Thursday, April 7, 2011

Commodore 64


Commodore 64
It was one of the most successful home computers of the eighties and now it's making an unlikely comeback. A new version of the Commodore 64 is set to be released this summer, featuring entirely modern innards including a 1.8ghz dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor, Nvidia Ion 2 graphics chipset, 2 GB of DDR3 memory and your choice of a DVD or Blu-ray drive.
Best of all, the revived machine will feature exactly the same design as its 8bit predecessor, right down to the beige body and rather spongy keyboard (you can see more images on the Commodore USA Facebook page). The old cartridge port and joystick interfaces will be gone, though, replaced with HDMI and USB connections. Users will also be able to install Windows 7, although the machine will ship with Linux and will eventually get its own Commodore OS 1.0, complete with an emulator to play classic C64 titles. The new device is apparently on sale now, and orders are being taken at the price of $595 (£364), although at the moment, the company's website seems to be struggling to cope with the amount of interest a PC in a brown plastic box is generating.
Although the original Commodore Business Machines declared bankruptcy in 1994, the brand has passed through a number of hands in the subsequent years. It is now jointly shared by the creator of the new C64, Commodore USA, as well as Commodore Holdings and Commodore Gaming, which builds high-spec PCs.
But the big question is, which classic C64 titles should be updated along with the machine?
Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk

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