About the Siders C64 Group

The group name is inspired by the SID chip, which we are very fond of. Zynthaxx was always interested in music and Hackz0id in coding. In the early nineties we got into the world of Commodore computers in the form of a Commodore Plus/4 gifted to us. The passion for the home computer was born.

Later on we bought a used Commodore 64, but this was at a time when mainstream C64 was already declining. The C64 we bought was the old model bread box with an old 1541 and a number of disk boxes. Coming from the Plus/4, initially we spent the first months playing many games from those boxes. But in those disk boxes were also disks with programs that were not games. They featured scrolling text, logos, music, etc. Soon we were watching those demos and started reading scroll texts and demo notes, etc.

While playing games earlier we had understood that the intros/cracktros we saw were groups that had made and distributed the 'crack'. But watching demos we started piecing things together and sensed this whole world of groups, the 'scene', producing lots of cool and/or strange content. The first demo party we attended was LCP 1998.

By then we had jobs and we hoarded C64 computers and peripherals. We were early adopters of most of the latest Commodore compatible hardware available from 1995 to 2005, playing around with IDE64, Retro Replay, etc.

Then something happened, not really sure what. Life I guess. We stashed away our Commodores in boxes and kept them in storage for ~20 years.

2025 was the year of the renaissance for us. HackZ0id bought a 'The C64' (Individual Computers) on a whim and started playing around. The emulation was kind of mediocre so I went to storage and started going through the old boxes again. Lots of C64 computers in different states of decay. Meanwhile Zynthaxx got a Commodore 64 Ultimate and the passion was rekindled.

This is our portal. This is where we share our fondness for this old computer. This is where we share our knowledge and tools. This is where we inspire others to share in the Commodore 64 passion.

- HackZ0id