No Pyrex dishes this week. No cute coat hangers either. Not even an old sandwich maker. Instead, I'll be venturing over to my geeky side. I proudly present you: The vintage Commodore SX-64 my lovely wife gave me a few years ago.
Having grown up in the 1980's, my first computer ever was a Commodore 64. Not this one, just a regular run-of-the mill breadbox. It had a huge impact on me, and years later I started to collect the whole series of so-called "home computers" sold by Commodore. A few years ago you would find these by the dozens on flea markets; these days they're getting scarce - ebay has taken over, and most of them probably ended up in a landfill, unfortunately. Nonetheless, I got most of them, but there was one glaring hole: The "portable" version of the C64, called the SX-64.
It never was overly popular over here in Europe. It was too expensive, too big, too bulky, and not really that portable at all - it weighs 27 lb and doesn't include any batteries; you need to have access to a power outlet. They were slightly more common in the US - but even there, the intended market (traveling businessmen) wasn't overly enthusiastic; there were better options available elsewhere. As a result, these machines are quite uncommon (especially in working condition), and I never really found one that was within my budget.
Mub found this one for me for cheap on ebay. It didn't work at first, but thanks to some very helpful people out there on the internet and some kind of cave where time seemed to have stood still for at least 15 years called "The Computer Bargain Store" we got it working!
It's in great condition. One of the keys has partly broken off and is a bit finicky, the spacebar has an ugly yellow discoloration and somewhere in its life someone replaced the ROMs with those of a regular C64, but other than that it works great!
Thanks, Mub!
See more fun vintage goodies for Vintage Thingie Thursday over at Coloradolady's blog.
8 comments:
I remember these. My cousins had a C64 I thought it was to coolest thing and friends of mine had the Atari those were fun. I would love to get my hands on one of those for my kids to play around with. Such fun...memories! Erika
What a great post...and what a great husband for taking the time to join us today....I love the old computers and to see how far technology has come along. My Inlaws had a old computer that looked a lot like this one, there is no telling what happened to it, I remember the screen was mostly orange....Have a great VTT.
Whatwhat, the topic gave away it might not be mub writing this post ;)
Cool piece of kit! I wonder how much it would weigh if they did make a battery pack for it...
Thanks for sharing Martijn! I'm so glad that Kimmie has such a squishy nerdy husband to share her life!
Way to go Martijn. I love it that you helped out your lovely wife this week.
My brother had a C64, I don't know which one, but he loved it. He is now on a University Staff over computers.
Kim did a great job in finding this for you. She's both wonderful and awesome.
This is absolutely wonderful! Have to tell my son to check this out...he's in the market for a new laptop! I love how the space for the diskettes is bigger than the monitor :)
What a great find! Can you see stuffing that into your briefcase? Ha!
Ahhhh We had a Commodore 64 too :)
Brings back memories
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