After 30 Years, You Can Buy a New 'Commodore 64 Ultimate' for $299 (fastcompany.com)
- Reference: 0178415662
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/19/0528234/after-30-years-you-can-buy-a-new-commodore-64-ultimate-for-299
- Source link: https://www.fastcompany.com/91368653/this-beloved-retro-gaming-computer-is-making-a-comeback-and-itll-cost-you-299
[3] Fast Company calls it "a $299 device that its makers claim is compatible with over 10,000 retro games, cartridges, and peripherals." In [4]a YouTube video posted last month, "Peri Fractic" said he'd purchased the company for "a low seven-figure sum," and said he'd recruited several former Commodore employees to help relaunch the brand.
> The new C64s are expected to begin shipping as early as October, though that date could slip... There are three models to choose from, all with the same internal components. If you were expecting a vastly outdated machine, however, you're in for a surprise. The Commodore 64 Ultimate will include [5]128 megabytes of RAM and 16 megabytes of flash memory. It connects to modern monitors via HDMI in high-definition 1080p resolution and features three USB-A ports and one USB-C port. Beyond the computer itself, the power source, and HDMI cable, your $299 also gets you a spiral-bound user guide, a 64-gigabyte USB drive featuring over 50 licensed games, a quick-start guide, and stickers.
>
> Aesthetically, the Commodore 64 Ultimate is available in the original beige or in premium variants: the Starlight Edition, with a clear case and LED lights ($249), or the Founder's Edition, which includes 24-karat gold-plated badges, satin gold keys, and a translucent amber case ($499). Just 6,400 units of the Founder's Edition will be produced, according to the company. The preorder setup resembles a Kickstarter campaign, though it doesn't use that platform. Commodore says all preorders come with a money-back guarantee, but it chose to skip the service's fees. Buyers should be aware that accounts are charged at the time of preorder...
>
> The product will come with a one-year limited warranty, and Commodore says most parts are already in production, including the updated motherboard, the case, and the keycaps that recreate the blocky keys that early users remember.
[1] https://www.commodore.net/
[2] https://youtu.be/Vj6P77W8DJg
[3] https://www.fastcompany.com/91368653/this-beloved-retro-gaming-computer-is-making-a-comeback-and-itll-cost-you-299
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke-Ao-CpI7E
[5] https://x.com/MuseumCommodore/status/1944184466764968397
Beige? (Score:2)
I recall my VIC-20 case being light beige and my C-64 having a gray colored chassis.
Re: (Score:3)
It's "beige" for the first couple years then turns into that vintage "smoker yellow" color.
Re: Beige? (Score:2)
Haha! Sounds like the Men's only Tavern we went to as teenagers. It was already smoker's yellow everywhere by the time we were going there .
Yyeeeechhhh...
Is this an ad? (Score:2)
> Commodore 64 Ultimate will include 128 megabytes of RAM and 16 megabytes of flash memory. It connects to modern monitors via HDMI in high-definition 1080p resolution and features three USB-A ports and one USB-C port.
Why would you need any of that for a commodore 64? It was released in 1982. The original had 64kb of ram.
Re: (Score:2)
Even in the 1980s there was a lot of talk about RAM expansions for the C64, And of course some of the C64 software may require RAM expansions. Or it's just much more convenient to have 100 meg than to have 64K; that's for sure.
Re: Is this an ad? (Score:2)
I put a couple of jet engines on my toyota tercel. It is more convenient for me to get to the corner store in 2.2 seconds.
Re: (Score:2)
> I put a couple of jet engines on my toyota tercel. It is more convenient for me to get to the corner store in 2.2 seconds.
Jet engines will be finicky as a daily driver. A small block V8 is probably a much more practical project.
Re: (Score:2)
You do not get to tell me what to do. Youre just like the gubermint. If i want to potentially kill or maim a bunch of people just to save a few minutes, this is amurica! Freedom! U-S-A!U-S-A!U-S-A! Now will you excuse me, Im going to go kiss my poster of Hulk Hogan.
Re: (Score:2)
It's true government is the enemy of freedom, I have no use for them either. That said, it was just a friendly suggestion that the small block will be less maintenance but if you are dead set on the jet engines by all means you do you. There have been a handful of turbine powered cars in the past you can take inspiration from.
Re: (Score:2)
> It's true government is the enemy of freedom, I have no use for them either.
Never a truer statement. Giving a lying orange fascist a modicum of power is a mistake. It took him 15 seconss to create a deep state that crushes all dissent, is corrupt beyond all past forms and do not forget trump's favorite, molesting children and covering it up. I can tell you long for the days of a non narcissist, decent human being that isn't riddled with dementia as president. Joe Biden may not have any free jets from middle eastern countries like the crazy orange guy, but he will always have our
To store the diskette images (Score:3)
>> Commodore 64 Ultimate will include 128 megabytes of RAM and 16 megabytes of flash memory. It connects to modern monitors via HDMI in high-definition 1080p resolution and features three USB-A ports and one USB-C port.
> Why would you need any of that for a commodore 64? It was released in 1982. The original had 64kb of ram.
To store the diskette images
Cost basis (Score:4, Informative)
For comparison, C64 was released at $595 in 1982 and later came down to $250 the next year [1]https://americanhistory.si.edu... [si.edu] which are $1,988.85 and $809.64 in today's dollars.
[1] https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_334636
The Commodore 64 was ahead of its time... (Score:2)
The Commodore 64 was ahead of its time in having capabilities in the 1980s like the SID chip for complex sound than other home computers.
Many coders/software engineers/programmers cut their teeth on the Commodore64. When I bought an external mechanical keyboard, it reminded me of the Commodore 64.
For nostalgia value this new one at $299.00 is interesting, although better late than never. :) I'm waiting for a retro TRS-80 or Coleco Adam myself.
JoshK.
Re: (Score:2)
For some reason there were very few Commodore 64s in my area when I was a kid. Most of us had TRS-80 CoCos with a few TI994/As added in for good measure. In 1984 my high school introduced their first computer class and it was filled with 20 Commodore 64s, ugh. They were clunky beasts and the damn diskette drives were slower than my CoCo's tape drive. Now, if someone were to offer a Tandy CoCo3 today with modern amenities (yes, I realize the CoCo SDC exists among other modern add-ons) I would be interested.
Re: (Score:2)
I still have my TRS-80 Model 100, works just fine but has a bit of battery leak corrosion.
I was at an electronics scrap shop in Las Cruces, NM a couple of months ago, and among the many amazing things I saw were some TRS-80s, including some Model 3s. I would imagine that they would need some capacitor replacements on the motherboards, considering their age, but that's a guess.
Re: (Score:2)
My mind was blown when I got the HESMON assembly coding cartridge. You could actually scroll up and down through the code, without commands like "LIST 10-1000"!
It wasn't easy learning how everything worked, but it gave me a foundation on which I built my entire career.
Let me fix that for you (Score:2)
"...with a clear case and LED lights ($349) ..."
And my friends laughed ... (Score:3)
And my friends laughed when I didn't throw out the Commodore 64 Programmers Reference Manual in the 1990s, 00s, 10s, or 20s. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
> u can get it online
For some references, I still find physical works better. Kindle Paperwhite, iPad, Laptop screen, ... physical paper book. All have their times and places.
Using an FPGA is something I guess (Score:2)
I'd dispute their claims it's not using an emulator - an FPGA is still an emulator of sorts, not of software but of hardware. But it demonstrates more effort than just slapping a cheap Arm board into a case and calling it a day. An FPGA should be capable of running C64/C128 software almost perfectly, aside from any weird video PAL/NTSC blanking tricks that might not work when output on HDMI.
Since there are already FPGA based C64/C128 boards including one already called Ultimate 64, I wonder if this is jus
128MB of RAM?? (Score:2)
The CPU in the original Commodore 64 was a MOS Technologies 6510 which could address at most 64K of RAM. So how do you use all this extra RAM? Bank-switching tricks? Or a new mode that's not completely faithful to the old CPU?
Re: (Score:2)
It's time to learn about the [1]REU [wikipedia.org]!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_REU
Ports? (Score:2)
What ports does this new model have compared to the original? Joystick, serial, cartridge port, cassette, user port etc?
Atari (Score:1)
I never had a C64 but I still have my original Atari 1200XL, the cassette drive, an external 5.25â floppy drive, and a 32â CRT to plug it into. I even have my original BASIC cartridge and a copy of âoeMapping the Atariâ that Iâ(TM)ve been meaning to show off to my kids (now adults) for 30-ish years. I need to see if I can find original cartridges for JumpMan Jr and other games and original (still readable) diskettes of old Infocom games & one chess derivative game I used to play
Re:You can buy a modern laptop for $299.00 (Score:5, Insightful)
If that's what you think this product is, you are not their target demographic.
Re: (Score:1)
> If that's what you think this product is, you are not their target demographic.
That demographic being: Aging Gen-Xers who can't recapture their lost youth, so instead they buy some gadget that reminds them of earlier times. They then play with it for a bit and ultimately it gets tossed into the closet, next to the Margaritaville machine.
The C64 was just a tiny bit before my time. From my chronological perspective, it was just one of the machines (along with the Amiga) that old school demoscene geeks used to tout the superiority of, at a time when it was already abundantly clear tha
Re: (Score:2)
There are still some shops that use C64. They might be interested also:
[1]https://www.pcgamer.com/hardwa... [pcgamer.com]
[1] https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/a-small-doughnut-shop-in-indiana-is-still-using-commodore-64s-as-register-systems-42-years-after-their-initial-release/
At $299 it *is* a great deal (Score:4, Interesting)
People who have never been into a niche hobby don't understand how much it costs to manufacture something in low quantities.
The Commodore 64 Ultimate consists of several components that on their own used to cost more to buy separately and put together. With all the attention that the reformed Commodore is getting, I assume that they must be expecting more orders to come in -- and that that could get the total price down.
Just a separate [1]motherboard [ultimate64.com] costs $299.
Then add a new reproduction [2]injection-moulded plastic case [retrofuzion.com]. Even the metal moulds for a small part can cost tens of thousands of dollars to have made to exact tolerances, not to mention the injection-moulding machine it is put into. Plastic is cost-effective only when you use the mould to cast many parts.
Then, unlike the original or the [3]emulation box [retrogames.biz] that came out a few years ago, this new Commodore 64 has a mechanical keyboard. OK, the actual keyboard is actually new and with N-key rollover and LED backlighting, but replacement keyboards for the Commodore 64 have been made multiple times by several enthusiasts.
And BTW, this is FPGA-based. Not an emulator running on an ARM-based SBC.
There is therefore no joystick input delay, and it works with original joysticks and other peripherrals.
[1] https://ultimate64.com/Ultimate-64-Elite-MK2
[2] https://www.retrofuzion.com/products/breadbin-case-set
[3] https://retrogames.biz/products/thec64/
Re: (Score:2)
> People who have never been into a niche hobby don't understand how much it costs to manufacture something in low quantities.
Pretty much any hobby means something that is gonna suck the life out of your bank account. Heck, even TurboTax asks "Are you absolutely sure?" if somehow your hobby actually produced income.
Re: (Score:1)
> Even the metal moulds for a small part can cost tens of thousands of dollars to have made to exact tolerances, not to mention the injection-moulding machine it is put into.
I don't think the moulds are an issue as unless I'm mistaken they are still around and making new cases whether this company has them or not is the issue. I could be mistaken as I'm not a C64 fan, I skipped by it to the PC.
Re:You can buy a modern laptop for $299.00 (Score:4, Insightful)
No.. A C64 at this point is specialty hardware in low supply and thus more valuable than some generic laptop. Put it this way: You see broken C64s sold "for parts" at more than $100 these days, and very old used C64s in working condition sell for $200 to $400.
Re: (Score:1)
Considering you can pretty much take any low-end hardware and emulate a C64, or any other 8 bit system, probably the only real challenge is the keyboard. Ironically a suitable mechanical keyboard is by far the most expensive item, with the price ranging from $100-$200.