Can This Commodore 64 Be Saved?

If you are a certain age, there’s a fair chance your first computer was a Commodore 64. These machines are antiques now, and [RetroManCave] received one from a friend’s loft in unknown condition. He’s made two out of three videos covering the machine, its history, and its internals. Assisting is Commodore 64 expert [Jan Beta] who apparently owned one way back when. You can see the first two videos, below.

The machine isn’t as old as you might think — it is the “newer” case style (circa 1987). [Jan] gives a great overview of the different motherboards you might encounter if you are lucky enough to come across one of these in a dumpster somewhere.

If you are very familiar with the Commodore 64, you might skip over some of the first video, although the tear down is interesting and informative. The second part, however shows more of the actual restoration process. Very important is the information on how some of the power supplies may not be safe to plug in! [Jan] covers that while [RetroManCave] swaps out electrolytic capacitors. This is such a common problem that there is a special power cable designed to protect your irreplaceable system unit if the power supply fails.

Rather than clean up the case, the restoration uses a new case made from the original molds. That saves a lot of elbow grease. The keyboard, though, still needed cleaning.

Will it run? You should watch the videos and find out. These old machines can be great fun and even educational since — unlike today’s computers — you can actually get to many of the parts and signals.

There’s a lot of hacking activity around these old Commodores. We’ve seen a C64 tablet. While it isn’t an Oculus Rift, you can even do virtual reality with the C64.

 

Filed under: classic hacks

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