Today I was updating my home media database with the new additions I received during Christmas. I use the program MasterFile II, written for the C128, to keep track of my video collection. And as I was finishing up, saving my updates to floppy disk, it occurred to me as to why I still enjoy using my C128 to do these sort of tasks.

There are much more advanced and sophisticated programs I could be using to do this work, using a modern computer. Yes, it would be faster and more efficient, but I think one of the things that the modern day equivalent doesn't provide is the connection/interaction I get from using my C128.

It's difficult to explain the feeling, exactly; but I get a much more “organic” feeling of a connection with my Commodore, which I don't get with my modern netbook/desktop PC. When I want to save my work on my C128, I see the result of my command to save when the LED on 1541 lights up. I can hear the swish-swish-swish of the floppy disk as it spins. I can hear the brrrrt-brrrt-brrrrrrrrrrrt of the read/write head as it steps it's way across the tracks on the disk. For many of my programs and games, I can tell the stage of the loading just from the sounds the disk drive is making. It's almost like the hardware is talking to me… communicating with me in some way. I just don't get that from a modern day computer. There's no physical feedback or queues coming from a modern PC, not like my Commodore.

Printing on the dot matrix printer is very much the same. I much prefer the control I have over my Star Gemini II, compared to the HP Inkjet that's plugged into my Linux PC. On the Gemini II, I can precisely control the paper feed and print head quite easily, getting it to print exactly where I want it. Can't even come close to that level of control over the inkjet printer.

Anyway, I suppose the eccentricities of the old, slow 8-bit technology isn't something most people are willing to put up with. For me, however, it's a link to the days when we had more control over how our devices performed and when things worth doing took time and patience; two things today's society have very little of, it seems.

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