Blast from the past(80's) - The Commodore 64(PC) gets a reboot

[RamboLiberal]

No, we haven't time-travelled to 1982. Computer company Commodore has revealed it will once again sell its line of personal computers, including the popular Commodore 64.

However, despite the classic look, the computers will house modern technology, such as an Intel Atom dual-core processor, Nvidia Ion graphics chipset, and USB and HDMI inputs.

According to the store on Commodore's website, the Commodore 64 will be available as early as mid-May, starting at $595.

The revamped Commodore 64 will ship with the Ubuntu operating system and the Commodore 1.0 OS, but users can also run the latest version of Windows, says the website.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/04/the-commodore-64-gets-a-reboot/1?loc=interstitialskip

The new Commodore 64, which will begin shipping at the end of the month, has been souped up for the modern age. It comes with a 1.8 gigahertz dual-core processor, an optional Blu-ray player and built-in ethernet and HDMI ports. It runs the Linux operating system but the company says you can install Windows if you like. The new Commodore is priced between $250 to $900.

The company’s Web site says that the new Commodore 64 is “a modern functional PC,” and that although the guts of the device have greatly improved, the exterior is “as close to the original in design as humanly possible.” Most people would not be able to visibly tell the old or new versions apart, it says.

“The response has been completely dramatic,” Mr. Altman said. “We’ve been averaging about five registrations per second on our Web site. This is from people giving us their name and e-mail address to be kept abreast of updates on the new Commodore.”

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“There are a lot of really young computer users who want to own a retro-looking computer,” he said. ”And of course there are those 30- to 40-year-olds who owned the original Commodore 64 and want the nostalgia of their first machine.”

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/the-new-commodore-64-updated-with-its-old-exterior/

[Denninmi]

1. My first PC's

A Commodore VIC 20, and then a Commodore 64 -- from about 9th grade through my first years in college. At the time, I thought the 64 was pretty helpful -- I used it for word processing and spread sheets, and did a lot of term papers on it during the course of 4 years.

[formercia]

2. Now I can sell my original C-64s on Fleabay

:evilgrin:

[blondeatlast]

3. Want! Will it come with Crystal castles? If so, REALLY want! nt

[tridim]

15. M.U.L.E!

I still play it sometimes on my old 64.

[fishwax]

24. killed a lot of Saturdays with that one back in the day

:bounce: :D

[Life Long Liberal]

4. Wow, I have fond memories of my C64. I LOVED it. It was an exciting time to be a nerd! n/t

[Blue_Tires]

5. I didn't even know Commodore was still in business...

[KeepItReal]

11. They weren't. Someone bought rights to name awhile back.

eom

[Esse Quam Videri]

6. VIC 20 was my first

I believe it came with 3k of memory. I remember buying a huge 8k module upgrade that went in a slot on the back.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

7. Hipster are gonna be all over this one. nt

[WheelWalker]

8. The "Commode Odor" as we affectionately referred to it !

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. Needs a SID for those 8-bit beats.

Or a SID emulator :D

[KeepItReal]

10. I think their website has crashed!

Too much interest

:thumbsup:

[Leftist Agitator]

12. OK, I want one of these.

This is the 1st desktop PC that I have seen and wanted to purchase in at least ten years.

What an awesome idea!

[tridim]

I'm a huge Commodore fan and think this idea is 100% fail

I don't want to compute with a C64 keyboard ever again.

[Billy Burnett]

13. The 5 1/2" external floppy drive was $500 or something like that.

The C64 was the first computer to have MIDI music hardware and software. Anyone remember Dr. T's KCS?

[tridim]

14. I had that software

And wore out many 1541's.

[hayu_lol]

18. Ours was a 64/128 with a separate keyboard and high speed

double sided drive(on the 128 side)--high speed being a relative term. We just traded away our complete 64/128 with all the games and programs to an outfit that wants to completely restore the machine and use it as a working in-store novelty.

Son, as a young lad back then, loved most of the text games and Leather Goddesses Of Phobos...had 3 settings...one normal, one risque, one XXX. I doubt he ever used the first two. Zak McKracken was another of his favorites. WE were also on Q-Link--the early net for the US and Canada. 8 cents a minute that cost. If you became a host for any of the 'rooms,' you got two free hours for every hour worked.

Lots of fond memories.

[Billy Burnett]

20. It would take 4 minutes to load a 2000 MIDI event file.

I had the Sequential Circuits MIDI/SMPTE interface so I could sync it to reel to reel multitrack. Damn, I was in hog heaven then.

Now I'm working w/FW 800 and a Mac. It take a few seconds to load 2-3gig 24bit/96khz audio/MIDI Logic files, so now there's no time to brew coffee between pieces. ;)

:hi:

[tridim]

21. Wow, I didn't realize things got that advanced in the early 80's

Although I did own the first and I believe only digital sampler available for the C64, the Covox Voicemaster.



It recorded a max of 4 seconds and sounded like crap, it was basically just a novelty. Playback didn't require any hardware other than the sid chip. Pretty cool that they figured out how to get the samples to play on a four channel tone generator.

I used to record snippets of songs for people and trade them for games on BBS's. :)

[Stinky The Clown]

16. There's a C64, a C monitor and a 1541 drive around here someplace. I just moved it a month or so ago

[krispos42]

17. It's got an original C64 emmulator in it!

lay all your favorite 8-bit era games within seconds of turning the Commodore 64 on, by either selecting the C64 icon from the boot menu to run a C64 emulator directly, or from a media center program within our own Commodore Operating System.

Note: Commodore OS 1.0, along with emulation functionality and classic game package, will be mailed to purchasers when available. In the meantime, units come with the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS operating system on CD ready to install.

If I get one of these, it will completely finish my experience with moving back into my parent's house.

Completely!


Now, if it only had 64 gigs of RAM...

[tularetom]

19. First computer was a trash-80 from Radio Shack

I couldn't even give it away by the time I replaced it, maybe in 1987 or so.

Gave it to my son, who smushed it with a steamroller a couple years later.

[Downtown Hound]

22. Now if it was an Amiga, I'd be interested

The Amiga was the modern computer before there was a modern computer. Amazingly ahead of its time.

[Buzz Clik]

23. What about the TRS 80? Will Radio Shack revive the Trash 80?