Pi64 – The Pi64 is a Raspberry Pi 400 that thinks it’s a Commodore 64.

love the retro vibes that the Raspberry Pi 400 gives off. The all-in-one computer-in-a-keyboard design makes me feel like I’m working with a computer from my childhood. The only problem I have is that when I look up from the keyboard, it’s just another modern(-ish) computer running Linux. I set out to fix that with the Pi64.

Inspired by the Commodore 64, the Pi64 boots into a C64-themed bash shell in text mode. No X Server is involved. It is not a C64 emulator, it is Raspberry Pi OS, so you can get real work done; it just extends the Pi 400’s retro feel to the screen.

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Now You Can Turn the Commodore 64 Into a Delightfully Chunky Game Boy

For many of us, the Atari or the NES wasn’t our first gaming console. Instead, it was the Commodore 64, which was marketed as an incredibly affordable home computer, but was also a solid gaming machine. It was very much worthy of a second life as a Game Boy-sized portable, which anyone can now hack together with the right parts and skills.

For around $36, a website called UNI64 will sell you a kit containing custom designed PCBs that, with some technical know-how, can be turned into the Handheld 64: a portable version of the classic ‘80s computer, complete with a tiny QWERTY keyboard so you can even write your own BASIC programs on the go. Just keep in mind that the $36 kit is just the starting point to creating a portable C64.

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Pimp Your Commodore with a RaspberryPi!

Recently I remembered the VIC-20 from my old days and wondered if I could make something cool and useful out of it. So I came up with the idea of replacing the old guts with a Raspberry Pi and a handful of electronic parts. And here is the result: a cool ARM based Linux computer in an original case that can be used for all kinds of things that modern computers can be used for. Vintage computer games can also be played on it using emulation software such as Vice.

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How to use D-Pad controllers on the C64

While I was a big gamer on 8-bit machines back in the early 80s, joysticks always hurt my hands after playing a while. When I got my first console, a Nintendo Entertainment System, I realized how nice it was to use a D-Pad for extended game sessions. Here are two ways to use a D-Pad on the Commodore 64 (and other machines) which makes playing much more ergonomic.

NOTE: PadSwitcher64 control software now works perfectly both NTSC and PAL machines, thanks to the author for fixing that issue!

Commodore 64 Mini Man Makes Matching Mini Monitor

While putting together a retro computer is a great project and can teach a lot about the inner workings of electronics, hooking that 70s- or 80s-era machine up to a modern 144 Hz 1440p display tends to be a little bit anticlimactic. To really recreate the true 8-bit experience it’s important to get a CRT display of some sort, but those are in short supply now as most are in a landfill somewhere now. [Tony] decided to create a hybrid solution of sorts by 3D printing his own Commodore replica monitor for that true nostalgia feel.

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