Ah, the 80’s. Neon fashions. Big hair. And the heady days of the personal computing explosion, including the venerable Commodore 64. That’s 64 kilobytes of RAM, man. I was my first computer and, I used it to create my first very basic BASIC programs. If you’re a nostalgic fan, this may be your lucky day. The Commodore 64 is back, but although it may look virtually identical from the outside, its specs have been upgraded a bit. Now sporting an “x” suffix, there are four Commodore 64x configurations, ranging from “Barebones” which is basically a Commodore 64-shaped USB hub/cardreader for $250, to the most decked-out “Ultimate” which includes an Intel Atom D525 1.8GHz Dual Core CPU, NVIDIA ION2 Graphics (DDR3 512MB), up to 4Gb of RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth, Blueray drive and up to a 1TB hard drive for $895. Currently shipping with Ubuntu 10.10, Commodore OS 1.0 (with compatibility all the way back to 8-bit) will be shipped when available. Also check out the revamped Commodore VIC-Pro and Commodore VIC-Slim lines, with an Amiga line on the way. Any other former owners or fans of the C64 (or other computers from that era) out there in Gadgeteer land?
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Boy, do I ever want…. Very first programming experience was with C64…
Another old Commodore guy here 🙂 My first computer was a VIC-20, with a whole 3583 bytes of available memory… then a C64, C128, and a few Amigas before I finally switched to PCs. I actually still have a SX-64, which was the “portable” C64, and by “portable” I mean it weighs like 40 pounds and is the size of a large briefcase, and has a 5″ CRT and disk drive built in. It still works, although most of my remaining floppy disks aren’t readable any more.
Those were the days 🙂 I’m not sure I would actually want a PC in the old all-in-one form factor, but I wish them luck…
“I was my first computer and, I used it to create my first very basic BASIC programs.”
Dear god, Skynet started in the 80’s.
Oh, yeah- spent hours in the ‘computer lab’ at home with the VIC, then the C64 (or was it the other way around?), 5″ floppy disk. Geoworks (still possibly my favorite OS and office suite). Doing BBSing, making stupid signs with Print Shop and cool toys with its cousin Toy Shop… I did some case mods, the reset switch mod…
But then again, I also liked my somewhat dorkier Timex Sinclair TS100 (was that the name? It has been so long ago!)
Ah, the memories!
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
@Vaughan – Exactly. The whole time I was typing the news bit above, two things kept popping into my head: Skynet becoming self-aware and nuking humanity, and the WOPR (“Joshua”) playing a game that nukes humanity. Man, I love those upbeat 80’s movies! 😉
I was hoping that it was a wireless keyboard I could use with my existing setup. Would be sweet to have that on my desk at work.
LOAD “*”,8,1
SYS 49152
Okay, got all my Commodore yearning out of my system.
The big plus would be if the keyboard was actually as good as the keyboards used to be on the C64…