Ben Heck Unveils Commodore 64 Laptop

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, April 06, 2009, 01:28 PM EDT

For a long time geek like me, who got his start in computing by spending countless hours in front of a Commodore 64, Ben Heck's latest mod is about as cool as it gets. Using the original parts from a working C64, Ben crafted a fully functional laptop, complete with a custom enclosure and 15" LCD screen.

"This project somehow has the distinction of being both the longest and fastest portable electronics project I have ever done. I originally started making a C64 laptop in the fall of 2006, and kept pecking away at it every so often. Finally, a few weeks ago, I said “screw it” and started over.

I redid everything in a week and a half - the shortest project ever. (The previous record hold was the Wii portable at 2 weeks) The goal this time was to make something that looked exactly like a computer from the early 80’s, yet in a new form. Including the color beige and texture."

The final product looks fantastic. It takes the same aesthetic approach as the original C64 in regard to its coloring and textures, just features in a somewhat large mobile form factor. Two things Ben did update, however, were the power supply and floppy drive. Instead of using an original C64 PSU, a Gamecube power supply was used in conjunction with a switching regulator to convert its output to necessary 5v. And in lieu of a 1541 floppy drive, a 1541-III DTV emulator was used. "For storage there’s a device called the 1541-III DTV to “emulate” a floppy drive using an SD card. The SD card is formatted FAT-32 so you can dump disk images on it using a PC, and read it with the C64 - pretty cool!"

Here's a video of the Commodore 64 laptop in action. And additional information on the built is available on Ben Heck's website.

Tags: laptop, mod, Commodore, C64

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com