Just learned the Commodore 64 actually had a 3-minute startup delay from a magazine

Picked up an old Compute! Gazette from 1984 at a thrift store, and it said the C64's BASIC cold start took 3 minutes because the ROM kernel did a full memory test every time. Does anyone still have their original C64 and remember waiting that long?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_perry1d ago

Yeah, I remember... you could go make a sandwich while it fired up.

the_rowan1d ago

That's so true! I was reading about how some of those old machines would take a full 15 minutes just to get to a usable speed. The whole process was a ritual, you know, like you had to plan ahead just to check your email. Now if my phone takes 15 seconds to load something I start pacing around the room. We really did live in a different world back then, both slower and somehow more patient about it.