Episode: 2966
Title: HPR2966: World of Commodore 2019 Episode 1: The Interviews
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2966/hpr2966.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-24 13:59:34

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This is HPR Episode 2966 from Monday the 16th of December 2019.
Today's show is entitled, World of Commodore 2019 Episode 1, The Interviews,
and as part of the series, Hobby Electronics, it is the first show by new host Paul Quirk
and is about 20 minutes long and carries a clean flag. The summer is.
In this first episode, I interview exhibitors and members at the World of Commodore in 2019.
This episode of HPR is brought to you by An Honesthost.com.
Get 15% discount on all shared hosting with the offer code HPR15, that's HPR15.
Better web hosting that's Honest and Fair at An Honesthost.com.
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Hello, good people of Hacker Public Radio. My name is Paul Quirk, and this is my first ever podcast.
I would like to give credit to Clat 2 of GNU World Order for making me aware of Hacker Public Radio,
which I've been a listener of for the past year.
Moving near the holiday season of the Winter Solstice, I decided to give back to the open-source community
with this gift of a mini-series of podcasts about the World of Commodore from December 7th, 2019.
Now, the World of Commodore is an annual computer expo dedicated to Commodore Computers
that is normally held on the first Saturday of December in the city of Mississauga, Ontario.
It started off back in 1983 by Commodore Canada as a trade show where Commodore and related vendors
could showcase their latest products for the holiday season.
As a Commodore computer nerd kid of the 1980s living within an hour's drive of Mississauga,
this was an event I always look forward to with excitement.
For me, this was bigger than Santa Claus.
Commodore went bankrupt in 1994, but a decade later, the show was revived by the Toronto Pet Users Group,
or T-Pug, one of the world's oldest computer user groups of which I am a member.
Today, World of Commodore is very different from the expels of the 1980s
and has transformed into an event where hackers from around the world gather to share ideas
and show off their own discoveries in products, both open-source and commercial.
Since many listeners and contributors of Hacker Public Radio got started with a Commodore computer at some time,
and since this event has grown beyond Commodore products and into open-source hardware and software,
I thought this would be of great interest to this community, and it is my hope that many of you listeners
might join us at next year's World of Commodore.
I have decided to create a mini-series of podcasts of this event, which I will release on a weekly schedule.
In this first episode, I walk around the trade show floor and interview various exhibitors, vendors, and members of T-Pug.
As there is a visual element to this podcast, I have posted pictures of the exhibits
in my personal non-commercial blog at peakwork.com, which I encourage you to visit
in order to get the full experience.
And so, with no further ado, let's all go to the wonderful world of Commodore.
Okay, so I'm here with my son Nick.
Hi, Nick.
Hi, Nick.
And we're here in the lobby at the Admiral in, and for World of Commodore, we're about five minutes before the show starts.
And there's quite a group here that's building up.
There's at least two dozen people waiting here in the lobby, and I believe that they'll expect that there will be more through the day.
And there's two options here. You can pre-pay online, which is what we did, and then they have your take made up for you.
Or you can just come on the day of and pay here, and then they'll give you a blank tag that you can write your own name on.
So, again, it was five minutes, four minutes to go before they let us in, and it looks like it's going to be a really good show this year.
I agree.
Okay, so I'm here with Eric, Jesus Kudzen, and he has an interesting table here.
He has a zenest portable TV.
He's got a display here on American cheese.
And if you want other interesting things here, I'm going to let Eric tell us about what he has here on display.
Okay, so I have a little display here.
I brought some American cheese because I found out that some Canadians are not familiar with what American cheese is.
And it's like a delicacy in the States.
And so I brought free samples for people to try.
I also have my demo of a 1985 black and white zenest tube television portable that I put a Raspberry Pi in.
And it boots and spent some time on it.
That's really cool.
All right, and I'm going to put some pictures of these in the show notes.
So it links to the pictures so that you can have a look at this display.
It's pretty cool.
Thanks, Eric.
Oh, thank you, too.
Okay, so I'm at the next table over here with Jim Happel.
And he has a VR64 display.
I'm going to pass it over to Jim here and he's going to tell us all about his display.
Hey, so the VR64 is a project I did and it was an attempt to create virtual reality goggles for the Commodore 64.
And what I did is I actually bought a cheap off-the-shelf VR goggles.
You're supposed to put your phone in and I put a 5-inch LCD in there and it's driven by composite.
So it can be driven right off these old computers.
And then I coded this game which actually draws two screens with the skewed effect.
So you actually get the 3D effect in the goggles.
So I think it's definitely the first VR goggles for the Commodore 64.
That looks really cool.
I'm going to take a picture of this and I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes.
Okay, thank you.
That's really cool.
Thank you, Jim.
Absolutely.
Okay, so as we're making rounds here at World of Commodore, I'm here with Josh.
And he has something interesting here.
Some 3D printed cookie cutters.
And he has a website here.
I'm going to share with you right now.
www.signalsfromspace.ca.
And I'm going to pass this over to Josh and let him tell you all about it.
Thanks, Paul.
My name is Josh Richmond and I started making 3D printed cookie cutters.
Originally, I wanted to make cookies schematics.
So I'm an engineer and I like to make cookies and I thought I'd put those two things together.
And I designed cookie cutters shaped as schematic symbols.
I recently decided to expand that into an 8-bit catalog of cookie cutters.
So I've got Commodore ones, Atari ones, classic video games, like Space Invaders, and Tetris.
As well as some space-themed ones that celebrate the Apollo moon landing.
As Paul mentioned, you can check it out at www.signalsfromspace.ca.
Thanks.
Okay, so now I've moved on to another table here.
I'm sitting here with Vince Jeanini.
And he has an SX64 here and a VIC-20 connected to a LCD monitor.
I'm going to pass this over to Vince and let him tell you about his experience.
Hi, thanks so much.
It's so great to be here in 2019 and experience this fellowship with computers that are like, you know, 30, 40 years old.
There's, you know, so many people having fun enjoying this retro equipment.
I have very fond memories of Commodore.
Obviously, it was my introduction to computers way back when we visited my local college to see the first pets that were coming out.
And it was just amazing when they lifted, you know, the case of the pet up and put the cropped up the bar just like the hood of a car.
And I looked inside and you saw all that electronic circuitry and a ton of air.
It was, you know, that's, it makes that distinctive sound when you hit the keyword because there's so much air inside, but they're built like tanks.
They're still running today.
My favorite computer of all time has to be the Amiga though.
You know, I really wish something in this day and age would come out with the same level of advancement as the Amiga did back in 1985.
Because it was just miles and miles ahead of the competition.
And when I turned on that Amiga back in the day, I knew I had something really special on my desktop.
So it's just been a blast.
And I'm just very happy to participate in the role of Commodore to, you know, relive the 80s because I'm stuck in the 80s.
Yeah. A lot of us are. Thank you.
Okay. So as, as we're moving through the show here, I am here now with Jeremy.
And I'm going to pass this over to him and he's going to explain to us what he has at his vendor table.
Hi. So I'm the owner of double-sided games. We, well, I publish. I'm the only one.
I publish new games for virtual computers.
For now, there was a game published for the VIC-20, the C64.
And now the Amiga, since the beginning of December.
Most of the games are based on action or puzzle games, but the brand new game we have for the Amiga is a dungeon crawler.
Syphoid dungeon crawler, which is big enough to feed on six discs.
So it's a big game.
It was made by Sean Waters and it took quite some time about a year to make the game.
We also have an RPG. The biggest, I think, really, honestly, the biggest game ever written for the VIC-20.
Rums of Quest V. It's a computer RPG, typical, like an Ultima game.
It's about 100 hours to finish it, so it's a huge game.
All the boxes, all the games usually come with goodies inside.
So, for example, Rums of Quest comes with a cloth map, some goodies inside.
And we have actually officially four more games to come in 2020.
But it's more around six to seven on the 2021 live span, I would say.
So plenty of games coming up and maybe an Atari ST game.
And also, I mean since I'm from France, I'm aiming for European computers too.
So the Amstrad, the Sinclair Spectrum and all that stuff like that.
So that's the goal. Try to make new games for all those new computers that we love.
And have good productions. I'm really aiming for quality. I'm not... I'm trying.
And the ultimate goal was to have everything boxed like back in the days.
And also made sure that all the games will use the same box size, so it looks good on the shelf.
Because I'm a collector myself, so I like things to be tidy and neat.
Do you have a website that you want?
Yes, I do. So the website is double-sidedgames.com.
It's a shop. It's also the place where you get the news and everything.
But I'm also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, so you can follow anywhere if you want to see the latest news.
All right, thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, I'm here at another table as I make my way through the world of Commodore this year.
And I'm here talking to Justice and I'll hand it over to him.
And he's going to tell us about what he has here today.
All right, thanks very much Paul.
I, this is my first year as a vendor and exhibitor at World of Commodore.
And I decided to bring a super pet 9000, which is the University of Waterloo version of the pet.
I have a couple of C64 systems, 128, Amiga 500, or sale.
A few odds and ends here and there.
But mostly it's for the conversation.
You know, whether I sell anything or not is not really the big thing here.
It's to meet the other people that are enthusiastic about the Commoders.
Yeah, yeah.
And I found you're kind of into the Super Mario Brothers 2019, right?
You were talking about how Nintendo was, I guess, trying to eliminate that.
And I guess somehow it's still kind of kicking around.
I don't know how that's happening.
Yeah, it's a guy by the name of Zero Page, developed it over many, many, many years.
And finally came out with it in 2019.
And Nintendo got wind of it and cease and desist.
Wipe the internet clean of any possible version of his software.
But the internet being the internet, it's still out there.
And it's an excellent port of Mario Brothers for the Commodore 64.
And people are really enjoying it here on display.
That's cool.
All right, well, thank you for your time.
All right, thanks a lot, Paul.
All right, so right here in the middle of World of Commodore,
this man is here every year right in the middle of the show.
His name's Joseph Palombo.
And he has a lot of neat stuff here for sale.
I try to buy something off of him every time I come here.
If you're looking for streetcrap boxes of games or manuals from decades ago,
he's got it.
I'm going to pass this over to Joe and let him explain everything.
How you doing today?
Well, I basically specialize in new and used,
C64, 128 software, hardware, books, peripherals, fairly cheap.
Basically, discats are like three bucks a piece.
If I find a manual, it's four dollars.
If I find a box, it's five dollars.
Very, very simple pricing.
Same thing with the Amiga, it's another dollar or two.
But I got all kinds of stuff.
Magazines.
You name it.
If I don't have it, I'll find it.
Yeah.
I own the Super Snapshots, which I still currently make,
which was a fancy cartridge that does lots of hackers utility dream, right?
And then there's cables and discats.
Jiffy Doss.
Things like that.
Yes.
I'm a big fan of your Jiffy Doss.
That's good.
I like it.
Yeah.
It's basically a speed up chip for the 64.
Does it do any screen blanking or anything like the cartridge as well?
No.
And do you have a website?
Yes.
Well, I had a website.
It was JPPPM or JPPPM.com.
We were changing ISPs.
And somebody bought the name.
Oh, no.
So now we're looking at changing it to maybe a .org or .ca,
or seeing if I can buy it back.
Well, it's in limbo right now.
I'll keep in touch with you then, and we'll put it in the show notes
when we find out what the new website is.
But you can still email me at JPPPM at Roger's.com.
All right.
JPPPM.
JPPPM.
Papa Bravo.
Yes.
It's Joe Pulumbo, products by mail.
All right.
At Roger.com.
Thanks, Joe.
It's good seeing you again.
Okay.
So I'm wandering the floor here at World of Commodore,
and I ran into Ben.
Ben.
Okay.
Okay.
So I'm going to pass this over to him,
and let him have a few words.
So hey there.
I'm here at World of Commodore.
I've got a booth set up here as a exhibitor,
not as a vendor, not really selling anything.
So yeah, I actually worked at Commodore
when I was in high school through co-op education.
And did quite a bit of work with Commodore computers
and retail stores well back then.
And I'm here at Commodore just because I guess
really for nostalgic reasons.
I've got a collection as well you can't see.
But in front of me, I've got a 1978 Commodore PET 416.
I've got a silver label Commodore 64.
If anybody knows what that is,
it's one of the earliest generations.
Commodore 64.
I've got some other stuff set up here.
And truthfully, my life is so busy these days
with I got a couple of little kids.
But I took the book the entire day off my life today
for the purpose of bringing stuff that I've been meaning
to look at and fix and test for a year or more.
Like this double, I've got a CBM 8050 double drive here
that I got almost a year ago and haven't even plugged it in.
But it may not have been plugged in in 20 years.
But we just tested it and it works.
So I'm here amongst people that are familiar with this stuff.
Some people have knowledge that I don't have in certain areas.
And for me, it's just about sort of a bit of a community thing
and personal interest, nostalgic.
And it's interesting to me.
So yeah, that's why I'm here.
All right, thank you.
I appreciate it.
Okay, so coming into the world of Commodore this year,
we have Stuart Russell, who was working the table.
And he's also involved in some other things.
And I'm just going to turn the mic over to Stuart here
and let him have a few words on the podcast.
Sure, hi, thanks.
So we have a big show today.
It's our 40th anniversary as a club.
It's the 15th anniversary of us running World of Commodore
as our own group.
World of Commodore has been going for many years,
but hasn't been run by TPUG all this time.
So it's a great meet-up for retro computer users of all types.
Not just Commodore users.
And so everyone is represented here.
People are buying and selling and fixing and playing games
and learning about new operating systems for the Commodore.
And it's a really big thing.
And people have come from all over North America
just to this little hotel in Mississauga
because it's World of Commodore.
So it's a really big event and really fun.
What I really should also talk about is,
since this is an open source podcast,
I do open source assistive technology.
I work for a group called Makers Making Change.
We do 3D printed assistive technology
to help people with disabilities.
So things like a key turner,
it helps someone who's a key if they have arthritis.
All of our designs are available to download.
All of our designs are open source.
On our website, MakersMakingChange.com.
And I'm the original coordinator.
I run all of Ontario.
And we have some great devices.
We've had support from large organizations
at the Google Foundation.
And tell us, and we're actually able to give away
some of our more advanced devices
because of this support.
So everything we do is open source.
Our main designs are on GitHub.
You can forfeit me, change them, do what you want.
But everything we do is tested and there to be useful and used.
So thanks very much.
All right, thank you.
I'd really like to hear from you.
Thank you.
So that's all I have for interviews
from the exhibitor floor at World of Commodore this year.
Unfortunately, I was not able to interview every exhibitor,
but I think this will give you a pretty good idea
about the variety of people you can expect to meet
at a world of Commodore.
And hopefully, you have found something that interests you
from this episode.
In the next episode, you can look forward to listening
to Glenn Holmer.
Tell us his experience in hacking Gek OS.
Until then, try safely and make sure to have fun.
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