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The C64 Mini

Revival

By Revival
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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merman

merman

Posted
Posted
On 15 July 2019 at 11:20, ScouserInExile said:

Really, really tempted by this. I've been toying with the idea of buying a breadbin for years, but have been a bit put off by the logistics involved with using it in my current office layout. Having this working via HDMI would solve that problem. 

 

It's just annoying that Amazon take the money now...

 

ShopTo let you pay for pre-orders later

 

On 15 July 2019 at 14:14, gone fishin' said:

 

I think if you're really serious about getting a C64, you'd be better waiting for this to be released (which, I will admit, may be some time away!)

 

http://mega65.org

 

I did give the C64 Mini a try and it just felt like a slightly updated version of that C64 DTV unit a few years ago. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C64_Direct-to-TV

 

Even the games were mostly the same.

 

While I get it that it may be a fun little toy for some people, I found it a bit lacking, but then I have got a bread bin C64 with an SD2IEC, so I'm probably not the target audience (BTW, the bread bin does have a SCART socket built in, so if your TV has SCART then it should work fine).

 

There is a couple of reasons the games list is similar. Darren Melbourne worked on the licensing for both DTV and Mini. And it was easier to work with certain companies (Hewson, Epyx) whose assets were still under the control of an individual associated with the original company. (Tangent: that's also why the Thalamus games are dropped from the new Full-sized THEC64, as Thalamus Digital have plans...)

 

The DTV emulation was good, for example there's a flicker on the Speedball scoreboard that is emulated perfectly. However its sound implementation was bad. The Mini/THEC64 are much better in that respect, but it would be good to add options to choose SID type/filter settings.

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gone fishin

gone fishin

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, merman said:

 

ShopTo let you pay for pre-orders later

 

 

There is a couple of reasons the games list is similar. Darren Melbourne worked on the licensing for both DTV and Mini. And it was easier to work with certain companies (Hewson, Epyx) whose assets were still under the control of an individual associated with the original company. (Tangent: that's also why the Thalamus games are dropped from the new Full-sized THEC64, as Thalamus Digital have plans...)

 

The DTV emulation was good, for example there's a flicker on the Speedball scoreboard that is emulated perfectly. However its sound implementation was bad. The Mini/THEC64 are much better in that respect, but it would be good to add options to choose SID type/filter settings.

 

I presume they're planning on doing more "remastered" games like Hunters Moon (which could be installed on the C64 Mini) but annoyingly you can't actually play it on real  hardware unless you buy the cartridge version : https://thalamusdigital.itch.io/hunters-moon-remastered

 

"The downloadable C64 digital version is designed for use with a C64 emulator – it cannot be used with an EasyFlash cartridge, 1541 Ultimate, or Turbo Chameleon."

Due to the fact that the game was made specifically to take advantage of the cartridge hardware, it won't be released in any other formats."

 

There was a C64 Mini version made available, but I don't know if it is a D64 file? I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it would work on my SD2IEC, but seeing as Thalamus games tend not to work on it, I'm not taking the risk!

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merman

merman

Posted
Posted
On 17 July 2019 at 12:48, gone fishin' said:

 

I presume they're planning on doing more "remastered" games like Hunters Moon (which could be installed on the C64 Mini) but annoyingly you can't actually play it on real  hardware unless you buy the cartridge version : https://thalamusdigital.itch.io/hunters-moon-remastered

 

"The downloadable C64 digital version is designed for use with a C64 emulator – it cannot be used with an EasyFlash cartridge, 1541 Ultimate, or Turbo Chameleon."

Due to the fact that the game was made specifically to take advantage of the cartridge hardware, it won't be released in any other formats."

 

There was a C64 Mini version made available, but I don't know if it is a D64 file? I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it would work on my SD2IEC, but seeing as Thalamus games tend not to work on it, I'm not taking the risk!

 

Hunter's Moon Remastered used the GMod2 cartridge format, which gives 512K plus a 2K EEPROM. It's been used on other games including Sam's Journey.

 

It was "emulator only" BECAUSE the devices (Ultimate, Chameleon, EasyFlash) don't support GMod2 - yet.

SD2IEC won't support it either.

 

The Mini version won't be a D64 file as the game won't fit on a (single) D64.

 

Compatibility with the SD2IEC is down to the loader used. Most fast loaders don't run on it because they bypass the KERNAL loading routines.

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  • 2 months later...
Clipper

Clipper

Posted
Posted

I didnt have a preorder but intended to buy it.

 

I have changed my mind but I wouldn't say it's a boycott. I just don't want to give money to a project he is involved with as I believe his current influence on the retro community is a negative one.

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merman

merman

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Clipper said:

I didnt have a preorder but intended to buy it.

 

I have changed my mind but I wouldn't say it's a boycott. I just don't want to give money to a project he is involved with as I believe his current influence on the retro community is a negative one.

 

And that's totally your perogative.

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  • 3 weeks later...
SeanR

SeanR

Posted
Posted

C64 full-size update ahoy!

 

Quote


We thought we would share with you all a photo of the first batch of pallets of THEC64 full-size, as they get ready to head out from the factory, on the first stage of their journey into your hands.

In addition to the photo, we also have a quick video from the factory, showing a small selection of units going down the production line before final packing.

 

73080792_2153077121664184_47324130651720

 

 

so that's two products launched, in the same time span as the ZX Vega Plus, and the Spectrum Next no shows...

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gone fishin

gone fishin

Posted
Posted

Yeah, the Vega+ was a great example of how to take the money and run, the Next was/is a great example of over complicating a project. The C64 might have its limitations, but if you want an easy to use piece of retro inspired hardware, it seems to do the job.

 

I still think the plan will be to launch a “The Sinclair Spectrum “ after this is done, although that would mean discussing the IP Paul Andrews has registered.... best leave that out (although I do think there’s a decent market for a cheaper version of the Next, even if it does have a number of features removed that a general audience wouldn’t really care about)..

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gone fishin

gone fishin

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, SeanR said:

Then an Amstrad?

Maybe an Oric, a Sam Coupe or Jupiter Ace? Those are the other hardware trademarks he’s registered. I’m not sure there would be such a massive audience for those.. but I’d imagine once The C64 was developed, it wouldn’t cost much to develop other hardware versions as I would presume they would use similar underlying hardware as The C64.

 

 

Oh I think he also registered “A500”... I wonder what that could be????? ;-) (An Amiga would be easier as someone purchased the original Amiga 500 injection molds and successfully ran a crowd funding campaign to make a replacement case, they could just borrow those!).

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Lorfarius

Lorfarius

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, gone fishin' said:

Oh I think he also registered “A500”... I wonder what that could be????? ;-) (An Amiga would be easier as someone purchased the original Amiga 500 injection molds and successfully ran a crowd funding campaign to make a replacement case, they could just borrow those!).

 

They said about 18 months ago that once the C64 stuff was out of the way they would be looking at doing an Amiga.

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SeanR

SeanR

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Lorfarius said:

 

They said about 18 months ago that once the C64 stuff was out of the way they would be looking at doing an Amiga.


I’d get one. I have a... tempestuous relationship with the Amiga.i was an ST user.

 

when I DID have an Amiga, (I’ve had 3, in my time) I didn’t get on with it, especially workbench, and my only other regret was dumping the other half’s CDTV setup...

 

if they did an A500 looking mofo, with additional AGA/CD32 comparability I’m sure they’re clean up on the retro nostalgia.

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Robo_1

Robo_1

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, SeanR said:

if they did an A500 looking mofo, with additional AGA/CD32 comparability I’m sure they’re clean up on the retro nostalgia.

 

Can confirm. Yeah, I think the Spectrum side of the market has been covered for the time being, a retro Amiga would be a really welcome release, although God help them when navigating the rats maze of copyright, licenses, patents and IP claims they'll need to actually release the thing. My brother is still quite involved in the Amiga scene and it seems the battle rages on as to who own what.

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Dudley

Dudley

Posted
Posted
On 17/10/2019 at 14:53, Clipper said:

I didnt have a preorder but intended to buy it.

 

I have changed my mind but I wouldn't say it's a boycott. I just don't want to give money to a project he is involved with as I believe his current influence on the retro community is a negative one.

 

Yep, cancelled a preorder here too.

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SeanR

SeanR

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ScouserInExile said:

How limited are these likely to be? I'm dithering about getting one, probably as a Christmas present off my wife. Am I going to need to preorder asap or could I dither some more? Is Amazon the best place to order from?


wait for the first discount, and by then any bugs should be ironed out, I guess?

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gone fishin

gone fishin

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, ScouserInExile said:

How limited are these likely to be? I'm dithering about getting one, probably as a Christmas present off my wife. Am I going to need to preorder asap or could I dither some more? Is Amazon the best place to order from?

 

Depends on if you want the incredible experience of waking up to find a Commodore 64 under the Christmas Tree (make sure Shakin' Stevens is playing Merry Christmas Everyone while unwrapping it).

 

On a more serious note, I suppose it depends on the reviews. Most of the negative feedback on The C64 Mini was that the keyboard didn't work, it could only really use the pretty poor joystick supplied with it, and it was very finicky in playing your own D64 files. I think all of those issues have been addressed (keyboard works, you can use an USB joystick and the Mini's firmware was updated to make it easier to play your own D64 files).

 

I could see this getting quite positive reviews and therefore causing some limited availability for the first run.

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Anne Summers

Anne Summers

Posted
Posted
On 07/11/2019 at 14:12, ulala said:


this looks really good, do you have any early impressions?

 

Not allowed to open it. The owner (who shall remain nameless) waltzed in with it one day last week and said we could open it and play it the next day. Then promptly buggered off and no-one's seen him since. We think he's gone to Japan. We don't want to open it without him (he was planning some grand unveiling I think). So it's just been sitting there in its shrink-wrap teasing us all. I think the owner will be back soon and I'll be sure to post some impressions when I've had a go. 

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ulala

ulala

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ScouserInExile said:

Currently trapped between "I'll wait until the price drops" and FOMO right now. I've wanted a C64 for years, but the practicalities have put me off, so I think I should just order one, but I still have this nagging "What if it's like the PS1 Classic?" voice in my head...


 

the ps Classic was dogged by poor emulation and poor selection of games.

 

neither of which seem to apply to this device

 

what we are getting is a great working facsimile of a full keyboard c64. Just what we have been waiting for.

 

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matt0

matt0

Posted
Posted

Is this the same innards as the C64 mini? Had a go on one of those and the input lag was really noticeable, especially on Uridium.

 

Did that ever get fixed with firmware updates or is this a new machine under the hood?

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