For Commodore 64 fanboys!

[odroid]

Handheld Commodore 64 with ODROID-GO. We love to play Ultima IV on the GO.



Turn your ODROID-GO to a portable handheld computer.

ODROID-GO can emulate some classic computer systems such as Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and MSX.
We believe a physical keyboard provides a better emulation experience for these systems.

You can type in and run BASIC language programs on the GO.
The ODROID-GO keyboard can also be used with your computer or smartphone as a Bluetooth LE device.

The keyboard has 54 keys in a familiar QWERTY layout, three status LEDs, a real-time clock (RTC) IC with a CR2032 battery to keep track of the current date and time.

Product information:
https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-go/

WiKi page:
https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid_go/qwerty

[kamots]

And MSX fanboys thanks to @Schuemi (Jan)!

[stmicro]

Very nice add-on! I really want to play excellent RPG games like Sentinel Worlds, Elvira, and Bard's Tale III in my bed. As a child in the 1980s and 1990s, we need a physical keyboard.
But the device is too long vertically even I have to order one soon

BTW, will the RTC support the Gameboy-Color emulator?
I hope it will fix the Poketmon time-date missing issue.

[mad_ady]

You mention it could be used as a bt keyboard for other devices. Can you share more details? Does it have to be connected to the go and uses it for bt connectivity? Is there a sample go program for that?
Edit: Never mind, found it! https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/f ... g/20181022

[arso96]

Very Good trick!
Would this work with the Pokemon games that used a real time clock like Pokemon gold and silver?
Arso

[crashoverride]

Would this work with the Pokemon games that used a real time clock like Pokemon gold and silver?

I did research into using the RTC with the gameboy emulator. It turns out the the "RTC" in a gameboy cartridge is actually just a counter that increments periodically and is attached to a battery. It has no notion of the actual date or time. The implication is that extra state information would be required to save the actual date/time that a ROM file was first used so that it could then be used to calculate the number of 'ticks' expected by the emulator. Since there are only a few titles using a "RTC", it maybe possible to save this information in a separate ".rtc" file. Otherwise, it would break all current game saves (.sav).

[arso96]

Would this work with the Pokemon games that used a real time clock like Pokemon gold and silver?

I did research into using the RTC with the gameboy emulator. It turns out the the "RTC" in a gameboy cartridge is actually just a counter that increments periodically and is attached to a battery. It has no notion of the actual date or time. The implication is that extra state information would be required to save the actual date/time that a ROM file was first used so that it could then be used to calculate the number of 'ticks' expected by the emulator. Since there are only a few titles using a "RTC", it maybe possible to save this information in a separate ".rtc" file. Otherwise, it would break all current game saves (.sav).

Thank you so much for the instant answer, now i have a clear vision

[mad_ady]

Apparently you can also play Portal on C64: https://hackaday.com/2018/12/05/a-porta ... -the-past/

[stmicro]

The next ODROID-GO must have a better design something like this.
I hope it can run GNU/Linux too. Should we wait for another 10 years?

[joy]

Oh~ I like the design~

[hartleyshc]

Has the keyboard attachment been discontinued?

[odroid]

Demand was so limited that it had to be discontinued.
Sorry about that.

[hartleyshc]

Demand was so limited that it had to be discontinued.
Sorry about that.

Totally understand. It's my own fault as I assumed it wouldn't be available forever (as well as the device hardware itself). I bought a few complete units last year just for parts, before spare parts were being sold separately.
The keyboard is still floating around out there. At least I know not to expect restocking on the normal sites. Thanks for the quick response!