By Jim Rossignol on December 20th, 2010 at 11:25 am.
I think we mentioned that the Commodore 64 was being relaunched as a modern(ised) PC, right? As in the shell gets new internals? Well, it is. The official site tells us that: “It houses a modern mini-ITX PC motherboard featuring a Dual Core 525 Atom processor and the latest Nvidia Ion2 graphics chipset. It comes in the original taupe brown/beige color, with other colors to follow.” More specs here. The same company are planning to relaunch a bunch of Amigas, too.
Not quite sure if anyone I know if quite retro-tastic enough to get this, especially since it’s basically high-end laptop netbook power plugged into a monitor, but I guess the truth will be in the price, which has yet to be confirmed.
20/12/2010 at 11:43 Mechorpheus says:
I really wouldn’t call that spec ‘High-Power’ laptop. High-End Netbook maybe. The Atom CPU really isn’t that great when you start cranking up the complexity of the program in question. No idea about ION, but I was thinking that was NVidia’s attempt at an IGP solution.
20/12/2010 at 12:53 rei says:
That looks pretty identical to the specs on my Asus 1215N so yeah high-end netbook. If “all modern software” includes games then it certainly doesn’t run it all, but just about anything else sure. Kinda loses in the practicality department though, so I’m not sure what the target audience is apart from people who want a laugh.
20/12/2010 at 13:42 Basilard says:
Of more interest: if you can install WIndows does it mean they are making a Workbench OS for x86 architectures?
20/12/2010 at 18:16 zak canard says:
Reading what they say on their Workbench 5 page, I’m expecting it to be an x86 Linux Media Centre with UAE, VICE and Wine built in.
20/12/2010 at 11:44 Rich says:
So I’m guessing it’ll be running Win 7? This would be very cool if it was an attempt to bridge the console-PC gap with something new (albeit based on old). But really it’s just a damn ugly PC.
20/12/2010 at 12:00 Eclipse says:
don’t call the C=64 ugly, it’s lovely.
On the other side a modern pc with that retro case is just, a weird thing for modders.
I’d love to see new Commodore branded products, but not c64 rehashes, something entirely brand new.
20/12/2010 at 12:03 Eclipse says:
Oh and it runs AmigaOS 5.0 not Windows, but you can install it and double boot
20/12/2010 at 12:40 adonf says:
According to Wikipedia, Amiga OS runs on 68k and PPC processors, not x86. But they make no mention of Amiga OS 5.0. Do you have any information on that ?
20/12/2010 at 14:24 adonf says:
Replying to my own question: Workbench 5 is not Amiga OS 5. Amiga OS is still at version 4.1 and is a PPC version of Amiga OS 3.1 (the latest release by the original Commodore company, for 68k processors). Workbench 5 is based on Linux and recreates the appearance of the Amiga desktop, the current Commodore company has no relation to Amiga OS.
20/12/2010 at 15:31 damien says:
c64 has never, will never, can never be “ugly”.
20/12/2010 at 11:44 Tom Camfield says:
Wahey, I could see myself buying something like this for my parents, just because it would be far less hassle for them than the massive, continuously malfunctioning beast they have at the moment. I would prefer to get them the Amiga version though… especially if it had a proper Amiga emu installed. All depends on the price of course…
20/12/2010 at 11:54 bakaohki says:
Windows with a C64 keyboard? Don’t make me laugh :( Even using a C64 emulator on a PC is not that great when it comes to the keyboard stuff (mostly it doesn’t come to that, but still).
BTW: RPS, can’t you pretty please fix this piece of trash commenting? I haven’t pressed a thing and it says I should slow down because I keep posting too fast?! I mean I know that wordpress is crap, but this is getting us nowhere…
20/12/2010 at 12:02 Eclipse says:
Windows? It mounts the new AmigaOS 5.0
20/12/2010 at 12:15 subscriber says:
And if WordPress is so crap what alternative blogging platform would you recommend, exactly?
20/12/2010 at 12:40 bakaohki says:
@subscriber: I don’t recommend; maybe one should start by writing a comment plugin that works (or just use disqus), but imho wp’s hook system (as opposed to templating and MVC) sucks so badly that I’d never touch it in my freetime (which I do value)… but I’m not into debates on opensource and software, it’s just annoying that in 2010 (almost 2011) we can’t still comment without logging in or reading stupid captchas, whether it’s the spammers’ or the programmers’ fault or both.
20/12/2010 at 13:27 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
There is an easy fix for this problem: RPS just need to make it say this instead: “You are posting comments too slowly. Write faster.”
:P
20/12/2010 at 11:57 Mephisto says:
Press Play On Tape.
20/12/2010 at 12:03 Novotny says:
I’ve still got my c64 – and my vic-20 :D
20/12/2010 at 12:11 Chris C says:
It’s a cute idea (presumably you can always plug in a USB keyboard) but really… who on earth would buy this? Having said that, I’d love to see one in the (beige) flesh, so to speak.
It does look like it might be quite a bit thicker than the original C64 (hard to tell from the renders) which would be disappointing, and also having media slots instead of D-sub connectors on the right is just wrong!
Still, makes me want to dig up an emulator for a quick whiz around Paradroid.
20/12/2010 at 12:21 Urael says:
We spent, what, 15 years screaming to get away from “beige boxes” and now someone thinks it’s cool to take us back there?
Sigh.
But if someone did me a keyboard in the form of a ZX Spectrum…
20/12/2010 at 12:39 somnolentsurfer says:
What is this Workbench 5 of which they speak? Presumably it’s not related in any actual technical sense to the older versions?
20/12/2010 at 14:13 terry says:
It’s based on Linux, so no.
20/12/2010 at 12:48 TomA says:
Ah this is just fantastic, what a great idea. I think this is a must buy for me.
20/12/2010 at 13:05 sjjs says:
form factor is useless – far, far too thick to be comfortable for typing. wrist injury, ahoy!
20/12/2010 at 13:07 BooleanBob says:
[god-awful pun retracted due to user abashment]
20/12/2010 at 13:25 MadMinstrel says:
If this can’t run C64 code natively, how is it a C64, other than looks?
20/12/2010 at 13:35 MikoSquiz says:
Yeah, that’s what we liked about the C64: The looks and the keyboard. The idea might have legs if the basic keyboard-and-cheap-basic-computer-in-a-compact-package thing was applied with a keyboard that’s nice to use and built to last, but I’m not sure the C64′s was either. The ergonomics are not great.
20/12/2010 at 14:06 Ba5 says:
If it runs all emulators, and costs $150 or less, this is an insta-buy.
20/12/2010 at 14:54 Foosnark says:
Put a SID chip in this thing and it’ll at least sell to a certain subset of music geeks.
20/12/2010 at 18:51 dogsolitude_uk says:
I’d buy one…
I’ve actually got a C64 VSTi which I have used in music before.
20/12/2010 at 16:44 Muzman says:
It’s pretty cool I guess. Still waiting on the IBM Selectric 1 version though.
20/12/2010 at 17:19 GameOverMan says:
SHIFT + RUN/STOP
20/12/2010 at 19:22 Vanger says:
I hate to break your optimism, but you’re praising guys who threatened OSNews with a copy-pasted lolsuit – http://www.osnews.com/story/23756/Commodore_USA_Threatens_OSNews_with_Legal_Action
Also, some pics on their site are stolen from http://www.cybernetman.com/en/products/zerofootprintpc/
21/12/2010 at 09:55 adonf says:
The lolsuit letter is a very clumsy move, but I can see how they would not be pleased by OSNews calling them a “massive con”
I read through Commodore USA’s forums where employees and the CTO take some time to explain what they plan to do with the Commodore brand and the choice they’ve made with their OS, and I think that they really believe in what they’re doping. They are way too optimistic and they have the least professional website ever, but they are certainly not a massive con.
20/12/2010 at 20:04 geldonyetich says:
It amuses me that, to this day, when I boot up a C64 emulator, I reach for shift-2 as the ” and left bracket as the *.
21/12/2010 at 00:11 Bassism says:
I have to admit, this really is very cool.
It would make more sense to just bring one of my C64s from my dad’s place and set it up, but the appeal of a modern PC in the box is undeniable.
It makes me wonder if I could just shoehorn my own motherboard into one. I’ve got a bunch of non working cases lying around and have been meaning to cannibalize the SID chips to make synths anyway…
21/12/2010 at 08:34 majestyk says:
At first, I was like meh – but seeing the pictures, I am intrigued. Probably hits my nostalgia nerve hard :)
21/12/2010 at 22:21 Chunga says:
This is a case of borderline necromancy.