Ben Heck Unveils Commodore 64 Laptop
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."
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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!"
