TheC64 | X-Windows Mod

TheC64 is an ARM based, re-implementation of the Commodore 64 in it’s approximate original package to include a full-sized, working, keyboard but instead of the original ports, it is adorned with HDMI, and USB ports. The power switch is not the toggle switch that cuts the power but rather a push-button soft witch with additional functionality.
Since its underpinnings are Linux, there is a kind of non-destructive "modification" you can do to take advantage of some of the Linux goodness that supports this device.
Based on information from this forum thread:
thec64community.online/thread...
More details here:
cubiclenate.com/2023/02/12/th...
00:00 Introduction and background
03:50 What I wish TheC64 could do
04:41 X-Windows download for TheC64
05:09 Initializing X-Windows
05:38 Poking around the system
08:02 USB to Ethernet Adapter Test
09:08 Editing CJM Files
09:47 File Management
10:45 Exploring the flash memory core
11:41 Backing up TheC64
12:22 Test Joystick Buttons
13:18 Returning to TheC64 Carousel
13:49 General Thoughts about X-Windows for TheC64
15:35 Final Thoughts
Website - CubicleNate.com
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Music: "Pixelland" by Kevin MacLeod
#TheC64 #Linux #LMDE #Retrogames #mod #commodore64

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

Cool video! I love it when we can break into machines like this through some kind of "back door" and do some underlying stuff on it, even using it with the other OS, as in this case (or installing additional OSes in the case of some intended game-only consoles), making them do more than they were really designed to do! Happy New Year! 🥳🎆

[@judewestburner]

I think Twitter owes you some money 😉😉😉

[@CandyGramForMongo_]

Ok, that’s enough for me to get one. Thanks!

[@trelard]

TheC64 is a great wee bit of hardware. I owned a C64 for a few years before I upgraded to an Amiga 500, so have plenty of great memories involving it. TheC64 is a close enough representation to what I remember, especially the feel of the keyboard. I'd love for them to do an Amiga Maxi.

[@paulluce2557]

I am certain an Amiga Maxi is on the way in the early part of 2024

[@erebostd]

@@paulluce2557i‘m counting on it. I have a vpga-amiga in an original (it was dead) 1200 chassis, but an amiga maci would be a great alternative i‘d buy instantly 😁👍

[@bitley]

Atari ST maxi with 8 midi Out / 4 midi In ? Yes please

[@trelard]

@@bitley I'd be into that. I never owned one, but I had mates at the time who did, so I'd like a looksee at what I was missing out on when I had my Amiga 500.

[@CrappyMusic-cb6bl]

I surprisingly got the audio player working and am now listening to weezer. I couldn't get the video player to work though

[@retroCombs]

Fabulous cNate and thanks for sharing this little distro for TheC64. I'm definitely going to give this a thumbs up. I'll even, as you recommend, smash it twice to make it stick! 😂

[@CubicleNate]

I'm honored you enjoyed it. I love this little computer and it's fun to push it beyond the intended design.

[@paulluce2557]

@@CubicleNate the problem is that the vast majority of the people who have bought them, just view it for what immediately does. 64 games on the 'carouse"l You have effectively 'jail broken ' it and proved that its an open system that can be reprogrammed..

[@erikl5340]

Fantastic video! I will experiment with USB wireless hardware to see if it connects to internet.

[@CubicleNate]

Please do share your results!

[@TheAceWolfe01]

Interesting that it has Firefox, considering no network capabilities. I still think the most useful hack to this machine is replacing the innards with a Pi and adding an eth port and an internal SSD

[@jamesc2327]

It needs a cartridge port so it can be expanded to use Ethernet, extra ram etc

[@randysmith7094]

You used to be able to buy Orange Pi Allwinner H3 boards for under $30. Now they are hard to find but they run c64 and Vic20 maxi firmware on SD card. So you can build your own maxi and do all the hacking you want with no fear of bricking. Plus Android 7 and Retroarch and emulation up to PSP...

[@CubicleNate]

I think that would be a cool way to upgrade one of these cases, for sure.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

is using LMDE to run a game you do ./game name

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

I thought we were already supposed to be able to add games to the carousel _without_ having to dig down into the Linux depths. Wasn't that discussed on at least some of the reviewers' channels when this came out?

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"Insert it into a computer..." Oops, it already _was_ in a computer.

[@dr.ignacioglez.9677]

i love C64 😍😍😍😍😍😍 Forever

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

LibreOffice is worth having as well as The Gimp and Google Chrome.

[@AnacondaGreen]

The Pcuae mod has an option to connect to the internet via usb Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter for dialing into a bbs, and I remember seeing someone say that it also works in X-windows.

[@mcjedi2123]

great video! Its what I was looking for to help me decide if TheC64 is worth it? what cmds were provided in the /bin and related dirs? awk? bash? c? python? ruby?... whereis? which? was curious about controlling external hw like a robot rover via bluetooth?

[@CubicleNate]

It is a pretty stripped down version of Linux to get it running. I am sure that you could edit the ISO to add any additional libraries you would need but that is a bit outside of my use case.

[@grymmjack]

Sweet

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Use a powered hub to power that USB device you tried to use.

[@TheFyend]

My C64 Maxi froze loading many games so I sent it back. My luck, I got a lemon.

[@CubicleNate]

That is unfortunate. Did you try to do a firmware upgrade on it to see if it would help?

[@tarzankom]

The original C64s had a bug in the ROMs used to communicate between the system and the drive. This is why patches/mods like JiffyDOS run so well on the original hardware. It fixes the problem in the ROM and lets the hardware talk at their original targeted speed. Why Commodore didn't immediately fix this before launch is beyond me. It would have been as simple as patching a ROM in the computer, and a patched ROM in the floppy drive.

[@kangarht]

thats completely wrong, loading speeds are slow for othe reasons, not because a bug in the ROM, JiffyDos and other speeders are simply having more sophisticated faster code for communication. It's possible because the drive is intelligent and you can replace the code in there by injecting code to its RAM.

[@Lion_McLionhead]

It only uses 55Meg of the RAM. 39Meg is cache. The lion kingdom's 1st UNIX box had only 32Meg. Those were the days.

[@brucekempf4648]

Now that you have a way into the Linux system, has anyone figured out how to integrate the switch to Linux via a menu choice added to the C64 without doing the flash update each time?

[@fcf8269]

It looks pretty cool except 2 things: 1) too little ram, so a GUI and WM is a waste; killing everything and just running a pure console OS will give you way more room to work; and don't even need a mouse in the end. It is not that hard to use just the console to edit text files or use the networking, if you prepare the automated scripts ahead of time, so maybe this package can be optimized to be leaner and remove all the WM stuff and save precious memory. 2) the time needed to boot the OS and make the changes may well be the same if not worst, than the time you need to turn off the C64, remove the USB stick, make the changes on the computer and reboot the C64. If there was a way to hack the original firmware to actually run the games directly from the interface (kinda what you can do with something like a spectrum browser for example; where you have both the file manager, editor and you can launch files from it), then that would be the best of both worlds

[@CubicleNate]

Mostly, I like this because it is "neat". I think it is fun to be able to do everything within the system. As far as the time it takes to remove the drive and make the changes, it is probably about the same, unless I have a laptop right next to me. It would be much better if some sort of file editor was built into TheC64 but for every feature added is the possibility of more bugs to stomp out.

[@phantomharlock999]

Nice video! Curious if it runs on the TheC64 Mini as well.

[@CubicleNate]

It should work on the Mini as well. It's certainly worth a try!

[@CrappyMusic-cb6bl]

Yeah it works

[@futuregamer5791]

You got to configure controllers. Almost had me

[@filevans]

could you change the gui font to one that looks identical to c64 basic? as i never liked the font they used in the gui

[@jimbotron70]

Yes of course you can, you could mimic the original experience down to the smallest detail.

[@filevans]

@@jimbotron70 that's what they should have done

[@jimbotron70]

@@filevans Usually the people in charge of designing/selling items like these miss the details...

[@DJBisGOD]

Keep up posted on your progress with the Ethernet :)

[@CubicleNate]

Certainly. I am really happy with this capability of X Windows now but I am also wondering if I might be better served to totally upgrade the inside of it with something a lot more powerful. I don't know but I absolutely adore this machine!

[@brucekempf4648]

Any idea if I copied the Linux program folders and wrote to a raspberry pi or Orange Pi, would it boot and work as the C64? I want to have this computer with say a pi-4 so I can create a dual boot into the C64 or Raspberry Pi OS for internet access and all the other features on the Pi. If anyone has done this please let me know.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

But are you sure that you can put the backup _back_ onto THEC64's SSD? Like is the Linux system on it already rooted (like when you root an Android phone)?

[@piecaruso97]

since the internal connections seems to be usb this might be a good base for a raspberry pi project, just replace the computer inside to have fully fledged linux desktop experience

[@jimbotron70]

The current board is a Pi clone, so it's already capable of running a Linux desktop.

[@piecaruso97]

@@jimbotron70 well it just has 128mb of memory and no bootloader access, so dropping in a raspberry pi is the best option, perhaps this case can fit a larger x86 single board system, like a mini itx or an embedded one like the lattepanda

[@jimbotron70]

@@piecaruso97 Yes, every option is possible.

[@CubicleNate]

There are tons of cool things you could indeed do to this and I would pay just to get the shell and keyboard. As it sits, I enjoy what I do with it now. It's just a games console that I can pop into the X-Windows system and do some useful things rather than move the USB drive to another computer. I don't lose any functionality with this "mod", just gain some more. The whole experience with this machine in the C64 / VIC-20 tuning makes for a great set-top gaming appliance in the living room.

[@blmartech]

​@@piecaruso97but why? There's a million things that can run a Linux desktop. I'd rather have thec64 be a c64

[@mattd6755]

I cant believe they want $300+ for this item in the USA these days (i only look on ebay). I want one, but it really needs to be $100 or less. The C64 Maxi looks like a lot of fun, but the price point is just too high.

[@CubicleNate]

There are some sources for this but I think that they are out of production, which is unfortunate

[@stand355]

I got mine last month for €105 on ebay. Some German retailer had like 10 of them in stock. Of course it's all gone now.

[@CrassSpektakel]

Just want to mention, if you consider the price too high get an Raspberry Pi. There are tons of excellent emulators for them and prices are currently going down (got a Pi Zero for €12 which is even more powerful than the TheC64).

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

Picked up a 64 maxi for £55 on FleaBay. Not boxed, but with 2 sticks and modded with more games. I updated the firmware to 1.6 and now it can play Sonic C64😊I recommend getting a gamepad as the supplied 🕹️ is hard to hold unless stuck down on a table.

[@jimbotron70]

@@CrassSpektakel Yes but you would miss the original keyboard with its special characters, unless you can 3D print them.

[@darkobelisk4076]

Can you replace the colour pallette?

[@CubicleNate]

That isn't anything I tried but yes, you absolutely can with the environment. That would be cool to make it look more C64-ish.

[@darkobelisk4076]

@@CubicleNate Thanks for this video. I couldn't quite follow the written instructions on the forum.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"Haha, hit that dislike button TWICE...!" Yeah, really clever, I get it, LOL! 😉😁

[@1Terrapin1]

Have you tried PCUAE on The c64?

[@CubicleNate]

This is the first I have heard of it and definitely going to check it out. Just reading the description of what it does is quite exciting! Thank you!

[@retroCombs]

This one has been on my list too.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"Real hardware..." That IS real hardware... of _some_ type....

[@jimmyhillgren7479]

Awwww thought this was made on an real C64. :-(

[@eijentwun5509]

DOes this work on C64 Mini?

[@CubicleNate]

I think it will and it is certainly worth the try.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"There _is_ ... gigabytes..."?

[@paulharrison8379]

I suspect that a retropi system would be better for hacking

[@CubicleNate]

You are probably right but the point was to take this fun machine and make it more fun. There are numerous ways to enjoy retro gaming outside of this machine. For me, it was an attempt to extract more enjoyment out of something that I was already getting a lot of enjoyment out of. Thanks for watching!

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"Maybe be able to download some other software from the internet or something like that..." 1. * _Through/on_ the internet. 2. But even then, isn't that just a given? Where else could you go for a download these days? A dial-up BBS?

[@jameschamplin1742]

Is there a way to prevent it from being stretched on a TV? It looks HORRIBLE stretched on these modern, awful widescreen crap TVs. Maybe that's why the RAM utilization is so high. It's modern garbo that can't figure out that 16:9 is total shit and is trying to save us from shitty stretched image modes. I think that most technology hates shitty modern 16:9 aspect crap.

[@CubicleNate]

I believe that you can force the Commodore 64 interface of it to use 4:3 ratio. I wasn't bothered by it so I left it standard.

[@sluxi]

Wish you'd have shown what is in /proc/cpuinfo

[@CubicleNate]

I can make this happen.