ObiKenobiMay 2026Strongly recommends
My most favourite demo is "Freespin" which runs entirely on a floppy drive without a computer. Crazy stuff. ▶ this video
in “WriteUp: 16 Bytes of x86 that turn Matrix rain into sound” · View on HN
Freespin
Freespin on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2021–2026.
Matthias Kramm
Open on YouTubedemo · evergreen
Freespin is a demo that runs on a Commodore 1541 floppy drive. It makes sound by vibrating the drive head and video by toggling the serial bus lines, and it keeps running after the C64 that booted it is disconnected.
Why Hacker News recommends it
Shared as a favorite example of retrocomputing hackery, a demo that runs entirely on a disk drive.
- people recommended it
- 1
- separate months
- 1
- strong recommendations
- 1
- discussed on HN
- 2021–2026
“which runs entirely on a floppy drive without a computer. Crazy stuff.”
What HN commenters said
5 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
rzzztDec 2023Cites it
There's a demo that plays entirely out of the 1541, you can disconnect the rest of the computer: ▶ this video
in “The 8-Bit Era: Eight Iconic Processor Designs – By Babbage” · View on HN
thristianJul 2023Cites it
The "C64" demo "Freespin" wires the drive's data cable directly into the monitor's data cable to play a demo (including audio!) without an actual C64 involved at all: ▶ this video
in “MartyPC, cycle accurate IBM PC/XT emulator” · View on HN
einrJun 2022Cites it
See also: [link] -- ▶ this video A demo, including music and graphics, written for the 1541 disk drive -- no, it is not a C64 demo, it runs entirely on the 1541 (which has a 6502 CPU and some amount of RAM in it)
in “The Floppotron 3.0” · View on HN
cbm-vic-20Oct 2021Cites it
Here's a demo running directly on the 1541 disk drive. It generates video by hacking the serial cable that's usually used to connect to the computer, and audio from the drive motors. ▶ this video
in “The 100 MHz 6502” · View on HN