Bil Herd

Bil Herd (right) and chip designer Dave DiOrio circa 1983.
Bil Herd (right) speaks to Jack Tramiel at the 25th Anniversary of the Commodore 64 at the Computer History Museum in 2007.
Bil Herd CBM Design Engineer at Commodore Christmas Party 1985

Bil Herd is a computer engineer who created several designs for 8-bit home computers while working for Commodore Business Machines in the early to mid-1980s. After first acting as the principal engineer on the Commodore Plus/4, C16/116, C264, and C364 machines, Herd designed the significantly more successful Commodore 128, a dual-CPU, triple-OS, compatible successor to the Commodore 64. Prior to the C128, Herd had done the initial architecture of the Commodore LCD computer, which was not released.

After leaving Commodore, Herd continued to design faster and more powerful computers with emphasis on machine vision and is a co-author on a patent involving n-dimensional pattern matching. Herd also designed an ultrasonic backup sensor for vehicles while working for Indian Valley Mfg. in 1986, a feature found on many modern vehicles today.

Herd has undertaken an entrepreneurial role and is owner of several small companies. As for recent low-level computer hacking, he did a "cameo appearance" by contributing a snippet of sprite logic code to the C64 DTV product designed by Jeri Ellsworth.

Bil Herd currently produces videos for Hackaday and appeared in and narrated the documentary "Growing the 8 Bit Generation" about the early days of home computers.

Military and community service

Military service:

Voluntary health care work:

References

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