Let planned obsolescence throw a tantrum if it wants. The phrase “it’s not obsolete if I keep using it” applies perfectly to this formidable case that shows us a classic like the Commodore 64 computer, working without a hitch in a workshop in Poland. According to available information, the computer has been in its place for more than 25 years, and even survived a small flood. A veteran of a thousand battles, which without a doubt brings a smile to our faces.
When someone says that today's computers “they don’t make them like they used to”, they not only experience a moment of nostalgia, but they also speak the truth. On one hand, we must recognize that the informatics of yesteryear was simpler, and on the other, the designs had much wider margins for error or redundancies than what we see now. Of course, it all comes down to a matter of costs. Engineers could make a smartphone or a computer almost indestructible, but who would be willing to pay the right price? In the 1980s, buying a computer was not a basic impulse, and you had to think it over very carefully. The Commodore 64 debuted on the market with 595 dollars on its tag, almost 1,500 dollars adjusted for inflation in 2016. Whoever decided to get one needed to recover their investment by squeezing the hardware to the max, and an extraordinary example of this is this Commodore 64 that continues to align drive shafts after a quarter of a century.
The folks at Commodore USA published the image last September 26, but today we have more data thanks to the Retrokomp / Loaderror profile on Facebook. Apparently, one of the group's members, the photographer Bartek Gatz, encountered this computer for the first time during the month of January, in a workshop in the city of Gdansk. The computer has survived a small “flood”, courtesy of a window that let in more water than recommended, the “gifts” of various birds, and the typical grease you can find in such an environment. The system is completely DIY: The workshop owner, the engineer Jerzy Zygmunt, explains that it was installed in 1990, and that the software was in charge of another engineer, Andrzeja Piechoty. If you want to see it in action, you can access this portal (there are some issues with the embed, so I'll leave the link).
The trained eye will probably recognize that it's the Commodore 64C model, an optimized and more economical version of the original model that was launched (if memory serves me right) in 1987. Two years later the Berlin Wall fell (although its demolition began in 1990), as did Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, and that must have allowed this humble but robust computer to find its place in a Gdansk workshop, calibrating shafts. No viruses. No spontaneous updates. It works.
