A (more than) Classic Computer Anniversary

For many of us, 1985 marked the beginning of one of the most exciting silicon periods. 40 years ago, two of the most popular home and personal computers came onto the market and thrilled almost 10 million buyers worldwide with numerous 68000 components and successor systems.

From the outset, the Atari ST won the favour of 8-bit converts and professional early birds, but the Amiga was able to cast the future of multimedia and creative computing in an intoxicating mould. As powerful 16/32-bit home systems, both ignited the masses and presented themselves as a counterpart to Apple's expensive Macintosh offer, especially in Europe. Groups, clubs and scenes emerged that shaped an entire generation of users, application programmers and gamers.

What choice? The 520STF was built with the market in mind and already sold in five-digit numbers, while the complex design of the Amiga 1000 prevented affordable mass production.

Motorola's 1979 chip revolution enabled comparatively inexpensive 16/32-bit architecture in both systems, which caused a huge technological leap in the home computer room of 1985. Semi-professional applications, word processing, spreadsheets, CAD and music and video production were within reach and technology evolved into a knowledge medium.

 

It wasn't just the 16-bit computers that were decisive for this leap year in computer history. At the same time, Nintendo released their Entertainment System (NES) in the USA and changed the gaming industry forever. The children were thrilled by the excitedly hopping plumber Mario, who was able to power his way through the levels single-handedly; but artificial intelligence and robot technology also became a hot topic in 1985.

 

The film Rocky IV oversized the home vision called Omnibot 2000, a toy robot that was already being sold in department stores and could walk, talk and pick up objects. The object-oriented programming language C++ conquered the world in 1985 and Aldus revolutionised the way layouts are designed with PageMaker. Digitalisation had begun.

The MIT Media Lab in Boston was founded in 1985 to keep pace with the rapid changes of the digital revolution. Michael Dell finished school in the same year and went on to become an industry standard with his company PC's Limited Dell Computers. The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) eventually linked five supercomputer centres, paving the way for the TCP/IP protocol and enabling the creation of the internet.

With an investment of $1,000, Michael Dell founded PC's Limited in 1984 at the age of 19.

 

IMPETUS: A presentation by MIT at Ars Electronica 2009.

 

40 years later, we want to pay homage to these developments with a stronger presence in national and international markets. At the same time, we are working on several publications and the first book exclusively for the Atari ST that comprehensively portrays this revolutionary all-purpose computer system for anyone, called 68000: POWER WITHOUT THE PRICE. 

In 2025, we will take a closer look at the beginnings of Commodore computers and C64 gaming with ?REDO FROM START.

As the old chip aroma of this golden computer age still wafts through our retro rooms, markets, fairs and halls…

The 2025 exhibitions: At these market places, fairs and festivals you can possibly meet Microzeit.