8-bit Bookmobile

Welcome to the 8-bit Bookmobile Podcast, where each season we read a vintage programming book and argue about it the whole time. In the first season, we are covering the much-revered Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide! In our very first episode, we introduce the book, talk about what was going on in the world when it came out, and go on a wild goose chase to learn who wrote this iconic book. We also introduce the hosts of this podcast, just three regular nerds from Cincinnati: Carl Danowski, Chris Moyer and John Cook. Listen in as Carl talks us through a rather unconventional method for warming up snacks. John recalls borrowing a Commodore PET from his grade school. And Chris judges us all, finding our character lacking and our knowledge of programming suspect.

We reveal to the world the original name of the 8-bit Bookmobile podcast! In this episode we finally dive into the book. We go into detail about the Commodore Information Network on CompuServe, cover some history of the VICModem, get into some programming topics like bitmasking, and discuss Commodore's quirky quote mode. Once you've finished this episode, read along with us to get ready for episode 3! We will be reading the first 30 pages of chapter 3, up to the section on sprites. Products mentioned on this podcast: Keyrah V2, turns your C64 into a USB keyboard: https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/produkt-details/product/keyrah-v2.html MechBoard 64, a modern mechanical keyboard upgrade for the C64: https://www.breadbox64.com/mods-for-sale/mechboard64/