The iconic Commodore 64 (C64) is back, the 1980’s hit home personal computer that holds the Guinnes Book of World Records for the single PC model with the most units sold! Though I cut my teeth as a programmer on the Commodore VIC-20 back in the 1980’s, I’ve always had my eyes on the Commodore 64’s then elephantine 64 kilobytes (KB) of RAM, sprite-enabled graphics and superior sound generating features. The Vic 20 (which only came equipped with 5KB RAM) and the C64 both shared the same 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 that powered the pricier Apple II’s of the time.
The 21st Century incarnation of the C64 while remaining largely true to the original’s homely exterior looks will be anything but inside…
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On the outside, these self-contained “keyboard computers” will look as they did back when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and “Miami Vice” was bringing moody pastel hues to TV. Under the hood, however, they will be very up-to-date.
The new Commodore 64’s hardware includes a dual-core 1.8 Ghz Atom processor, Nvidia Ion2 graphics chipset, up to 4 GB of RAM and HDMI output for desktop viewing on TV. It also features USB connectivity, a multi-format memory card reader and Wi-Fi capability.
…a far cry from the original’s specs, of course, but it will surely find demand among nostalgic Generation Xers.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Commodore was my first computer…I like its feartures, then…I don’t know it now…