[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.

[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... :)

[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!