Retro Computing Archives

Super Mario Bros Commodore 64 version

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing November 1, 2018January 13, 2025

For years in the 1980s, there were rumors of a Super Mario Bros Commodore 64 port. Those rumors have persisted to the present day. Not one but two versions of the Nintendo franchise title do indeed exist on the C-64, but both are bootleg in every possible sense of the word.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Commodore 64 motherboard revisions

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing October 19, 2018August 31, 2024

Commodore made the C-64 for about 11 years, so it’s probably no surprise they went through several Commodore 64 motherboard revisions during that time. Collectors enjoy the challenge of trying to get a machine with each type and revision of board, and knowing the characteristics of each board can help someone puzzle out the history of a machine, such as whether it had been repaired in the past.

Commodore made a lot of changes to the 64’s outward appearance over the years, but they made a lot of changes internally as well. This helped them drive the price down from $595 to $149 over the course of about three years.

Dave Farquhar

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Abit BP6: In memoriam

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing October 11, 2018December 30, 2024

Somewhere around here I still have my old Abit BP6 motherboard. Abit is a long-dead manufacturer of enthusiast motherboards, and the BP6 was one of its landmark achievements. It was the first cheap dual-CPU board.

The Abit BP6 is a bit obscure today, but hardware enthusiast sites like Tom’s Hardware Guide were pretty excited about it in 1999.

Dave Farquhar

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CPM operating system

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing October 1, 2018June 1, 2026

The CPM operating system (or CP/M operating system) was the first popular operating system for personal computers. Its rise and fall has been fairly well documented, if not well understood, and its author, Gary Kildall, is a tragic hero in the early history of computers.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 1541 disk drive: Slow. Unreliable. Cheap enough.

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 24, 2018June 16, 2026

The Commodore 1541 disk drive was the most common Commodore 64 floppy drive. Commodore fans from the 1980s loved to hate it. It was the first disk drive to retail for under $300, a price low enough to gain mainstream acceptance. But it was slow and loud and unreliable.

We put up with it anyway. A home computer was a luxury in those days and most of us had some idea how lucky we were to live through that time and experience it firsthand.

Dave Farquhar

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PIF file type meaning

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, security September 17, 2018September 15, 2018

When it comes to file types you should never trust, PIF belongs high on the list. PIF used to be an important file type, but it’s largely obsolete today. But if you’re curious, here’s the PIF file type meaning.

Get ready for a trip down computing history lane. But this once-important file format is risky today. In all honesty, it’s largely outlived its usefulness in most instances.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 1581 drive

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 5, 2018January 7, 2026

The Commodore 1581 drive was the C64 3.5 floppy released in 1987 to extend the usable life of its 8-bit line of computers. It was an 800K floppy disk drive using the 15then-new 3.5-inch disk format. It stored almost as much data as five 5.25-inch disks formatted by a Commodore 1541, and was the closest thing to affordable mass storage available for the C-64 at the time.

Dave Farquhar

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Apple IIgs vs Macintosh

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 31, 2018January 19, 2026

The Apple IIgs was a 16-bit Apple II with a Mac-like user interface. Why did Apple make something like that? Let’s take a look at the Apple IIgs vs Macintosh to understand what the differences were, and what Apple was thinking when they did it.

Dave Farquhar

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What does IBM compatible mean?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 16, 2018October 15, 2019

When you hear someone over the age of 50 talk about computers, or read old computer magazines from the 1980s, you may hear or see the phrase IBM compatible, or less commonly, PC compatible. What does IBM compatible mean? What does PC compatible mean? I’ll explain.

These phrases sound a bit odd today. After all, IBM made its last personal computer in 2003. And isn’t every PC just a PC? It wasn’t always. And that’s why we used to make a distinction.

Dave Farquhar

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Leading Edge computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 10, 2018May 1, 2025

Leading Edge is a little-remembered 1980s brand of computers. Based out of Canton, Mass., it was a pioneer of manufacturing low-cost PCs in the Far East and importing them for sale in the United States. Leading Edge computers were tremendously successful in the mid/late 1980s because they undercut companies like Commodore in price.

Dave Farquhar

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