Commander X16

TexElec is now accepting pre-orders for the Commander X16! I just ordered mine today. Expected shipping date is February 24, 2024, but the site says this date may change. The basic price is $349, higher than the hoped-for $300, but there it is.

-Bill Leue

Note that the $350 is the price that they've been saying for over a month now ... just average inflation since 2020, $300 in 2020 dollars is $330 in 2023 prices, and there has been even faster inflation in electronics.

Awesome!

I just put in my pre-order, along with the upgrade kit, keyboard, PSU and AC adapter.

Put mine in last night!

February 29th, since 2024 will be a leap year!

It's a fun system and I'll try cranking out more "verified-working-software" on the DevBoard that I have (or "verifying" others PRGs that people are writing using the emulators).


The only two things that haven't worked so far are:

- Doesn't work with original IBM Model F keyboards (not surprising, many systems don't). But it does work with the IBM Model M (using a 5-pin DIN adapter to PS2). Not that many people would be using such a keyboard, but it is an option.

- All four SNES game pad ports do work, but out of a dozen SNES gamepads that I ordered only about 40% of them work with the X16 (these are the "under $10" variety gamepads). The X16 has a nice test program to show if the controllers are all working ok, and "somebody" ( ) has been working on a nice plug in SNES adapter for gamepad slot 3 and 4 (probably available by February). An "official" X16 gamepad might be nice someday.

The only other nit is that the system is certainly not a C64 "clone" - there are some similarities, but there is also a learning curve on doing certain things (just reading through the github X16 Tech Ref). That's ok with me - and at VCF, I was surprised a number of folks who basically said "I never used a Commodore, so I have no idea what Commodore BASIC means." That hit me a few years ago, when I went to a "retro store" and the workers there hadn't even heard of Commodore (I was looking for some power adapter). Retro to them was GameCube and PS1. Some are going to be stuck in that thinking this a C64 clone or have a ROM option to go into some kind of mode like that -- but nope, it is its own unique flavor of a system. But it does mean we need to beef up the tutorials and such on how to use the system.


Also, a few years back I got one of those nice upright digital pianos - it has nice weighed keys and such, and those still cost over $500. The X16 FM chip essentially has all those instruments and octaves, and 8 channels is plenty. So I think it's easy to forget that you're getting a full featured MIDI keyboard with this system! (and easily programmed from the BASIC keyword extensions).

Also, for a few days I put my system down to 2MHz, and played various graphics title. If the game is using VERA mainly for graphics, the 6502 is not a bottleneck! Like PlanetX16 was playing full speed, even though the system was set to 2MHz.




Since the June DevBoards, support for the mouse wheel has been added (from KERNEL or BASIC). So that will be neat to see on what kind of game mechanics people come up with take advantage of that (i.e. as something we didn't have in the late 1980s!). Here is my "proof of concept" demo about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqYOSKbUIJU


When the Lazer3D cases become available again, I hope some kind of "package deal" can get arranged - as I do think a number of people would appreciate having that option (of a pre-assembled case and system).

voidstar wrote: ↑Tue Oct 03, 2023 12:24 am I was surprised a number of folks who basically said "I never used a Commodore, so I have no idea what Commodore BASIC means." That hit me a few years ago, when I went to a "retro store" and the workers there hadn't even heard of Commodore (I was looking for some power adapter). Retro to them was GameCube and PS1.

The problem (for lack of a better word) is that the X16 wasn't marketed like a regular commercial products. It was conceived, developed, built and put out there for people to buy. But who's the target market? Without that answer, it can be challenging to focus your efforts.

Retro is going to mean different things to different people. For myself, I consider anything pre-IBM PC retro, while a 20-something may consider anything before an Xbox 360 as retro.

Some are going to be stuck in that thinking this a C64 clone or have a ROM option to go into some kind of mode like that -- but nope, it is its own unique flavor of a system. But it does mean we need to beef up the tutorials and such on how to use the system.

Better tutorials are always welcome, but don't forget to provide good general info about the X16 as well; what it is, as well as what it isn't. When I get my board, I'm gonna start working on documentation squarely aimed at beginners.

The Retro answer is only going to get more complicated. I recently obtained a Sony Viao P4 630gx. I got it to play with MS-DOS programs, and maybe Win 3 to 3.11. I overshot by a lot. Its a 3.4 ghz P4 system. Upgradeable to 4gb of RAM. I got it with 512 mb and Upgraded it with another GB so its setting at 1.5 gb. I played with FreeDOS on it a bit. Its super, super fast with FreeDOS but I couldn't get Sound Blaster Emulation working and the system doesn't have even one 16 bit ISA slot so that was a bust. I found a Sony Restore Disk image for this system's immediate successor and it worked fine to put this system on the board. Its Windows XP now, and it would probably run a barebones Linux System quite well. I got a New (Old Stock) Western Digital 360gb 7200 rpm IDE drive for it that works quite well. And it has a Hardware PCI MPEG2 Encoding Capture card for NTSC video. It also has FireWire onboard.

This system is 19 years old, and I think I would be only slightly handicapped using it as a Daily Driver, especially if I put Linux on it.

PS: Of the 5 computers I own this is also the only one that currently has Video capture capability.

Though I'm the correct age, I was never in the 8-bit scene. In my world, before 1983. A computer was something on StarTrek or something that the Government or Big Banks might use. The first time I got my fingers on a Keyboard was courtesy of the United States Navy on a Terminal hung off of a Mini-Computer. The Navy indulged my interests and I became kind of proficient in BASIC and a little FORTRAN on the system. It was another 3 years before I got my very own Tandy 1000 TX. The Commander X16 is my very first 8 bit system, and I'm really having fun with it.

I put in my pre-order Sunday. I wasn't about to take the chance of them running out! Heh.

I considered ordering one of those lazer3d cases at the same time... but I think I'm going to hold off until I actually have the board. I want to hear what it has to say when it's in my hands... Perhaps it would be happier in a steam punk case or something?

The monitor will be the tricky bit... Worst case they sell 4x3 ratio 1024x768 LCD monitors of all sizes for video surveillance applications that have VGA connectors on them, and that should be pretty good.

I still want to have a physical X16 at some point, but I'm not quite in a position to have one just yet.

As for a target audience, for me personally, the X16 is "I'd love to go back and develop for [platform] but with the tools and knowledge I have today" and "I hate that I missed out on [platform] because it sounds like it would've been fun but it was before my time" in physical form.