A field guide to the golden age of home computing. Seven legendary machines, faithfully re-created in a single browser tab, pick one and boot it up.
A Windows-style desktop with dial-up, Netscape, Winamp, ICQ and a deskful of period software.
Includes: Netscape Navigator · Internet Explorer · Winamp · Minesweeper · Solitaire …
Full record →The blue Workbench desktop with draggable windows, an AmigaShell and the legendary Boing Ball.
Includes: AmigaShell · Deluxe Paint · ProTracker · Boing Ball · Juggler …
Full record →The blue BASIC V2 screen with a real, typeable interpreter: PRINT, FOR, GOTO, LIST, RUN.
Includes: PAC-MAN · Space Invaders · Frogger · Boulder Dash · Lode Runner …
Full record →The black-and-white System 6 desktop with a menu bar, MacPaint, the sliding Puzzle and the Happy Mac.
Includes: MacPaint · MacWrite · Calculator · Note Pad · Puzzle …
Full record →Rainbow loading stripes and games like Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and Knight Lore.
Includes: Manic Miner · Jet Set Willy · Sabre Wulf · Knight Lore · Chuckie Egg …
Full record →Green-phosphor Applesoft with the ] prompt: Oregon Trail, Lode Runner, Karateka, Prince of Persia.
Includes: The Oregon Trail · Lode Runner · Choplifter · Karateka · Prince of Persia …
Full record →The blue Atari BASIC screen with loadable classics: Star Raiders, Pitfall, M.U.L.E. and Bruce Lee.
Includes: Star Raiders · Pitfall · M.U.L.E. · Rescue on Fractalus · Bruce Lee …
Full record →Pick any two machines to see their specifications side by side.
A whole world once fit inside sixty-four kilobytes, and it booted in a heartbeat.From the Archive
Four decades of home computing, side by side, the bars read magnitude on a log scale.
| C64 | Amiga 500 | PC '97 | Modern 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | 1 MHz | 7 MHz | 233 MHz | ~5 GHz ×16 |
| Memory | 64 KB | 512 KB | 32 MB | 32 GB |
| Storage | 170 KB | 880 KB | 4 GB | 2 TB SSD |
| Colors | 16 | 4096 | 16.7M | 1.07B |
| Sound | SID 3ch | Paula 4ch | SB16 | Spatial |
| Released | 1982 | 1987 | 1997 | 2026 |
| Launch price | $595 | $699 | $2000 | $1500 |
Memory and clock speed by year on a logarithmic scale. Hover any point for the detail.
A 2026 PC holds about half a million times the memory of a Commodore 64.
Its clock runs thousands of times faster, across 16 cores instead of one.
How long the same file takes on a 56k modem versus a 2026 connection.
| File | Size | 56k modem | 2026 link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web page | 1.2 MB | ≈ 4 min | instant |
| MP3 song | 4 MB | ≈ 12 min | instant |
| Phone photo | 5 MB | ≈ 16 min | instant |
| Game / movie | 5 GB | ≈ 11 days | ≈ 43 s |
56k modem ≈ 5.5 KB/s · 2026 fibre ≈ 1 Gbit/s
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