Commodore 64 Ultimate
74 comments
·July 12, 2025taylodl
vunderba
The Mega65 was a stab at this idea - a self contained modernized version of the old 8-bit computer while trying to maintain backwards compatibility with C64 programs.
PaulHoule
See also
Which is based on the 6502-compatible 65C816 but used a simple banking scheme instead of the broken 24-bit address space that chip natively supports (no 24-bit index registers) The way video memory works in it is really clever and lets it really surpass 1980s machines in many ways.
My favorite retrocomputer though has to be
https://www.olimex.com/Products/Retro-Computers/AgonLight2/o...
which is priced right though it doesn't have the keyboard and instead based on the eZ80 which really does extend the Z-80 with 24-bit registers so that you can use all the RAM easily.
amichail
There was no need to include a floppy drive though.
Also, Python would have been better than BASIC as the built-in default language.
killerstorm
I don't think Python is better than BASIC. It's more powerful, sure, but it's crazy complex and fussy. Wrong punctuation and your code doesn't work.
If you want Python just use modern laptop, no need to retro anything.
BASIC has command-like statements, no complexity like lambda, classes, modules, etc.
glimshe
Python would be the wrong choice. BASIC is the ultimate "batteries included" language. No weirdness hidden behind dynamic types and you can make full games with graphics and sounds (in most implementations) without installing a single external library. BASIC is feature-poor by design and beginners can quickly fully master it. And there are classic variants without line numbers (no need for GOTOs) for those who hate them.
IMHO, humanity is yet to build a better beginner language, at least if you look at the late BASICs such as QuickBASIC.
kevindamm
What you're describing sounds a lot like the OLPC XO.
deaddodo
> I want the Commodore 64 of 2025. A machine where middle schoolers can learn the basics of programming while having fun with graphics and sound. Maybe even have a simple 2D gaming engine built-in. I don't know. I want the spirit of the Commodore 64, not the actual machine itself.
Exactly. This is what I think every time I see one of these old revival projects. I don't want a Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, etc...we have those, they're fairly easy to acquire and renovate. And are more than capable of being run on a FPGA. And there are dozens of projects built around the same old 6502, Z80, etc.
Stop locking your perspective into the 80s to try to recapture that nostalgia.
No, give me a new "hobbyist" computer in the spirit of those days. Throw an ARM m-series/RISC-V/etc on it with some custom blitter/vdpu and sound ASICs and 512MB of RAM. Give it some easily accessible programming environment on ROM, with an option to baremetal with ASM, C, etc. Add a few slots that are MMAPed in. And let the hobbyist field run wild.
hakfoo
In that regard, I almost feel like a new Atari 800-series would be better.
The C64 had good graphics and excellent sound but so much of it was behind a brick-wall learning curve of poking. Atari's native BASIC at least provided some rudimentary access. You want something where the user can get a win on day 1, or it's getting buried in the closet with the rock tumbler.
Or maybe if they packed in a super-extended BASIC ROM. But pretty quickly you end up wanting something with more modern flow control and structures, maybe closer to "Qbasic with sprite commands" and then you're probably demanding more than what can be reasonably asked of a 6510-class CPU.
z303
The RM 800XL maybe of interest
tracerbulletx
From their faq.
Is this all just nostalgia? Nostalgia is one of our two core pillars - alongside modern innovation. Like yin and yang, these forces balance and strengthen each other in that retro • futurism approach.
The commercial power of nostalgia is real - and it will help fuel and fund the development of modern, forward-facing products in turn. It’s a symbiotic cycle: retro inspires, modern sustains. Commodore isn’t returning. It’s evolving, with purpose.
johnb231
Written by ChatGPT.
psadri
I agree. I recently started exposing my kids to programming and I chose a C64 emulator. The BASIC REPL is so simple/limited that it doesn’t overwhelm the kids with irrelevant syntax (those can come later, if they are interested). The fact that a 1..100 loop can introduce a noticeable delay. You can literally see the computer working. Primitive graphics and sound provide immediate feedback which makes learning engaging and fun.
rcarmo
We used PICO-8. Worked great for that purpose.
derstander
Picotron (also by Lexaloffle) might be an even better match for those wanting a retro workstation as opposed to a retro game console.
cmdlyne
> I want the spirit of the Commodore 64, not the actual machine itself.
Why not have both?
You could buy this and you could setup EndlessOS:
aruggirello
Based on Debian, but does not use apt. I'm impressed by the effort, but not fully convinced.
ghusto
I get how they're using nostalgia, but it doesn't seem to be coming from a cynical place. The transformation of technology from a utility to a nuisance at best and a disease at worst, strikes a chord for me.
Computers used to be fun and yet require actual interest and effort, it's why I ended where I am. What a bait and switch.
spacemadness
It reads like Mark Fisher’s observation about capitalism absorbing all resistance. Resistance becomes the next market. So it’s doubly cynical as it’s a cash grab of sorts hoping to ride on everyone’s burnout from modern tech. I agree, it’d be better to just ride the nostalgia itself and let others come to their own conclusions about why they are nostalgic.
All that said I do miss this era of computing greatly where one could understand it inside out and that was encouraged. I loved the C64 demo scene in the 80s.
_spduchamp
I want is someone to fab real 6581 SID chips so I can do stuff like this and have it sound as it should.
10 FORL=54272T054295:POKEL,0:NEXT
15 POKE54296,15:TI$="000000"
20 POKE54277,255:POKE54278,255
25 POKE54284,255:POKE54285,255
30 POKE54276,17:POKE54283,17
40 FORA=8TO1STEP-1:FORB=ATO1STEP-1
45 T=TI+2952/B
50 POKE54273,3: POKE54272,A
55 POKE54288,3:POKE54279,A+B
60 PRINTA,A+B
70 IFTI<TTHEN70
80 NEXT:NEXT
90 POKE54276,16:POKE54283,16
vunderba
Absolutely love the SID chip. The clever way of imitating chord-based triads by just rapid arpeggiating on a single channel was super cool to me as kid.
smilespray
Wasn't Rob Hubbard one of the guys behind that trick?
aduwah
Am I the only one who gets sad when looking at the site? The resentment of modern computing and interconnected life feels extremely wrong with a Commodore brand on it.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have the box, but to me commodore means the complete opposite. It was the tech that inspired me to start learning and later building complex systems. The evolution of tech after this machine did not steal anything from me, but enriched my life both financially and otherwise.
tines
[flagged]
derdi
Big props for the website footer: "Only essential cookies here - no tracking, no popups, just focus-friendly computing the Commodore way."
elvis70
Good intentions, but the site is hosted by Wix which add their own trackers.
JKCalhoun
Pretty inexpensive? I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the pre-order.
I have a couple of KIM-1 "clones" and enjoy them as well. I feel like, in my old age, whenever that comes, I will enjoy them even more. Diving at long last deep into assembly....
mgkimsal
Was at a friend's place a few years ago. He had an original c64, tape drive, disk drive, okidata printer, and a trove of disks. We'd been friends since high school, but I think he'd stopped using his by then, and I was more of the computer guy (we bonded over guitars, not code).
This was just sitting in his garage. "Take it - take it all" he said. Then... was sort of forceful with it, and started putting it in my car. :)
I took it back home, and... realized I can't connect it to anything. And I'm not a hardware guy. I hate hacking on that sort of stuff. So I ended up giving it all to a friend who was getting in to retro stuff with his son. I think they got it working and connected up to something. I also gave him my C128.
I still have the original Commodore 'Prolog' and (IIRC) 'Forth' packaging somewhere in the office here. :)
Looking at these (and probably some other incarnations) I'm tempted to get one only because of the built in HDMI.
I've poked around with some emulators online and it's fun, but the combination of the original keyboard and shape plus HDMI might be enough to get me to commit. Probably just the original beige though.
mdtancsa
Its so funny you mention the color. Looking at the image on the website, I was struck by the fact that beige could strike a visceral exciting nostalgia reaction in me. I mean, its beige FFS, the ultimate "boring" color :) I went from a totally disengaged / disinterested teen in school to paying out of my own pocket (I think $50 at the time) to take a course taught be Steve Punter in the basement of a library on the other side of Toronto on 6502 assembler -- in the summer!
th0ma5
If it is all original, you'll want to be careful with the power supply. It's known to fail in a way that over voltages. Replacement ones can be made or bought relatively inexpensively.
mgkimsal
That was also in the back of my mind. Even back in the 80s, I remember those bricks being a source of heat and... shock sometimes. I'm just not a hardware guy, so gave it to someone who I think loves tinkering with that sort of stuff... :)
dirtikiti
I get the retro thing... But...
How about a new operating system with backwards compatibility that runs on modern arm hardware...
pflenker
This really scratches my itch. I love retro computing, the closer to the original hardware the better - but the one thing that gets in the way (and that can stay in the past!) are the horrible loading times. A new C64 is exactly what I need.
Cockbrand
I have a somewhat modded C64 with JiffyDOS and an SD2IEC, and it loads everything really fast. Sometimes I miss the weird 1541 noises, but generally, it's a great combination.
jasoneckert
I still have a C64 in my basement in case I need a nostalgia kick. A few years ago I set it all up and loaded a game. I was surprised at how slow it is and how bad the game was compared to how I remember it - so I boxed it up again and have no intention of setting it up again to keep my fond memories intact.
I have a feeling many who buy this product will ultimately do the same.
atombender
I had the opposite experience. I bought a C64 at a flea market and hooked it up to an old Sanyo TV I had found in a dumpster. Loaded up Time Pilot, Drop Zone, and H.E.R.O., and had an incredibly fun time playing them together with a date.
Sometimes the nostalgia doesn't kick in, and clearly many things were objectively bad in a way that hits differently now. I wouldn't want to sit long nights writing assembly code and battle bad sectors on floppy disks. But I still think it's a great little gaming computer.
egypturnash
I sure spent a lot of time with my c64 and the idea of having a new one in the exact same wrist-ruining form factor, except transparent so you can see that it's actually implemented via a tiny handful of modern chips, has absolutely zero appeal.
whartung
Wasn’t the Commodore logo and name sold recently for “seven figures”?
Is this the same folks?
Findecanor
The promo video [1] is on the new Commodore CEO's YouTube channel, so it must be.
The PCB looks like a rebranded "Ultimate 64" FPGA board [2], which has been out in a couple of iterations for a few years.
Like many people my age (ahem!) the Commodore 64 was my first computer and I loved it and it's responsible for my long software development career.
But I don't want that Commodore 64 today.
I want the Commodore 64 of 2025. A machine where middle schoolers can learn the basics of programming while having fun with graphics and sound. Maybe even have a simple 2D gaming engine built-in. I don't know. I want the spirit of the Commodore 64, not the actual machine itself.