Hamburg (dpa) – One upon a time there was a computer that looked like a bread-bin, a so-called “home computer” from a firm called Commodore. It was known as the C64.
Lovingly dubbed the “bread-bin” because of its shape, the cost of one was rung up at the cash register almost 22 million times worldwide between its introduction in 1983 and its phase-out 10 years later.It helped games like “Pacman” and “Frogger” become the main topic of conversation at school breaks, and it remains the most-purchased home computer of all time.Now the C64 is back and enjoying a revival – at least a virtual one: “The Internet is exploding. There are innumerable private sites that focus on the C64 and that offer downloads of C64 emulators,” says Frank Surholt, acting editor of the German computer magazine Computer Bild Spiele.Emulators are programs that attempt to mimic the hardware of another device, such as the C64. The function of each individual chip is replaced by a small program, so that applications believe they are working with the C64’s sound card, CPU, and base memory chips.“The PC pretends that it’s a C64,” explains Sven Doering, owner of the private fan site C64 Forever, at www.c64-forever.de/index_e.php3. His site also offers emulators for download.Every day more than 1,000 visitors surf through Doering’s little Web universe. A partner site, The C64 Web Resource, at http://www.c64games.de/startseite.asp?LG=E, broke down shortly after a television report about classic games. Doering suspects the C64 resurgence springs from users reminiscing about the old days.“Many people let themselves get carried away by the nostalgia and enjoy playing a round like in the old days,” says Doering.This sentiment is well represented in the guest book of the C64 Forever site. “Those were the days, back when we’d sit down in front of it, play Winter Games, and run a joystick into the ground every week,” gushes one entry.By today’s standards, the technology behind the C64 is downright elementary. Today’s average computer comes with 128,000 kilobytes (KB) of main memory and a clock speed of around 933 megahertz (MHz).By comparison, the “bread box” squeezed in only 64 KB of memory and ran at a clock speed of just 0.985 MHz.With only 320 by 200 pixels and 4 colours available for graphics – versus the 1024 by 768 pixels and 16 million colours of today’s monitors – the screen of the C64 seems almost colourless.Yet in spite of this Spartan setup, C64 fans profess amazement at how much the C64 can do with games.“Programming, word processing, calculations, sending faxes, graphics – it’s tough to find something that the Commodore can’t do that a PC can,” explains Doering. The difference, he claims, is mostly a matter of how much time each machine needs.It has taken up to now for the C64 revival to kick in, Doering says, because PCs first had to make significant strides in processor speed before they could effectively masquerade themselves as C64s.“The first C64 emulators on 486-based processors were not very convincing,” he says. Today emulators such as “Vice” and “CCS64” run almost perfectly. Only the peripherals, such as joysticks, are still buggy.Before giving in to C64 nostalgia, users should check to make sure that the games they’d like to play may be copied.While emulators in and of themselves are legal, making copies of the operating system and the appropriate games is illegal if the copier doesn’t own the originals. But a number of firms have granted permission for their games to be copied without fee, claims Doering.C64 fan Thomas Richter of Hamburg, Germany, has no legal problems when it comes to emulators.The 26-year-old already owns five genuine “bread boxes”. Yet the computer games editor finds that emulators can’t reproduce 100 per cent of the feeling of playing games in the eighties.C64s are no longer in stores because Commodore didn’t keep up with developments in the PC business and went bankrupt in 1994. Most of the sales action for C64s is found in online swaps and auctions.“I bought a C64 at auction for about 25 dollars,” beams Richter. He got a bargain, since sellers often demand outrageous prices for the machines.Richter isn’t just a fan of cult games like “Manic Mansion,” but also likes the machine’s tinny sound capabilities. And he’s not alone. There have long been bands who use the “SID sound cards” to produce music.To the untrained ear, it can sound outlandish, like the works of German band Kraftwerk. The retro-style has been dubbed micromusic and is put to use by bands such as Mikron64, Console, and Welle: Erdball, who program their tunes into these museum pieces of computers.“Whenever we mention the Commodore 64 during one of our concerts, the applause is overwhelming,” confirms Malte Mundt of Welle: Erdball. The SID’s special shading of tone “just can’t be had with expensive synthesizers.”The Web site Micromusic is a refuge for fans of micromusic on the Net. Located at www.micromusic.net, registered members of Micromusic can publish self-composed works or download songs from others on the site.“At the end of 1999, we had only 100 registered users. Today we’re already up to 2,600,” boasts Gino Esposto of the Micromusic site. Under the motto “low tech music for high tech people”, the site is aimed at the core audience for micromusic: “Our users are between 15 and 35 years old, and many work in Web design or are at least interested in the Internet,” says the 28-year-old.“Micromusic is often viewed as the soundtrack of the New Economy,” says Jens Tiedemann, project manager of an Internet firm in Hamburg, Germany. While the 28-year-old professes to love the music for its minimalism, he admits that above all he simply finds it funny to hear sounds coming out of the old breadbox while he’s at work.Fridays are an especially good day to harmonize the music of his elderly computer with the coming weekend.“At parties it’s not uncommon that we’ll put together the C64 and play,” Tiedmann says. “All this stuff reminds us of the charm of our childhood – nothing more, but also nothing less.”
