Back into the Storm: A Design Engineer's Story of Commodore Computers in the 1980s

by Bil Herd, Margaret Morabito

Back into the A Design Engineer’s Story of Commodore Computers in the 1980s brings you on a journey recounting the experiences of working at Commodore Business Machines from 1983 to 1986, as seen through the eyes of a young hardware engineer, Bil Herd. Herd was the lead design engineer for the TED series of home computers which included the Plus/4 and C16. He was also the lead designer for the versatile C128 that sold in the millions and was known fondly as the last of the 8-bit computers. In this book, Bil tells the inside stories that he and his extraordinary team, called “the Animals,” lived through at Commodore.These were years when the home computer wars were at their height, technology moved ahead at a fast pace, and Commodore was at its pinnacle. The best-selling computer of all time, the Commodore C64, was in full swing and had blown past the sales numbers of its competitors, such as Apple, Tandy, Atari, and Sinclair, to name a few, in the home computer market. Commodore’s founder, Jack Tramiel, was the head of the company when Bil began working there.This book describes with intricate detail how Herd and his team designed and built the computers that they were charged with creating for Commodore. It brings you through the design cycles of the computers that Herd headed up, categorized in the book in three stages--early, middle, and late--starting with the TED series of computers that he inherited in his first week at Commodore. The TEDs are known mostly as the Plus/4 and C16 computers, but there were other models that were designed, such as the C364 with a first-of-its-kind desktop interface that actually spoke, but which never made it into production. The TED series was followed by the Commodore C128, which was Herd and the Animals' invention from start to finish, and amazingly had an unheard of three operating systems.This was a high pressure time, a unique time in computer history, when a handful of (mostly) young individuals could craft a computer using the resources of one of the largest computer manufacturers at the time at their disposal, and yet there were no design committees nor management oversight groups to get in the way of true progress. As corny as it sounds (and it does sound corny), they designed from their hearts and for the five-month period that it took to get a computer from paper to the Consumer Electronics Show (the Super Bowl for the computer industry), they lived, breathed, and ate everything dealing with how to get their computers done. They added features that they thought were good ideas and did their best to dodge the bad ideas from middle management that were thrust in their direction. They had that cockiness that came from knowing that they would outlive these bosses in the Commodore corporate culture, if they were successful, and providing they survived the highwire, design cycle themselves. They worked hard, they played hard.Come for an insider's ride with Bil Herd and the Animals in this fun adventure!

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 27, 2021

Reviews

[Denny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read for anyone who was around in the 8-bit era. I remember the summer between college semesters that I spent anticipating the C128’s release — I’d found a book about it that was published before the computer hit the shelves, and I read it cover-to-cover and just imagined what I would do with this amazing piece of technology. A 2MHz mode, wow! After college I wrote about the Amiga for a variety of magazines, and I got to know quite a few Commodore folks, but I missed the pioneering folks from the 8-bit era. Reading this book feels a lot like sitting down with Bil Herd over a coffee while he tells stories about those crazy, long days engineering the ill-fated Plus/4 and the amazing C128. It’s written in a very conversational style, and as a book editor I’d definitely have made a few suggestions about stuff like “more on that later,” but it’s such a fun read I didn’t mind. I’m glad Bil captured these stories to share.

And as someone often incredulous at how Commodore could botch marketing such amazingly ahead-of-their-time, high-value machines, the stories about the management even in Bil’s days resonate with my own experiences working with the company as a journalist. It’s a shame, because as a kid who worked at Burger King to save up for a VIC-20, went from the C64 to the 128 to a series of Amigas, these were days when hardware was *exciting* and each new machine opened up new possibilities. Thanks for making the C128 happen, Bil, and thanks for sitting down and telling us these tales.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scattershot of recollections, chronologically ordered. Begins with the line of TED machines, and the 2nd half is a (much more technical) telling of the struggle to produce the Commodore 128.

[Bill Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A year ago, I randomly stumbled across a YouTube clip by Bil Herd where he described his employment at Commodore Computers. There were many fantastic stories, and at the end, he mentioned writing a book about this time in his life. Of course, I had to purchase it.
First off, Bil wrote this book for a specific audience. Readers need to have some Commodore, software, and hardware experience. Otherwise, it will be a challenging read. For example, he discusses reset circuits. If you do not understand what one is, this is not the book for you.
That said, Back into the Storm is an insightful look into developing a successful 8-bit computer. It was challenging back then because the designers did not have decent logic analyzers or fast digital oscilloscopes. Instead, they devised ingenious methods and tests to figure things out. On top of this, the pressure at Commodore Business Machines was insane. Bil had to sleep in his office for weeks. Talk about dedication.
Bil’s story also has heart. He put so much into the C128, and the results speak for themselves. What a great machine. Truly the best 8-bit computer ever made.
This is a fantastic read, and Bil provided extreme insight into a part of computer history and technology that few have experienced. I got a lot out of this book, and I recommend it to anybody who wants to know what it was like to develop 80s computers. I passed this book title along to three friends working with electronics and computers.

[Adam Lippman · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a very technical book, the humorous anecdotes made the tech jargon and stories of stressful all nighters and meddling middle managers a fun read. and i feel like i learned a thing or two along the way. great brand, i still use a few of these legendary 8 bit machines, with modern upgrades. sad that some bad business decisions saw the end of one of the most successful brands ever in personal computing.