While some of the electronic gear is built to survive the harshest of conditions, some even feature rugged steel cases and gaskets that are weatherproof. However, we all can agree that the earliest home PC era devices were not built with such durability in mind. They didn’t feature cables that made their way through sealed glands, nor were they designed to fight off natural elements. Who here remembers Commodore 64? Exactly, now, would you say that it was designed to be a rugged beast of a machine that could survive Mother Nature? Nope, not really!
In fact, most of those machines would simply die if you spilled Mountain Dew on them. Very few machines of that era have lived to tell the tale of any kind of abuse that they might have been subjugated to, but there is this particular Commodore 64C that has managed to survive the exposure of decades to the elements. YouTube user Adrian Black has posted a revival video-series, two parts, of a Commodore 64 and we must say that it is quite wonderful to watch the machine being restored to life.
The first part’s description reads, ‘I was given a Commodore 64C that had been left outside for a decade or more in rural Oregon. It dealt with everything mother nature could throw at it while it sat outside. Could this machine possibly still work?‘
We must remind you that such machines were built to a price point. This particular Commodore 64 was found in a scrap heap in an Oregon field and was a disaster. It was filled with pine needles and an ant colony. The worst part, however, was the rust. The RF shielding was so far gone that it had turned into powder at particular points. Adrian started work by first giving the computer a bath with water and then isopropanol. He then used Deoxit for helping with the header connections and some serious work with the 6526 I/O controller. Ultimately, he was able to get everything on the motherboard to work including the sound chip.
The part two of the video series says, ‘You all asked for it — I took the neglected and abandoned Commodore 64 and made it beautiful again! This machine has been through the wringer, took a licking and kept on ticking. Check out how I got there!’
Check out the videos below and witness the revival of Commodore 64!
