42 years on its shoulders, and it still gives something to talk about. Of course, I'm referring to the Commodore 64, the "first computer" for an entire generation of users and players who, after learning its virtues and flexibility, never turned back. That brings us to the city of Brownsburg, in the state of Indiana. There, a bakery called Hilligoss Bakery went viral at lightning speed thanks to its two cash registers, each equipped with a Commodore 64. No clouds, no firmware updates, and an uptime that can probably be measured in decades.
Still, I remember it perfectly: In October 2016, a mechanical workshop in Gdansk (Poland) used a Commodore 64C to align transmission shafts. Installed in 1990, the system became an example of robustness and stability. We don't know exactly what happened to the workshop, but we recently confirmed that it is not the only place defying the passage of time with Commodore 64 computers in essential roles. This time we must travel to Brownsburg, a city in Indiana that barely exceeds 20,000 inhabitants. There exists a bakery, Hilligoss Bakery, and in its cash registers…
Two Commodore 64s Shine in an Indiana Bakery
… two "breadbin" models, more than appropriate. The bakery has a good reputation locally, and almost all online comments repeatedly highlight the quality of its donuts, but the first visual record of the computers we found dates back to November 2021 (the bakery was founded in February 1974).
Some of our readers may have doubts about the logic of using 1982 technology for money operations, but there are three important points to highlight: The first is that it does not depend on remote services or proprietary clouds. The second is that a Commodore 64 has enough firepower to add, subtract, calculate percentages, apply special rates, and open a drawer. And the third is that due to its wide popularity (sustained by an inexhaustible community of enthusiasts), these systems have more support than ever, with all kinds of spare parts, equivalent parts, and even replicas of their PCB.
Sources: Tom's Hardware, Tony Lyon on X/Twitter
