The Commodore 64 home computer celebrated its 25th birthday at the Computer History Museum with several luminaries of the 8-bit computing era present. We take a peek at this popular pesky piece of silicon and plastic and try to get an idea of why the Commodore 64 was the best selling personal computer in history at 30 million units moved. GETV’s Roving Retro Reporter Violet Blue puts the question to Jack Tramiel, founder and head of Commodore, as well as his son Leonard Tramiel. Violet gets a bit of insight from a couple of the C64’s competitors, Steve Wozniak, creator of the first Apple computer, and Bill Lowe, known as the father of the IBM PC.

Episode links: Commodore 64, Jack Tramiel, Leonard Tramiel, Steve Wozniak, William Lowe, The Commodore Billboard, C64 sounds [YouTube:Lavoraste], C64 games [YouTube:tr0d], C64 Turns 25 [news.com], Computer History Museum, Violet Blue

Where do old computers go to die? We’re not sure, but we do know where the digital old folks home is. We take a trip down the valley to Mountain View for the 2007 Vintage Computer Festival. We happily discover 8-bit wonders living life as if it were 1980 all over again. We find Commodore PETs and SuperPETs, Atari 400 & 800s, Tandy TRS-80s, Sols, Altairs, Data Generals, HPs and even a LINC from 1962.

Episode links: Vintage Computer Festival, Commodore PET, TRS-80, David Welsh: Priming the Pump, Computer History Museum, Phlogiston