commodore 64

8BitDo’s $100 wireless mechanical keyboard is a tribute to Commodore 64

8bitdo, commodore 64, Keyboards, mechanical keyboards, Tech, Wireless keyboards / Ari B / March 29, 2024

Fits in nicely with old cassettes and floppy disks.

8BitDo
The keyboard uses a top mount and has an aluminum top plate.

8BitDo
The keyboard has knobs for toggling connectivity modes (left) and controlling the connected system’s volume (right).

8BitDo
There’s a magnetic compartment for storing the optional wireless dongle.

8BitDo

The Commodore 64 introduced a generation of future computer geeks to personal computing. The 8-bit system first launched in 1982 and was discontinued in 1994. During that time, it made its mark as one of the first and most influential personal computers, and many still remember the computer fondly.

Gaming peripherals maker 8BitDo wants to bring that nostalgia to people’s fingertips and this week announced the Retro Mechanical Keyboard – C64 Edition. 8BitDo is careful not to use the name “Commodore” outright. But with marketing images featuring retro Commodore gear in the background, press materials saying that the keyboard was “inspired by the classics,” and certain design cues, the keyboard is clearly a tribute to the ’80s keyboard-computer.

8BitDo starts with the sort of beige that you only see on new peripherals these days if the gadgets are trying to appear old. A rainbow stripe runs horizontally and north of the function row, like on Commodore’s computer. There’s a power button with a bulb popping out of the keyboard case, ready to illuminate when it receives the signal.

The 8BitDo keyboard’s power LED.

8BitDo
Retro rainbow.

8BitDo

Like the Commodore 64, the C64 keyboard has limited keys, foregoing a number pad. The column of F-keys on the right side of the retro computer is abandoned in favor of today’s standard navigation keys. Naturally, the ports have also been updated. 8BitDo’s wireless mechanical keyboard can connect with a detachable USB-C to USB-A power cable via a 2.4 GHz wireless USB-A dongle or Bluetooth 5.0. 8BitDo claims that the keyboard’s 2000 mAh battery can endure 200 hours of use before needing a charge.

The new keyboard also reduces the bulkiness of a true vintage keyboard. It’s 6.7 inches tall and weighs 2.31 pounds. Commodore 64s were about 8 inches tall and weighed over 4 pounds.

A trimmer keyboard should help 8BitDo better appeal to its core audience of gamers. The keyboard even comes with a separate pair of large buttons and a joystick for gaming with an arcade feel. The joystick and Super Buttons, as 8BitDo calls them, are programmable, including with macros, without downloading 8BitDo’s software.

The keyboard comes with a joystick and mega-size buttons, just like 8BitDo's <a href= — Enlarge / The keyboard comes with a joystick and mega-size buttons, just like 8BitDo’s NES-inspired keyboard.

8BitDo

The C64 doesn’t support Apple devices; it only supports Windows 10 and Android 9.0 and higher. The software for reprogramming the keyboard and setting up different profiles (which you can toggle with the heart button near the keyboard’s top edge) doesn’t officially support Apple OSes.

SA keycaps

If you really want to feel like you’re typing on an ’80s system, it’s not just about muted shades of beige; it’s about what your fingers feel. While there are some design changes that might have made the keyboard feel more authentic, some thought was clearly given to making this 2024 keyboard feel like it came out more than 30 years ago.

To start, the C64’s keycaps are made of ABS plastic with doubleshot legends. Some premium mechanical keyboards these days opt for PBT, as such keycaps typically offer better grip and resist fingerprint smudges better. But if we’re trying to be as accurate to the original C64 as possible, doubleshot ABS is the way to go.

The keycaps on the Commodore 64 were also notably spherical and contoured. 8BitDo’s design uses SA-profile keycaps, which are some of the tallest keycaps that are widely available. Some hardcore enthusiasts can tell the difference between SA keycaps and the Commodore 64’s original keycaps, but this is still a strong choice from 8BitDo, (plus the original Commodore 64 keycaps wouldn’t fit on modern mechanical switches without some modding).

8BitDo’s $100 wireless mechanical keyboard is a tribute to Commodore 64 Read More »

Why I hope the Atari 400 Mini will bring respect to Atari’s most underrated platform

Have you played Atari today? —

Can USB, HDMI, and built-in games raise awareness for a platform overshadowed by the C64?

Benj Edwards – Jan 16, 2024 7: 42 pm UTC

Retro Games' THE400 Mini console. — Enlarge / Retro Games’ THE400 Mini console.

Retro Games / Benj Edwards

Last week, UK-based Retro Games, Ltd. announced a mini console version of the Atari 400 home computer, first released in 1979. It’s called “THE400 Mini,” and it includes HDMI video output, 25 built-in games, a USB version of Atari’s famous joystick, and it retails for $120. But this release means something more to me personally because my first computer was an Atari 400—and as any other Atari 8-bit computer fan can tell you, the platform often doesn’t get the respect it should. This will be the first time Atari’s 8-bit computer line has received a major retro-remake release.

My Atari 400 story goes a little something like this. Around the time I was born in 1981, my dad bought my older brother (then 5 years old) an Atari 400 so he could play games and learn to program. My brother almost immediately found its flat membrane keyboard frustrating and the Atari 410 cassette drive too slow, so my dad ordered an Atari 800 and an Atari 810 disk drive instead. This began our family’s golden age of Atari 800 gaming, which I’ve written about elsewhere.

I’ve often said if a modern game designer wants to learn how to make games, just dive into the Atari 400/800 game library. There are some priceless gems there you can’t find anywhere else, plus others that play best on the platform. OK, I’ll name a few: The Seven Cities of Gold, Archon, M.U.L.E., Wizard of Wor, Salmon Run, Star Raiders, The Halley Project, and so much more.

A photo of Benj Edwards' family Atari 800 and Atari 400 in his brother's room, Christmas 1985. — Enlarge / A photo of Benj Edwards’ family Atari 800 and Atari 400 in his brother’s room, Christmas 1985.

Even with the new 800, it seems that my dad must have kept the original Atari 400, because by the time I grew up more and wanted “my own computer” in the late 1980s, he gave me the Atari 400. The 800 was still my brother’s baby and typically remained in his bedroom. When I wasn’t playing more complex games like M.U.L.E. and Archon on the 800 with my brother, I hooked up the 400 to a small black-and-white TV set in my room and mostly played Galaxian, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong on a cartridge. Not long after, I got an Apple II Plus and learned BASIC on that, but the Atari 400 always got pride of place in my growing computer collection.

A snippet from a 1988 to-do list written by Benj Edwards' dad that says — Enlarge / A snippet from a 1988 to-do list written by Benj Edwards’ dad that says “Get TV/monitor for Benj’s Atari 400 computer,” completed 4/14/88.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about the new Atari 400 Mini. I haven’t used it myself yet, so all we have to go on is the information provided by the company—and the company’s reputation. Retro Games has previously released full-sized remakes of the Commodore VIC-20 and the Commodore 64, and mini consoles of the Amiga 500 and the Commodore 64. In 2020, Engadget gave the company’s “THE64 Mini” mixed reviews, praising its looks but complaining about its joystick and poor game selection. We’ll admit preconceived bias and hope the 400 Mini fares much better. Even if the joystick ends up a dud, Retro Games says you can provide your own USB stick or controller.

I also hope THE400 does well because Atari 8-bit fans have a tough time with group identity in the span of retro tech history. Few Americans aside from Atari 400/800 owners have heard of the platform (though the platform did very well in Eastern Europe). The Atari 8-bit series didn’t sell nearly as well as competitors like the Commodore 64 in the US (although Sean Lennon had an Atari 400 as a kid—cool trivia).

And even though the Atari 400/800 series provided the template for Commodore to imitate with the VIC-20 and C64, Commodore undercut Atari in price with cheaper parts, which contributed to Atari’s crash in 1983 and drove Texas Instruments out of the home computer business. More recently, the Commodore 64 has had several retro re-releases since the Commodore 64 Direct-to-TV in 2004. The Atari 400/800 platform has had none until now.