Commodore 64 - Help Needed

[Taddy]

Most definitely a niche topic here, but I have a Commodore 64 with a ton of peripherals and other add-ons to the system, but I have no idea how to make sense of it all, verify it works, clean it up a bit and sell it. Is there anyone on here who could help me with this?

 

I attached some pictures of the computer itself along with all the extra stuff that came with it.
 

Also, where would be the best place to sell this?

[dilpickle]

The first pic is the disk drive. The computer itself is in the 2nd pic (what looks like a keyboard). You have a pair of joysticks there that plug into the side ports. I assume that is a monitor in the box. All of these should have power cables and cables to hook them to each other. The giant power brick is for the computer.

 

In the 3rd pic you have a modem which would plug in the back.

 

You can find plenty of websites and YouTube videos. The C64 still has an active community and it should be very easy to sell.

[Lurking]

I used to have a C64 in 1990. It was the sleeker keyboard as opposed to the "breadbox" you have. Definitely hook it up and see if and how it works before deciding what to do with it. I don't know if it had an actual monitor cable. The C64 has a coaxial port to hook up to a TV antenna port and set that to a specific frequency/channel. I'm not sure if that even exists on new TVs. In case the monitor doesn't work. 

 

One great thing is the "OS" is on a ROM or PROM of some sort. So it starts up much faster than a new PC even goes through BIOS. I don't recall much, but I'm sure you can google how to load a program from diskette if you have any. There were cartridge games and other cartridge expansions available for the rear cartridge port.

 

I recall there are 2 pins in the expansion port you can short with a switch and use as a reset switch. that was the only modification I did (and it was pointless, since shutting off and on again barely took any more time)

 

If you have space, and selling doesn't yield much $, you can keep it as a cool toy to showcase. Sorry for not providing any useful information. I'm just reminded of old times.....

[HQuan]

1st picture: floppy disk drive reader

2nd picture: The Commodore 64 computer (the keyboard actually is the computer LOL)

3rd picture: Game catridge (ROM) [it store game inside it like DVD-ROM nowadays]

3rd picture: CRT screen.

 

Why you want to sell it, it's uncommon, nice and good according to my thought. But if you have make your last decision, post it in a Facebook's Commodore lover, seller or simply post it to eBay and Amazon. Lots of people including me needs it. (since this forum do not allow me to purchase I don't want to buy it at here)

[Taddy]

7 hours ago, Lurking said:

I used to have a C64 in 1990. It was the sleeker keyboard as opposed to the "breadbox" you have. Definitely hook it up and see if and how it works before deciding what to do with it. I don't know if it had an actual monitor cable. The C64 has a coaxial port to hook up to a TV antenna port and set that to a specific frequency/channel. I'm not sure if that even exists on new TVs. In case the monitor doesn't work. 

 

One great thing is the "OS" is on a ROM or PROM of some sort. So it starts up much faster than a new PC even goes through BIOS. I don't recall much, but I'm sure you can google how to load a program from diskette if you have any. There were cartridge games and other cartridge expansions available for the rear cartridge port.

 

I recall there are 2 pins in the expansion port you can short with a switch and use as a reset switch. that was the only modification I did (and it was pointless, since shutting off and on again barely took any more time)

 

If you have space, and selling doesn't yield much $, you can keep it as a cool toy to showcase. Sorry for not providing any useful information. I'm just reminded of old times.....

Thanks for all the info! I'll go ahead and see if it works and figure out how to use it. I'll be sure to use your advice!

[Taddy]

7 hours ago, HQuan said:

1st picture: floppy disk drive reader

2nd picture: The Commodore 64 computer (the keyboard actually is the computer LOL)

3rd picture: Game catridge (ROM) [it store game inside it like DVD-ROM nowadays]

3rd picture: CRT screen.

 

Why you want to sell it, it's uncommon, nice and good according to my thought. But if you have make your last decision, post it in a Facebook's Commodore lover, seller or simply post it to eBay and Amazon. Lots of people including me needs it. (since this forum do not allow me to purchase I don't want to buy it at here)

I don't have any need for it right now, also I got it from some relatives whop have no use for it anymore. Plus, I wouldn't have any time to play with it and none of my friends would be too interested. Would it be safe selling on the Facebook Commodore Lovers page? Thanks for the help!

[HQuan]

11 hours ago, Taddy said:

I don't have any need for it right now, also I got it from some relatives whop have no use for it anymore. Plus, I wouldn't have any time to play with it and none of my friends would be too interested. Would it be safe selling on the Facebook Commodore Lovers page? Thanks for the help!

Hmm, I changed my thought. Selling it on Facebook is too risky. Maybe put it on Amazon or eBay! Or classified sub in this forum.

[whm1974]

11 hours ago, HQuan said:

Hmm, I changed my thought. Selling it on Facebook is too risky. Maybe put it on Amazon or eBay! Or classified sub in this forum.

If the Monitor is a Commodore branded used with the C128, that could be worth more money then the C64 with all the extras.

[demonix00]

One thing I would recommend (and most if not all in the C64 scene) is to not use the original power supply without some kind of protection between it and the computer as they are prone to fail and send higher then expected voltages into it and fry components (also a majority of C64 power supplies are potted in resin and as such can't be maintained).

 

There are people in the community who make devices that you can put between the power supply and the C64 to protect it from increased voltages, plus you can get replacement power supplies in one form or another.

[Sprawlie]

Your post took me straight down memory lane. Thank you for this. I haven’t seen a full commodore 64 package and setup since I was a kid. MY first computer that my dad had in the house and taught me everything he knew about it. It’s what kick start my love for tech and led me down my near 30 year career as an IT Professional.

 

it’s an interesting device. Very slow and unusable by today’s standards. Also need a little bit of BASIC programming knowledge to get things working (even loading games required running basic BASIC script)

 

That display also was quite good for the time. For a “computer” screen, it also accepted standard inputs for the time. I kept using that monitor into my Teens. my parents wouldn’t let me get a TV in my room, but didn’t think the computer monitor and computer was a bad thing. So I used a VCR with a built in TV Tuner to watch TV on it. (although I had to have a seperate hack job for my audio)

 

I wish I still had it for nostalgia sakes. Even if it would sit in a box in the closet. I had set all of it aside when i was done. But when I moved out, my dad chucked it all in the garbage

[Taddy]

On 1/11/2022 at 4:27 PM, demonix00 said:

One thing I would recommend (and most if not all in the C64 scene) is to not use the original power supply without some kind of protection between it and the computer as they are prone to fail and send higher then expected voltages into it and fry components (also a majority of C64 power supplies are potted in resin and as such can't be maintained).

 

There are people in the community who make devices that you can put between the power supply and the C64 to protect it from increased voltages, plus you can get replacement power supplies in one form or another.

I checked the power supply with a multimeter and saw it worked fine, but I still wasn't able to get the computer to turn on. One step down in troubleshooting, I guess.

[Taddy]

8 hours ago, Sprawlie said:

Your post took me straight down memory lane. Thank you for this. I haven’t seen a full commodore 64 package and setup since I was a kid. MY first computer that my dad had in the house and taught me everything he knew about it. It’s what kick start my love for tech and led me down my near 30 year career as an IT Professional.

 

it’s an interesting device. Very slow and unusable by today’s standards. Also need a little bit of BASIC programming knowledge to get things working (even loading games required running basic BASIC script)

 

That display also was quite good for the time. For a “computer” screen, it also accepted standard inputs for the time. I kept using that monitor into my Teens. my parents wouldn’t let me get a TV in my room, but didn’t think the computer monitor and computer was a bad thing. So I used a VCR with a built in TV Tuner to watch TV on it. (although I had to have a seperate hack job for my audio)

 

I wish I still had it for nostalgia sakes. Even if it would sit in a box in the closet. I had set all of it aside when i was done. But when I moved out, my dad chucked it all in the garbage

I got this one from a box from a closet too! Its a shame it got thrown out, due to its value monetarily and sentimentally.

[whm1974]

You might need to replace a few chips or whatever.

 

You build a remake using similar componites. If you found a Commodore Plus /4 that would be some money due to the rarity in the US. 

[demonix00]

22 hours ago, Taddy said:

I checked the power supply with a multimeter and saw it worked fine, but I still wasn't able to get the computer to turn on. One step down in troubleshooting, I guess.

It could be a problem with the switch as they too are prone to failure along with several of the chips and RAM (if it has MT RAM then there is a chance that it too has failed).

 

You will need to obtain a power saver device to go between the power supply and the C64 as it's not a matter of if but when it will fail, plus you should get a dead test cartridge (and possibly a diagnostics cartridge as one might not give accurate results) as it will tell you if certain parts have failed (you can at least currently get a new dead test cartridge from the future was 8 bit).