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Hardware

1+ GHz Commodore SX-64 Mod 324

Posted by timothy from the not-your-ordinary-case-mod dept.
Spider[DAC] writes "I just found this site, about a person who modified a Commodore SX-64 to contain a 1.2 GHz PIII system. It appears to be a really cool system, and apparantly requires some specially made hardware to make it all interoperate properly. A well-documented read, and definitely something to dream about doing yourself."
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1+ GHz Commodore SX-64 Mod More

1+ GHz Commodore SX-64 Mod

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  • You'll need that 1Ghz+ (Score:3, Funny)

    by reaper20 ( 23396 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @10:56PM (#4553269) Homepage
    Heh, let's put it to the test with the /. effect.

  • What would Weird Al say? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lothar+0 ( 444996 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @10:56PM (#4553271) Homepage
    Think your Commodore 64's pretty neat?
    Put in a P3 and it'll be l33t!

  • Yes!!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by gik ( 256327 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @10:56PM (#4553273)
    "...and definitely something to dream about doing yourself."

    Finally!! I get to dream about doing myself!!

    I love you Slashdot!

  • Been said before (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28, 2002 @10:57PM (#4553276)
    True hardware enthusiasts value the electronics, not the plastic that encloses them. That VIC-20 processor is a lot more interesting than a small form factor PC.

    • Re:Been said before (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Cryptnotic ( 154382 ) on Tuesday October 29, 2002 @02:01AM (#4553948)
      That VIC-20 processor is a lot more interesting than a small form factor PC.


      No it's not. The VIC-20 used an 8-bit Motorola 6502 microcontroller. It's dead simple. If you took a university course in computer systems architecture, they might have you design a similar CPU for your semester project. They might even have you build it in VHDL, which you could synthesize onto an FPGA.


      Some old systems are intersting for the nostalgia. Others are interesting for novel design. The CPU in the VIC-20 is far less interesting than the nostalgia gleamed from playing old games and reliving your childhood for an hour or so.

  • My project is the opposite (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28, 2002 @10:57PM (#4553279)
    I'm attempting to move the innards of a C64 into a Dell case. Wish me luck!

  • Wow (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @10:59PM (#4553288) Homepage Journal
    That's very impressive. I mean the most I did was get a 14.4 modem into a normal Commodore 64. And I've seen guys who took Apple][gs machines and installed hard drives, cd burners, nics, and got everything from wolf3d and down to run on them. Even web browsing and AIM.

    Even though it's not practical or useful for the average person I think it's good that there is proof that unless you are playing games or doing other high powered tasks like encoding video, that you don't need a new powerful machine.

    Radio Shack Coco 2 in the house

    • Re:Wow (Score:4, Interesting)

      by karnal ( 22275 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:07PM (#4553340)
      "Radio Shack Coco 2 in the house"

      I remember dreaming of having enough money one day to get the 512KB memory upgrade for my coco3....

      Or, drooling over the 1MB or 2MB upgrades, or the 0 wait state disk controller (OS9 goodness....)

      • Re:Wow (Score:3, Interesting)

        by fatboy ( 6851 )
        or the 0 wait state disk controller (OS9 goodness....)

        A friend of mine had the Frank Hog Labs 0 wait state disk controller. I only had a DISTO Super Controller II 4-n-1 and it sucked!

        Multi User, Multi Tasking with less than 512k of ram. OS9 rocked. I still have the c compiler around here somewhere for it.

  • This is pathetic. 16 comments and slashdotted? Mirrors anyone?

  • For crying out loud (Score:5, Insightful)

    by shepd ( 155729 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [gro.todhsals]> on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:00PM (#4553292) Homepage Journal
    Destroying the rarest C64 ever made to change it in to a PC?

    People that do this don't deserve to have old computers. (IMHO).

    This is like taking a Model-T Ford and "converting" it into a Toyota Corolla.

    • Re:For crying out loud (Score:5, Insightful)

      by carpe_noctem ( 457178 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:17PM (#4553391) Homepage Journal
      From the website:
      the sx-64 dissapeared as quickly as it arrived. today they remain a collector's item.

      20 years later

      given, the sx-64 kicked ass in the 1980's, but my current computer is literally 1600 times faster than this thing! i wouldn't use a 5-year old computer without complaining, let alone a 20 year old computer. computers need to be able to stream DVDs, movies, surf the internet, play 3d games, and store gigabytes worth of mp3's before they can be considered useful nowadays.

      I couldn't agree with you more. This guy basically bastardized a collectible antique computer and stripped it of all its value to make it a marginal desktop computer. If he was so concerned about having a "usable computer" for everyday computing tasks, he'd be better off buying a 60$ case and power supply. He'll be sorry in another 25 years when he sees one of these selling for big bucks on "Antiques Roadshow".
    • This reminds me of a comment I spotted once about collecting old computers (one of my hobbies... wanna see my AS/400?):

      Paraphrased, "Yeah, I really need to find a hobby that's less expensive and doesn't take up as much room. Y'know, like collecting large diamonds."

      At any rate, the guy who modded this Commodore is an idiot. I would have paid some good money for that machine, and many of my friends would have, as well. And, coincidentally, my Osborne 1 arrives tomorrow. I'll have to make sure this site isn't on my other computers' screens, or the Osborne might get a little anxious....

      Jouster

      • obEbay link (Score:2, Informative)

        by Guiness17 ( 606444 )
        All this talk about them being so rare...are they really?

        Here's one [ebay.com] and another SX-64. [ebay.com]
        Not trying to troll here. I happen to collect (original, full size) arcade machines from the eighties, so I understand the pain when I see one gutted.

        • No idea if they're particularly rare, but it's old, and it's a computer. I'd take it, and pay eBay or better prices for it. Probably $50 or so, which I realize is less than the $100 he paid for it.

          And in response to your comment: it's also relatively easy to find NEXTCubes on eBay; they're nonetheless rare. They just happen to be at that magical point right now where many "normal" users are getting rid of them, creating opportunities for the collectors. In two years, it will be impossible to find a NEXTCube on eBay for less than $500.

          Jouster

    • Destroying the rarest C64 ever made to change it in to a PC?

      People that do this don't deserve to have old computers. (IMHO).

      This is like taking a Model-T Ford and "converting" it into a Toyota Corolla.

      I'd have to agree 100%, though it's a flawed analogy.

      A better analogy would be if you were a kid and you had a prized model car - one that your dad put together and handed down to you... you took really good care of it... then one day your kid brother decided to rip the top off it and use it for a body of a cheap Radio Shack remote control car - just because it was old and he didn't see any point to just leaving it on a shelf. "But it's still a car, and it looks kinda the same!" your kid brother whines - as you pound him into a fine paste...

      Longer analogy, but more apropriate. And yes, I do feel like pounding this guy into a fine paste. His logic is that you wouldn't want to use a 5 year old computer, so therefore no one would want to keep around a 20 year old computer. Yeesh. There's a big, BIG difference between a 5 year old crappy Intel machine and a 20 year old Commodore - especially one of the rarer ones to find.

      I'm going to have to go and track down and buy a SX-64 - just to keep it from people like this guy.

    • Agreed. I really don't understand this guy, but then, I never had such a rare computer by my hands. I guess the more you have the less you appreciate it.
    • Yep. I have a working Kaypro... I -could- gut it and install my Athlon in it... but then all I'd have would be an athlon, in a wierd case. The working Kaypro is way cooler. :)

      Now, making a REPLICA case, that's another story. Hmm....
    • Hey what a great idea..

      I think I'll gut out my Altair 8800 and convert it into a run-of-the-mill PC. Hell, I could drop a PowerComputing motherboard into it and turn it into a Mac!!

      or maybe not.

      (right now a NEC P90 laptop serves as a 'glass tty' for the Altair, I might have to get one of those 1100 disk format gadgets to read the old Altair 71K 5-1/4" hard sector floppy format)

    • Re:For crying out loud (Score:5, Insightful)

      by teamhasnoi ( 554944 ) <teamhasnoi@[ ]oo.com ['yah' in gap]> on Tuesday October 29, 2002 @12:43AM (#4553705) Journal
      I'm sorry (not), but this guy should do anything he wants with his hardware. It's now usable on daily basis, and most likely will be better taken care of than a 'closet classic'. Christ - you people talk like there were only 3 ever made and one went down with the Titanic.

      Sure, its a casemod. It's no longer the computer it was. But guess what? He likes it.

      I can understand the guys who spend 300 some hours making a clear acrylic case for their Duron machines, and people who turn Mac SE's into fishtanks, and guys who make their classic 67 Beetle into some bastardized trike, ect ect. It's what they like to do.

      I wouldn't do it myself, but what's important here?

      The fact that this will be used with the form intact and the function 'improved'? Or that it stays in it's original form and decaying function?

      Is the next post I read on /. going to be how everyone should go back to the 1.0 Linux kernal, "Cause that's da way it should be." ?? Ugh.

      Personally, I'd love to have a Next Cube with an shit-hot PC in it. Why? So I could use it for what I do *now*, and look at it's beatiful shape and color while I record music and edit video on it. Would I miss the Next OS? Sure, maybe. Would it get used on a daily basis? (We're talking 040 processor, people)

      No.

      But hey what the hell do I know?

      • Re:For crying out loud (Score:2, Interesting)

        by shepd ( 155729 )
        If you're willing to spend all those hours making casemods, why not simply design the case from the ground up?

        ie: make a regular PC case in to a SX64-looking case.

        You end up with a classic and the "cool PC". What could be better?

        >Christ - you people talk like there were only 3 ever made and one went down with the Titanic.

        That's almost how it was. And there'll never be anymore made -- the SX64 schematics were mostly lost during the Escom buyout, and the last scraps were lost when Gateway bought out the Commodore IP of Escom.

        >The fact that this will be used with the form intact and the function 'improved'? Or that it stays in it's original form and decaying function?

        Oh, I'm not saying he should let it rot. He should _repair_ it and bring it up to original new spec, if anything. If not, sell it to one of us for $100. That'd pay for one shit-hot PC case; racing stripes, V-TEC sticker, 8 blue headlights, 6" dual-mufflers, fuzzy dice, mag wheels, and the rest.

        Hey, what he likes and what is the "right" thing (to people who actually appreciate C64 machines) are, quite possibly, very different things.

        >Personally, I'd love to have a Next Cube with an shit-hot PC in it. Why? So I could use it for what I do *now*, and look at it's beatiful shape and color while I record music and edit video on it. Would I miss the Next OS? Sure, maybe. Would it get used on a daily basis? (We're talking 040 processor, people)

        Why not just buy a modern cube shaped case and fix it up to be similar looking to a NeXT cube?

        Again, you get the classic and a cool PC.

        What this guy did to his SX64 is worse than anything you'd see here [riceboypage.com], IMHO.
      • After reqading that, I just had to do a google search on beetle trike [petrolheadsmcc.co.uk]. LOL
    • Yeah, next thing you know people will be turning IBM PC's into catboxes [techquarium.com]. Sheesh.

      Shayne

    • How rare can they be? ;-)

      I love the dinky screen, and how it uses the sensible VIC-20 colours - blue on white with cyan border, instead of blue on blue with blue border.

      But the disk drive is out of alignment and AFAIK you can't plug a tape deck into it. My cartridge selection is rather limited! I can connect it to my PC I guess using the PC-parallel - 1541 DIN plug, but I don't know if the software will still work on Windows XP... You may guess I haven't used it so much recently...

      • I wish I had those colors on mine. I got my SX-64 by chance. Someone had it out with the spring cleanup garbage. I got to it before the metal scrappers did. Of course, it didn't work, but after about 2 weeks of tedious troubleshooting, I discovered that someone had put a SID chip in the Kernel ROM socket (should have looked at the chip numbers first). I popped one out of a spare C64 and transplanted it to the SX-64 and it worked. However, I get the light blue/blue screen and C= + Run/Stop asks me to "Press Play On Tape". I still get it out from time to time. It's the only item in my collection that I keep in a closet instead of with the other collectables in the basement.

        As for drive alignment. It's rather easy, but you do need a formatted disk from a properly aligned drive, or a disk from a purchased game (which should be properly formatted).

        The technique is simple. You may need to search the net for some BASIC code for the C64 that will allow you to move the drive head to different tracks and continuously report the read error number as the drive is spinning. Should be a simple program to type in. Just move out to track 1, loosen the stepper motor screw and adjust the stepper motor until you get a good read code (I forget the actual code). Tighten down the screw and go to the other edge of the disk (Track 35). Verify and or adjust as needed. Then try the middle track (Track 18). After testing and adjusting where necessary, you should have a well aligned drive.

        This technique worked well at the user's groups for "field repair".

  • About Time (Score:4, Funny)

    by carb ( 611951 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:01PM (#4553300) Homepage
    It took 15 years, but I can finally play my C64 copy of "Bad Dudes" at more than 5 frames per second - hoorah!

  • A C64? (Score:5, Funny)

    by bytesmythe ( 58644 ) <bytesmythe@@@gmail...com> on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:03PM (#4553311)
    That's nothin'... I have the original UNIVAC in my spare house that I modified to use AMD 2.2 GHz Athlon XPs. Of course, the blinkenlights flash on and off so fast they burn out in just a few seconds. Then again, the original wiring was only run at 2.2 MEGAhz, so trying to get all the timing right was a nightmare.

    And have you ever tried searching PriceWatch for a PGA to vacuum tube converter? Sheeeeesh... You'd think people had never heard of retrocomputing.

    • Re:A C64? (Score:2, Funny)

      by gurnb ( 80987 )
      I have an old UNIVAC that IS my spare house!
    • I have the original UNIVAC in my spare house

      You probably mean ENIAC, the huge digital beast built for the Army at the University of Pennsylvania. It was something like 30 tons and had roughly 20K vacuum tubes. Slower than your TI calculator, but being able to do 5000 ops per second wasn't too shabby for 1945.

      UNIVAC, on the other hand, was a successful commercial computer (though only after Mauchly and Eckert sold out to Remington-Rand... the company that later became the LZW/GIF bastards, Unisys). The various UNIVACs fit into a single (large) enclosure and had a snazzy operators console. Very SciFi looking. Again, slow by todays standards, but quite a speed demon back in the day.... 40kbps tape storage, 2.25 MHz logic units (still vacuum tube based), sustained performance of over 100,000 ops per second.

      Hmm, now as I proof-read, I realize you *are* talking about the UNIVAC-1. I'll post this anyway, heh.

  • A little audio theme to go along with that... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by apk ( 120253 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:03PM (#4553313)
    If you're at all into the C64, you've got to check out the song "C64 Convention" by mindfusion [mp3s.com], available for free on mp3.com.

    Cool old school electronica that rocks.


    Andy

  • Whoa this is really cool (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SuperDuG ( 134989 ) <be AT eclec DOT tk> on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:04PM (#4553316) Homepage Journal
    Take a regular PC and load up an emulator on it while still using the old case. This isn't a hardware hack, it's a case mod if anything. Anyone else interested in a really fast C64??

    Frodo [uni-mainz.de] is a crossplatform C64 emulator for windows, macos, beos, riscos, and many more. Take the system you have now and use it as a C64, or emulate a million other systems as well.

    I'm really sorry, but this is yet another case of shoddy journalism and actual fact checking before publishing. I know slashdot is far from a "professional" grade news source, but I would like to think that there is at least a small bit of integrity in there somewhere. Speaking of integrity, whatch this get modded down, -1 Troll, -1 Offtopic, -1 Redundant, -1 Overrated, -1 too many mod points for editors.

    • Re:Whoa this is really cool (Score:5, Insightful)

      by megabeck42 ( 45659 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:25PM (#4553443)
      Woah, cut the guy some credit! This isn't just a case hack; he didn't just spend 4 hours with a dremel.

      He went to the trouble of using the orignal keyboard. That means he designed and programmed a microprocessor to convert the matrix from the keyboard into the serial stream for the ps/2 port.

      According to his tech page, he's going to build a switching power supply, which isn't easy to do right, to replace the 1U power supply he's currently using.

      Oh, and there's the sound interface, too, more custom hardware.

      Sure, he's using an emulator, but, he's also using a lot of the original hardware.

      I'd like to see you do that.

  • Hmm. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mindstrm ( 20013 )
    I had one of those. Traded my modded c64s for it.

    Best deal I ever made. I loved that thing.

    This is kind of perverse in a way.. those were awesome machines.

    Would make a neat bladerunner-ish video player though ;)

    Anyone remember having to de-case a cartridge to get it to fit in the slot?

    • Best system EVER. I used it a lot while in middle school and brought it everywhere on trips. It weighed 50lbs, but it could do everything! And I had so much software, it was incredible. The color screen was fantastic and SHARP too! Sleepovers, deer hunting, vacations.. The DX64 was my best friend. God I feel like such a nerd. Sold it to a guy in high school for $100 .. Now I could smack myself.. Ugh.

  • /.'ed (Score:5, Informative)

    by Sivar ( 316343 ) <charlesnburns[@]gmail . c om> on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:05PM (#4553322)
    Hopefully the website's server isn't this guy's shiny ...er, new SX-64. It just melted.

    The page:



    this page is dedicated to my efforts to skillfully implant a 1+GHZ system inside of my Commodore SX-64 portable computer. this modification will be completely stealth. in fact, when my C64 emulator is running, it should be completely indistinguishable from the original system. however, when the emulator is not running, i will be able to watch DVDs, play MP3s, surf the internet, and play games from anywhere through windows XP. a truly portable system, complete with integrated monitor, keyboard, and handle! lan parties here i come!

    SX-64 History

    this was my commodore sx-64 before it was modified. i got it for free from a friend at work back some time in january. this little machine was the world's first COLOR portable computer system. the keyboard doubles as a protective face for the case. the handle doubles as a tilting arm to make the monitor more viewable.

    the original unmodified SX-64

    the system has a built-in 5-inch color CRT monitor, a commodore 1541 disk drive, a 1mhz cpu, 64k of RAM, MOS6581 sound chip, and a VIC20 video chip (320x200 pixels, 4-bit color, 40x25 text mode). it also comes with a built-in speaker, a game cartridge slot on the top, an expansion port on the back, an RS232-C serial port, two gameports, and composite NTSC/PAL out (depending on where your SX-64 came from). the operating system is SX-64 BASIC (developed by microsoft!!). the system was released in 1983 and retailed for around $1000 USD.

    some of the world's best games (IMO) were for this system. classics like the original PAC-MAN, donkey kong, maniac mansion, etc were well worth the price of the system back in the day. not to mention, the BASIC operating system was so easy to use, you could program your own game in no time. no microsoft APIs, DLLs, or bluescreens to deal with! just PEEK and POKE your graphics and sounds to memory, and you were on your way to being a professional programmer (aside from learning assembly, of course :]).

    from what i've read, the SX-64 was a flop because it was targeted towards the business market (it was called the "executive computer"). it competed with laptops like the Toshiba T-1000, but was heavier, had no batteries, and didn't fit in your lap. the sx-64 dissapeared as quickly as it arrived. today they remain a collector's item.

    20 years later

    given, the sx-64 kicked ass in the 1980's, but my current computer is literally 1600 times faster than this thing! i wouldn't use a 5-year old computer without complaining, let alone a 20 year old computer. computers need to be able to stream DVDs, movies, surf the internet, play 3d games, and store gigabytes worth of mp3's before they can be considered useful nowadays.

    the only way to wedge a new motherboard in my C64 will be to go SMALL.

    the latest computer craze (at least the latest craze i've been following) is the 'small form factor' (SFF) PC. these little systems work great for home theater PCs (HTPCs), internet terminals, and lan parties. i, for one, would hate to lug a full-size tower and monitor to a lan party and back. but my SX-64 above would be perfect for lan parties. it has a handle, it's rugged, and everything's built-in (even the monitor!).

    SFF motherboards (the two big form factors now are Flex ATX and Mini ITX) are the perfect choice for my project because they have integrated sound, network, video, and tv out. the tv out is probably the most important since the c64's internal CRT takes an NTSC s-video input. without it, the screen would be useless. the only bad part is that the 3d graphics will suck pretty hard (s3 savage core) so lan parties will suck for me because i will probably get killed a lot since i'll probably be playing at a low resolution. (update: I'm running about 40fps in cstrike in 800x600. It's not as good as a Geforce4, but at least it's faster than the original c64's VIC chip!

    Research

    planning plays a big part in any big project. if i was just adding a window kit or something stupid like that, yea i could just go to town with a dremel and not expect any real problems. but if i cut too much away from the case, or just guessed on which wires to solder, this whole project would be over.

    after searching around the internet, i found the original schematics for the seperate boards inside the sx-64. several circuit boards will have to be designed and etched to interface the sx-64 case to the newer hardware. (update: most of these boards can be found in the tech info section). many hours of dremeling the steel inside the case were required, because the original cards were mounted vertically, and my motherboard has to go in horizontally.

    • Re:/.'ed (Score:4, Informative)

      by Jouster ( 144775 ) <slashdotNO@SPAMangelfaq.com> on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:34PM (#4553478) Homepage Journal
      I'm adding more content to it as I get it, but here's what I have so far:

      My Mirror [thereifs.com].

      Jouster
      • The worst part is that I have several additional pictures pulled up in my Mozilla 1.2 Beta (build 2002101612, WinXP), but can't save them because my Mozilla decided to stop saving things recently. Anyone have a solution?

        Jouster
      • Okay, the main page and tech info pages are now complete, others are coming along nicely.

        If you haven't looked in a while, look again [thereifs.com], since I'm putting in the latest content wget is feeding me every ten minutes or so.

        Jouster
    • Sheesh.

      Destroying a neat piece of collectible cruft like that is bad enough, but it appears he actually knew very little about what he was destroying.

      - The video chip was named 'VIC' not 'VIC20' (which was another, bittier, box).
      - Neither Pac-Man nor Donkey Kong were originals on that platform, or indeed even faithful reproductions.
      - I'm not even going to go into that 'BASIC operating system' bit [but hey, now that I think of it, it does establish a pattern for Microsoft 'OS'es]
      - The T-1000 was a nice piece of PCish hardware; but had no battery either. Mains or no dice.

      ... But most of all, I am amazed at even his missing the irony of stating he wouldn't be able to use a five year old computer "without complaining" yet one of his admitted design goals was that he could run an emulator so that he could.

      -- MG

      • He is probably also missing the point that you CAN use a 5 year old computer if you don't put WinXP on it.

        I also find it ironic that he complains about not being able to use a 5 year old computer, yet all he puts in the case is a PIII/1ghz (and yes, it's probably for power and heat reasons, but ironic nonetheless).

        I don't see why he had to ruin this computer. Is he too lazy to burn his favorite MP3s onto a CD-R (or two or five) and use a CD player? Or just use a computer he already has? No way in hell you'd see me rip the guts out of my SGI Indy or Sun SparcStation IPX just so that I could have a PC in a "retro" case.

        When I was a teenager, the only computer that I could afford was a 386 @ 8MHz with something like 2 megabytes of RAM. I put up with the damn thing into the 90s ('96 or '97 IIRC), until I finally was able to afford a modern machine. I'd like to see if he could get by with something like that (probably not).
      • I don't know what you mean by "originals", but Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, DK Jr., Mario Bros., and other games of the era were quite excellently translated to the C64. Hell, I was playing a great version of Smash TV on my SX-64 in the early 90s.

        And of course, the SX-64 did boot into BASIC.

        I do think it's a shame, though, that he gutted a working SX, since there are hundreds out there that are no longer working, but what the hell -- it's his box to do with as he pleases. I'd prefer he used a dead one in the first place, but nostalgia does not prevent me from acknowledging that this is a pretty sweet hack.

        I like when he goes to the LAN party:

        "i couldn't play pac-man for more than five minutes before someone was asking me why i'd bother bringing a commodore to a LAN party. every time i simply minimized my emulator and watched their jaws drop :) 'you put Windows XP on a C64? WTF?'"

        That reaction shot has gotta be priceless.

  • What about... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:08PM (#4553341)
    Overclocking? Has anybody ever tried to OC a C64?

    • Re:What about... (Score:2, Informative)

      by stratjakt ( 596332 )
      yes.

      i knew at least one guy who did just that, he also stacked ram chips and managed to get 640k of usable ram on his modified 64.

      64s were modded every way from sunday, everyone worth knowing in the day had at least a SuperSnapshot v4.0 in the cartridge slot.

      Painting, lighting.. I saw a lot of impressive things done to commodore hardware in the day. This isn't one of 'em.

      If the thing wasn't functional, and beyond repair, then he could be forgiven for gutting it and sticking in a flexatx based crap-rig.

      If it was functional, then may god have mercy on his soul for defiling it like that.

  • No /. elitist anti-Windows comments? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    What's with you people? Didn't you read that this thing runs Windows XP?

    Where's all that /. outrage?
    • What's with you people? Didn't you read that this thing runs Windows XP?

      Runs Windows XP? More precisly: Limps-along with Windows XP like a mangy three-legged dog that stopes every ten feet to eat it's own poop that dribbels out it's ass.

  • I have a dream... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:12PM (#4553371)

    definitely something to dream about doing yourself.

    No. I'll continue my long-standing tradition of dreaming about a trio of beautiful, naked, goth-looking chicks who service my every need. I rather like that dream.

    But if you want to dream about the Commodore 64, go right ahead.

  • Hope that SX-64 wasn't working. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Craig Maloney ( 1104 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:19PM (#4553398) Homepage
    Hope that SX-64 wasn't functioning when he gutted it, as there are some Commodore fans who are weeping that another SX-64 bit the dust. It'd be like gutting an Osborne so you can put a PC in there to have the ultimate lan party machine. Sure, it'd be cool and all, but the original is far cooler.

    Chalk one vote for nostalgia and leaving rare and cool things alone.

  • What the ...? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by arb ( 452787 ) <amosba&gmail,com> on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:19PM (#4553402) Homepage
    ...modified a Commodore SX-64 to contain a 1.2 GHz PIII system.

    Hardly a 1+ GHz Commodore SX-64 Mod. More like a simple case-mod effort. Slapping a small form-factor MB into an SX-64 case is kinda cool, but it ain't that cool. Now, building a real C64 notebook or building a souped up C64 (not emulated) would be damn cool.

  • Commodore One (Score:5, Informative)

    by antibryce ( 124264 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:21PM (#4553411)
    http://www.go64.de/english/frames/frame.htm

    Looks like an interesting project. They're building a fully backwards compatible mobo which should support all existing C64/128 software. The best part is the CPU is 20MHZ and the Sid emulation will have 16 voices!

    It's all only $200, and will fit into any ATX style case.
  • The last story tells me to mod my pc with a chip so I can emulate a C64 on my pc...

    Now this story tells me to mod my C64 so I can emulate a C64 with it, as well as use it as a pc...

    Hmm...i'd like to do both, but I'm afraid that the two mods might cancel themselves out somehow...

  • Beowulf (Score:5, Funny)

    by Superfreaker ( 581067 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:23PM (#4553428) Homepage Journal
    I wish some Scandanavian warrior would rip this guys arms off :-)

    Made you look!

  • Now that I think about it... (Score:5, Funny)

    by thelinuxking ( 574760 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:25PM (#4553442)
    Windows XP would REALLY suck with only 64k of memory...

    And to start the thing up without a hard drive? I figure it would go something like this:

    LOAD "WINXP",8,1
    LOADING...
    FLIP DISK TO SIDE 2
    PLEASE WAIT...
    INSERT DISK 2 OF 5.34E20
    PLEASE WAIT...

  • What's Next? (Score:5, Funny)

    by limekiller4 ( 451497 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:41PM (#4553509) Homepage
    One of these days, I'm going to wake up, select Slashdot from my bookmarks, and find that the top story is about some 7 year-old who managed to get his bicycle -- complete with training wheels and little brother onboard -- into lower earth orbit using some recently GPL'd Mathematica clone, an overclocked Furby, 50ft of CAT5 scavenged from the local LUGs trash bin and Jack Valenti's ego tinsnipped into tiles for the re-entry shielding.
    • And someone will complain that it would have happened years ago if it weren't for the fact that "Micro$haft R&D is actually a secret organization charged with preventing the colonization of space by kids on bicycles."

      And someone else will demand that the CAD/CAM files for the bicycle be released, since GPL'd software helped get it into outer space.

      Jouster

  • That damn ENTER key (Score:5, Funny)

    by rsteele19 ( 150541 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:43PM (#4553520) Homepage
    I see it uses the original Commodore keyboard... I wonder, do you still need to use a hammer to press the "Enter" key?

  • Great Hardware design... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jeremy Erwin ( 2054 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:43PM (#4553524) Journal
    The SX-64 page mentions--
    "Ah, the DX. That was the american version which had 2 disk drives. (The UK gets short changed
    again! - Akuma). Our european version had one plus a hole marked 'Storage'. Very useful, as long
    as you don't store disks in there; the magnetic fields generated by the SX64's drive tends to wipe
    them clean or corrupt them at the very least. Nice piece of design.
    "

    Probably Commodore's way of paying tribute to the Coleco Adam..

  • Next up : 2.0 GHz C-128D (Score:5, Funny)

    by baine ( 600693 ) on Monday October 28, 2002 @11:43PM (#4553525) Homepage Journal
    Dig-dug oughtta get something like 3,500 fps.
  • Two stories mentioning the C64 in a row? Someone please turn down the Improbability Drive a bit.
  • Cranking up my C64. Running a BBS. Being part of a "crack group". Local "crack group" wars. 300, 1200 baud. 1541's. 1581's. Phreaking. Peeks and Pokes. Doing Binary math in my room to make pretty sprites.

    560 DATA 255,128,255,192,16,0,8,64,96,0,0,255
    570 GOSUB
    580 END

    Sniff...

    I miss those days... 15 years old and no worries

  • CDC 160-A (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Zhe Mappel ( 607548 )
    Seeing this mod brings back twenty-year old memories of our geek squad exerting our muscles to load a Control Data 160-A into the back of a truck for shipping to our high school. Given that the console weighed a ton, that our sole physical exercise in those days was loading paper into the TTY, and that our only helper was the septuagenarian priest who'd arranged with his executive buddy for the donation, it still amazes me we weren't all squashed.

    What a beauty it was with its sleek Austin Powers space-age styling: banks of switches (RUN / STEP), flipping numbers, and polished steel head. Moddable? Wouldn't make a bad coffee table, come to think of it...

  • I still think the C64 webserver was way cooler. I won't link to it so it doesn't get slashdotted (can barely handle one person hitting it), but you'll find the site through Google.
    Anybody can destroy a computer.

  • Blah ... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by DigitalDreg ( 206095 )
    I really hate it when people hack up perfectly good old computers and think it's cool. This guy trashed a pretty rare piece of equipment that can't be replaced. Ugh. But this observation is redundant, and not going to earn me karma. That's ok ..

    It's just like seeing your favorite vintage machine being parted out on eBay. To me, the whole is worth more than the sum of the parts. Somebody who hacks apart a machine for fun (this article) or profit (eBay) just doesn't understand.

    I take my sadistic pleasure in trying to do things on older machines that the Bit Gods just did not intend. Like, try to run DOS 6.2 on a PCjr. (No DOS after 3.3 supported the PCjr.) Or try to run a modern SCSI drive and SCSI CD-ROM on the poor beast. Now, that's retro computing ...

    Or the guys who build their Apple ][s into monster machines - that's classy.

    Or just simply enjoy the machines, as they were originally designed. My Timex Sinclair 1000 was one step above garbage in 1983, but today it's a hoot. Same with C64s, Vics, the dreaded PCjr, etc. Even an old IBM PC 5150 with the 64KB motherboard and the 5 ISA slots can be a hoot. (Yes Virginia, people did use monochrome monitors without graphics, and they like it!)
  • I've got an old Tandy 1000RL I've been thinking about putting X86 hardware into. Right now I'm using it as a monitor stand.

    I've also got an old Apple Performa 620/CD or something at work that I'm doing the same thing with. It would make a good funky style rack case if I ever had the motivation to do the modifications.

  • Ten Years Behind the Curve (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ewhac ( 5844 ) on Tuesday October 29, 2002 @01:18AM (#4553818) Homepage Journal

    This is Old News.

    In the late 1980's, one of the Amiga luminaries, Dale Luck, got his hands on a Commodore SX-64 (when they were slightly less rare), hollowed it out, and stuck an Amiga 500 in it.

    Apparently one of the toughest parts of the hack was getting the keyboard to work as the C-64 keyboard layout and electronics are completely different from everything else. Fitting the motherboard was also a bit of a squeeze. All in all, it was an amusing hack, but because the SX-64's color monitor was of such low resolution, it was a struggle to read, even at 640 * 200 pixels. So it was cute but, alas, not useful.

    As others have already observered, gutting one of these rarities to stick a PC in it is just sacrelige.

    Schwab

  • LOL (Score:2, Funny)

    by NaCh0 ( 6124 )
    Its a sad day for apple when even the commodore 64s are made faster than the crap they sell.
  • First I thought that it was a really original hack, with making the poor C64 actually run at 1+GHz. That would have been awsome (no idea how you would do that though, but then again, I guess shrinking that old system into one single 0.15 micron chip would be easy today. And not only that, incredibly awsome ;)
  • Something new within something old.

    Beautiful.
  • ...now it's a gaping crater in the earth, its internals melting their way through the crust after achieving fusion brought about by the Slashdot effect.
  • that we can expect Club Caribe back anytime soon?
  • I've been considering modding my old Macs into PCs, with two IIlc's holding FlexATX mobos if I can swing the port drilling properly (with a PCI riser for networking), and a PowerPC 6116 with a MicroATX board, gonna need to stock up on parts though, so in a sense I paid $15 a pop for used Mac cases... The systems are still functional, but frankly not much can be done with them...
  • Now if you created an actual C64sx that ran at 1ghz.. THAT would be an accomplishment.

    And no, emulation doesnt count.. :)

    Plus he destroyed a bit of history in the process ;(
  • There's a couple on eBay [ebay.com] And at $41.00, not too expensive.

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