Commodore 64 Rebooted

[HanaBi]

For those of us old enough to remember cutting our teeth on 2nd and 3rd generation home computers back in the 1980s (Sinclair Spectrum, Dragon 32, Texas TI99/4a, Oric, BBC Micro A/B, Vic-20), you will be pleased to learn that the much-popular Commodore C64 is going to be rebooted early next year!

However, it should be noted that the new C64 will be half the size of the original, which explains its new name - "The C64 Mini"

Moreover, the actual keyboard doesn't offer full functionality, so those peeps wanted to learn/relearn BASIC, will have to plug in a standard keyboard into one of its USB slots.

The Mini, also ships with one of those 1980s styled joysticks, but a more modern HDMI slot in order to handshake with the latest monitors and smart TVs

As befits its name, it comes complete with a built-in rom containing 64 legacy games; and there is a save-program option, which suggest you'll be able to code and save your own games.

No information on the hardware side of things (memory, storage, processor); but the price has been set to £69.99, $69.99,€79.99

One would ask what is the point of doing this when it would be just as easy to use an emulator, or buy a genuine C64 off eBay!

To me it's probably nothing more than a Raspberry Pi running as a C64 emulator in a keyboard case.

More details here....

The Official C64 website – The World’s Best-selling Home Computer – Reborn!

 

[Vertigo]

I suspect it's targeted as a nostalgic Christmas present for those who have fond memories of those early heady days of home computing, especially with that obviously retro styling.

 

[HanaBi]

I still have my old Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair Spectrum, BBC Micro B and Atari 2600 Games Console, up in the loft someplace. Haven't played on any of them for years. But then that was back in the day when you had to load games from tape cassettes via a tape recorder. And in the case of the two Sinclair machines you had to get the volume just right otherwise the game would fail to load.

Such happy days back then, especially learning to program in BASIC; so much more interesting than the languages I use these days like Python and Scratch.

Moreover the machines back then had their own characteristics, faults and charms; compare that with today's utterly bland PCs and laptops.

 

[Parson]

Ah! but bland is good.

 

[Biskit]

I still have my old Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair Spectrum, BBC Micro B and Atari 2600 Games Console, up in the loft someplace.

I still have my BBC B somewhere in the loft. I bought it as a student - a serious working computer, and I had a good old 5 1/4 inch floppy with hundreds of kilobytes of storage. As a postgrad, I had my own machine in my digs, and a departmental one in my lab complete with terminal emulator to let me talk to the university mainframe.
I wrote my PhD thesis on that BBC B, using a word-processor I wrote myself in 6502 assembler code, and did chunks of my data analysis before punting the numbers onto the mainframe.
Happy days.

 

[HanaBi]

I still have my BBC B somewhere in the loft. I bought it as a student - a serious working computer, and I had a good old 5 1/4 inch floppy with hundreds of kilobytes of storage. As a postgrad, I had my own machine in my digs, and a departmental one in my lab complete with terminal emulator to let me talk to the university mainframe.
I wrote my PhD thesis on that BBC B, using a word-processor I wrote myself in 6502 assembler code, and did chunks of my data analysis before punting the numbers onto the mainframe.
Happy days.

Yes, I cut my teeth on not only BASIC, but also Assembler and Machine Code on the ZX81 and Spectrum. I was quite fascinated how quickly a program like a game for example, would execute when written in Assembler compared to BASIC. And because of the severe limitations on memory and storage you had to be extremely economical/efficient when it came to writing a program.

Many late late nights of compiling and debugging and lots and lots of swearing when I couldn't find a syntax error. lol

 

[Biskit]

And because of the severe limitations on memory and storage you had to be extremely economical/efficient when it came to writing a program.

I can't remember what it was called, but there was an advanced user guide for the BBC B. (It's buried in a box somewhere.) The important thing was it told you what every bit of memory was used for, and explained all the chunks of reserved space intended for the (staggeringly expensive) add-ons that I never knew anyone to buy. So, if you had a chunk of 6502 code that fitted into say 32bytes, there was bound to be a 32byte reserved space somewhere. The big challenge was keeping track - I discovered the necessity of documentation.

 

[tinkerdan]

I still have my 128 packup up somewhere. Maybe it's time to put it on ebay.

 

[Dave]

I still have a C64 in my loft. How much is it worth on eBay exactly?

To me it's probably nothing more than a Raspberry Pi running as a C64 emulator in a keyboard case.

Sounds about right, but without all the pleasures of saving onto audio cassette tapes?

 

[BAYLOR]

I still have a C64 in my loft. How much is it worth on eBay exactly?

Sounds about right, but without all the pleasures of saving onto audio cassette tapes?

I loved the Commodore 64 version of the game Ghosts and Ghouls.

 

[Biskit]

I loved the Commodore 64 version of the game Ghosts and Ghouls.

But would you shell out the money to relive the experience?

(I ask as a non-gamer. My BBC micro was a bit of a work-horse. I even had a summer job programming someone else's to act as a data-logger for an x-ray rig. Then I discovered HP, IEEE488 interfaces, experimental automation yada, yada, yada... I can feel the nostalgia oozing from my pores, but I wouldn't want to take the tech backward step and work with those old machines again... ignoring the small detail that I don't do that sort of stuff any more.)

 

[BAYLOR]

But would you shell out the money to relive the experience?

(I ask as a non-gamer. My BBC micro was a bit of a work-horse. I even had a summer job programming someone else's to act as a data-logger for an x-ray rig. Then I discovered HP, IEEE488 interfaces, experimental automation yada, yada, yada... I can feel the nostalgia oozing from my pores, but I wouldn't want to take the tech backward step and work with those old machines again... ignoring the small detail that I don't do that sort of stuff any more.)

No , I wouldn't . Its old technology.

 

[Dave]

No , I wouldn't . Its old technology.

It may be old technology, but surely the skills learnt are still useful. We still need people that know how an electric light actually works, even though most people will flick a switch and never need to even think about it.

 

[HanaBi]

Out of pure interest I retrieved my boxed ZX81 and ZX Spectrum from my dusty loft last night. I was also lucky enough to find an old tape player too, all boxed in a big packing box.

I used one of my very old monitors which had a TV aerial port and managed to connect the Spectrum to the monitor, and then plugged in the huge/heavy power pack that went with it. And to my utter surprise it came to life - albeit a blank white screen with a flashing cursor bottom left. Wrote a bit of code to prompt me for my name and age; and to print it 50 times. All worked!

I then hooked up the tape deck and popped in "Chucky Egg" (one of my favourite Spectrum games back in the 80s); adjusted the volume and loaded the game. Took about 5 attempts before it finally loaded and I was back to my misspent youth playing this great arcade game (using the rubber keys on the keypad).

I then tried getting my ZX81 (plus 16K RAMpack add-on) to fire up, but I think the power modulator inside the box is dead. Great shame because I wanted to play "3D Monster Maze" in its full black & white glory!

It was nice playing the Spectrum again, but the novelty didn't last long and I quickly packed it up (along with the 81) and put it back in the loft for another 20 years!

 

[Brian G Turner]

It was nice playing the Spectrum again, but the novelty didn't last long

I downloaded a Spectrum 48k emulator (with games!) for the iPad a few years back. While it was nice revisiting old games, the playability really was terrible - those were the days where you had to be pixel perfect with your jumps.

I also bought Rare Replay for the Xbox, which includes original titles by Ultimate (Play the Game) - Sabre Wulf, Knight Lore, etc. However, as above, while nice to revisit, the old Spectrum games just held novelty value.

 

[Caledfwlch]

A friend is well into his retro computing, and often surfs the net on an Amiga 500! I don't think he uses original machines - I think he owns a proper Amiga 500 and a Commodore but keeps them safely stored away, and has built his own PC style, as there are companies who manufacture all the components you need to build a replica Amiga.

Case modding is of course very popular, but the best one I have ever seen belonged to a chap who built himself a Commodore 64 Laptop!! It even looks like a genuine C64 laptop from the 80's, if Commodore had done one.

 

[HanaBi]

I downloaded a Spectrum 48k emulator (with games!) for the iPad a few years back. While it was nice revisiting old games, the playability really was terrible - those were the days where you had to be pixel perfect with your jumps.

I also bought Rare Replay for the Xbox, which includes original titles by Ultimate (Play the Game) - Sabre Wulf, Knight Lore, etc. However, as above, while nice to revisit, the old Spectrum games just held novelty value.

Oh golly gosh yes! That used to infuriate me immensely, especially with platform games where you had to jump over gaps, holes, or traps etc. Didn't matter how close to the edge prior to jumping i would always end up being killed!

The <extremely> bad language that used to fill the air in my bedroom back then would make a a navvy blush!

Obviously, being of a more mature age these days my cursing is far more civilised i.e. "Oh dear, I appear to have been killed. Oh well never mind, it is obviously a failing of mine and not the game!"

 

[Caledfwlch]

Sadly back in the days of my 80's childhood, I didn't have a hip & groovy system like a Speccy or C64
Instead the Father, I think because he wanted to have a go at playing games and had a vague interest in this new computing thing bought me an Acorn Electron when I was between 5 & 6 in very late 1983/early 1984. Looking at the details now online, I strongly suspect my Father was conned by a smooth talking Salesman in either Currys, Dixons or Tandy's which I believe where the only places selling such stuff here in this small town in the early 80's. Looking at the release prices, the Speccy was £130, but the Acorn Electron was £175.

I used to spend hours inputting programmes. I would have preferred a Spectrum as games for the Acorn were harder to get hold of.

I have dyspraxia, which can cause literacy problems, however unlike many with it I can read, and read fast and in school was in reading, far more advanced than my classmates, the only literacy problems I have is Punctuation and even i cannot read my handwriting, let alone anyone else and I find having to write by hand a very stressful and physically painful experience, holding a pen hurts.

The reason I am not illiterate is because my Mamgu (grandmother) taught me to read at an early age, and hugely encouraged me to read and to enjoy reading, buying me 5 or 6 novels and a couple of comics every Saturday, and once the Acorn Electron arrived, she would buy me magazines, and books that featured BASIC programmes to input, so thanks to my Mamgu and the Acorn Electron I am literate! in a similar fashion, I have, thanks to the Dyspaxia, horrendous Hand/Eye Coordination, and any sort of Coordination in general - I can quite easily trip on a level, empty floor! I wouldn't be safe even to try taking 1 driving lesson, a mate did try and give me a lesson once, refusing to accept my protests that my coordination problems left me too dangerous to go behind a steering wheel.
Had he, not managed to to get his seatbelt off, and basically dive between my legs to slam down the brake with his hands, we would have died! the Car stopped half a foot from the edge of the Harbour wall.
But thanks to the Acorn Electron, I am able to type, and type fast and accurately, without even looking at the keyboard normally, i think my speed is around 100 words per minute.

So, i owe a huge debt of gratitude to Acorn!!!

 

[HanaBi]

I vaguely remember the Acorn. I think it was positioned somewhere between the low-end Spectrum/Dragon 32/Vic-20 and the mid-to-high end BBC Micro, Tandy's and Sharp's of this world.

It was pretty decent spec-wise with a good keyboard and plenty of expansion sockets and a ULA logic chip I think. Which made it quicker than the Spectrum. But I think its biggest problem was support. Gamers never thought of it as a good gaming machine because there wasn't the hardware peripheral market out there compared to the lower end machines; and as such software houses didn't churn out many games for it. But I think it did well with the schools as an alternative to the more expensive BBC Models A&B.

Trouble is there was console saturation in the early 80s - too many machines spread thinly over a relatively small but growing market. I think the Acorn vanished by the end of 1984 whilst the Spectrum's and Commodore 64s became firmly established.

 

[Caledfwlch]

IIRC the Acorn Electron was effectively a stripped down, smaller version of the BBC Micro. I have a vague memory that the software tape cassettes were marked "Acorn/BBC" so worked on both systems. And yes, games were hard to get, WH Smiths would have a few, but nowhere near the amount of what was available for other systems.

I eventually had an Amiga 500, but that was 2nd hand, back in the early 90's, which I think was past its heyday, and PC Games were starting to become a thing. I had Dalek Attack for it which was really cool, then my brother broke the Amiga's Graphic Unit.

Nothing will ever beat the sheer excitement & awesomeness of when I was just 18, working as a graphics designer and on a ridiculously good wage for anyone at the time, 1996, I think I was earning a fair bit more than the average wage for this area at the time - I was on around £200 - I just found an inflation calculator, and were I 18 now and being paid the same equivalent wage, then I would be earning around £270 for a 36 hour week!!
So it was easy to save up £1000 then full of excitement I walked into Dixons with the whole grand in cash in my wallet, and bought my first ever Desktop PC and Monitor, and because I was paying cash, the Manager fell over himself to do me a good deal, and I got various extras including a couple of games thrown in, and with the monitor it would have been over £1000, but I got the lot for bang on a grand