The Return of Commodore?

[KlaxonCow]

How much did it all cost with the shipping etc?

Looking at my receipts, I paid a total of £333.77 - which includes the shipping, as well as the joystick and C64U machine.

This was $299 for the C64U and $39.99 for the joystick. $31.00 for shipping and $74.20 for tax. Yes, all dollar amounts on the receipt.

Prices have definitely gone up since December, though. As the C64U is now £299 and the joystick £49.99 on the website - yeah, I was willing to pay $40 for the joystick because that's around £30, but fifty quid for an old Atari-style joystick?!? Yeah, I wouldn't pay that much for it. £30 for a one-button joystick, to be honest, is a bit much but I was willing to go that far for a "Christmas treat".

I think the tariffs and RAM-pocalypse is biting back, as the current prices are higher than what I paid - and that was only a few months ago, in December.

But the shipping is the cheapest bit. It's worth noting that Commodore have got a UK warehouse - the same one that the old Commodore UK had, in fact - so shipping and delivery is actually quite good for the UK, because they have a HQ in the UK. Well, Peri is a Brit, even if he's moved States-side since.

Although, yeah, you've made me feel a little better about grabbing the breadbin when I did, rather than wait for the C64C case. I'd be paying much more for the privilege now.

Oh, indeed, I ordered just before Christmas and justified it as a Christmas present to myself. I mean, strictly, I don't really need one, as the VICE emulator is just fine and dandy on PC. But there is something different about having the hardware and an actual one-button joystick and I told myself "it's Christmas".

[Whiteball]

How much did it all cost with the shipping etc?

Looking at my receipts, I paid a total of £333.77 - which includes the shipping, as well as the joystick and C64U machine.

This was $299 for the C64U and $39.99 for the joystick. $31.00 for shipping and $74.20 for tax. Yes, all dollar amounts on the receipt.

Prices have definitely gone up since December, though......

Thanks, I guess it's probably better to wait a bit longer before making any final decisions now.

I was looking mainly as a nostalgia thing for me but maybe also one for my dad.
He played all the games with us back in the day and would still play things such as Lode Runner and Boulderdash now, I just think the emulator stuff is to much faff for him so this would work with the 'switch it on and go' type of thing he was more familiar with back in the day.

[venusian]

One of the Evercade machine would seem like even faff?

[Whiteball]

One of the Evercade machine would seem like even faff?

Could be an option I guess but the C64 does tie in with the familiarity and nostalgia of the time more too.

There are other handhelds I would probably get before an Evercade just because there is a little more flexibility in what you can and can't do with them and once setup should be fairly user friendly and good to go.

...but none of these are C64s. so many memories wrapped up in the whole thing as well as just games.

[KlaxonCow]

Yeah, what the Ultimate does, that the others don't, is come in a near-perfect replica case, with all the ports and things in the same place - albeit that they've stuck USB, Ethernet and HDMI where the "User port" was, so it's got all the modern connections.

But it also has all the old connections too - so if you've got an old Datassette or floppy drive, these can actually be plugged in and used. It even has the old "user port" connector too, that they replaced with the modern stuff, but you have to open it up to get at it.

It has the look and feel of a real old-school C64. The only give-away is that the power switch is a rocker that also goes up - so you can access the modern "settings" screens - and the "shift lock" key doesn't lock (on the original, it actually clicked on and off, as a proper lock - the Ultimate's shift lock is just another key, which has the same functionality but doesn't physically "lock").

Indeed, I found my old original C64 - it blew a fuse or something, so it's not functional - and they look identical side-by-side.

So if your nostalgia is for the PETSCII characters on the keys, for pulling it out and plugging it up to the TV as a kid (which you can still do, albeit that you use HDMI and way bigger and better flatscreen TVs these days) and all that physical nostalgia, as well as the games, then that's really what the Ultimate delivers that the others don't.

As a physical object, it's a C64. And it comes with a "User Manual" that has all the same colour scheme and typesetting of the original manual - and type-in BASIC listings for the Commodore balloon sprite.

It's designed as an unadulterated "nostalgia-fest", from top to bottom and side-to-side, and it ticks all the boxes doing so.

But, yes, if all you care about is just playing Wizball again, then you can totally do that with VICE on a PC just fine. And something like the MiSTer can emulate you a ton of other stuff at the same time as well.

But if you're looking for "kid opening his C64 as a Christmas present under the tree" type of physical nostalgia for a prized object from your youth, that's what the Ultimate is all about. It does that par excellence.

[Whiteball]

Yeah, I still have a cupboard full of original tapes, disks and cartridges here.
Also the datasette and disk drive (possibly in the loft I believe somewhere them two).

[skab]

Eh... I always found the original C64 on the ugly side (I was a C128 guy and still love that design), so even a perfect reproduction of the original does nothing for me. But ok, it's a job well done. Done way before there was that new Commodore, they just added the proper name and logo and credentials. Anyway, nice to see the brand back in the hands of enthusiasts and some good, proper retro hardware with the Commodore name on it, and not, well, shredders. That April fools joke wasn't that far from the truth, the Tulip-Commodore slapped the name on the most stupid shit.

In the meantime I finally put the MISTer MultiSystem 2 I got back in December to use and installed everything I could find on it. And it's all I hoped it would be, and actually even more, just wonderful. I guess I get a lot more value-for-money out of that thing as out of a new C64...

[Whiteball]

...In the meantime I finally put the MISTer MultiSystem 2 I got back in December to use and installed everything I could find on it. And it's all I hoped it would be, and actually even more, just wonderful. I guess I get a lot more value-for-money out of that thing as out of a new C64...

That is what has really stopped me from getting one for myself to be honest as much as I would love one. I think personally I would end up with something more versatile that can do other stuff as well.

I am tempted however to get one for my dad. He can have all my old stuff too if he wanted although I could just set it up with the games he played back in the day which would be sufficient for him to enjoy it. They were such great times back then when we all played together and competed and co-operated with some of the real classics.

If he hears the original of a tune, he knows the original and its name but still calls them out by the game name sometimes
And ones that were originals too he still recognises if he hears a SID playing...Amazing what things our minds squirrel away even from 40 odd years ago

[Misfit]

Whiteball, sent you a PM

[KlaxonCow]

Okay, this was unexpected as Commodore's next product.

A semi-smart / semi-dumb flip phone for around £400.





Wow, Peri really has a grudge for social media. I did worry that he kept pushing that "digital detox brand" stuff - as it seemed like a red flag at the time, and this was what I was afraid of. The anti-social media "crusade" is detouring the company off in an odd direction. When, please, just establish yourself for retro computing first - with a FPGA Amiga or a new C128 or something - then go down weird side streets when the company is financially secure and can afford to experiment with some follies.

I mean, it's not all bad. Making it a clam shell flip phone with real buttons, yet the upper surface is a smartphone? That bit's clever. I think that's going to have appeal to some people, and is a gap in the market that surprisingly no-one's filled (but, then again, maybe that's because big phone manufacturers do market research and perhaps avoid it for knowing it won't sell enough units?).

I want the new Commodore to do well, and this isn't necessarily a disaster - as it will appeal to some - but it just feels like an almost surreal "detour" from the mission of reviving a retro brand for retro computing enthusiasts (who're really not reacting too well in the comments section of the launch video).

Like, this is one hell of a side-step from the FPGA retro computing revival we were expecting... and seeing as that's your primary audience right now, this might not land at all properly.

And, please, let this not be another bankruptcy that the brand goes back to being stuck on the side of paper shredders again.

[grue]

Too expensive and nobody wants it.

I understand that giving every C= computer at once will probably leave them with nothing of the usual wanna-haves that gives them power but this is.. ..well, shit.

[venusian]

Idk.

The device they're showing today is ugly and expensive.

But.

In a world where governments are banning social media for under-16s, there's an opportunity for somebody to do something for that market: a nifty, affordable, communication device that is entertaining and fun, but not a social media delivery platform.

In the same way that the original C= delivered affordable, fun and entertaining computers to under 16s, somebody will get to deliver the phone equivalent to kids.

Coming at it with Sailfish rather than Android gives them a curatable system that isn't just cut-down landfill Android.

With a bigger screen and something instead of the physical keys (trackscreen, joystick?), I might be interested.

Edit: Yeah, actually, looking again at their website. If not for the T9 text entry idiocy, I'd be signing up for the PET version.

[Whiteball]

Unfortunately this will have a very limited market to the point of almost being DOA.

It is just too expensive for what it is and there are much better options already available at much cheaper prices.
I agree with Klaxon, go down this road later after you have built up the company and customer base not as you second major launch product.

Why are they also showing the see through ugly one in most of the pictures as well, it's just had to see what it even looks like properly. The beige not only looks much better but ties in nicely with the Commodore colours of the past.

This has the potential to destroy all the goodwill and enthusiasm people had for the new Commodore if they don't get on top of all the negative comments flooding in around this everywhere. They need some good PR right away to counter this rather lacklustre launch.

[tufty]

Aw, c'mon lads. Tanking the company based on a product nobody wants being pushed by a mental CEO is very very Commodore.

[grue]

Aw, c'mon lads. Tanking the company based on a product nobody wants being pushed by a mental CEO is very very Commodore.

True