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MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

shop.trenz-electronic.de

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Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#21

Post by christkv »

codezero wrote: post #12

I pined over a lot of retro hardware over the past year, there are a lot of competing modern C64 and Amiga hardware, at the core of most of them are FPGAs, so if you want to save money and have a large set of options, get yourself a DE-10 Nano / Mister setup. It's kind of the kitchen sink of retro computing at this point and runs What you won't get is an already set-up system, a nice case, or simple to attach periphe…

These guys just announced a version of the mister hardware trying to make it more accessible to use for end users https://rmcretro.store/mister-multisystem/

Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#22

Post by loudmax »

jabl wrote: post #10
jagger27 wrote: post #7

The keyboard assembly is really cool and I personally appreciate the effort, but I bet all that custom plastic really adds onto the price. Custom double shot keycaps are not cheap. I wonder if there could be a much cheaper option with a simpler case and a PS/2 keyboard adapter instead. Perhaps even USB could work, but that feels wrong for this project.

Well, where do you draw the line? Eventually you arrive at just running an emulator without bothering with hardware at all.

I would draw the line at €200. A lot of people can justify €200 for nostalgia. If you can run the old software and the hardware has the right look and feel, people won't mind the details too much. Far fewer people can justify nearly €800.

Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#23

Post by davewongillies »

pgeorgi wrote: post #9
billyjobob wrote: post #5

My issue with this is the price. Not because it’s not worth it, but because it means no one outside of hardcore enthusiasts will buy one, that means very little software will ever be developed for it. Also I find the presence of the floppy drive in 2021 ridiculous. Yes the C65 had one - but that was a prototype machine from 1990 that was never produced. There’s no c65 software available on floppy disk, so no reason t…

It seems that there's an SD slot at the front, right below the floppy drive.

There's actually two, from the specs sheet:

* dual SDHC™ card slots

Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#24

Post by 300bps »

TeaDude wrote: post #19

I'm buying one because I have problems but I sincerely think there should be a cut down version. Especially one without a floppy drive (What if you don't actually have any old floppies and just want a cool embedded games platform?) I mean, I'm not seriously expecting this to be the next big computing platform but I do think that a lower barrier to entry would help adoption.

Can check these out as an alternative:

https://ultimate64.com/

The Ultimate 64 is the computer and the Ultimate II+ acts as a memory card reader for a Commodore 64 so you can mount different .d64 images to it.

Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#27

Post by jug »

billyjobob wrote: post #5

My issue with this is the price. Not because it’s not worth it, but because it means no one outside of hardcore enthusiasts will buy one, that means very little software will ever be developed for it. Also I find the presence of the floppy drive in 2021 ridiculous. Yes the C65 had one - but that was a prototype machine from 1990 that was never produced. There’s no c65 software available on floppy disk, so no reason t…

I’d consider it at €400 (i.e. above a full MiSTer setup price) if it was a well crafted case like this but an Amiga 1200 equivalent with a C64 mode and SD card slot as “floppy”. Something more pragmatic.

This one instead reminds me of those Vampire FPGA’s with SAGA graphics mode running on a so called Motorola 68080, that is so niche on a niche system that nothing is developed for it other than tech demos and software compatibility suffers to boot.

Then again, I don’t like to complain about these passionate projects! They’re clearly 80’s “dream machines” of sorts. I just think that from a financial/success perspective this may not be where most profit is at.

Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#28

Post by ipaddr »

snvzz wrote: post #18
romwell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tape drive would have been more appropriate, and more fun though :)

I suffered enough of that back in my C64 days. Anybody who could afford it did get a floppy drive. I got an Amiga 500 at some point, instead. I still have the hardware and the tapes, so I intend to get everything operational again at some point. It's just in the back of the queue, as I am busy dealing with a lot of "retro" platforms already.

At the end of the c64 era I had hd. Ran a large bbs. In the beginning of the c64 era a 1541 was more than enough.

Using a hard drive for a c64 isn't uncommon.

Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#29

Post by EamonnMR »

joeberon wrote: post #26

As someone who is often interested in buying music hardware, it is hilarious seeing people freaking out about the price of this

You could slap a midi interface snd and knobs onto a few SID chips and sell it for way more than this.

Re: MEGA65 – highly advanced C64 and C65 compatible 8-bit computer

#30

Post by jug »

christkv wrote: post #21
codezero wrote: post #12

I pined over a lot of retro hardware over the past year, there are a lot of competing modern C64 and Amiga hardware, at the core of most of them are FPGAs, so if you want to save money and have a large set of options, get yourself a DE-10 Nano / Mister setup. It's kind of the kitchen sink of retro computing at this point and runs What you won't get is an already set-up system, a nice case, or simple to attach periphe…

These guys just announced a version of the mister hardware trying to make it more accessible to use for end users https://rmcretro.store/mister-multisystem/

This looks interesting! I’ve long wished for a more mature MiSTer system that feels like a complete retro console/system/computer. There ARE already many options there but involves 3D printed parts, soldering, or more. If I could just throw an added €50-100 on the problem I’d gladly consider it, and this looks promising. I don’t really fancy the official rectangular case. It looks more like a hacker platform. Which, I guess, it is… But…
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