Posted on 06/02/2010 9:28:13 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
One of the earliest and most popular computer models ever is about to make a comeback.
Introduced in 1982, the Commodore 64 sold 30 million units over the next dozen years. Its graphics capabilities made it popular with gamers; at least 10,000 software titles, including games and business applications, were developed for the computer.
But the company folded, and the model became a nostalgia piece, its early fans resorting to running 64 games on emulators.
Now, CBS Station KYW correspondent Bob Bicknell reports, the Commodore 64 is arising from the ashes in a new version named, appropriately, Phoenix.
Commodoreusa.net is now selling new versions of the "computer in a keyboard" design, though with added extras not available in 1982, such as Intel Pentium processors, a DVD drive, wireless Ethernet and USB ports.
And whereas the classic 64 held a hefty 64 KB of RAM, the Phoenix runs on more than 4 GB, and can store 2 TB.
The Phoenix runs Microsoft Windows 7 or Ubuntu (Linux).
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Commodore USA also has other models available, including the Invictus (which sports a touchpad) and Amigo. Prices start at $475 for a bare-bones model, topping out at $1,300.
Thanks. I was going to post this earlier, but I hadn’t gotten around to it.
I saw your post from 2005 with keyword “commodore64” and figured I would ping you.
It was a break though chipset
My first game for 64...my “friends” at the time just stared at me and shook their heads. They thought playing games on a computer was nuts.
I didn’t get a floppy drive until a couple of months later, so it was LOAD “*”,1,1 for me
It looks to me like they just picked up the Commodore name. There’s nothing on their site that indicates any affiliation with the previous Commodore guys, and the computer is a PC in a slightly different form factor.
You might never appreciate the brilliance of the C-64 design, until you try to run a C-64 emulator on a Windows XP machine... and find the XP runs clunkily. Whoever heard of using a 3rd-level programming language to directly assign values to bits?
My first was the Commodore 128. Wish I knew then what I know now...
Oh geeeeez...!
Commodore Basic, maybe?
What?
Great memory. My first computer, an IBM PC, had 640K RAM and a seperate, approx 4lb, 20mb hard drive. (but way more powerful than the computer onboard Apollo 11!)
Bring back the Amiga!!!!
Computers are like girlfriends, you never forget your first one.
Ahhhhh...my first machine. I remember tearing a disk drive apart to permanently configure it to device 9. Man, I was stylin’ with two 5 1/4 drives, side by side....
I built my own interface to get it to work with a 1200 Baud Hayes modem. It hauled some serious a$$.
Good times. Wife left me because I was always playing with it.
Brings back memories. Microprose made some great games for the C-64. My fave was Gunship. It took me almost 6 months of playing to get the CMOH (only played on weekends . . . )
Here's my #2.
Cheers!
Back in my backwater town, computers were a rarity, so when a kid moved from *California*, he brought his Commodore 64 here. It was almost like cavemen being introduced to fire. Good memories playing all those games. Thanks, Kirk!! Maybe you’re even on this board...
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