Bil Herd

Bil Herd was a designer of 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: InterActive Network Systems, Inc, InterActive Design Solutions, Inc and JerseyNet. 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.

Military and community service

Military service:
* 1977–1980: 238th Cavalry - 38th Division Indiana Army National Guard
* 1980–1982: 103rd Medical Battalion - 28th Division Pennsylvania Army National Guard
* 1981: Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service.

Voluntary health care work:
* 1989–1996: Fellowship First Aid Squad / Mount Laurel EMS Inc. Highest rank: Captain (also served as President)
* 1991–1995: Cooper Trauma Center - Camden, NJ: Trauma Technician

References

*Bagnall, Brian: [http://worldcat.org/isbn/0973864907 On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore] , ISBN 0-9738649-0-7.
* Greenley, Larry, et.al. (1986). "Commodore 128 Programmer's Reference Guide". ISBN 0-553-34378-5. (Herd Co-author)

External links

* [http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-31708.html CNET TV coverage of Commodore64 25th anniversery with rare interview of Jack Tramiel. Includes Bil Herd, Steve Wozniack.]
* [http://www.commodore.ca/products/128/Commodore_128.htm Commodore 128 History at Commodore.ca] – By Ian Matthews
* [http://www.sothius.com/hypertxt/welcome.html?c128d.html C128D information, with quotes by Herd] – By M. A. Grundke (aka Sothius)
* [http://freax.hu/about.html A brief history of the computer demo scene] – By Tamár Polgár
* [http://home.datacomm.ch/fmeyer/c64/c128_story.html The C128 story, by Bil Herd] – At Fab's Commodore page (Fabian Meyer)
* [http://www.c128.com C128.com Commodore Users Group Video - Updated 2005] – With Bil Herd, Dave Haynie
* [http://www.tllts.org/audio/tllts_209-09-12-07.ogg Appearance on The Linux Link Tech Show on September 12, 2007 (ogg)] [http://www.tllts.org/audio/tllts_209-09-12-07.mp3 (mp3)]