strange and interesting uses for retro consoles and computers

There is almost no place for competition left on the modern retro scene. Once irreconcilable enemies, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 became almost eight-bit brothers. Super Nintendo fans are not averse to writing something like that for the Sega Mega Drive. The world is changing rapidly, and it seems that the technologies of the past remain of interest only to a small circle of enthusiasts.

Passion for retro technology is a great way to broaden your horizons and go beyond traditional programming tools. Learn, for example, assembly language and code optimization techniques.

Under the cut, we have collected some notable cases of “use” of retro computers and consoles in our days. On the one hand, these are attempts to “pull an owl on the globe” and make retro equipment perform quite modern tasks. On the other hand, it is a way to take a fresh look at the capabilities of classical systems and try to apply them today.

Commodore 64: communication with the ISS, mining, music and settlements for small businesses

Commodore 64 can rightfully be considered the best 8-bit computer: excellent graphics, powerful audio chip, MOS 6502 processor (just like in the T-800 terminator). What more could you want?

For example, why not launch a C64 into outer space? Retro enthusiast Perry Simpson (author of the Retro Recipes channel) was able to send a message to the ISS using a Commodore 64 and even get a response.

With the help of an amateur radio station, a modem, some additional equipment and software, Simpson managed to connect to the ISS, transmit to it a pre-prepared message Sent from a Commodore 64! and catch the relay of your own message from the ISS to Earth. Technically, if at that moment at least one astronaut was watching the display showing incoming messages, he could read a short “letter” transmitted from Earth using a retro computer.

If you are interested in the details of the experiment, we recommend that you watch the video below. It explains in detail how the message was transmitted. Perhaps some of the readers will want to repeat this experience.

But let’s move on from space technology to something more mundane. On the wave of mining popularity GitHub user ytmytm (real name Maciej Witkowiak) wrote miner for Bitcoin mining. The practical benefit of using C64 is incredibly doubtful. The miner project is primarily interesting as an example of non-standard modern software for a retro computer. According to the author, the performance of the miner is about 0.3 hashes/s. For comparison, on the GTX 2080 video card, performance is already expressed in tens of mega hashes – so torturing a collectible computer for commercial purposes is completely pointless.

Another unusual use case for the Commodore 64 is as a cash register. Many people know that in the USA there are no special requirements for cash desks: the main thing is that it can function properly. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find a device manufactured at the dawn of the 20th century at some off-the-shelf gas station.

In some places, real Commodore 64s are still used for this purpose. We were unable to find photos or videos in which the computer would be captured in this role. However, according to the testimony of historians of the computer industry, they often came across Commodore 64, mostly early revisions, with characteristic stickers on the buttons and traces of long daily work.

And finally, one of the funniest rethinking of the C64: the Swedish Bayan-Commodore, famous in narrow circles.

Swedish engineer and musician Linus Okkeson has designed a new musical instrument in the form of an accordion from a pair of Commodore 64s.

To make the bellows (the corrugated spacer in the middle of the tool) he had to literally gut a bunch of computer floppy disks. According to the inventor, each fold took up to 3 floppy disks. They had to be cut in two directions, and then glued together in a tricky way.

According to the inventor, this “tool” is unlikely to be seriously used by him for its intended purpose. The Commodordion was too heavy and clumsy. After half an hour of playing on it, the musician’s left shoulder literally falls off.

Be that as it may, the experiment turned out to be very bold and unexpected. C64 once again shows itself in all its glory.

Atari ST: powerful midi processor for musicians

Eight-bit Atari computers, despite their great popularity, could not boast of either wide features or even high-quality assembly – this is especially true for the “younger” models. Anyone who has ever held a model like the 65XE in their hands will surely remember its characteristic crunch and unpleasant sensations from the keyboard. However, even these PCs have an extensive fan base.

The Atari ST computer is something completely different. After a string of setbacks that plagued Atari in the 8-bit space, Jack Tramiel (CEO of Atari Corporation and founder of Commodore) needed a breakthrough. Active competition for a place in the sun with the notorious Amiga, the new brainchild of Commodore, from which Tramiel was once fired by a collegial decision of the board of directors, added fuel to the fire.

To this day, almost 40 years after its release, the Atari ST is remembered as the premier music computer of the 1980s. Moreover, some sound producers still use it on a daily basis to create music tracks.

One of the distinguishing features of the Atari ST is the separate MIDI ports (Out and In), into which you could connect, for example, your own musical keyboard. The same Amiga was deprived of these ports from the factory (however, MIDI interfaces for it were actively produced and sold separately), so tracker music flourished on it at one time.

This video demonstrates the capabilities of the computer:

Why the Atari ST design team decided to implement MIDI, a then relatively new protocol developed for communication between electronic musical instruments, into the computer remains a matter of great controversy. Even those who worked at Atari at the time do not seem to know who made this decision and why. And if you remember Jack’s famous craving for micromanagement and cost reduction at all stages of production, the appearance of MIDI in the Atari ST becomes especially mysterious.

“To be honest, I have no idea who prompted the company to put a MIDI chip there,” admits Darryl Still, who joined the company in 1988 and eventually rose through the ranks to become head of marketing in Europe. “I never met any musician or sound chip expert at Atari. Neither in the US, nor in Europe, no one specifically dealt with sound. Perhaps the chip was installed in a computer in order to reach the widest possible audience of potential users, but I’m not completely sure about this.

Until now, on eBay and even Avito, you can find “serious” announcements about the sale of the Atari ST for fabulous money – just because it is “still a relevant computer for musicians.”

GameBoy: Pocket DJ

Little Sound Dj (also known as LSDj) was created by Johan Kotlinski in 2000 and has been constantly updated and expanded since then. This is probably one of the more popular chiptune tools at the moment (although the SID or AY-3-8910 masters can certainly argue here). However, a portable game console is much more convenient for real-time public speaking than the same ZX Spectrum or C64.

Official LSDj cartridges have been out of production for a long time, so currently the most affordable means is to buy an empty cartridge for the Game Boy and flash the ROM for it yourself.

Of course, on the Internet you can find ready-made flashed cartridges, but what is the interest then? In addition, in the end you will have to pay much more than a homemade product would cost. Information about all this can be found on the website. LittleSoundDj.

If you have a GameBoy flash cartridge, you can download the latest application ROM and try running LittleSoundDj on a real console.

PS1 as a high-end CD player

The first generation PS1 (SCPH-1000, SCPH-1001, SCPH-1002) was capable of delivering incredibly high quality and rich sound. Only expensive hi-end systems could compete with it. It differed from other “simplified” models by the presence of separate tulip connectors on the back of the case and the high-quality Ashahi Kasei Microsystems AK4309AVM DAC, which somehow ended up in an ordinary game console.

The most surprising thing is that until the mid-2000s, few people paid attention to this feature of the PS1. Probably, it simply never occurred to anyone to connect it to high-quality expensive acoustics. It’s funny – at the time of its ‘audiophile’ status, the PS1 could be found on the secondary market for as little as $30-$50 – and that’s despite some people comparing the sound of a stock PS1 to £35,000 hardware!

And what interesting options for using retro technology do you know? Chur – do not write about necrotic Win98 computers as radio station servers.