Dust off the old Commodore 64, for you can now mine Bitcoin with it!
After last week’s experiment that allowed a tech YouTuber Stacksmashing to mine Bitcoin from a Game Boy, another fun project that repurposes an old recreational computing device for modern purposes has come up.
Maciej Witkowiak, a data scientist and an old-school retro gaming enthusiast, has repurposed a Commodore 64 to mine Bitcoin.
Pushing the Boundaries of the Old Systems
The Commodore 64 was a home computer unlike the Game Boy which is a portable console, its main purpose was also recreational. Named after its 64 KB of RAM, the PC still holds the Guinness World Record for the best-selling desktop PC of all time.
Though the mining speed is too slow to actually net any profit, it is still a very fascinating project that will catch the eye of many nostalgic fans of the system. Its code is always available on Github, at 0.2 hashes per second, the first block could be mined in 337 years and 10 months.
Witkowiak stated that hash functions are hampered by the inefficiency with which the ancient PC handles 32-bit computations, which are needed for hash functions.
“The 6502 CPU in C64 runs at about 1MHz and it doesn’t handle 32-bit computations very efficiently. Just enjoy the experience.”
C64 Bitcoin miner from GitHub
“Is this a joke? No, It really does the same thing that every other miner does…”
C64 Bitcoin miner from Github
Though the chance of this mining method getting any bitcoin in one’s life is insignificant, the nostalgia that came with these old systems isn’t.
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