For the first time in at least 7 years, I unpacked my Commodore 64 (from 1982!), hooked up all the components, and turned it on. It still works. I even have the original box (the title of this entry is the slogan on the box). My motivation for hauling it out of the basement came from these two web sites: Contiki and RR-Net. The former is an OS that’s been ported to the C64 that offers a TCP/IP stack, web browser, web server, telnet client, etc. The latter is a network card for the C64.

Screen capture of the Commodore 64 game Archon

View at Picasa

 

I’m planning to get both so I can 1. get 10 years worth of data off my C64 before it finally does die, and onto my PC (I used my C64 from my pre-teens all the way through college, so I accumulated a lot of 5.25″ disks!), and 2. at least for a while, run a web server on it. It’s analogous to turning a toaster into a race car. Browsing the Contiki site, I found that someone actually built a streaming audio server on a C64. That’s just nuts. And 3. the C64 was quite a game machine in its day. Tonight Kai and I played Summer Olympics, Skyfox, and Archon. Archon is still a good game! It’s essentially the same as chess, but when you move a piece onto a square occupied by your opponent, the screen turns into a battlefield and you have to fight it out to see who gets to claim the square. There are power differentials between the different types of pieces , but it’s conceivable that a rook could beat a knight (if you have a lot of skill and luck). Kai enjoyed it as much as I did, which I guess means I’m still a little boy.