Pascal·e🏳‍🌈Dec 20, 2024
Martin Seeger

Don't fix what isn't broken: https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/indiana-bakery-still-using-commodore-64s-originally-released-in-1982-as-point-of-sale-terminals

In my professional opinion this is the best malware protected setup I have seen for years.

Indiana bakery still using Commodore 64s originally released in 1982 as cash registers — Hilligoss Bakery in Brownsburg sticks to the BASICs

If it ain't broke...

Tom's Hardware
Dec 19, 2024 at 12:12pmWeb
Show threadWilfried KlaebeDec 19, 2024
@masek not possible in Germany because of mandatory TSE signatures
Show threadbuheratorDec 19, 2024
@masek In 40 years my Lenovo will literally disintegrate
Show threadJ.P. WingDec 19, 2024
@masek I wonder if they're running the C64 cash register shareware I wrote back in the early 1980s. Doubtful, but it's nice to muse over these things.
Show threadgretaredDec 19, 2024
@masek when heart bleed happened I contacted the IT folks who “secured” the site I was in charge of. They told me not to worry bc the version of bsd we were using was insanely old.
Show threadMartin SeegerDec 19, 2024
@gretared Happens quite often, but nothing I would rely on
Show threadsleepyDec 19, 2024
@masek @briankrebs imo that keyboard is probably broken.. the foam breaks down. I just replaced the keyboard in mine w/ a new pcb that supports cherry switches. (even before the foam gives out the keyboard is a mushy mess ) But you see this all over, computers that are sold as part of a ‘system’ or tool that just never gets upgraded.
Show threadSapphicSelene Dec 19, 2024
@masek Now these are some people who've been keeping up with the Commodore
Show threadsigi714Dec 19, 2024
@masek But legacy assets are bad ;)
Show threadAnkeDec 19, 2024
@masek Wow, that beats the engineer offering IT services I had an internship with using DOS software with a 1989 copyright for billing and such.
Show threadChristopher Dec 19, 2024

@masek

The Commodore engineers themselves are still amazed any of them are running.

Al Charpentier who created the video chip and roms said they didn't expect any of them to run after ten years or so.

Show threadseeteegeeDec 19, 2024
@masek c64’s rather famously have components die from time to time. I wonder where they get the spare parts?
Show threadMarc LepageDec 20, 2024
@seeteegee @masek Caps will need replacing, at least, but those are standard components.
Show threadseeteegeeDec 20, 2024
@mlepage @masek I hear that entire IC’s die on them, some are getting scarce.
Show threadJohn HarrisDec 19, 2024
@masek This is awesome.
Show threadNoelleDec 19, 2024
@masek oh shit, I should go there sometime
Show threadMJDec 20, 2024
@masek wonder if anyone's ever played some Comic Bakery on those C64's at one point or another...
Show threadSpaceLifeFormDec 20, 2024

@masek

Kit was made well in the olden days.

Show threadJosh Dec 20, 2024
@masek @futurebird damnit, I am in Indiana *right now*, but will not have time to go here. This is just cruel.
Show thread2¢Dec 20, 2024
@masek there was a pool supply store near me that used an Apple II to calculate chemical adjustments based on pool water sample tests until they closed ca. 2020.
Show threadjgeorgeDec 20, 2024

@masek This is brilliant and why, I think, “retrocomputing” as a whole is popular amongst techies nowadays.

No viruses
No ransomware
No constantly changing UI for users to relearn
No spyware/adware
No vendor “collecting data”
No need to buy continually more powerful hardware to run continually more bloated OSes and applications
No software written by sociopaths
And the list goes on

More companies should do this if they are at all capable of doing it.

networking? Serial cables.

XMODEM is the best firewall

Show threadbuheratorDec 20, 2024
@jgeorge @masek Nah, retro computer viruses are the best!

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