Maybe it's nostalgia but for me it makes computing look fun again. Amazing attention to detail... kudos to the makers.
My Mega65 has arrived
31–40 of 111 posts
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#32I have quite a number of Commodore 64s lying around by virtue of developing a hobby of learning component level repair on them. I'm tempted to buy one of these Mega65s to play around with it but at $832.50 including shipping to the US, it's a bit much. The main reason I am interested in old computers is because I used those old computers back in the day! Really have to hand it to them on the engineering of it though…
> I have quite a number of Commodore 64s lying around
I've got a bunch as well, some new in box, some completely ratty and worn out, most somewhere in between. Have you registered them with the C64 registry? (https://c64preservation.com/dp.php?pg=registry) What's your lowest serial number? I've got one with a pretty low serial, which I was lucky enough to find and purchase at the Dayton Hamvention back in the 1993 for $5.
> The main reason I am interested in old computers is because I used those old computers back in the day!
Right there with you!
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#33I'm really enjoying the current retrocomputer craze. I bought the "TheC64" myself (full size with working keyboard, wouldn't have it any other way), which is just a C64 lookalike case with a tiny ARM computer running VICE inside. I know it's not a real C64, but it sure looks like one!
The Mega65 in particular is not for me though: it's way too expensive and it's not an actual computer I owned as a kid, so the nostalgia factor is lower. It does look extremely nice, though.
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#34Since the CPU is emulated by an FPGA, FDD is emulated, then why not save all the money and just use a software emulator?
The I/O latency is typically much closer to the original hardware. OSs have become a bit careless about latency, and LCD screens add some more delay on top. It all adds up, and the result is a slightly inauthentic-feeling experience.
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#35My only interest in this is as an FPGA dev kit. It was surprisingly hard to find details on the actual hardware but it appears to be a Xilinx™ Artix A7 200T according to https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/en/TE0765-03-S001-MEGA65-hi... That page curiously doesn't specify the amount of external DRAM, but various hints suggests it might be 8 MiB of HyperRAM (that's DRAM with a simpler protocol). Cute.
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#36I'd never heard of the Mega 65 before, I love the aesthetic of it fully contained in the keyboard and for some reason the floppy drive being molded right into it just tickles my fancy in all the right ways.
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#37I really don't understand the love people have for the commodore 64. It wasn't especially advanced for it's time nor was it especially good. Finally it basically required the use of a horrible language like Basic to use. There's like zero reason to re-create it as a retro computer.
Then you compare it to things like the Amiga which was incredibly advanced for it's time with amazing graphics and sound that even today are very playable modern-feeling experiences. For an example of what I'm talking about here's two clips (the whole video is good): https://youtu.be/kjapiUQOi2s?t=834 https://youtu.be/kjapiUQOi2s?t=1502
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
FPGA is a simulation, not an emulation. Emulation does everything serially while simulation does everything in parallel, just like the real hardware. Also, software emulation on a non-real-time OS such as Windows, macOS or Linux can result in lag when the OS is busy with other things. You never get that on FPGA simulation.
I’ve never heard that distinction before. It’s all emulation—either in hardware or software, in parallel or in series. I used to work on simulation software professionally. The idea that simulation is parallel while emulation is serial is completely foreign to me, and I suspect foreign to others as well.
I have worked on simulators for most of my life and the GPs definition is not true.
There's no formal distinction between the two, but conventionally emulation is more faithful whereas simulation is more high-level. Still, the two are used fairly interchangeably.
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#39I really don't understand the love people have for the commodore 64. It wasn't especially advanced for it's time nor was it especially good. Finally it basically required the use of a horrible language like Basic to use. There's like zero reason to re-create it as a retro computer. Then you compare it to things like the Amiga which was incredibly advanced for it's time with amazing graphics and sound that even today…
I really don't understand the love people have for ${literally anything}.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
Re: My Mega65 has arrived
#40The first question that comes to my mind is, "where did they get the floppy drives?" Surely the original manufacturer of those drives isn't still making them??? And having a batch manufactured as a one-off seems like it would be prohibitively expensive. So I'd be really curious to know how they managed that part of the whole thing. Anyway, looks like a great project. I wasn't a C64 fanboy as a kid or anything, but I'…
The last time I bought a real brand new floppy drive at a shop was in 2010 and they were really cheap (about US$5). They must have been trying to get rid of old inventory already.
There's numerous types of floppy drive and disks and the Commodore ones aren't compatible with modern drives or disks.