CNN had a front page story the other day on the Commodore 64, which turns 25 this week.

This was a cool machine. I remember our computer lab at school was full of them. We replaced the aging VIC-20s and Commodore PETs.

The CNN article said, in part:

Like a first love or a first car, a first computer can hold a special place in people’s hearts. For millions of kids who grew up in the 1980s, that first computer was the Commodore 64. Twenty-five years later, that first brush with computer addiction is as strong as ever.

[…] On Monday, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, will celebrate the C64’s 25th anniversary. Computer pioneers will reflect on the C64’s achievements and contribution to the industry.

Here’s the thing: you can still buy one of them. Seriously. Vintage computer enthusiasts love the C64 because it was made in enough quantities (17 million of them were sold) that there are enough systems to cannibalize parts for decades.

They sell for about $100 - $200 out on eBay, complete with games, documentation, etc. The descriptions tend to read like this one:

One of the two systems doesnt work so its parts only or might be fixable. The one that does work is in better shape. Includes a ton disks and a bunch of stuff still in there original boxes. disk drive works well as i loaded up my favorite c64 game with it.

There’s a huge community behind these computers headquartered at c64.com.

If you’re not into the hardware, there are dozens of emulators. There are even emulators in Java and Flash that run in your browser.

(Picture from Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of Bill Bertram.)