The new C64 is here!

It's done! The most successful computer in history is back in action! Fans have been waiting for it for over a decade!

Original article on https://tellhandel.blog/le-nouveau-c64-arrive/

Jack Tramiel, its legendary creator and founder of Commodore, which he headed until 1984, can now pride himself on having inspired passionate entrepreneurs, almost 40 years on, who are working to resurrect a product that marked an entire era in computing.

For the record, Commodore rose from the ashes in 2010, having been successively bought out by several companies that went bankrupt in turn. It was an American entrepreneur from Florida, Barry Altman, who bought back part of the rights and intellectual property, with the aim of relaunching the Amiga model, but also, it will be remembered, launching the manufacture of the C64X, a PC-compatible computer contained in a Commodore 64 case.

Other models followed under his direction, including a VIC-Slim. There was also the VIC-Mini and the Amiga-Mini, not unlike their Apple-built cousins. Commodore's Minis were PC-like computers, but equipped with the Commodore OS, a GNU/Linux Mint-based operating system, deployed in a style inspired by the special atmosphere of the Amiga computers of the years 1985 to 1994.

Commodore Amiga Mini — An American entrepreneur by the name of Barry Altman was behind the rebirth of Commodore products in the 2010s.

The American Commodore season came to an end with the death of Barry Altman, who died of cancer on December 8, 2012 at the age of 63, 8 months to the day after Jack Tramiel, who died on April 8, 2012. Surely they'll have seen each other then, poking fun at which, between Commodore and Atari, were the better ones. We won't forget that Jack Tramiel took over the helm of Atari when he left Commodore in 1984, a company he had founded 30 years earlier, in 1954.

But the Commodore adventure continued. Two Italian entrepreneurs took over the rights to the brand. They relocated their company's headquarters to London, and named it Commodore CBM. Cell phones such as the PET and the Commodore LEO were produced, and more may arrive this year.

But it's another British company, Retro Games Limited, which is producing the C64-Mini, a smaller Commodore 64-looking game console with a dummy keyboard, to which a real PC keyboard can be connected via a USB port. The C64-Mini is available from most major national distributors on several continents.

The real news, and the reason for this article, is that Retro Games Ltd is working on the production of a "full-size" C64. Initially scheduled for late 2019, technologically upgraded of course, it features HDMI connectivity and a real keyboard. Supplied with 64 C64 video games, it also offers VIC-20 and C64 emulation for BASIC programming.

Its launch has been delayed by a few months due to the paralysis on production lines and in transport, as Covid-19 is obliged to do. But rest assured, our patience should be rewarded in the coming weeks or months at most!