Is it for real that these things are still used?

I guess so. Took this photo in a fancy hotel in Adelaide, surely not!?!

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5936/dsc0382w.jpg

There's been C64 emulators for years, maybe it was just someone reliving their youth?

This was on the in-house tv system in the hotel we were staying in.

haha

lol, cool

that is awesome :)

I have no doubt that some people would still use them. Probably some custom built system for doing soimething particular and sits tucked away in a corner and just works for years.

It obviously looks a bit broken now, I remember my C64 doing the exact same thing with the random characters, might come good on a reboot but most probably has a hardware fault.

i used to roll with a commodore, like this
http://www.thocp.net/hardware/pictures/commodore_sx64-2.jpg

nice laptop

I'm guilty of firing up emulators every once in a while. Had a C64 & C128 at home until 12mths ago when I ebay'd them because I simply didn't have the room/time to use them anymore. These days beyond emulators, I've taken a liking to chiptunes made using the C64's unique SID chip - I've heard some pretty kickass stuff & that's not counting the music from some of the C64's game library (you know, anything from the likes of Rob Hubbard, Tony Crowther, Ben Daglish - between them being responsible for the music from games like International Karate, Commando, Thing on a Spring, The Last Ninja etc).

^ just out of curiosity, how much did they pull on eBay?

C64s were still used in the Queen St Busway up until a few years back (to display the timetables). You'd be surprised.

Slinky: just over $40 for a C64, Disk Drive, tape drive, the C128 + monitor and a bunch of games.

It was all untested/as-is, so understandably this lowers the price dramatically - Although given the saturation of the C64 back in it's day, they really don't go for that much anyway (like the original NES).

Seen couple of c64 running some of the pumping systems these f***ers just keep on trucking

This thread is as good as any to post this I guess: If you have an iphone don't bother with the C64 emulator on it - there's only a limited selection of games and the touchscreen controls are arse.

The picture Spook provided is what we used to call Luggables. I used to have an Osborne version back in 1985/6.

U know if you have a C64 at home id seriously consider holding onto it. To the right person the sound card/chip in a c64 is worth a s*** load of cash...

Why u may ask ?? Its simple electronic music.

A really ripping synthesizer can be made out of the C64 sound component. there is a company called machine drum i think and their synth goes for about 4K with teh C64 architecture as the base.

There are mod sites for this sorta stuff and a friend of mine bought one off a home modder (fully modded into a synth for about 2K)

To the right people they are worth s*** loads.

Refer back to my comment earlier about chiptunes & the awesomeness of the C64's SID chip :D

that sounds like a ripper home project! anyone want to sell me a commodore 64?