Vintage Computer Festival 7.0 Pictures

This past weekend I attended the Vintage Computer Festival 7.0, held at the Computer History Museum here in Mountain View, CA. I was there as part of the Fresno Commodore User Group, the last remaining Commodore User Group in California. We had a bunch of Commodore equipment, past and present, on display (inlcuding the new C64 DTV Joystick). Here are my pictures from the event:

QVC to sell new Commodore 64-in-a-Joystick in time for Christmas

This past weekend I attended the Vintage Computer Festival 7.0 here in Mountain View, CA. I was there as part of the Fresno Commodore User Group (FCUG, the only remaining CUG in California) booth, selling some of our old Commodore stuff and trying to attract members for a new Bay Area chapter. (Email me if you're interested in joining!)

One of the things we had on display was the new C64 DTV, a joystick that has a built-in Commodore 64 processor and 30 classic video games inside. It is based on a custom ASIC designed by Jeri Ellsworth, the designer of the C-One reconfigurable computer. Both the DTV and C-One were on display as Jeri was answering questions and demonstrating them to festival-goers. Other members of the DTV team included Jason Compton, Adrian Gonzalez, Robin Harbron, Per Olofsson, and Mark Seelye.

Yes, the Commodore Business Machines company went out of business years ago, but the rights to the name and the 8-bit computers were sold to other companies. The current owner, Tulip Computers of the Netherlands, is behind the C64 DTV, in collaboration with Ironstone Partners (who own the rights to C64 gaming) and Mammoth Games (the manufacturer). The DTV is listed on Tulip's CommodoreWorld Web site!

The games included are Championship Wrestling, Cyberdyne Warrior, Cybernoid, Cybernoid II, Eliminator, Excelon, Firelord, Gateway to Apshai, Impossible Mission, Impossible Mission II, Jumpman Jr., Paradroid, Pitstop, Pitstop II, Ranarama, Silicon Warrior, Speedball, Summer Games, Supercycle, Sword of Fargoal, Tower Toppler, Uridium, Winter Games, World Karate Championship A, World Karate Championship B, Zynaps, (games split out from others) bull-riding, flying disc, sumo-wrestling, and surfing.

The great news is that the DTV will be made available to the masses via the QVC home shopping channel later this month. It will retail for about $25 according to Jeri. You can see an ad for it at the QVC Web site (requires Windows Media Player or compatible).

The C64 DTV will go on sale the day after Thanksgiving (Friday, November 26) and be featured through Sunday, November 28. It will be "Today's Special Value" on Friday, November 26. Tune in to QVC or visit QVC.com to order. QVC has the exclusive rights to sell the DTV through the end of the year; after that it may be available through other channels as well.

Overview of Commodore Computers

In the late 1970's and early-mid 1980's, one of the dominant players in the world of home computing was Commodore Business Machines. The most famous and widely used was the Commodore 64, which is to this day the record holder for number of units sold of a single computer model. But there were many others which are not as widely known. Here is a brief run-down of the Commodore 8-bit product line:

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Bill Ward - All - Computers - Commodore

Vintage Computer Festival 7.0 Pictures

QVC to sell new Commodore 64-in-a-Joystick in time for Christmas

Overview of Commodore Computers