Commodore 64 Impostor C64x mini ITX Computer with openSUSE Linux

[@RetroRecipes]

I really enjoyed this. Great job mate! My retro computer are a great company and I’ve never actually seen one of their cases being populated before. I especially smiled at the end when you talked about living in a retro modern harmony. I am somewhat jealous! Keep up the fun work. Your friend in retro, Perifractic

[@CubicleNate]

The case is great and I super enjoy using the thing. I do think a system LIKE this one would look great adjacent that Mac you made an awesome shade of beige. It kind of makes me think, maybe beige is the new silver? What is old is new again? :)

[@adriansdigitalbasement]

Awesome! I just loved seeing something that looks like a breadbin end up being so powerful.

[@CubicleNate]

It truly is fun to have a breadbin shaped machine that I can use for every day computer things. I hope to use this for many years to come.

[@stephanemignot100]

I would put a Mini M1 motherboard inside! I just can't work without Logic or GarageBand.

[@myretrocomputerltd5179]

Wonderful build, so much better than our videos, on so many levels! You were one of the first to buy a case - so early in fact, that we didn't have the retail packaging ready. Thank you for taking the plunge and purchasing a case from a company, who at the time, had no proven track record or feedback. I can honestly say that if it wasn't for people like you, we wouldn't of had the chance to acquire a licence to use the brand name Commodore.

[@CubicleNate]

You are kind, thank you. I am glad I was one of the early purchasers. It is unfortunate that it took me so long to get the thing put together, because of my own ignorance but I am enjoying it on a daily basis. I am very excited about your acquisition of being able to license the Commodore name. I have been following, with great enthusiasm, the developments going on at My Retro Computer. I look forward to your success.

[@DA-ou7hv]

Little dimples on the plastic were a molding defect called shrink due to the plastic still being hot in the thick thread boss section and continuing to shrink while cooling after the part was released from the injection mold.

[@8_Bit]

I've been interested in this case since it first showed up with Commodore USA, but it was always a bit more expensive than I could justify especially with all the other retro-related stuff I'd like, so I just never pulled the trigger. Nice to see it up close in your video, and live vicariously through yours :)

[@CubicleNate]

The case is a bit spendy but perfect union of retro and modern has made for some incredible smiles. The price has come down since I purchased my case which I didn't address in the video but I have ZERO regret on the purchase. I just wish I didn't buy two other motherboards and another CPU trying to build this thing. I cut out a LOT of my ignorance. :)

[@jamesn7857]

The My64 was on sale for Black Friday. You can also put down $5 right now and get a heavy discount for it that puts it near $100 with the upcoming Kickstarter (for new case colors).

[@AS-ly3jp]

Did I hear the LCARS47 Screensaver at 11:37 in the background? Cool! 😂 Great review, thank you!!! 👍

[@CubicleNate]

Believe it or not, it is actually SFX that I integrated into my system notifications. I have done the same on my phone. Star Trek TNG is my happy place. 😁

[@AS-ly3jp]

@@CubicleNate I use the "Trek: Total Interface" App on my phone, that ist just awesome! You can reprogram every single button or change it's layout and position completely. 🖖🏻

[@CubicleNate]

That is fantastic. I haven't even heard of that. I just changed a few SFX here and there.

[@notalinuxguruguy8063]

Cool Nathan! I never owned a Com 64, I did have a TI 99-4a though, which I learned TI basic on. But this is really cool to see .

[@CubicleNate]

I have never touched a TI 99-4a. I have seen many a video on the TI computers of the 70s and 80s but don't know them well. The Commodore 64 was my first computer and therefore holds a special place in my computer history.

[@abesmissioncontrol2013]

Wanted to put an APU in one of these for a while. Thanks for sharing.

[@CubicleNate]

It's still my daily driver machine and I continue to be extremely happy with it.

[@ChrisOlewnik]

I miss my old Commodore 64! Great Impostor C64! :)

[@CubicleNate]

The Commodore 64 is still great. If you want a taste of the old without the hassle, look into TheC64. I have a little reference on it and they are not very expensive at all. cubiclenate.com/thec64/

[@BrainSlugs83]

PCIE Risers are pretty common. I feel like there's a lot of room in that case for a PCIE card. Not a GPU, but other cards maybe. And I would absolutely put a card reader in the 3.5" disk slot; usually those have extra USB ports there too, which would be a fun place to plug in a Gamepad or a mouse... edit: okay... that 1541 imposter is fun... make sure to put an extra USB port on the back so you can diasy chain them though! 😁

[@CubicleNate]

There is quite a bit of room, especially if I were to remove the drive caddy but I am quite certain, I could put something else in there, taking advantage of the PCIE slot. Thanks for the feedback!

[@BrainSlugs83]

@@CubicleNate not me stumbling on to your channel again a year later -- watching your 1541 imposter video -- thinking: "wow, he even put USB ports on the back -- now I want to see his commodore 64 video which I definitely have not seen before" and then seeing this comment I made a freaking year ago!! -- Dude, wow. -- (Also, I totally get that you put the USB ports there on your own, and it was probably already done before I ever commented; but man -- strange minds think alike! -- Subbed for sure! -- Plus classic mac imposter video, when?? 😅😉) (p.s. as someone heavily invested in the MS Windows platform [even on Raspberry PI, IMHO the dev & debugging experience was amazing back when Win10 embedded was still a thing], but I digress -- I'm curious about your Open Suse passion -- and I think topics that people are passionate about / excited about make for fun videos -- please make one and tell us all about your Open Suse obsession! 😄)

[@blackwolfthedragonmaster]

I really like this build!

[@richardestes6499]

Neat! Reminds me of Cybernet's keyboard PCs that existed during the Windows XP era.

[@CubicleNate]

I don't remember those but it would be fun to acquire one of those at some point and see what you can do with it today.

[@jamesn7857]

Those were pretty underpowered. We are spoiled for choice with how much power you can fit in a small envelope these days.

[@dorinxtg]

Great video! 2 things, if you don't mind: 1. The SSD shouldn't be in the bottom side of the board, because this connector is connected to the chipset and the 3400G is really slow. I would suggest putting it on the main slot, near the X16 slot (it should have an M.2 beneath the air cooling), specially since these SSD's will be hot and the bottom connector doesn't have any air intake. 2. What video editing are you running there? Kdenlive? All in all, great work! You might want to look to upgrade to 5700G which will give you more speed, PCIeX4, and faster graphics.

[@CubicleNate]

I did indeed use Kdenlive and I can check out making those modifications, as in, moving the placement of the M.2. I do have a fan blowing in, across the motherboard and that seems to keep any cooling issues at bay. At SOME point... I will have a follow up video with further improvements and such that I did. The 5700G is certainly on the list as an upgrade. Overall, outside of rendering video, which I do a lot with this machine, I am very happy with the performance and I still get as much of not MORE joy out of it today than when I first put it together. Thank you for commenting and thank you for the great information!

[@atomicskull6405]

An industrial style mini-ITX board would probably be better for this application because they don't have fancy shields or elaborate custom heatsinks just a plain green PCB with off the shelf generic finned BGA heatsinks. They look like they came from the early 90's except for having a modern sockets and connectors. They are also typically very reliable, but have no overclocking features. They often have integrated CPU's however there are versions with sockets as well.

[@CubicleNate]

@@atomicskull6405 if they have all the interface I use, I really wouldn't care what's inside

[@Vashinator7]

Cool video Nate. Never really had the commadore as a kid. May have to look at doing something like this at some point.

[@CubicleNate]

It was a fun project, and it is a fun computer to use. I highly recommend it!

[@theindependentlinuxuser]

I am also a fan of OpenSuse Tumbleweed. My favorite desktop environment is KDE. I have it install on my laptop as my daily driver. It works like a charm. Better than Arch Linux, and a much more elegant rolling release distro than Arch. I make it to look like Ubuntu Unity. Because I like the retro feel of the Unity Desktop environment. But with KDE of course.

[@CubicleNate]

Fantastic! I am with you on Plasma being my favorite desktop on my favorite distribution, openSUSE Tumbleweed. I do use Leap on other systems but for how I use this computer, Tumbleweed makes more sense. I have played with the Unity global theme a bit, is there one you recommend?

[@theindependentlinuxuser]

@@CubicleNate my KDE theme is Qogir. My KDE color are all in dark mode. Because I don't want to burn my retina with super bright themes.

[@theindependentlinuxuser]

@@CubicleNate I can recommend you Qogir dark theme if you like

[@8_Bit]

I've heard of people putting little drops of glue or nail polish, or stickers, on home keys that don't have nubs built in. I'd suggest googling around for community consensus on best practices, of course :) Some are probably more reversible than others...

[@CubicleNate]

I am probably just going to live with having to look down at the keys. I could put something less permanent on it but plastic is some wild stuff. You never know when it is going to react to something else because the chemical composition is slightly different. I do think that is a good idea tho. There was a time when I was doing a lot with the Arabic language and added keyboard friendly stickers to my laptop. I wonder if something LIKE that could be a non-permanent solution.

[@jamesn7857]

Braille keycap stickers exist.

[@leviticus8930]

Imagine having the old spring IBM keyboard with this setup.

[@CubicleNate]

They keyboard on this machine is VERY nice and clicky. I find it a joy to use. I actually like it better than the old IBM model F. For real!

[@leviticus8930]

@CubicleNate I like the mechanical keyboards, but my left hand has nerve damage and typing is hard for me on them. That is why I never bought one. Too little resistance compared to the buckling- spring type

[@jamesn7857]

@@CubicleNate To each his own, but it's just a Cherry MX Blue keyboard.

[@InfiniteLoop]

I really like the case, and it seems they did a great jorb on it.

[@CubicleNate]

They did and the company is fantastic. I think I just may buy another. I like the VIC 20 offering they have but I don't get the same nostalgia warm fuzzies from it. I do have a VIC 20 with the gold label too, I just didn't grow up with it.

[@MadRat70]

Did I see Racing Destruction Set?

[@CubicleNate]

Yes you did! I was in a phase of playing it quite a bit.😁

[@RobbCochran-l2u]

As far as I can Remember, The Disk Drives _ I was Told and I Believe - were Computers all by their-selves complete with their Own CPU, just without Video or anything like that... It was weird, but instead of just being an External Device that only was Controlled by the Computers Hardware inside the C64 - It Was By Itself, basically, a whole computer that just had a basic ROM that listened for IO commands and then decoded the Information from the Disks and sent it over the Data Lines. I remember taking my old Floppy Drive Apart and being completely Baffeled at the Chips inside ... Had some Memory, a CPU and some other Logic and its own Boot ROM... which now days is surprising but considering that Back Then, there were very Few IF ANY Disk Controller AddOns, like maybe a Cart that would plug in and Interface with it that way - No Slots to plug in Expansion Cards (like ISA, PCI, or PCIe because they basically didn't yet exist) so it was more reliable and efficient for them to just make it It's Own Computer that would listen to or talk to the Main Computer - ie. the C64...

[@lisboagarage3300]

It ends up being sad to see these great companies like Commodore, Sinclair, Amstrad and many others, ending up being sold and buried, as they left a great legacy!

[@CubicleNate]

In many ways, Commodore sort of deserved what they got. Unfortunate for the engineers but their rather greasy business dealings were bound to catch up with them. They did a very poor job of being the custodians of the fantastic technology that was developed. They mismanaged their way out of business by letting the bean-counters run the place. I do agree that the 80s and 90s left us with some VERY iconic computers chock-full of personality and joy. You can tell that those that created these machines ABSOLUTELY loved them. If not, they wouldn't be how we see them today.

[@questionablecommands9423]

Hopefully helpful: When you've got the budget for it, I would recommend you upgrade that ram to a 3200 kit and be sure to set the memory kit speed in the BIOS. It's blurry, but it looks like you've got a 2400mhz kit, which will absolutely bottleneck your CPU -_-

[@CubicleNate]

I did it on the cheap. If I were doing this again, I would have made some very different decisions. I will, at some point, do a CPU and RAM upgrade. I have already made improvements to this machine since the last of the raw video was taken. Perhaps a follow-up is in order.

[@questionablecommands9423]

@@CubicleNate I'm here for it! oh, wait... * Clicks Subscribe * I'm here for it!

[@CubicleNate]

Thank you! I'm very excited for my C1541 impostor build. I even purchased some matching beige filament for what is to come. 😁

[@cbm_doomworld]

commodore usa and the c64x case is back btw

[@CubicleNate]

I KNOW!!! Isn't that fantastic!

[@cbm_doomworld]

@CubicleNate It is yes. If I can afford it at some point then I plan on building my own c64x.

[@spuds7677]

What are the temps like on the CPU? With the low profile heat sink and fan, do you notice it thermal throttling?

[@CubicleNate]

The CPU hasn't been in a condition where it couldn't keep at the right temperature. With other parts of the computer, I did have issues and ended up adding an intake fan on the right side to blow across the board. The temps don't seem to get much beyond 60° C with my use.

[@sharptoothtrex4486]

I always use Solid State drives in this one also, even if it is a 1 or 2TB SSD.

[@jorgpeters7244]

in the late 90s this caeses were shiped with a 486 DX (think about 90MHz)

[@johnmainframepascual8907]

Very cool.

[@SianaGearz]

I haven't seen this CPU cooler yet, what is it? ID Cooling IS-40 some sort of variant as far i could figure it out?

[@grymmjack]

Bummer no PETSCII labels on the keys.

[@CubicleNate]

You know, that would be a great edition.

[@PeterFreitag]

great

[@CubicleNate]

Thanks!

[@scottwatschke4192]

Cool

[@SP6QKX]

[@CoolCmd]

very strange decision to buy a HOT and expensive x570 chipset for this tiny case. B550 would be a more practical choice.

[@CubicleNate]

I admit, I made some questionable hardware decisions.

[@jorgpeters7244]

this 34minutes soundloop.. too long

[@AndreasHimmes]

Nice…. But why are you speaking to fast ?!? 😝

[@CubicleNate]

It's a problem... I'll work on it.

[@scality4309]

Pretty useless. But looks fun.

[@CubicleNate]

To be fair, most tech related stuff is. It is just fun to do these things.