Commodore 64 Ultimate

142 pointsposted 4 months ago
by guerrilla

33 Comments

jacobgorm

4 months ago

I really wanted to buy an official Commodore T-shirt, and all the designer had to do was put the chicken lips logo on a white background, but whoever was in charge decided to instead get creative and come up with a range of very bad designs that have zero resemblance with anything ever produced by Commodore.

ForgetItJake

4 months ago

Whoever owns the IP now seems to be going for this weird cyberpunk look.

Someone

4 months ago

$299 is about half the price, not corrected for inflation, of the original, which started at $595 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64).

I think that’s impressive, given the (likely) way lower production run.

georgemcbay

4 months ago

While this is true (and the price for the new device is still extremely reasonable) by 1983 you could buy a C64 for $199 (in the US anyway).

This price reduction was the difference maker in allowing my family to (barely) afford to buy me a C64 in late 1983 (and this is what I learned to code on, first in MS BASIC, then in 6510 assembler).

kwanbix

4 months ago

Why not adjust for inflation?

The original $595 in 1983 would be about $1,997.57 today.

Similarly, $199 in 1983 would equal around $647.30 in 2025 dollars.

tclancy

4 months ago

Maybe I can finally debug that cool-looking boxing game I typed in by hand from a magazine. To this day, I am sort of surprised I wound up a coder given that was my initial experience with programming.

georgemcbay

4 months ago

> I typed in by hand from a magazine.

Probably Compute!'s Gazette.

Figuring out where I messed up (or where they misprinted) in the hundreds of lines of code entered from some of these listings was my introduction to debugging :D

codazoda

4 months ago

I had the Tandy TRS-80 CoCo, but same…

My experience was differently though. Figuring out where the typos were is what I credit with my learning to code.

pflenker

4 months ago

MAD magazine once printed a listing with some non obvious errors in it, introducing my 10 year old self to the concept of a bug.

Maybe now I will have the chance to see a self-made Alfred E. Neuman!

linsomniac

4 months ago

Pages and pages of numbers to type in...

nonethewiser

4 months ago

I didn't really know about this until recently when I listened to a DHH / Lex Fridman podcast. The podcast started out with him retelling a very similar experience. I wasn't familiar with DHH either and found myself disagreeing with a lot of his takes (JS > TS ... really?) but it was a really interesting conversation none-the-less.

drivers99

4 months ago

Ordered a founder's edition in August. Looks like I might get it this year (originally estimated October). Retro Recipes x Commodore posted a video update about the manufacturing process recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffeaLbKHkw

(In my case, it's not about nostalgia. I actually have been using a shared one in a hackerspace to play around with 6502 machine language and want my own.)

mondainx

4 months ago

I miss the days of BBS'ing on my 300 baud modem, boosted to 420-ish. Things were so much simpler. I'm thinking this might make a good xmas present for myself! :)

georgemcbay

4 months ago

> I miss the days of BBS'ing on my 300 baud modem, boosted to 420-ish. Things were so much simpler.

I have a lot of nostalgia from this time, but also remember it was all fun and games until my mom or one of my sisters picked up one of the phones (standard issue AT&T handsets) in the house, causing a rapid burst of line noise and usually a disconnection due to lack of error checking/correction at the hardware level.

xen2xen1

4 months ago

And if that happened, you might not get back on. The line might be busy, you might have run out of time or logins for the day..

Mountain_Skies

4 months ago

If you had some idea of who was on the BBS and they had Call Waiting, you could give them a ring to knock them offline. Very bad manners but teens will be teens.

noelwelsh

4 months ago

"Your childhood just leveled up" as a tagline is pretty revealing. I'm not sure where the company goes after they have mined all the nostalgia. I like the statement "[t]his isn’t tech that controls you. It invites you to play, learn, and create" but I'm struggling to think of how that converts into a long-term product line. I wish them success though. More diversity would be nice!

afro88

4 months ago

> Isn't this just an emulator or rebadged something-or-other?

>The Commodore 64 Ultimate from the only original Commodore® brand (est. 1958) is brand new hardware-based Commodore 64 technology. It features SID chip-reactive LEDs (case, keyboard, power light), the world's first transparent keyboard PCB, original and modern creators’ autographs etched in copper, and an updated FPGA that replicates the original C64 motherboard (not emulation). All customisable via a new, easy main menu. It’s a fully authentic new build from Commodore - who else?

I was hoping they would have authentic SID chips. The analog side of the SID is a large part of it's sound so it comes down to how well they can model that.

Aldipower

4 months ago

I am making music with original C64s. I am excited about this one to get maybe a more noise free experience. Let's see. I've ordered in July.

LanceJones

4 months ago

I'm excited for Christian (Peri) and team... but also kinda bummed that the RR channel has gone on a bit of a hiatus (understandable). Wishing everyone success with this amazing new chapter...

christkv

4 months ago

I might get one, I have the C64 Max and the kids are having a lot of fun on it with their friends playing Bruce Lee 1 and 2 as well as Archon. I'm also really really interested in http://www.apollo-core.com/gfx/A6000.jpg the amiga was my first programming machine and having a mostly useful computer that is compatible would be awesome.

jeberle

4 months ago

I would find the product more compelling in a puck form factor (sans kbd). I can't imagine missing the extra key labels. That would make it significantly smaller, more robust, & less expensive.

I'd also prefer DisplayPort to HDMI, but that might have been chosen for cost, or for the home gaming / nostalgia play.

kybernetyk

4 months ago

I hope the keyboard is a USB keyboard so I can use it as input for my linux box :)

codezero

4 months ago

Pretty neat but I don’t love the price. I got a real working C64 for $100, and a turbo chameleon that can bring all the fpga benefits and connectivity for less.

I also wonder whose fpga core they are using and if they licensed it or not.

reaperducer

4 months ago

They kept the cassette port, but got rid of the User port? The User port is where all the good stuff goes.

They could have put the Ethernet and other new stuff on the left side where there's plenty of room.

qingcharles

4 months ago

It claims 99% compat. Anyone know what the holdouts are?

_spduchamp

4 months ago

Is it feasible to fabricate new MOS 6581 chips?

n0um3n4

4 months ago

I'm ordering one for each finger I have. This is my childhood like many here.

ForgetItJake

4 months ago

Pleasantly surprised to see it's not just a Raspberry Pi in a keyboard shell.

postexitus

4 months ago

Is this using Jeri Ellsworth's implementation of Commodore 64 in FPGA?

jadbox

4 months ago

Does not come with joy controllers and they are $40/ea.

greendestiny_re

4 months ago

That means no more screwing around with the cassette heads.