Monday, August 29, 2011
Champions of Commodore
Sean Robinson still remembers the argument he used to convince his parents to buy him a Commodore 64 computer in 1983.
Events
Commodore Computer Club meeting, 6 p.m. to midnight Sept. 2, Pied Piper Pizza, 12300 N.E. Fourth Plain Road. Meets monthly. Free. http://www.CommodoreComputerClub.com.
Portland Retro Gaming Expo, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 24, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 25, Portland Doubletree Hotel, 1000 N.E. Multnomah St., Portland. Tickets range from $10 to $45, http://www.RetroGamingExpo.com.
Computers are great for homework, he told them, and adults can use programs to manage their finances.
Everybody wins, right?
“That’s what all us kids told our parents back then,” Robinson said with a mischievous grin. “We’d tell them it was good for school, but what we really wanted them for was games.”
The 39-year-old founder of Vancouver’s Commodore Computer Club still has that machine, which he scored as a Christmas present when he was 11.
It looks a little different today, though.
Robinson souped up his old machine — with a special switch for easy restarting and a pimped-out cartridge that holds every game ever made for the system.
And those are just a couple ways he’s merged new technology with old computers to get what he wants, he said.
“I like to hack and tweak on stuff, make it do what it was never intended to do,” he said.
That handiness is common among members of the retro computing club. They tinker and rebuild electronic gadgets of all sorts after finding them at yard sales, Goodwill or even in the garbage.
And they put them together in ways that their original makers probably never imagined.
Hook an Atari 2600 to a giant flat-screen TV by building your own cable? Robinson’s done that.
Rebuild microchips and repair connections to bring a computer back to life after it’s lain dormant for 20 years? Check.
Hollow out an original Nintendo controller to turn it into a slick retro iPod case? You bet.
“Most of the time when we find stuff it doesn’t work, so we work together and get it fixed up,” Robinson said. “If people bring old computer stuff to our meetings, we can help them get it working, too.”
And if you like old games, members have a plethora to choose from. They usually set up several machines at their meetings and share their toys.
Events
Commodore Computer Club meeting, 6 p.m. to midnight Sept. 2, Pied Piper Pizza, 12300 N.E. Fourth Plain Road. Meets monthly. Free. http://www.CommodoreComputerClub.com.
Portland Retro Gaming Expo, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 24, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 25, Portland Doubletree Hotel, 1000 N.E. Multnomah St., Portland. Tickets range from $10 to $45, http://www.RetroGamingExpo.com
Full article: http://www.columbian … -clubs-founder-find/