So, I just unboxed the first C64 I've ever owned.
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@weekend_editor There's an equivalent Sinclair Spectrum FPGA machine, the Spectrum Next, which has FPGA cores to emulate the Sinclair QL, the BBC Master, and a couple of other computers (I think the C64 is one?)!
@cstross @weekend_editor During a bored pandemic moment of ZX nostalgia, I discovered I'd just missed out on getting a Spectrum Next, so proceeded to build one from a N-Go FPGA board + parts. It was kind of neat looking at the code student-me had written 40 years previously to catalog my SF book collection, but at the end of it, having done the build turned out more fun than having a future-Spectrum.
Still have the Next-clone and my original Issue 1 48k. Enjoy your C64U.
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@anthracite After I'd ordered mine they released a version with a case that used the tooling for the original Commodore 128, i.e. a lot slimmer/sleeker. Dammit.
@cstross @anthracite Yeah, the C64c version has been announced but not available for a bit.
As for how to prevent wrist pain - a thick encyclopedia volume in front of the C64U to be used as a handrest works.
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@seniorfrosk
Cup holder is always funny, but it rings a faint bell. Was it originally from a cartoon? Bloom County perhaps?It's coming back to me; he heard an ad for a new version of his prized computer, "now with cup holder!" and shows him immediately dumping the computer he loved so much until a moment ago into the trash. [1]
Perfect.
[1] assuming I haven't fooled myself with a false memory.
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@cstross I still have my original C64 for which I took out a loan under oppressive terms from my parents
. Serial# is 600Mine slumbers in the attic.
I remember using it to type my German translation of Kurt Vonegut's Cat's Cradle* which I then printed using a 9 dot needle printer on folded A4 paper to eventually turn into a bound book with needle and thread.
I had a lot of time and dedication back then.
*At the time no professional German translation existed. One came out soon after. Mine was better, or so I keep telling myself.
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@cstross @anthracite Yeah, the C64c version has been announced but not available for a bit.
As for how to prevent wrist pain - a thick encyclopedia volume in front of the C64U to be used as a handrest works.
@isaackuo
Actual wrist rests are plentiful and cheap at Amazon or equivalent, but yes. -
@cstross @anthracite I have the slimline C64 I bought in 1986 for the money I earned from my first summer job (hydropower village gardener) sitting in a box in the basement, retrieved from a barn on my parents' farm last summer.
Haven't had time or space to see if it works yet. Much be to terrified to try...
@cunobaros @cstross @anthracite odds are good, but you'll want to find the actual 5V trace so you can feed it with a modern power supply instead of relying on the linear regulator power section. I patched some breakout wires onto a Vic20 for this. It only had a 9v input, and the original wallwarts are either unobtanium or Long Since Gone Bad and I couldn't be assed to try and find one
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@seniorfrosk
Cup holder is always funny, but it rings a faint bell. Was it originally from a cartoon? Bloom County perhaps?It's coming back to me; he heard an ad for a new version of his prized computer, "now with cup holder!" and shows him immediately dumping the computer he loved so much until a moment ago into the trash. [1]
Perfect.
[1] assuming I haven't fooled myself with a false memory.
@dougmerritt @lauren @cstross I believe it was an IT Support joke from the nineties "my cup holder broke"
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So, I just unboxed the first C64 I've ever owned. It was too expensive for 16-year-old me in 1982, but the C64U costs the same in real terms and I'm not 16 any more.
It also comes with 128Mb of RAM, a 50MHz CPU (emulated in hardware by an FPGA), 64Gb of various C64 software and demos on a "cassette" (actually a USB drive), and has a bunch of 21st century bells and whistles like wifi and an SD card drive emulator.
@cstross now do the cpc464!
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@noctuaminervae @simonzerafa @mwl @scrivenerapp No, but if there's a C64 implementation of vi I'd be very interested! (IIRC Stevie, the vi clone that later evolved into vim, was started on the Atari ST, but I don't know of any 8-bit vi editors.)
@cstross @noctuaminervae @simonzerafa @mwl @scrivenerapp
A C64 implementation of vi?Impossible, the C64 doesn't have an ESC button.
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@dougmerritt @lauren @cstross I believe it was an IT Support joke from the nineties "my cup holder broke"
@seniorfrosk @dougmerritt @lauren For context, it helps to tell the wee ones these days (anyone under 40) that cup holders only really caught on in the late 1980s: my first car with one was a 1990 design. And CD-ROM drives with built-in trays showed up in the early to mid 90s. So they were both novelties around the same time.
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@isaackuo
Actual wrist rests are plentiful and cheap at Amazon or equivalent, but yes.@dougmerritt @isaackuo @anthracite The C64 is about the right size that a hacksawed 40cm length of pool noodle would be a good fit.
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@cstross @noctuaminervae @simonzerafa @mwl @scrivenerapp
A C64 implementation of vi?Impossible, the C64 doesn't have an ESC button.
@leeloo @noctuaminervae @simonzerafa @mwl @scrivenerapp There's a vim port for the iPad; you just have to remap the § or ` key to [esc].
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