The C64 Mini - anyone else bought one ?

[eslapion]

At first, I was rather disappointed from what I got after purchasing a 'The C64 Mini'. I really wanted one because of its collectible and historical value, the same as I wanted a DTV back in 2005. The DTV had a few annoying bugs and very little expandability, unless you're into doing microsurgery into a 3x4" PCB. It initially seemed to be the same with 'The C64 Mini' except the most annoying bugs of the DTV were absent.

Once I downloaded and installed the new firmware with the File Loader for USB keys, then things took a very different turn. You can play just about anything for the C64 you can put on a USB key so long as it is in a format supported by VICE.

See: https://thec64.com/file-loader/

My first use for the support of these formats was to try to get the cartridge version of Super Zaxxon to run on it. This specific cartridge format is rather exotic and not natively supported by Easy Flash carts. Well... it worked!

Looks like you can do a lot of things with this small thing after all. The built-in small scale keyboard doesn't work, it's just for looks. However you can plug-in a PC USB keyboard as well as various USB joysticks and you can program you own stuff and save it.

[eslapion]

... would be really nice if they could add VIC-20 emulation in that thing.

[mrr19121970]

It is possible ? Connect to serial and replace C64 VICE with VIC20 VICE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIEZknK8EFw

[eslapion]

It is possible ? Connect to serial and replace C64 VICE with VIC20 VICE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIEZknK8EFw

I guess it is but it is somewhat of a hassle for the average Joe. Would be easier to use if it was only a matter of putting a replacement firmware file on a USB key (as was the upgrade to 1.1.4).

The C64 VICE which runs inside this little box is very much customized in order to be pleasant and easy to use. Simply replacing C64 VICE directly with VIC20 VICE will give you an architecture you'll spend weeks setting up before you actually get to use it with a few games, I suspect.

[Dynamic_Computing]

I have my eye on one, but they are hard to find locally in Tucson. Of course I could order one, but it is not quite at that "I need it" stage. Now, If I saw one on the shelf in Target, I would probably be tempted by it. I have a real C64 and C128 that I already use for a few games - but if I did not have the real thing I would have ordered one right away.

[highinfidelity]

But what did they put instead of the SID chip? Wasn't it an absolutely unreplaceable chip with no longer available analog technology once gone gone forever and blah blah blah?

[groepaz]

its pure emulation, some allwinner SoC, less powerful than a raspi 3.

the VICE in it isnt customized a lot at all, its almost unmodified x64 from 2.4 - plus their fancy frontend. a lot of things are a real hazzle to do (like flipping disks).

replacing the c64 with vic20 emulation will NOT be easy, since their frontend is statically linked to the x64 executable. you'll have to patch it in yourself and then somehow make it work.

some kind soul provided the source code by now, its here