ogle; when I told
them that they were looking at a
30-year old computer, they all said,
"Ooooo!"

CF - The Fresno Commodore User Group -
http://videocam.net.au/fcug/  Tell our
readers about this group.

RobertB - Throughout the mid-1980's &
the early 1990's, though the faraway
Stockton Commodore User Group was hours
away, I tried to maintain contact with
that group.  By December 1994, the
president of that group told me that
there was a Commodore user group in
nearby Fresno.  In January 1995 I
eagerly drove over to Fresno and found
the Fresno Commodore User Group,
meeting at the downtown public library.
The members warmly greeted me, were
helpful to the Nth degree, & satisfied
my need to belong.  I immediately
became a member.  Two years later I was
elected as president of the group, and
to my chagrin, I'm still president. In
all the years that I've been with the
group, at various times I've served as
disk-of-the-month editor and as
newsletter editor.  Nine months into
my membership with FCUG, I started
writing for the club newsletter, and
I've been writing ever since that
time.

The history of this Fresno Commodore
club started back in 1981.  Our oldest
members told me that back then there
were 2 C= groups, which finally
combined forces to form FCUG.  What an
organization it was in the early days!
Meetings were held at the local adult
school which had banks and banks of
Commodore 64s to use.  Attendance at
such meetings was 150-200.  Meetings
were bi-weekly.

         CONTINUED IN PART 2