Ordering Coffee from Starbucks on a Commodore 128

Many of us in the tech world take our coffee very seriously; or, at the very least, in large quantities. But, standing in line at Starbucks…

Cameron Coward
6 years ago

Many of us in the tech world take our coffee very seriously; or, at the very least, in large quantities. But, standing in line at Starbucks to place an order is for basic chumps. There has just got to be a better way!

Well, if you’re into retrocomputing and have some time on your hands, there is: order that venti double mocha frappuccino from a vintage Commodore 128. Paul DeCarlo did just that, with his Commodore 128 running in C64 mode. While the end result was a mediocre cup of coffee, the process of getting it turned out to surprisingly fun (and complicated).

The first step was to get the Commodore online, which was helped along with a modern WiFi upgrade from the Commodore community. Paul was then able to get the Commodore on an IRC channel he created, which runs a bot and takes Starbucks order requests. But, then it starts getting complicated.

Unlike many of the APIs out there that are easily accessible, Starbucks’ app-based ordering system is actually locked down pretty tight. Basically, they don’t want you placing orders from anything but the official app. Luckily, Nick Lee at Tendigi was able to circumvent this with a lot of hard work, and quite a bit of hacking.

Using Lee’s workaround, which is available on GitHub, DeCarlo was able to get his IRC bot working with the Starbucks API. From there, all he had to do was get on the IRC channel with his Commodore and ask the bot for a cup of coffee. That worked, and soon Paul was picking up his order; though, he admits he only took a sip of it.

Cameron Coward
Writer for Hackster News. Proud husband and dog dad. Maker and serial hobbyist.
Latest articles
Sponsored articles
Related articles
Latest articles
Read more
Related articles