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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.

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Michael W Lucas
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Michael W Lucas
• •
very cool, enjoy!
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Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
• •
@mwl I will, but first I've got a novel to redraft!
@Michael W Lucas
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Simon Zerafa
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Simon Zerafa
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@mwl

Maybe do the redraft on the C64? 😉🤷‍♂️

@Michael W Lucas
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Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
• •
@simonzerafa @mwl I don't think there's a @scrivenerapp port to the C64 …
@Simon Zerafa @Michael W Lucas @ScrivenerApp
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Simon Zerafa
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Simon Zerafa
• •

@mwl @scrivenerapp

Yet! I'm sure that an hour of vibe coding on one or another LLM will have something that will work 😉

@Michael W Lucas @ScrivenerApp
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Owlet of Minerva
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Owlet of Minerva
• •
@simonzerafa @mwl @scrivenerapp 13-year-old me did try to write a word processor in C64 Basic. I may still have the code in manuscript on yellowing graph paper at the bottom of a chest somewhere if you’re interested. 🙂
@Simon Zerafa @Michael W Lucas @ScrivenerApp
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Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
• •
@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.)
@Owlet of Minerva @Simon Zerafa @Michael W Lucas @ScrivenerApp
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Michael W Lucas
hometown - Link to source
Michael W Lucas
• •

yeah, I know the feeling.

(looks longingly at Soekris net4801destined for Minimum Viable NAS project)

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Björn Fahller
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Björn Fahller
• •
Do you still need a crappy CRT TV? I'm guessing not, but it'd kind of be cool
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Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
• •
@rollbear You *can* use an NTSC TV set if you have one, but it apparently has an HDMI port that puts out 1080p, because why not.
@Björn Fahller
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Steinar Bang
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Steinar Bang
• •

50MHz is a lot more than the (roughly) 1MHz that C64 came with.

Have to google the C64U...

(FWIW my Beeb model B had 2 MHz on (basically) the same CPU).

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PrivacyMatters
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PrivacyMatters
•
Great mini-documentary about the C64 from The 8-Bit Guy!

Commodore History Part 3 - The Commodore 64 (complete)

(please note that this video replaces a previous Commodore 64 history video, and adds an additional 15 minutes of content)Support this channel on Patreon:htt...
YouTube
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Lauren Weinstein
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Lauren Weinstein
• •
Just don't try stuff punched paper tape into the USB slot.
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DougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄)
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DougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄)
• •

@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.

@lauren @cstross

@Charlie Stross @Lauren Weinstein @seniorfrosk
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Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
• •
@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.
@Lauren Weinstein @DougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄) @seniorfrosk
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Gracious Anthracite
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Gracious Anthracite
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Have fun, good luck figuring out how to get its keyboard at a height that won't ruin your wrists! Mine ache just *thinking* about typing on top of that thing again.
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Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
• •
@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.
@Gracious Anthracite
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Orjan
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Orjan
• •

@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...

@Gracious Anthracite
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Isaac Ji Kuo
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Isaac Ji Kuo
• •

@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.

@Gracious Anthracite
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Isaac Ji Kuo
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Isaac Ji Kuo
• •
@dougmerritt @anthracite Whatever works for you is fine. For me, it's all about elevating the entire region where my arms would rest, essentially "sinking" the C64 down so the keyboard ends up at a "normal" level similar to modern keyboards.
@Gracious Anthracite @DougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄)
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Peter Krefting
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Peter Krefting
• •

@anthracite Yeah. So now I have one of those on preorder. Not that I really need two. (And it's not as if I do not have enough Commodores already).

There are new releases coming out, look at itch.io for instance. Here on Mastodon, @mos_8502 has several interesting projects brewing

@Gracious Anthracite @federation/user/mos_8502
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LordWoolamaloo
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LordWoolamaloo
• •
Sounds fun, I keep looking at the retro recreations of the computers I had in the 80s and pondering buying one, just for fun, but suspect after playing a little while it would just be gathering dust as I get busy with other things. But still, that tug of nostalgia is damned strong and I do keep looking at them from time to time.. Enjoy!
Unknown parent

Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
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@JdeBP @noctuaminervae @simonzerafa @mwl

Bingo! svicc is what I was looking for.

@Owlet of Minerva @Simon Zerafa @Michael W Lucas @JdeBP
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Owlet of Minerva
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Owlet of Minerva
• •

@JdeBP @simonzerafa @mwl

Psst, mister, can I interest you in a v editor included with the C64 Forth enticingly named … drumroll …github.com/jkotlinski/durexfor…


GitHub - jkotlinski/durexforth: Modern C64 Forth

Modern C64 Forth. Contribute to jkotlinski/durexforth development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
@Simon Zerafa @Michael W Lucas @JdeBP
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Martin Seeger
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Martin Seeger
• •
I still have my original C64 for which I took out a loan under oppressive terms from my parents 😏. Serial# is 600
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Weekend Editor
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Weekend Editor
• •
So if the CPU is really an FPGA, and the "field programmable" part is still accessible to you... you could write microcode. :-)
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Charlie Stross
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Charlie Stross
• •
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?)!
This entry was edited (4 days ago)
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David ‮ yensiR
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David ‮ yensiR
• •
My families first computer was the "portable" C64 SX. My dad gave the neighbors an extra wheelbarrow he had and they had just upgraded their computer and offered him their old C64 SX. I loved that machine.
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