First post, by keenmaster486
- Rank
- l33t
OK, hear me out on this.
I want to get my dad a Commodore 64 for Christmas or his birthday this year. He's told a lot of stories about playing with the C64 he had when he was a kid back in the late 70's/early 80's when Commodore was all the rage. If I recall correctly, he said he got it when it first came out, which would have been 1982. He's always enjoyed tinkering with things [programming too, as part of his job he writes modeling algorithms and doesn't do much code just for fun] and I think he'd get a big kick out of playing with a C64 again. He spends a lot of time playing with old HP calculators and buying them on eBay, so this is rather down his alley. Also I think my sister would enjoy tinkering with it once in a while as she's kind of a wizard with pixel art (likes old systems too, has a Win98 laptop she uses for DOS games and keeps hinting to me that she wants my 486 🤣)
How best to go about this? I could look around on eBay but there's a wide assortment of systems there, ranging from "in original box with manuals and peripherals for $150" and "old Comodooor [sic] 64 systim [sic], great workin [sic] conditoin [sic], no accereries [sic] for $6.50 or best offer" (I'm exaggerating but you get my drift 🤣). Is some other place better to get this sort of thing, for example Amibay? I have never seen C64 stuff at recycle centers but I guess you never know. What peripherals do I really need? I can't remember what my dad had. I seem to remember him telling me about having a tape deck, but I can't recall for sure. He may have had a floppy drive for all I know. I want him to be able to get the system out of the box, hook it up to the TV, and start playing around with minimal fuss. (side note: his original system doesn't exist any more as far as we know [got handed over to cousins and subsequently disappeared], but I still have the original TV/Computer RF adapter switch box thingimajig 🤣)
If I get a tape deck or a floppy drive, can I just use standard cassette tapes or 5 1/4" floppy disks, or do those require special mediums?
Also if I was to get some cartridges as well, what are some "classic" cartridge programs/games I could get him (also were there typically cartridges included in the box?).
I want it to be as close to his original machine as possible without having actually seen it. If I remember right, there were a few different versions of the C64 over the years. If he got his machine close to when it first came out (1982/83...) then what was it likely to be?
Is there any special cable or something to connect it to the TV or is it just a standard composite or RF system? Sorry for all the questions; I just know next to nothing about C64 systems and their peripherals.
Also, it would be nice if I didn't have to spend more than a hundred bucks on this since I'm a college student and not exactly wealthy 😜 Is that hard or can it be done with patience and luck?
Thanks!
World's foremost 486 enjoyer.
