I’m not getting any younger, in fact I’m getting older by the day. This fact along with the fact that this year is the 30th anniversary of the Commodore C-128 and the original Commodore Amiga prompted me to attend this year’s CommVEx in Las Vegas lest I not be around for the next significant anniversary. For those that don’t know me, I designed the C-128 at the ripe old age of 25 back in 1984-85, though I would ask that you not hold that against me as it was a very long time ago.

Also this year Dr. Leonard Tramiel, son of Commodore’s founder Jack Tramiel, was able to swing by which was an unprecedented and unforgettable event.

Having been flown and accommodated as a speaker for the occasion by the Fresno Commodore Users Group, my mind was mostly on trying to overcome the jetlag, thinking about what I was going to speak about, and trying to catch a nap while the live band played across the street until 2:00 AM (5:00 AM my time)

At some point on the second day I remembered my camera and completely disregarding the stabilization and white balance settings I set off to yak it up with some of the attendees.

I must warn you unless you’re an old Commodore fan or a lover of 8 bit stuff, you might want to skip around. Here’s a chart of highlights with time codes:

0:30 Crushed by CBM

1:30 C128D Door Prize

2:20 Yet anothe C128, w/ drive emulator

3:38 C128 Easter Egg

5:00 Commodore middle manager resurected as a stuffed talking dog

8:30 Commodore SX 64 transportable C-64

10:00 Jackbusters

11:45 Drive and Peripheral emulators for CBM

13:57 Preserving old games/software

15:00 Tables full of CBM Equipment

17:30 Old C64, C-64C with new kickstarter case

I have to say that I am surprised that anyone remembers these old computers and that they take the time to use and even continue to develop code for them. I am also surprised that these old dinosaurs still work, something I would not have thought likely back in the mid 1980’s.