Thanks for the information. I’m definitely going to pick one up now. :)
George
On Oct 9, 2018, at 4:07 PM, Golan Klinger <gklinger@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Stewart C. Russell <scruss@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Interesting little board in it:
It's basically a dual-core ARM (AllWinner A20) that boots from onboard
flash straight into VICE. There are pads for a serial port and an SD
card (unpopulated), but none for a network.
Yeah, it’s A20 running the ARM Cortex-A7 dual core @ 1 or 1.2 GHz (I think,
I’m not positive yet) and that CPU includes a Mail400 MP2 dual core GPU that
could be running anywhere from 100 to 600MHz (or so). I’ll tease out all the
secrets in time. You’re right though, it’s more than capable of doing what it
is tasked with.
One other thing though is that contrary to what is indicated on the site you
linked to, mine appears to have 256MB of SDRAM. There is a second unpopulated
pad so it may be possible to add more. There is also 256MB of NAND flash. My
first thought was how I was going to upgrade that but with the release of the
new firmware which makes it SO much easier to access content on a USB flash
drive, I no longer see the point.
I bought The C64 Mini to examine and fully intended to sell it but once I
opened the package I decided to keep it as a conversation piece because it’s
so damn cute. Then I hooked it up, started messing around and, to be honest,
I fell in love. It doesn’t do anything I can’t do, and do more easily at
that, with my computers but it has a certain charm/appeal.
I should also mention the joystick; it’s really quite good. I wasn’t
expecting to like it because I’ve never been a fan of the Competition Pro. I
don’t mind the ergonomics but I detest the infernal clicking. I grew up
playing VIC-20 and 64 games long into the night and clicky joystick would
have brought down parental wrath so I value silence. As it happens, this
version is much quieter than the original Comp Pro, the Speedlink USB remake
and the C64 DTV. Also, it doesn’t seem to suffer the USB lag of the Speedlink
version. It’s a standard USB joystick and works splendidly with VICE on my
computer. Given that a Speedlink Com Pro joystick will run you about $45
Canadian alone, The C64 Mini at $100 is a pretty good deal.
I mentioned the new firmware earlier and want to stress that if you buy one,
you should update the firmware immediately [1]. They are constantly adding
features and fixing bugs so staying up to date is a good idea. One major
improvement of the current firmware is that you can load a USB flash drive up
with games and load them directly into the C64 Mini without jumping through
hoops. It makes it a heck of a lot easier and fun to use. Also, it now
supports .d64, .d81, d82, g64 (wow!), .t64, .tap, .prg, .p00, and .crt files.
Amazing!
Hackability? Well, there are “RECOVERY” and “UBOOT" buttons on the board so
I’m going to wire them up to outside buttons to make using them easier to
access and then wait for smarter people to figure out how to exploit the
exposed, on-board UART connector.
Last but not least, I noticed our friend Robin Harbron’s name in the credits
(which are worth watching as they did it like a greetz screen - a nice touch)
so I wonder how many Harvey’s burgers it will take to get him to spill what
he knows. You’ve got my number, Robin. ;)
Yikes. That turned into a mini-review rather quickly and there’s so much more
I could say.
Who wants a demo of this thing at the next TPUG meeting?
[1] https://thec64.com/upgrade/
Golan Klinger
Four legs good, two legs bad.
