The New Commodore 64 339
An anonymous reader writes "After nearly 30 years, the Commodore brand has taken on new management and is re-releasing its flagship computer, this time with all the amenities of a modern-day computer packed inside. From the article: 'The new Commodore 64, which will begin shipping at the end of the month, has been souped-up for the modern age. It comes with 1.8 gigahertz dual processors, an optional Blu-ray player and built-in ethernet and HDMI ports. The new Commodore is priced between $250 to $900.'"
Re:So the question is... (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Nostalgia
It sure is a novelty item besides being a computer. And if it's a fully functional PC, too, you actually get a pretty usable office machine that way.
2. All-in-one
Computer and keyboard rolled back into one. At a price tag that a laptop probably cannot meet (due to flatscreens still being not free) while taking most likely much less real estate around your desk than the traditional PC, no matter whether it's tower or desktop.
Where I see its space is (home) office users who don't need high end specs but want a simple computer while already having a screen to plug it to. In other words, average computer users. And they're plentiful. Add a few nostalgic geeks and you have a market share.
Could have been great... (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, if they had followed through ...
OS in ROM - no Virus worries or update hell. All the machines are the same.
BASIC (replaced with something modern) in ROM - make it easy and attractive to program.
Applications in ROM - Build in OpenOffice, FireFox, whatever else is commonly needed and make it front and center. Build an entire Linux Distro of applications in that are available with a bit of digging. But mostly, make it really friendly to start writing a letter, using the internet, whatever.
Cartridge slot for commercial apps.
An HDMI porrt
Make the computer an appliance again. Don't require the owner to be a SysAdmin to use it. Sure, you lose some flexibility, but you gain hugely in usability. I know precisely the number of times my mother has opened her computer to install a new add-in card - zero.
It's a fake! (Score:5, Interesting)
This is nothing but a PC in a custom case with a famous trademark. I read a lot of vintage computing sites and no one has expressed an interest in these. It's a dumb idea, not worthy of mention,
What is worthy of mention, yet no one reports on, is all the custom retro modern hardware available these days. Want a C64 or Amiga without the hassle of maintaining old hardware? Try a C-One [c64upgra.de], an FPGA platform that implements both C64 and Amiga computers. Or, do you have a C64 but tire of floppy swapping? Get a 1541-Ultimate [1541ultimate.net], a cycle accurate 1541 emulator that even emits the sounds of a real disk drive. Or, do you love the sound of the SID audio chip inside the C64? Control it via MIDI with the MSSIAH [8bitventures.com] cartridge. Any of these projects are more worthy of attention in the tech media than the crass money grab we see in TFA.
Re:Alternate headline (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, but since you can install a full blown Amiga (let alone C64) emulator on any PC made in the past 10 years, a pre-installed version in hardware isn't really much of a selling point.
The one thing it would require is a drive to emulate the 1541. I have games on disks - not on 3.5 or HD or Flash drive, but original media. I trust I will have a bonafide 5 1/4 drive I can read my old disks with. If not, there's really very little point, unless I want to download the various images from whatever repositories exist. But I do have things you won't find on them, like programs, tools or artwork of my own making. I'd love to see this stuff again.
Re:So the question is... (Score:4, Interesting)