Bringing a Commodore 64 Back To Life

We were recently contacted by a gentleman who lives not too far from us. He'd seen our Retro Roadshow website and was curious if we'd be interested in purchasing his old Commodore 64c and various accessories, software, books and more. We didn't have much detail to go on, but his asking price was reasonable and he seemed friendly enough, so we arranged to meet, and before long, we were loading boxes and containers into my car. Here's everything we received in this haul!

The sheer quantity of stuff was overwhelming at first...

Lots of misc. cables and accessories to go through!

Two large boxes packed with software on 5.25" floppies

An Amdek Color-I monitor! These are awesome

This Amdek Color-1 monitor is really nostalgic for me - it's the same display I had in my childhood bedroom, and I've been on the lookout for one ever since. 30+ years later

Other than being quite filthy and missing its 'trap door,' the display looks to be in good shape

Just seeing the Amdek Color-I nameplate again gave me a rush of happy memories of staying up too late playing "California Games"

Gotta love chunky knobs

This monitor was absolutely covered in thick, greasy dust and grime

The back was somewhat cleaner...

...but the top and sides were pretty darn dirty.

Lots o dirt

A C64 Mouse!

The first interesting item to come out of the "misc stuff" box is this M-3 Mouse by Contriver. This appears to be a fairly early mechanical mouse, and it can operate in various modes to make it compatible with software which wasn't designed with mice in mind

I am crazy about this packaging and art style! I will likely keep this box on display, it's just too cool

IEEE Flash! 64

Skyles Electric Works was a company that produced a large number of clever and innovative computer accessories, not far from where I live today. This appears to be some kind of breakout box for using floppy drives with the C64 - I'll have to do more research to learn more about it!

Printer Interface

This looks to be an interface box for using graphics-capable printers (and maybe plotters?) with the C64

Some sort of switcher for connecting multiple serial devices to the C64

Two chonky C64 power supplies!

These are historically interesting, but unfortunately, C64 power supplies tend to age very poorly. As their internals degrade, they have a bad habit of killing the computer they’re attached to For that reason, our C64 will be paired with a modern safe power supply.

Lots of disks in here!

Move aside, ChatGPT, Superforth 64 is here to show you how it's done

I absolutely love these "roll top" floppy boxes!

Lots more interesting-looking software in here

Another smaller case of software on floppies

A brand-new, still-sealed copy of the excellent Sargon III chess game!

The rear of the sealed Sargon III box

Another device from Skyles Electric Works

Not sure what this does, but maybe it allows for multiple devices to be connected to the single C64 cartridge slot?

C64 RAM Expansion Units

Speaking of C64 cartridges, this bundle includes two 1764 RAM Expansion Units! Each of these adds (I think) an additional 256k of RAM to the C64's stock 64k, although I'm not sure if more than one REU can be used at a time.

C64 CP/M

This is super cool: the Commodore CP/M Cartridge and software! It's mostly forgotten now, but in the early days of personal computing, CP/M was a very common operating system. Unfortunately, CP/M was designed for the Zilog Z80 CPU, which the Commodore 64 lacked... unless you plugged this cartridge in. Now C64 owners could access vast amounts of CP/M software, although I'm not sure if much of it was ever published on Commodore-compatible disks...

C64 Cartridges

More cartridges! The top one is the VICMODEM, Commodore's first dialup modem. Operating at a blistering 300 baud, it was the first modem to retail for under $100, and it allowed access to a variety of early information services, bulletin board services ("BBS's"), and more. Below the VICMODEM are (clockwise from top-left):

- HES MON 64, a "machine language monitor" which allows C64 programmers to view and manipulate low-level software code

- HES WRITER 64, an early word processing application

- PARTNER 64, a multi-use cartridge containing a variety of handy apps and tools, including a memo pad, address book, calculator, screen-printer, and more

- 64 FORTH, an implementation of the FORTH programming language

Now this is very cool: a Phoenix CPS-10 power supply, which provides a more reliable flow of juice to the C64, along with multiple surge-protected outlets on the back. Very handy!

Here's a C64 cassette tape drive, for loading or storing apps onto cassette tapes

A brand new, still-sealed box of floppies

Books

Now we're getting into the books and manuals. Here are some instructions for a database app and a word processor. Love this art style!

User Guides

Here's a C64 user's guide, along with a user's guide for QuantumLink, an early dialup information service for Commodore computers. You may not know the "QuantumLink" name, but you've probably heard of it after it was rebranded as "America Online," or AOL

The manual for the CP/M cartridge seen above, along with a disk copying and backup app

An early owner's guide for Commodore PET computers

The manual for a Commodore floppy drive

The instructions to go with the 64 FORTH cartridge seen above, and a great book of information about the C64

More product manuals

Manuals

I literally had no idea that Microsoft published Commodore 64 software, and that they published through Epyx - a company I know for their games. Crazy! Also nice too have the RAM Expansion Unit manual

A nice programmer's reference guide

More product manuals

Looks like a user's guide for the Microsoft Multiplan software seen above

Speaking of Microsoft Multiplan, here's a LARGE binder full of printed documentation

Multiplan was Microsoft's attempt to compete with VisiCalc, the original "killer app" that more-or-less invented (or at least popularized) the digital spreadsheet concept. Multiplan was popular but was ultimately replaced by Microsoft Excel

Something tells me that this C64 troubleshooting guide is going to come in handy...

Everything you ever wanted to know about programing your C64 in the FORTH language

All the books together!

Along with the many floppy disks and cartridges, this bundle also came with a bunch of software on cassette tapes!

This is interesting: I'm guessing it's some kind of authentication / anti-piracy dongle for unlocking the "Consultant" software?

A Commodore 1541 floppy drive. Nice!

MSD Super Disk Drive

It's a Super Disk Drive! I remember reading about these in magazines when I was a kid. If I remember correctly, these drives are much faster than Commodore's own drives, along with being able to store more data on each disk. Amazing to see one after all these decades!

C64

Finally, the computer itself: the Commodore 64c, the redesigned model that was sold from 1986 through early 1990's

An owners manual and various pack-in disks

Love those Commodore disk sleeves!

The machine itself, safely nestled in its original packing material

And here she is, the star of the show!

The C64 connects to the Internet

The system and monitor both work beautifully after getting cleaned up and some minor electrical repairs. Even better, the C64c is able to connect to the internet via a “WiFi Modem” connected to its expansion port - something we’ll showcase at a future Retro Roadshow event!