Commodore Computer Club – USA

Remember the 1970′s TV show The Jeffersons? Well like them, the Commodore Computer Club is “Movin’ On Up” to a larger room at Pied Piper Pizza starting our December 2, 2011 meeting.

This is pretty exciting club news to say the least, so let’s take a moment and recap how we got to this point of needing a larger room which has happened a few times in the clubs history.

The Early Days:

When the Commodore Computer Club was officially founded back in April 2010 with 5 friends, we had our weekly meetings and game days at various member homes.

That was great at first, since we were a small, humble and manageable group of retro computer enthusiasts, but then we started to expand and get more friends interested in the club.

Becoming More Public Friendly:

Sometime in early May 2010 we decided it was time for an official meeting place. After some searching and group discussion, we decided on Pied Piper Pizza in Vancouver, WA.

• June 25, 2010: This was our first meeting at Pied Piper Pizza using the medium size room which was able to handle an occupancy of approximately 40 people. View recap and photos.
• Special guests Robert Bernardo (Fresno Commodore Users Group), Jeri Ellsworth (C64DTV), Jason Scott (BBS Documentary, Get Lamp).

Once we started officially having meetings at a public place, our attendance really started to pick up basically meaning more hardware, people and good times, not a bad thing to happen to a retro computer hobbyist group.

As of July 2010 we started to only have meetings on the first Friday of every month (no more every Friday). This allowed for more planning and scheduling to get more people coming to the Commodore Computer Club meetings and events.

• July 29, 2010: TPUG Toronto PET User’s Group Library CD.
• August 6, 2010: Commodore VIC-20 Mega Cart Demo By John Hancock
• September 3, 2010: Pete Brown showed off his Commodore 64 Emulator

At this point over the next few months we saw a steady increase in attendance and hardware being brought to our meetings making us a happy bunch of retro computing geeks.

Introducing Our Club To Approximately 1,200 People:

The Commodore Computer Club was part of the 5th Annual Portland Retro Gaming Expo on September 18th and 19th, 2010:

• Expo photos – At The PRGE 2010: Commodore Computer Club
• Photos – PRGE 2010: Young Kids Using Commodore Computers

This was awesome for our PDX Commodore Users Group and Computer Club by providing major exposure to 1,200+ like minded people around the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Time For An Upgrade:

After getting more exposure thanks to the 2010 Portland Retro Gaming Expo, things really started to pick up for us.

• October 1, 2010: Because of the huge amount of hardware, software and people at this meeting, it was decided that we should start using the large banquet room for all future Commodore Computer Club meetings. View recap and photos.

• October 10, 2010: Commodore Computer Club 10/10/10 Nerd Holiday Party. This was our last special event meeting in the medium room.

• November 5, 2010: First meeting in the large room #3 (room occupancy approximately 60 people) took place. View recap and photos.
• A featured presentation on Retrobits by Earl Evans

For the rest of 2010 room #3 at Pied Piper has served us well, which brings us to the entire reason for this blog post.

Continuing To Grow In 2011:

The C64 club has continued growing at a nice pace since the beginning of 2011 with member and guest attendance, hardware presentations and demos which are at a record all time high. Room #3 is doing well but is starting to seem small as we reach the third quarter of 2011.

Like in 2010, the Commodore Computer Club was once again a vendor at the 2011 6th Annual Portland Retro Gaming Expo and kicked it up a notch by being one of the official sponsors of the event plus we were instrumental in bringing David Crane and Garry Kitchen to the Expo.

• September 24th and 25th, 2011: Represented Commodore computers at PRGE 2011
• David Crane and Garry Kitchen Guest Speakers at PRGE 2011
• VIP dinner with David Crane, Garry Kitchen, Bob Smith, Rob Zdybel and Tod R. Frye

Thanks to being one of the sponsors at the 6th annual PRGE, we were able to show 1,500+ people what the Commodore Computer Club is all about. How rad is that?

Everything done to date so far has helped boost interest in our club which is awesome, however with more interest comes more people, more hardware and less room for all of the above.

Movin’ On Up:

Over the past couple of months a lot of evaluating has been going on for the club, especially since we’re in the home stretch of 2011.

• As of the October 2011 meeting and almost one year to the day since the last time we did a room upgrade, it’s official, the Commodore Computer Club needs more space.

Lucky for us Pied Piper Pizza has another private banquet room across the hall that can handle an occupancy of 80+ people. We recently checked it out at our November 2011 meeting and it’s going to work out perfectly for us. To quote Charlie Sheen: Winning!

This new room is geektastic: more tables, electrical outlets, better floor plan, windows and so much more! It’s sure nice having the same physical meeting location for over a year and half that can provide us room to expand.

Starting our December 2, 2011 meeting, please join the Commodore Computer Club in banquet room #4 just across the hall from our previous meeting room.

“Thank you” to everyone who has continued to support the PDX Commodore Computer Club and Users Group. It’s greatly appreciated. We’ll see you at an upcoming meeting!

Finally, for those of us still using our trusty Commodore 64 computers in the year 2011 can now experience an awesome retro game, Prince of Persia.

Homebrew developer Mr. SID (mrsid) ported the 1989 game from its original Apple 2 version, making the cartridge image available for download from his website.

The C64 conversion of Prince of Persia, based on the original Apple II code by Jordan Mechner has been released. It requires a Commodore 64 or 128 and an EasyFlash (or 100% compatible) cartridge.

If you have a C64 or 128 and an EasyFlash C64 cartridge, you can check out the achievement. You can download the EasyFlash cartridge image from this CSDb page.

Are you keeping up with the Commodore? Because the Commodore is keeping up with you!

Find out more information by following the official Prince of Persia C64 Development Blog.

Our next Commodore Computer Club meeting will be Friday, November 4, 2011 from 6:00 pm PST until 12:00 am PST, so be there or be 8-bit square

Usually C64 club members, Commodore friends and guests from the Portland, OR and surrounding area show up between 6:30 pm – 7:00 pm PST.

Our monthly Commodore Users Group and Computer Club meetings take place at Pied Piper Pizza in Vancouver, WA which is about a 30 minute drive from downtown PDX – Portland, Oregon:

Pied Piper Pizza – 12300 NE Fourth Plain Rd. – Vancouver, WA 98682 – Get directions

Once inside Pied Piper Pizza, head straight back past the dart boards to the private banquet room #3. Look for Commodore and other retro computers.

The following hardware and software will be at the November 4, 2011 Portland metropolitan area Commodore Users Group and Computer Club meeting:

• MSD SD-2 Super Disk Drive (22 second verified backups)
• Commodore 64 computer and 1541 disk drive (both with JiffyDOS)
• 50+ C64 retro gaming arcade and utility cartridges
• Big box full of C64 floppy disks (games, programs, and utilities)
• Amiga 500 computer with tons of software
• VIC-20 computer with Mega-Cart: The ultimate cartridge for your VIC 20
• Multiple EasyFlash Cartridges for the Commodore 64

If you have any Commodore hardware, software, or other classic computing goodness kindly bring it along because we’ve got plenty of room, tables and electrical outlets.

Along with the above items mentioned, you can also expect to enjoy the following:

• Good friends, conversations and a lot social geekery
• The buy, sell, trade and free tables
• Various C64 club member presentations
• Tinker time: hacking, coding, exploring new hardware
• Pied Piper Pizza food, beverages and salad bar

For additional details, what to expect at our meetings, directions, etc, please check out the Commodore Computer Club meetings page.

It’s perfectly fine to bring your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend or kids with you to the upcoming meeting. All are welcome. The more the merrier!

We look forward to seeing you at the next Commodore Users Group and Computer Club meeting on Friday November 4, 2011. Come to learn, come to share.

To bring in the spooktacular holiday, a few of us in the Commodore Computer Club are getting together this evening at an undisclosed location for a Halloween game night and taco party.

Below are just a few of the Commodore 64 Halloween themed games we plan on playing:

Ghostbusters (1984) by Activision (designed by David Crane):

Ghosts ‘n Goblins (1986) by Elite:

Forbidden Forest (1983) by Cosmi:

Bone Cruncher (1987) by Superior Software:

Chiller (1985) by Mastertronic:

Freak Factory (1986) by Firebird:

Night Breed (1990) by Ocean:

We hope that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween. Watch out for all the Ghosts ‘n Goblins… (insert evil laugh) Muhahahahaha!!!

Our October 7, 2011 monthly Friday night PDX Commodore Users Group and Computer Club meeting was a super success!

Here’s a brief list detailing out some of the highlights that took place:

• Played games on multiple Commodore 64′s present at the meeting
• VIC 20 game time using the Mega-Cart loaded with 100′s games
• Amiga 500 (A500) games and demos enjoyed by all
• Game time enjoyed on the Turbografx-16 retro console
• Tinker Time: Hacking, Coding, Exploring new hardware, Cleaning of equipment
• Show and Tell with club member hardware, software and more
• A lot of buy, sell, trade and free deals took place
• All you can eat Pied Piper Pizza dinner buffet enjoyed by all

We also enjoyed a few club member presentations and demos:

• Commodore Club Member Show & Tell
• Super rare early 1977 Commodore PET 2001
• Turbo Grafx-16 Neutopia demo (SNES Zelda Link to the Past clone)
• Commodore 128 (C128) complete in box
• Discussed Flyer (formerly Pilot) internet device

Check out some of our meeting photos below. Enjoy!

Having some tasty dinner at Pied Piper Pizza while enjoying awesome friendly Commodore related conversations:

Brandon’s super rare early 1977 Commodore PET 2001. It’s the so called “blue PET” with the blue label, blue monitor frame and the early cassette drive with the white keys:

John Hancock and Morgan going through hundreds of Commodore Amiga computer floppy disks that John brought to the meeting for free giveaways:

PDX Commodore Users Group and Computer Club members enjoying a little game time on the C64 and VIC-20 on hand at the meeting:

Another nice turn out for our monthly C64 Club meeting as seen here by all the socializing going on at the Commodore club meeting:

Tom doing some testing of his Amiga 500 internal floppy drive that was giving him some issues, but we were able to get him up and running again:

Long-time club member Jeremy playing some Donkey Kong on the Commodore 64 computer using a C64 EasyFlash cartridge. Turbografx-16 can also be seen:

Commodore Club members enjoying game time on the Commodore Amiga 500 computer. Thanks to John for bringing hundreds of Amiga games for everyone to play at the meeting:

Doing a little buy, sell, trade and free deals. Someone scored a complete in box Commodore 128 at the meeting:

John and Tom discussing various pieces of Amiga hardware and software:

Ian and his friend playing games on the VIC-20 computer using the awesome Mega-Cart which has hundreds of VIC-20 games, utilities and more on one single cartridge:

A new Commodore Computer Club member (Brian?) brought his complete in box C64 to the meeting. It hadn’t been run in almost 20 years until this meeting. Pretty cool!

Here we see Tom’s Commodore Amiga 500 computer, piles of games on floppy disk, joystick controller, 1702 color monitor and one happy club member enjoying game time:

MSD SD-2 disk drive, VIC-20 playing Pac-Man, C64 playing Ms. Pac-Man and Morgan playing games on the Turbografx-16 console:

C64 Club Members, guests and Commodore friends socializing at the meeting:

Conrad working on one of his many retro computing projects. He always has something fun for us to work on at the meetings during tinker time:

Ivan reading a manual on installing and upgrading memory for a Commodore Amiga computer, another Commodore Computer Club tinker time project:

Seth playing Tapper on the Commodore 64 computer while Morgan plays Alien Crush on the Turbografx-16 retro video game console:

Another picture showing the great attendance and fun being had by everyone at our Commodore Computer Club meeting:

Members playing Ghostbusters (1984) by Activision (designed by David Crane) on the Commodore 128 C128 computer:

Morgan kicking back playing a little Scramble on the Commodore VIC-20 computer. Always a relaxing and fun time at our meetings:

All smiles at the Commodore Computer Club. Game time is always enjoyed by all who attend our PDX Commodore Club meetings:

As always, a giant “Thank you” to everyone who continues attending our Commodore Computer Club meetings from all over the Pacific Northwest. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Our next scheduled meeting will be Friday November 4, 2011, so be sure to mark it down on your calendar. We hope to see you at the next meeting! Come to learn, come to share.

For the second year in a row, the Commodore Computer Club was an exhibitor and one of this years sponsors for the Portland Retro Gaming Expo.

It was super exciting to once again represent all things Commodore to 1,500+ people at the 6th Annual PRGE which took place September 24 and 25, 2011.

Below are some of the highlights and memorable moments we caught on camera. Enjoy!

Special thanks go out to Sean of the Commodore Computer Club who was instrumental in bringing David Crane and Garry Kitchen to the Expo. – PRGE Staff

David Crane and Garry Kitchen doing their talk at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo:

Picture showing some of the items we had for sale (PET 4032, Amiga software, trackball controller, VIC Modem):

Here you can see complete and factory sealed Infocom games for the Commodore 64 we had for sale at the expo. Pictured are Starcross, Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Suspended and Deadline:

Check out the complete in box Amiga and Commodore 64 software which included games, utilities, music programs, the GEOS operating system and even Koala Pad accessories:

Shown here is a Commodore VIC-20 computer, 1702 color monitor and a variety of VIC-20 cartridges which included games, utilities, educational software and more:

Here’s a picture showing some of the pinball machines on hand at the 2011 Portland Retro Gaming Expo free play arcade:

Real upright coin-op video game arcade machines for all to play and enjoy, also part of the 2011 PRGE freeplay arcade:

Not only could you play video arcade games and pinball machines for free, they also had just about every home console setup to enjoy as well:

Look at all the people playing games on the various consoles set up in the Portland Retro Gaming Expo console freeplay area:

Eric Cartman from South Park is a member of the Commodore Computer Club. In this picture he’s saying: “Hey guys, respect my authority and come down to the next Commodore Computer Club meeting. I’ll have cheesy poofs!”

All the classics were represented in the freeplay arcade: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Popeye, Dig Dug, Defender, Missile Command and so many more:

Portland Retro Gaming Expo attendees playing some classic video games, all on free play, no quarters or tokens required:

Here’s a picture showing the massive Commodore Computer Club exhibitor and vendor booth:

One of the many people who stopped by our booth to play some Commodore 64 and VIC-20 games. Here you can see someone playing Dragonfire:

We had various Commodore computers setup for people to play games. Here you can see Toy Bizarre by Activision on the Commodore 64 computer. This game got a lot of play at the expo:

We had a C64 Direct-to-TV C64DTV with hardware designed by Jeri Ellsworth on hand for people to play at the Commodore Computer Club booth:

At our vendor booth we had a minty fresh Commodore SX-64 Executive computer on display for people to test out. Here you can see the famous Christmas demo being played:

Thanks to everyone who came out from near and far to support the 2011 Portland Retro Gaming Expo and the Commodore Computer Club over the two-day event.

In closing, if you would like to experience more Commodore computer goodness, feel free to come check out one of our club meetings. We get together the first Friday of every month.

On the evening of Saturday September 24, 2011 there was a private invite-only PRGE VIP dinner at the Portland Doubletree Hotel and because the Commodore Computer Club was instrumental in bringing David Crane and Garry Kitchen to the Expo, we were invited to the VIP dinner.

In attendance at our table from left to right: David Crane, Garry Kitchen, Bob Smith, Tod R. Frye and Rob Zdybel:

Here’s a group picture taken shortly after we all finished our dinner and dessert. In the back: Yohan, Lee, Rick, Sean and James and of course in front are the programmers:

The food served by the hotel was amazing, plus the conversations and stories shared by the programmers truly blew our minds. This was one dinner that will be remembered forever.

Hey friends! It’s C64 Club meeting time again! The next Commodore Computer Club meeting will be Friday, October 7, 2011 from 6:00 pm PST until 12:00 am PST.

Typically Commodore club members, friends, retro computer enthusiasts and guests from the Portland, OR and surrounding area show up between 6:30 pm – 7:00 pm PST.

Our monthly Commodore club meetings take place at Pied Piper Pizza in Vancouver, WA which is about a 30 minute drive from downtown PDX – Portland, Oregon:

Pied Piper Pizza – 12300 NE Fourth Plain Rd. – Vancouver, WA 98682 – Get directions

Once inside Pied Piper Pizza, head straight back past the dart boards to the private banquet room #3. Look for Commodore and other retro computers.

The following hardware and software will be at the October 7, 2011 Portland metropolitan area Commodore Users Group and Computer Club meeting:

• Various Amiga computers and software
• Commodore VIC-20 computer
• VIC-20 Mega-Cart: The ultimate cartridge for your VIC 20
• MSD SD-2 Super Disk Drive (22 second verified backups)
• Commodore 64 computer and 1541 disk drive (both with JiffyDOS)
• 50+ C64 retro gaming arcade and utility cartridges
• Turbografx-16 console with a nice selection of HuCard games
• EasyFlash Cartridge for the Commodore 64
• 100+ floppy disks with various games, programs, and utilities

If you have any Commodore hardware, software, or other retro computing goodness please bring it along. There’s always a lot of room, tables and electrical outlets.

Along with the above retro hardware and vintage classic software, you can also expect to enjoy the following:

• Flyer (formerly Pilot) internet modem and drive emulation
• The buy, sell, trade and free tables
• Various member presentations
• Tinker time: hacking, coding, exploring new hardware
• Pied Piper Pizza food, beverages and salad bar
• Good conversations, friends and a lot social geekery

It’s perfectly fine to bring your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband or kids with you to the meeting, so please don’t let that stop you from coming. All are welcome. The more the merrier!

For additional details, what to expect at our meetings, directions, etc, please check out the Commodore Computer Club meetings page.

We look forward to seeing you at the next Commodore Users Group and Computer Club meeting on Friday October 7, 2011. Come to learn, come to share.

Just a heads up for Commodore Computer Club members who will be attending the 6th annual Portland Retro Gaming Expo on September 24 and 25, 2011, David Crane and Garry Kitchen will be guest speakers.

A little about David Crane (left) and Garry Kitchen (right):

David Crane formed game publisher Activision in 1979 and wrote the landmark game, Pitfall! among others. Activision pioneered third-party game development for the Atari 2600 platform and Commodore 64, selling millions of games. Crane later went on to co-found Absolute Entertainment with Garry Kitchen, releasing the NES game A Boy and His Blob.

Garry Kitchen developed Coleco’s port of the popular Donkey Kong arcade game for the Atari 2600 in 1982. Donkey Kong went on to earn over 100 million dollars for Coleco. Kitchen later moved to Activision where he wrote Pressure Cooker and the 750,000 unit-selling game Keystone Kapers. Kitchen co-founded Absolute Entertainment with David Crane in 1986 which went on to release over 120 software titles.

There will be other amazing pioneers of the video game and computer industry at the Expo too like Bob Smith (iMagic, Atari and Accolade), Rob Zdybel (Atari and Sega) and Tod R. Frye (Atari) just to name a few. It will be an awesome time for anyone into vintage computers and consoles, so be sure to come and check it out.

Special thanks go out to Sean of the Commodore Computer Club who was instrumental in bringing David and Garry to the Expo.

-PRGE Staff

You can find out more by going to www.retrogamingexpo.com

Our September 2, 2011 monthly Friday night Commodore Computer Club and Users Group meeting was a super success!

Here’s a quick list with some of the highlights of what took place:

• Enjoyed some game time on the Commodore 64
• VIC 20 Mega-Cart loaded with 100′s games got a lot of play
• Show and Tell with club member hardware, software and more
• Game time on the Intellivision retro console
• Tinker Time: Hacking, Coding, Exploring new hardware, Cleaning of equipment
• A lot of buy, sell, trade and free deals took place
• All you can eat Pied Piper Pizza dinner buffet enjoyed by all

We also enjoyed a few club member presentations and demos:

• Commodore Club Member Show & Tell
• Intellivision Donkey Kong Arcade homebrew demo
• Commodore 128 (C128) custom modifications
• Hands on with Flyer (formerly Pilot) internet device
• Trying to revive a vintage Apple III computer

A lot of exciting things were taking place at the meeting and we even remembered to capture a few of the rad moments on camera. Check out some of our meeting photos below. Enjoy!

Having some tasty dinner at Pied Piper Pizza while enjoying awesome friendly Commodore related conversations:

Jumpman Junior is always a hit during game time at the Commodore Computer Club. You can see Artillery Dual on the VIC-20 in the background:

Brandon and Dan discussing the Flyer (formerly Pilot) an internet modem and drive emulation peripheral compatible with the entire line of Commodore 8-bit computers including the PET :

Here’s a picture showing Conrad’s Apple III motherboard PCB which is now one step closer to working 100% thanks to various Commodore Computer Club members jumping in to help:

Tinker time at the PDX Commodore Computer Club with member Dan working on Conrad’s vintage Apple III computer motherboard:

Another nice turn out for our monthly C64 Club meeting as seen here by all the socializing going on at the Commodore club meeting:

Game time playing Frogger on the VIC-20 using the Mega-Cart:

Dan, Conrad and Ivan enjoying tinker time and repairs at the C64 club meeting:

C64 Club Members, guests and Commodore friends socializing at the meeting:

Everyone always has a good time playing Commodore 64 and VIC-20 computer games at our C64 Club meetings:

Commodore 1541 disk drive modifications and repairs being discussed:

The classic game Ms. Pac-Man being played on the Commodore 64c using a Atari 2600 joystick for the controls:

Members, guests and friends hanging out chatting about Commodore computers and the upcoming 6th annual Portland Retro Gaming Expo:

Here are a few PDX Commodore Users Group and Computer Club members representing:

Playing games on one of the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 computers at the meeting:

Gregory, Brandon and Ivan checking out some cool Commodore 128 custom hardware modifications:

Enjoying some games on the Commodore 64 using the EasyFlash cartridge and on the VIC-20 using the Mega-Cart:

Can you name the games being displayed on the Commodore 1702 monitors in the below picture? Let us know in the comments:

Ivan discussing his latest Commodore 128 with Tom that he recently acquired which has a few custom ROM chips that add some pretty cool disk drive functionality:

Greg playing a few games of Moon Patrol on the Commodore 64:

Tom, Ian and Ivan discussing the C128 custom ROM chips while enjoying some tasty Pied Piper Pizza food:

C64 Club members Gregory, Jeremy, Chris and Jesse socializing at the meeting:

A’Eric aka the AllConsoleGamer and his brother Aaron playing Artillery Dual on the Commodore VIC-20 computer:

Tom and Ian playing Toy Bizarre by Activision on the JiffyDOS powered Commodore 64:

Looking inside Ivan’s Commodore 128 with custom ROM chips and toggle switch:

Checking out a presentation on the recently released Intellivision homebrew of Donkey Kong Arcade by Carl Mueller Jr. Special thanks to Morgan for bring it to the meeting:

Chris playing the Intellivision homebrew of Donkey Kong Arcade:

Jeremy and Morgan battling it out on a two player Commodore 64 Flight Simulator game:

As always, a giant “Thank you” to everyone who continues attending our Commodore Computer Club meetings from all over the Pacific Northwest. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Our next scheduled meeting will be Friday October 7, 2011, so be sure to mark it down on your calendar. We hope to see you at the next meeting! Come to learn, come to share.