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I think this must surely be the smallest version of the Commodore 64 about. And yep it really does *do* something as well. The SD card there is just there for scale however. I've not tried mine yet as I've literally only just this second gotten it out of the box!
I also now include a short review below.
SP
I also now include a short review below.
SP
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1200 x 508px
File Size 139.9 kB
Listed in Folders
Ok, some quick observations about this device. I've literally only got it out of the box and now just tried it out for a few hours. I don't have full information right now, but so far I give the device 50-50. Some notes:
* According to one person on youtube who opened up his device this system is using an Allwinner A20 CPU and (from memory) a 256MB flash chip and 256MB Ram.
* The keyboard on the C64mini is cosmetic only and dosen't do anything. However it is so small that if it were functional you'd probably be hitting more than one key with one finger!
* It is possible to use the C64mini with an HDMI to DVI connector if you need it but the display needs to support whatever screenmode the C64mini outputs - your mileage may vary.
* There is apparently an update coming soon sometime at the end of the month.
* The device can be picky about USB keyboards. I tried 3 USB keyboards (one being wireless) and only one worked.
* The supplied joystick does work with a PC. I tried mine on my linux box and VICE and it seemed to work. It was identified as "hid-generic 0003:1C59:0023.000A: input,hidraw5: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [ THEC64 Joystick THEC64 Joystick ]".
* To move around in the menu system you have to use the joystick -- the keyboard can't be used to move around in the menu system.
* Plugging in a USB keyboard if (for example) you start the basic interpreter won't work -- basic will start, but the usb keyboard won't. You'll need to plug in the keyboard 'from cold' and then power on with it plugged in.
* It is possible to add your own games to this device. However there's a caveat - although you can add your own games, you can't add your own D64s. It will load an exernal D64 (C64 floppy disk image) but saving it to the device itself only saves the C64s memory to the C64mini and not the disk image itself.
* An attempt ( I was not expecting this to work!) to boot from a USB flash drive (but set up for a different ARM based device but one with the same cpu, i.e. AllwinnerA20) did not work.
* It is possible (though I don't know) that this device might not have a USB host chip in it. If that's the case that explains why keyboards and joysticks work, but USB booting dosen't (it would require USB host).
* The underlying OS isn't currently known. Some have said it might be a linux OS but I am not sure.
* The menu system appears to be some awful propietary thing; someone asked about the menu system on the forums and the message was that they couldn't give out any information about it.
* It isn't clear what sort of emulator or whatever the system is using. Some people think it might be VICE but it is unknown. "Retro games ltd" so far haven't said anything.
Overall would I buy this thing? Well I only have one of these devices because I funded "THE 64" which was going to be a full system C64 (i.e. with a full sized working keyboard); the 64 mini has come along after that point.
Would I buy it? Well .... 50-50 as I say. On the downside if it is true that there's propietary junk in this thing I'd probably say no. Hopefully I am wrong about the USB ports/hosts/booting and if so it might be possible to boot linux and then run VICE (if that is possible you could turn it into a vic 20, PET, plus4, C128!). But bear in mind if this thing really does only have 256MB flash and RAM that's going to be a bit tight --- just enough for X and an emulator and not much else!
Alternatives to this device? Well you could always go with a raspberry pi and an emulator, or an emulator on your PC or even "the real mccoy". But if you go for "the real mccoy" (i.e. the original hardware) bear in mind that the hardware is going to be old and possibly not in 100% functional condition. Plus sellers on ebay are more than likely to mark something like even a C64 "rare" and try to sell it for some insane price.
SP
* According to one person on youtube who opened up his device this system is using an Allwinner A20 CPU and (from memory) a 256MB flash chip and 256MB Ram.
* The keyboard on the C64mini is cosmetic only and dosen't do anything. However it is so small that if it were functional you'd probably be hitting more than one key with one finger!
* It is possible to use the C64mini with an HDMI to DVI connector if you need it but the display needs to support whatever screenmode the C64mini outputs - your mileage may vary.
* There is apparently an update coming soon sometime at the end of the month.
* The device can be picky about USB keyboards. I tried 3 USB keyboards (one being wireless) and only one worked.
* The supplied joystick does work with a PC. I tried mine on my linux box and VICE and it seemed to work. It was identified as "hid-generic 0003:1C59:0023.000A: input,hidraw5: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [ THEC64 Joystick THEC64 Joystick ]".
* To move around in the menu system you have to use the joystick -- the keyboard can't be used to move around in the menu system.
* Plugging in a USB keyboard if (for example) you start the basic interpreter won't work -- basic will start, but the usb keyboard won't. You'll need to plug in the keyboard 'from cold' and then power on with it plugged in.
* It is possible to add your own games to this device. However there's a caveat - although you can add your own games, you can't add your own D64s. It will load an exernal D64 (C64 floppy disk image) but saving it to the device itself only saves the C64s memory to the C64mini and not the disk image itself.
* An attempt ( I was not expecting this to work!) to boot from a USB flash drive (but set up for a different ARM based device but one with the same cpu, i.e. AllwinnerA20) did not work.
* It is possible (though I don't know) that this device might not have a USB host chip in it. If that's the case that explains why keyboards and joysticks work, but USB booting dosen't (it would require USB host).
* The underlying OS isn't currently known. Some have said it might be a linux OS but I am not sure.
* The menu system appears to be some awful propietary thing; someone asked about the menu system on the forums and the message was that they couldn't give out any information about it.
* It isn't clear what sort of emulator or whatever the system is using. Some people think it might be VICE but it is unknown. "Retro games ltd" so far haven't said anything.
Overall would I buy this thing? Well I only have one of these devices because I funded "THE 64" which was going to be a full system C64 (i.e. with a full sized working keyboard); the 64 mini has come along after that point.
Would I buy it? Well .... 50-50 as I say. On the downside if it is true that there's propietary junk in this thing I'd probably say no. Hopefully I am wrong about the USB ports/hosts/booting and if so it might be possible to boot linux and then run VICE (if that is possible you could turn it into a vic 20, PET, plus4, C128!). But bear in mind if this thing really does only have 256MB flash and RAM that's going to be a bit tight --- just enough for X and an emulator and not much else!
Alternatives to this device? Well you could always go with a raspberry pi and an emulator, or an emulator on your PC or even "the real mccoy". But if you go for "the real mccoy" (i.e. the original hardware) bear in mind that the hardware is going to be old and possibly not in 100% functional condition. Plus sellers on ebay are more than likely to mark something like even a C64 "rare" and try to sell it for some insane price.
SP
I had the original Commodore 64 in 1984, it had better graphics, sound and keyboard than the rival Sinclair Spectrum but the Spectrum was more popular and had more software which mostly comprised of games. One drawback of the Commodore 64 was that loading games from cassette tape was unreliable, you could wait 20 minutes for a game to load only for it to fail to load. Copying games with a twin cassette deck was hit or miss, sometimes the copy would work and sometimes it wouldn't.
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