Submitted by I’m not really sure what to do with this. I mean, I know how popular the Commodore 64 was and still is, and how significant a machine it really was. So, when Commodore USA sends out a press release that it has acquired the rights to produce an exact replica case of the C64 (but with Intel Atom innards), I knew a lot of people would like this. At the same time, Commodore USA’s website always seemed a little… Sketchy to me.
The C64 doesn’t really need an introduction, I’d say. It’s definitely from before my time, and I can’t recall ever having used one – although there’s one particular machine I used when I was about 6-7 years old that I can’t recall which could’ve been a C64. A whopping 30 million of these were sold, making it the best selling personal computer of all time.
The C64 had a MOS Technology 6510 processor running at ~1Mhz (it differed slightly depending on PAL or NTSC), sported 64kB of RAM and 20kB of ROM. The version currently being promised by Commodore USA would have the exact same case, yet have completely different internals – a fairly standard Intel Atom affair.
Commodore USA had to reach an agreement with the Dutch (?!) Commodore Licensing B.V. in order to get the rights to make this product.
“We are ecstatic to be partnering with Commodore Licensing B.V. in this new, exciting product launch,” says Barry Altman, president and CEO of Commodore USA, “The legacy of the Commodore C64, which sold over 30 million units, making it the best selling computer of all time, and our reintroduction of this legendary form factor, combined with the world’s most recognizable consumer electronics brand, is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We look forward to bringing these new products to market, and welcoming a whole new generation of computer users to the Commodore experience.”
Well, it’s all a promise at this point, and I must say that I’m not particularly impressed by the rather, eh, unprofessional look of that website and the products listed. Clearly a case of seeing is believing.
You actually posted about Commodore USA before I could finish up an article on them to submit to you. Highlights would have included the original sources of the graphics they stole from other websites, the misrepresentations they do (Quick! Can you install OSX on a Commodore? They say you can!), and the quality of work that their owners have been known for.
This is the Tommy Wiseau of bad computer companies. They wrap so far beyond bad that they come over to good, scream past good in a blaze of stolen art, and fly like an arrow into the dead center of terribleness from the other side.
Edited 2010-08-26 23:59 UTC
That’s a shame cuz I would love if the whole all-in-one concept came back.
Oh yeah,Tommy Wiseau. Hehehe. I’ m afraid that might be lost on most people though
http://www.cybernetman.com/
THey are still made :p
Sure, those are cool but not $700 worth of cool.
I have one of these computers, got one about 6 years ago and it’s great. but it doesn’t have the Commodore badging and “official-ness” They are nice though.
“A whopping 30 million of these were sold, making it the best selling personal computer of all time.”
Best selling? I thought those new fangled IBM compatible things were selling quite well.
And which one of those sold more than 30 million units?
No one particular model of IBM compatible (a.k.a the common PC) sold 30 million models because the way computers were made changed – back in those days, the hardware was fixed for years. I’m not doubting the number, and I’m certainly not disparaging the success of the C64, but I think it would be fairer to say that it was the best-selling computer of the pre-PC period.
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64
Still think it was pre PC ?
I think you are trying to say what the graphs located here state more clearly:
http://jeremyreimer.com/postman/node/329
IBM PC + Clones dominated, although not a single model of them sold more than c64. Plus check out 1984’s market share ( when my dad bought a c64)! It had 40% of the market!
Yeah, I would definitely consider buying an all in one. If it were cheap enough and came with a c64 mode and tv out.
Even tho I love commodor this is a bullshit this was never best selling. I even doubt they sold 30 mill.
Considering how much ppl are using the internet from IBM PCs they sold 1 billion+
But anyways whatever new model they throw out will go to the fans, collectors not for companies, home users so they ain’t have too big market nowadays.
And considering how many emulators are out there, the next machine I would buy probably would be a MAC book pro not Commodore.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Commodore 64 as the best-selling computer model of all time. Having been a part of that generation, I would agree with their assessment. Certainly IBM PC clones sold many tens of millions of personal computers, however all different models. The record is for the best selling computer model, not best selling computing platform.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Commodore 64 as the best-selling computer model of all time. Having been a part of that generation, I would agree with their assessment.
I too am old enough to have lived during the Commodore-era and I can say that it was a HUGE thing back then, even here in Finland. I have absolutely no doubt that it could have been the best selling personal computer model of all time. And it’s no wonder they were so popular: they were easy to modify, very cheap, and they had very good sound and video capabilities for the time.
Many people seem to not understand that PC clones are not a single model, it’s a platform and there can be really big differences between all the models. An IBM PS/2 for example would be a specific model, whereas IBM PC-compatible is a platform.
No you are wrong, there is no doubt about the sales figures. It may even have been more. And this is a SINGLE home computer model, that is what the record is about.
I’d love to see the faces of my customers when I pull one of those out of my backpack for a sales presentation LOL!
Any of their other product from their website will have a similar effect but the original chassis will have greatest impact. Love it. Wouldn’t buy one though.
If the price is right, Im getting one
Id be more interested in a straight clone of the 8bit original though.. Compatible with ALL the old peripherals. I think actually that is more interesting. I wish they would sell one of those .. They could not be much effort to make with todays tech. Though the SID is apparently difficult to replicate.
I’m thinking that playing pong with this machine may be an appropriate simulation to a real world event of dropping a bomb in the toilet.
…is not that awful. Simple, to the point.
As for the products, I don’t know, just looking at their “Phoenix”, I feel an impulse to buy. It’s not exactly nostalgy, just a bit like thinking about your first love. Then reason kicks in: it’s not the same machine (and your 1st love and yourself are no longer the same persons either). These memories are just that.
And I’m still having a great time with my Apple ][
This looks like a label job on a ZPC-GX31 by cybernet. The price I saw on Gizmodo was $700-$1100 depending on features requested.
In principle I like the idea of a PC in a KB but only if the price is close to that of a KB with a simple Atom board below. A Netbook without the tiny display should be possible to build even cheaper than $200. I could replace 4 family computers with something like that and save space, power and trouble.
What is so unprofessional about it? I didn’t find it worse than OSAlert…
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I hope I am not alone in this, but I want one!
Still have a fully working C64 though. Maybe it’s time to dig it out for a bit of nostalgia…
Why are we sending them the traffic?
Call me when they release an actual C64 with built in SD card slot.
Commodore is dead. Long live the long chain of buyers thereafter.
Yeah I totally agree, I JUST WANT a new 8bit !! With SID and VIC. To replace my aging C64s ..
If these CommodoreUSA people manage to make a case and keyboard replica though, maybe some FPGA people like Arcade Retro Gaming could supply the innards ???
http://www.arcaderetrogaming.com/
Terrible website; and the previous comment that linked to cybernetman reveals that one of those all-in-one pcs is just being re-badged as a commodore.
http://www.cybernetman.com/en/products/zerofootprintpc/
What a way to ruin a formerly great name in computing.
I think it is a question of… Fashion.
Just like the Mini-Morris.
Who care if it is an Intel Atom, AMD Geode, or whatever ?
Who care who sold it ?
The casing ! THE-CA-SING!
i guess because the minicooper had about 6 more bhp than the mini-morris
(wild guess)
more plastic on the new version:
http://www.rpmgo.com/cars/d/43093-2/mini_cooper_s_playboy_2.jpg
http://www.commodoreusa.net/testhome.html
The first image is an Amiga-like case with Workbench on screen.
Talked to a friend from high school not long ago. He told me he still has my C64 and he still uses it for games and such. I might have to have him send it back to me! I still have the Commodore monitor that I got with it.
Have a look at that page: http://www.commodoreusa.net/Commodore_Phoenix_computer.html
Oh no, they forgot to Photoshop the label on and now it looks exactly like the machine they trying to resell:
http://www.cybernetman.com/en/products/zerofootprintpc/
From the badly scaled images to the sketchy statements, this all screams fraud.
that the C64 sucked.
I had an Atari 800XL, and it was just awesome. A friend of mine had a C64, and he hated it. First there was the requirement of the Speed Loader cartridge. Then for some reason his had some wire that had to be connected for the power to work right, and sometimes it’d just randomly boot. Can’t recall why he had that…
Anyhow, he upgraded to an Amiga 500, and I eventually upgraded to an Atari Mega STe. I had always been envious of the Amiga OS, though. I now own an Amiga 4000 (with Radeon, Network card, etc) and an Atari TT030, the Mega STe, 1040ST, 800XL (yes the one I had so long ago), 600XL, a 130XE and an XEGS.
Never did own a C64, just remember needing to do the load 8,1. At least the Atari 8-bits had various versions of Dos (nothing like MS-DOS).
Back on topic though, this is dumb. Projects like sticking a Mini-ITX board into a Sega Genesis, Nintendo, Atari 2600, and yes even a C64 have been around for years.
It’d be far less expensive to find an old C64 on eBay, or out of a junk bin, get a Mini-ITX board, slap some Linux distribution on it, tweak it to boot up VICE and install GeOS.
(Yes, while never owning one, I do know a lot about Operating Systems, and it was definitely an odd one).
Back to my nostalgic memories… I always did find it funny that some of the hardware engineers who designed the Atari 8-bits were also the same ones who designed the Amiga hardware, along with the Lynx, Jaguar, and if I recall correctly, the 3Do.
Jack Tramiel had founded Commodore, marketed the C64, and designed it as cheap and pushed it out. Then he became CEO of Atari, and tried the same method with the Atari ST, which was arguably worse in every way than the Amiga, except it had built in MIDI, which rocked. The Atari ST line didn’t catch up to the Amiga hardware wise until the STe, and OS wise… well never really, though MultiTOS that came with the Falcon was too little too late.
By then Atari said screw it to computers, then failed with the Jaguar. Commodore said “Hey, me too!” to the game consoles with CD32, then died as well.
Now Microsoft is doing the same thing. Can we hope that they die? Though they have been at least successful enough to release a second Xbox… guess time will tell…
Now I think I should start a company. I can call it Atari Computers Corp. I’ll stick an Intel Atom / nVidia ION in an Atari 400 case! That’s right, the one that didn’t have actual KEYS!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atari_400P8.jpg
Keys? We don’t need no stinkin’ keys!
I had a similar setup of a C64+speed loader, modified so much it looked like a junkyard sculpture, but it worked very well. I guess your friend just had bad luck, they where very simple and very hackable machines, though i still think the reason for their success was mainly their price tag.
Commodore before the CD32 also had the Commodore 64GS which was a C64 without a keyboard, custom boot ROM, and a cartridge slot ala Atari. They also had the “MAX” intended to be a game system which was released ~1982 prior to the C64.
Both utter failures, but they had tons of potential.
That’s what that Atari XEGS was, basically a 65XE with a detachable keyboard and a console looking box with big round buttons and a cartridge slot. It came with a light gun too, since Duck Hunt was popular at the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atari_XEGS.jpg
A speed loader cartridge was not required, as a matter of fact almost all of my favorite C=64 games explicitly stated in their manuals that they could not be run with the speed loader inserted. All the Microprose games that I remember, for example, had their own built-in speed loading routines.
Well, ok, some of them actually were written to not need one, but it certainly helped. My friend that owned one said he usually would go make himself a sandwich, eat it while watching TV, while loading up a game, and he’d just hope it wouldn’t crash and would fully load up!
Speedloaders on x86-64 would be awesome (though less impressive when it’s just Win7 preloading the last Word session.) There’s the VM, and then there’s taking advantage of it…. Certainly this is true for Valve VMs, Windows, DOSboxes (Commander Keen remix?), Windows development environments with required servers….
Seriously. I’ve read elsewhere that 64 fans might buy this just for that express purpose.
Would be nice if it has a licensed HardSID inside for that genuine SID music, plus GEOS with a modernized look.