The comeback of retro‑computing
It’s 2026, and retro‑computing isn’t just “back” — it has settled into something more interesting: a quiet, persistent undercurrent. People are buying, restoring, and proudly using machines that were built before many of today’s developers were born. A surprising number of these computers aren’t dead at all; most need nothing more than a few capacitors, a replacement DRAM chip, and a patient afternoon with isopropyl alcohol and a soft brush.
But let’s be honest: nobody needs a 40‑year‑old 8‑bit computer today. You can emulate everything — often directly in your browser — with perfect accuracy and zero maintenance. So why are so many of us doing it anyway?
Because retro‑computing isn’t about need. It’s about connection — to history, to creativity, and to the machines that shaped the digital world we live in.
And also about middle life crisis
Re‑introducing the Commodore 128
The machine I decided to buy for myself wasn’t the obvious choice. I didn’t go for the C64, the best‑selling home computer of all time and that I proudly owned, programmed, and even surfed the cyberspace with, or the Amiga, the multimedia marvel. I went for the one I never owned, but always orbited around: the Commodore 128.
I used it at friends’ houses, in basements, in attics — always as “the other Commodore” sitting next to a C64. It was the mysterious, more serious sibling: the one with the extra keys, the businesslike look, and that strange 80‑column output user hardly ever used.
Looking at it today, the Commodore 128 was a formidable machine. Maybe it arrived a little late, but it was absolutely ahead of its time. Launched in 1985, it came out a year after the original Macintosh and the same year as the Amiga 1000 — both 16‑bit computers with more memory and more modern architectures. And yet the C128 carved out a unique identity that still feels fresh.
The secret superpower: dual video output
The feature that fascinates me most — and was almost completely overlooked in the 80s — is that the C128 could drive two monitors at once.
Not mirrored. Not switched. Two independent video systems running simultaneously:
- 40‑column color graphics (C64 mode and native C128 40‑col mode)
- crisp 80‑column RGBI output (business mode, CP/M, and high‑resolution graphics)
This was dual‑head output in 1985.
To put that in perspective: dual‑monitor setups didn’t become mainstream until the early 2000s — nearly fifteen years later. Back then, even a small 14‑inch color monitor could cost around 500 dollars in 1985 money, so most users simply switched between modes on a single screen. The idea of running two monitors at once was exotic, impractical, and expensive.
Today, it’s one of the most delightful things about the machine. The familiar C64‑style 40‑column world; the workstation‑like 80‑column display that looks surprisingly good on a modern LCD when converted properly.
Everything about the C128 was “double”
The C128 wasn’t just a C64 with a facelift. It was a system built around the idea of more:
- Twice the RAM the 8502 CPU could directly address
- Two CPUs (8502 + Z80)
- Two video chips (VIC‑IIe + VDC)
- Two ROM sets
- Two operating systems (C128 BASIC 7.0 + CP/M)
- Two personalities (C128 mode + full C64 compatibility)
It was a hybrid machine — part home computer, part business machine, part CP/M workstation, part C64 on steroids. And it worked.
How modern it feels in 2026
The C128 is one of the few 8‑bit computers that feels like it was designed with a modern mindset. Banked memory, coexistence of graphic and text mode, dual display, multiple processor. Still now I don't know if it was by accident, by desperation, or because of engineering mastery.
A forward‑looking 80‑column display
The 80-col output is razor‑sharp, especially in 80‑column mode. In its standard configuration, the C128 could drive a 640×200 display — already competitive with many 16‑bit systems of the time. For comparison, the original 1984 Macintosh offered a 512×342 monochrome screen, optimized for typography and GUI clarity, while many IBM PCs were stuck at 320×200 in four horribly paletted colors for graphics.
A surprisingly capable BASIC
BASIC 7.0 on the C128 added structured commands, graphics primitives, sprite control, and disk commands that feel light‑years ahead of the C64’s BASIC 2.0. You can open files, draw shapes, and manipulate sprites without resorting to endless POKEs into magic addresses.
CP/M support
CP/M was a DOS like operating system, and by 1985 it was already losing ground to the rising IBM/MS DOS duo. People said CP/M had a huge library of business and development software — and that was true — but in practice I never saw CP/M running on any machine in my lifetime. Maybe that’s because I grew up in Italy, where computers tended to arrive a little later. I got my first C64 in late 1986, completely unaware that the C128 even existed. In my small town, the first kids who bought a C128 did so around 1987. Another year had to pass before I began seeing IBM and Olivetti 8088 PCs in small offices and at the homes of older college-age friends. CP/M had already vanished from the landscape. So for the average Italian who owned a computer in those years — whether a kid or a professional — CP/M was already a ghost. The C128 launched into a world where its “business mode” was practically invisible. It’s hard to know what Commodore truly expected from this hybrid design. Why would a user pay more for extra hardware they might never use? To understand it, you have to think with the mindset of that era. Most people didn’t own two computers. Commodore probably imagined a single machine serving two roles: CP/M by day for work, and C64 or C128 mode by night for games or casual programming. One foot in the home computer world, one foot in the office. In theory, it made sense. In practice, there was nothing CP/M could do that C128 native mode couldn’t eventually do better. But the strategy wasn’t completely misguided: CP/M compatibility could have helped the C128 break into small and medium sized offices, leveraging an established ecosystem of productivity software while waiting for dedicated C128 applications to catch up.
GEOS 128: the forgotten operating system
And in fact, it wasn't either the CP/M business feel nor the powerful BASIC language interpreter to award this computer the privilege of being collected by me. The C128 should be remembered for something that was, and almost wasn’t, that surclassed all other 8-bit computer for years to come and even make the early Macintosh pale by comparison.
That something was GEOS.
Back in the 80s, my Compuclub friends and I were already equipped with floppy disk drives, while the majority of C64 and C128 owners were still loading programs from the humble data cassette. One day, Gianni’s mom called me asking if I could help set up her son’s, my friend's new computer — a shiny Commodore 64, edition C. Inside the box was a misterious diskette and a manual labeled GEOS.
When I flipped through that manual, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Gianni didn’t have a disk drive, and he wasn’t planning to buy one. So he casually handed me the GEOS disk and manual as if they were useless. My Compuclub friend Peppe and I ran home and loaded it up.
What appeared on the screen felt like discovering a secret future.
It was, in every sense, a Macintosh‑like graphical operating system — icons, windows, menus, a pointer, a desktop — running on an 8‑bit home computer that cost a fraction of Apple’s machines. At the time, I had never seen a real Macintosh in person; they were so expensive that only specialized companies could afford them. GEOS was our first taste of that world.
Suddenly we had:
- WYSIWYG word processors
- Illustration tools
- Proportional fonts, including a gothic typeface like the New York Times nameplate
- A full desktop environment on a machine most people used to play games
From that moment on, GEOS became the default operating mode of my Commodore 64 — the way many x86 PCs would later boot straight into Windows. It felt natural, modern, and strangely inevitable.
And little did we know, there was an even more powerful version.
I only recently learned that the 128 edition, GEOS 128, took advantage of the C128’s 80‑column bitmap display, running at 640×200 — a specification on par with many 16‑bit computers we wouldn’t have the privilege of touching until years later. Meanwhile, IBM PCs of the time were often limited to 320×200 in four colors, and most “professional” work was still done in text mode.
GEOS 128 wasn’t just a novelty. It was a glimpse of what the C128 could have become if the market had embraced it: a low‑cost, high‑resolution, GUI‑based personal computer years before Windows or the Amiga became mainstream. It remains one of the great “what ifs” of 8‑bit history.
This is one of my regrets about growing up in rural Italy. I would have gladly spent 80 dollars on an operating system like that — but there was no way to know it existed, let alone find a shop that sold it.
Why buy a Commodore 128 today?
So why chase a C128 in 2026, when emulators are perfect and original hardware is getting scarce — and expensive?
Because it’s a machine with personality, a machine that rewards curiosity. It represents a moment in computing history when companies were willing to experiment, to hybridize, to build something ambitious even if it didn’t fit neatly into a category.
The C128 is a bridge between eras:
- between 8‑bit and 16‑bit
- between home computing and business computing
- between the C64’s playful world and the Amiga’s multimedia future — ok, let’s not overstate it
In 2026, using a Commodore 128 feels like reconnecting with the roots of personal computing — not as nostalgia, but as a reminder of how much creativity can come from working within constraints.
And — it’s hard to admit — because I want my children to see what technology looked like for us teens of the 80s, often mocked for our passion and dedication, dismissed as computer whiz nerds.
I’m also paying a debt to my inner child, who had unfinished projects he couldn’t complete because he couldn’t find the Reference Programming Guide or the fast language compiler anywhere — the very tools I finally found on eBay.
Final thoughts
The Commodore 128 was misunderstood in its time. It wasn’t just a “better C64” or a budget business machine. It was a bold, hybrid design that pushed the limits of what an 8‑bit computer could be.
I’m grateful for the technological diversity of that era, but I wouldn’t buy anything other than a Commodore 128. Not Amstrad. Not Spectrum. Not Apple II. Not even MSX — a great, faster machine, but still, overall, inferior to the Commodore 8‑bit lineup.
You don’t need a Commodore 128 in 2026. But if you find one, and you decide to bring it back to life, you might discover that this “late” 8‑bit machine has more to say about the present than you’d expect.
And you — still reading — what do you think? What retro computer do you have, or hope to buy? What would you do with it?