Comments | rfmcdpei: [BRIEF NOTE] Is the Commodore 64 being revived?

rfmcdpei

[BRIEF NOTE] Is the Commodore 64 being revived?

Apr 07, 2011 18:50

Charles Sorrel at Wired's Gadget Lab shared the news about the unlikely revival of the personal computers that peopled my childhood.

Just before Christmas, Commodore teased us with an Intel Atom based Commodore 64 - a regular all-in-one Ubuntu PC in the shape of the classic C64 home computer, which could also boot into a game-playing C64 emulation ( Read more... )

internet, computers, commodore computers, links

Comments 4

docbadwrench April 7 2011, 23:22:09 UTC

Well, *this* is a subject I'm comfortable commenting about. While I'm a big C64 (and C128, Amiga, etc) enthusiast, I can understand why plenty of folks would be skeptical, especially of the 'new' versions of the computer that we're constantly promised. That's been recurring vaporware, in hardware form, over the years.

That said, among the crap that was released, there are some gems, and emulators never seem to pull it off *quite* right. In fact, I'm mid-post on my own C64 revivalism. I've been salvaging data from over 200 old 5.25" disks. Fun stuff!

roseembolism April 7 2011, 23:24:41 UTC

"Sexy chassis"? The thing about the Commodore 64 is that even when the design was brand new, it looked old and clunky.

Now if we're talking something like the old Pet with it's Spinx-head monitor, now that might have some potential. But a Commodore 64? In design it was obsolete even before it was made.

docbadwrench April 8 2011, 15:02:37 UTC

That's definitely true. I have tons of old clipped magazine ads. Commodore was all about selling the C64 as cheaper than all the other options. That's definitely true, but compared to its contemporary Apple ][ models, the thing was an eyesore.

Of course, I find that damned charming, but that's just silly sentimentality.

mmcirvin April 8 2011, 18:36:14 UTC

But it had so many function keys! (With use of the appropriate modifier.)

Those magazine ads often had comparison grids full of numbers. I remember being amused at some of the specific numbers they'd cherry-pick. Number of function keys was a surprisingly popular one. "Combined RAM and ROM" was another good one.

(I was an Atari guy myself. I made the bad decision to jump from the 800XL to the ST line, when the Amiga was the thing that really had the Atari technical lineage. Still, I taught myself C on an ST.)