C64 mini

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scotland
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Re: C64 mini

Postby scotland » October 11th, 2018, 9:19 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:Floppy disks are FAST! It was those old tape-loading games that always killed me! 10 minutes and counting!


When people complained about the load times of the PlayStation or Sega CD, I always thought that was warp speed compared to the old cassette loaders. I think I only lasted about 3/4ths of a year before I had the money for a floppy drive. For the C64, the floppy drive rivaled the computer in price.

From their language, I take it the company is hoping to do a firmware upgrade that emulates an Epyx fastloader to help

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scotland
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Re: C64 mini

Postby scotland » October 12th, 2018, 7:54 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:I'm intrigued. I found a games list here:
https://thec64.com/games/

Has anybody tried this? Would it be faithful enough to allow me to review C64 games? Yeah I know I had a C64 Critic but his system has been in disrepair.

I noticed it says "no AC adapter" on the front. What does that mean??


As to the no A/C adapter, I think it doesn't come with an A/C to USB adapter. It has a micro-USB port for power. You probably have an adapter that will work, or a powered USB port on your tv, but its an odd omission.

While you can load your own games, its one title at a time on the SD card, and you'll need a USB hub or keyboard with its own USB ports.

The emulation is getting good marks, but the joystick is getting poor reviews.

Its a mixed bag then

Alucard1191
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Re: C64 mini

Postby Alucard1191 » October 12th, 2018, 11:10 am

I had an Apple IIe for the bulk of my life, up until the PS2 was new, and I don't remember the floppy drives being slow at all, unless you were writing/formatting a disk, that might have taken a few minutes.

I agree overall though with emulation being the best way to enjoy these games now though. A lot of these older electronics are really hard to keep running at this point, and replicating the 80's experience is becoming more and more impractical.

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scotland
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Re: C64 mini

Postby scotland » November 24th, 2018, 10:31 am

scotland wrote:https://www.amazon.com/C64-Mini-not-machine-specific/dp/B07GMV1X1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538960564&sr=8-1&keywords=c64+mini

The C64 mini is available on Amazon for $80.

Key points are that its VICE emulation, and you can add your own games. The keyboard is just decorative, and there are complaints on the joystick.


I decided to go ahead and order one for myself yesterday for $60 on Black Friday. I checked this morning (Day after Black Friday) and they are still $60.

You might still want a USB keyboard, and another controller. You can buy a USB Atari controller for about $15, or for $20 you can get a USB to twin Genesis 9 pin sub D connectors which should work, or a twin pack of SNES style USB controllers for the same price.

Remember that you can also buy a USB to 9 pin serial, which might work as well. Its annoying because its designed to screw into the back of a computer's serial port, but I think it should work. I got a dedicated USB to 9 pin D a few years ago, but can't recall where I got it from.

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C64_Critic
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Re: C64 mini

Postby C64_Critic » November 24th, 2018, 3:12 pm

scotland wrote:I decided to go ahead and order one for myself yesterday for $60 on Black Friday. I checked this morning (Day after Black Friday) and they are still $60.

I was going to mention this but Scotland beat me to the punch! I probably won't get one myself since the included games are so weak given the extensive awesome library otherwise available for the C64, but other may get a kick out of it. I realize you can add your own ROM's after the fact to extend the library, but at that point I may as well just run an emulator on my PC anyway and it'll give me the same thing.

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zetax
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Re: C64 mini

Postby zetax » November 24th, 2018, 11:26 pm

Weird thought...you could run stuff like word processors or Printshop on this thing. Wonder if you could get a printer to work with them? A USB to Centronics adapter/cable that would work with an old Epson compatible printer...yeah, I know, goofy thought.

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scotland
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Re: C64 mini

Postby scotland » November 24th, 2018, 11:45 pm

zetax wrote:Weird thought...you could run stuff like word processors or Printshop on this thing. Wonder if you could get a printer to work with them? A USB to Centronics adapter/cable that would work with an old Epson compatible printer...yeah, I know, goofy thought.


But fun goofy - now if you could get a nice line printer to work, imagine the confused young folk trying to figure out what was making all that horrible noise when you print.

djc
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Re: C64 mini

Postby djc » November 25th, 2018, 1:31 am

Just be sure you got the newer 'North American' revision as it contains a number of improvements including better emulation and easier side-loading of games via USB stick.

David Murray (The 8-bit Guy) on YouTube did a review of both the original and updated versions. Supposedly there is a version in the works with a functioning keyboard as well which should be interesting if it ever sees the light of day.

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noah98
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Re: C64 mini

Postby noah98 » November 25th, 2018, 8:41 am

I ordered one for Christmas, since $60 is a reasonable price. I know the included joystick has issues, but it is easily modded with a longer screw (see YouTube). I have a small usb drive already loaded with a bunch of games. I also have an ibuffalo usb snes controller that supposedly works well. A usb hub and keyboard should complete the setup.

This should be a fun novelty. I always feel like my original C64 is going to eventually die on me, so having one with hdmi will be nice.

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scotland
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Re: C64 mini

Postby scotland » November 25th, 2018, 11:24 am

noah98 wrote:I ordered one for Christmas, since $60 is a reasonable price. I know the included joystick has issues, but it is easily modded with a longer screw (see YouTube). I have a small usb drive already loaded with a bunch of games. I also have an ibuffalo usb snes controller that supposedly works well. A usb hub and keyboard should complete the setup.

This should be a fun novelty. I always feel like my original C64 is going to eventually die on me, so having one with hdmi will be nice.


I've had to go through a couple of C64 breadbox computers - the other C128 design seems more robust, but its not the nostalgic design. If you have a computer, you can do what this can already, but yeah - its a fun novelty. Not sure if I will get the updated version, but hopefully you can download a firmware update via the USB port.

I didn't know about the joystick mod, so thanks. I'll have to look for that.


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