Friday, August 27th 2010
Commodore USA Resurrecting C64 Using Modern ULPC Hardware
Commodore USA, has decided to pay its tributes to the iconic Commodore64 computer system, and is designing a modern PC using the same exact name (and reportedly the same design). This comes at a time when the ULPC industry is booming with netbooks, nettops, and ULV barebones manufacturers experiencing good sales. The new Commodore64 is built using the NVIDIA ION2 technology, making use of an Intel Atom D525 1.80 GHz dual-core processor, NVIDIA ION2 GPU, 4 GB of DDR3 memory, 1 TB of storage, a Blu-ray disc drive, 6-in-1 memory card reader, and connectivity that includes Bluetooth, WiFi b/g/n, and gigabit Ethernet, with display outputs that include DVI and HDMI. Commodore USA did not reveal pricing or availability, though in all probability, it could be positioned for the holiday shopping season. Dear Santa,.
Source:
TechConnect Magazine
47 Comments on Commodore USA Resurrecting C64 Using Modern ULPC Hardware
I think installing linux on it would ruin the experience.
I might have to buy one...
No, I'm not doing anything wrong. Well, except for not blindly hating a Windows product because that's what the *nix community expects of me. The fact is, MS just did 7 right, and it is better than most distros out there. That doesn't even touch on the fact that *nix quality has gone downhill in the past 2 years or so.
Yet, Windows 7 does not.
edit: actually, we should take this to the linux section so we dont get too off topic. if you are having problems with it then a lot more people can help you.
I remember the nightmare of having to program the thing before using it. lol.
CPU usage is about the same as various Windows versions, but then again I got a i7 920 CPU, so it takes some serious workload for me to notice any slowdowns there. However, disk transfer rates are ridiculously better under Linux especially with latest kernel revisions. (and some personal tweaks). I'm talking anywhere from 30% to 40% better, depending on file-system and file size (XFS is silly fast and I get 40%+ better throughput rates vs. NTFS with large files in some instances)
As for compatibility with hardware. That is still true, especially with printers and scanners. However there are workarounds for just about everything, but then again, unless you are buying that rare Linux box at retail you are going to have issues hardware-wise. It's not completely point and click and never will be with Linux. Linux is still a power user tool directed at power users.
As for software compatibility with Windows titles, Windows games that is, with latest Wine builds I get up to 80% compatibility. Which is crazy considering just 5-6 years ago I would say that number was at around 15% at best. I've played Crysis, Oblivion, Battlefield 1942 and BF2, and at least 100+ other titles out of my 200+ PC game collection. Most play fine, others are slower than when running under Win, others are a bit faster, especially older Dx8 titles. (Linux vs. NT 6.x that is. Linux vs NT 5.1 is a different story) Heck, I get better 3DMark 2001 and 2003 scores under openSUSE than Vista. Oh yeah, that's right, aside from Vantage, all 3DMark benches run fine under Linux now, with some help from PlayOnLinux. Although NT 5.x (XP and Win2k) are still best for 3DMark 2001 score-wise.
As for Commodore, as I originally intended to post: C64 was for tw**s! ZX Spectrum FTW!!!
:D
He didn't compare it to Vista, but to Windows 7, which is an entirely different piece of pie... one without worms and mud in it.
Can I set up linux, and get it to run perfectly? Yep. Is it worth the endless hours of tweaking when Win 7 does what I need straight out of the box? Nope. Crossfire setups do not play nice in linux, and setting up Wine to game is stupid, when I can just load windows, download my drivers, and be on my way.
And "Power user tool" is just a thinly veiled excuse for too lazy or proud to dev a way to make it easier to use. Which, consequently, is why linux will never amount to anything more than a niche product. Well, that, the lack of hardware support, and the lack of a unified installer system.
Does linux have it's strong points? Of course, but it also has a shitload of cons. It's not some superior, ultimate OS any more the Windows is.
LOAD "$",8
LIST
That was how you got a disk directory listing, the equivalent to the DIR or ls command. Add to that the fact that it was much slower than the drive was capable of(see fast load carts as evidence of that). I loved my C-64, but the disk OS was crap.
So as we wage the endless OS war once again, remember how far we've all come, regardless of what side we're on.
Now excuse me while I come up with my next Mac insult...