Commodore VIC-20 becomes the oldest computer to tweet

20th February 2010
Commodore VIC-20 becomes the oldest computer to tweet

On the 20th February 2010 at approximately 11:06 AM, former Brantford Expositor city editor Richard Beales sent a tweet from a Commodore VIC-20. Released in 1981, the VIC-20 is the oldest computer that anyone has used to send a tweet.

Syd Bolton, the curator of the Canadian Personal Computer Museum wrote the code that allowed this ancient computer to connect to the modern internet. Why anyone would want to enable a VIC-20 to send a tweet is not immediately obvious, but Syd explained his motives as follows:

"For me, it was an engineering experiment. Taking a computer that was almost 30 years old and integrating it into modern society was all the drive I needed."

The software which allows the VIC-20 to connect to the internet and tweet is on cassette tape and runs on an unexpanded VIC-20 with just 5K of RAM.

The tweeting VIC-20 can be found at the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford, Canada and is still the oldest computer ever to tweet.

Related information:

• Centre for Computing History: Commodore VIC-20
• Toronto Sun: Tweeting on a Commodore VIC-20

Image:

• Syd Bolton coding on a Commodore VIC-20
  Credit: Christopher Smith, The Brantford Expositor. Images remain the copyright of the original copyright holder. Used under fair use policy for educational purposes only.

Related Items in the Collection:

Commodore VIC-20