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Apparently, spending my working day with computers isn’t enough. I’ve been spending my spare time playing with a Commodore 64, and remembering how much fun computers can be.

It started as a bit of nostalgia. Then I started following links.

Emulators. Cartridges. Disk-drive replacements. Projects that put newer hardware to work helping an old machine do its thing.

You know how this goes. One interesting project becomes six tabs, and eventually one of those tabs becomes a purchase.

In this case, I bought a Pi1541. It works fantastically.

Pi1541 emulates a Commodore 1541 disk drive using a Raspberry Pi, providing a way to use disk images from an SD card with original Commodore hardware. That combination is a large part of the appeal for me: I can enjoy the actual computer with a newer piece of hardware helping it along.

I’m glad I bought it. This has been a thoroughly enjoyable detour.

I’ve also been exploring emulators and reading about other ways people are keeping these machines useful and interesting. Some projects preserve the old experience; others take the hardware somewhere its original designers probably never expected.

There is room to enjoy both.

An emulator is a convenient way to explore. The original machine has an appeal of its own. I don’t feel a need to turn that into a competition over which version of nostalgia counts.

What I like is that there are still people making things for these computers. The machine may be old, but the curiosity around it is very much alive.

There is also something refreshing about this kind of tinkering. I’m not choosing a platform for a customer, arguing about an architecture, or trying to justify the time with a business case. I’m playing with something because it interests me.

That is how a lot of my interest in computers works in the first place. Sometimes it’s useful to give it room without immediately turning it into another obligation.

Anyway, the Pi1541 is working, the Commodore 64 is getting attention, and my list of interesting projects is longer than when I started.

I’m calling that a successful detour.