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!

[Nemo1984]

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!

I have one. It's been plugged in only once to test it. I'm from Canada. If you need it, maybe we can arrange something.

[ledikom]

I never had a Commodore 64 but I'm really interested in playing some of the games. I look through the internet to buy a Commodore 64 but never find something good on eBay,aliexpress. I would love to try Commodore 64 ROMs if I don't find something on the internet I will install the emulator on PC.

[Mog]

Hi

The C64 emulators on the ODroid will play most games but the SID emulation is far from perfect and while the games do run full speed, with the ili9341 screens being as they are, you are going to see 50% frames drawn at best. If you have a keyboard for your ODroid Go you can try my rather modified version of CrashOverride's Frodo port though with that one the emphasis is more on providing a useful programming platform than game support (though it should run any games the other odroid c64 emulators run)

If you have a New 3DS/2DS there's a virtually perfect port of Vice to that platform (don't bother if it's an old 3DS/2DS, it's not fast enough), There's also a pretty good emulator on the RS-97 variants though I've only tried it on my portrait form Little Dragon King.

On the PC, try WinVice or if you run a real operating system you'll find Vice packaged in most good distributions.

You could if you really want to push the boat out and money is no object buy The C64 Maxi, a recently released full size replica of the C64 with proper keyboard, 64 built in games and USB support for adding more.