{Photograph}: Matt Kamen
Boot up the C64U, and also you’re greeted by a re-creation of the C64’s menu. Right here, you possibly can sort in operation instructions simply as you’d again within the day, utilizing the BASIC programming language. Downside: I don’t have the primary clue about BASIC. Nevertheless, in what’s probably the best throwback of all, the C64U comes with a spiral-bound, 273-page consumer information. It’s an absolute tome. Considerably surprisingly, it’s not a reprint of something that got here with the unique, however quite a tailor-made information to what the C64U does, the place it differs from the C64, and easy methods to become familiar with the pc’s capabilities. Equal elements historical past e-book and instruction handbook, it begins out educating you some easy instructions and builds as much as educating you easy methods to code. I’m nonetheless very a lot working my method via it, however that tactile method—referring to the e-book, making an attempt one thing out on the pc, forwards and backwards—is a good contact.
Hidden Upgrades
When you don’t fancy having to do homework, the C64U’s personal default menu, accessed at any time with a flick of the multifunction energy button on the right-hand facet of the unit, is a straightforward record of choices and settings. Hit RETURN to enter any part—say, “Video Setup” to regulate whether or not the C64U outputs in unique decision, in PAL or NTSC modes (surprisingly vital, given some video games will solely work with one show normal or the opposite), or a crystal clear 1080p with scanlines eliminated—and again out to avoid wasting any adjustments to the system’s flash reminiscence. It’s nonetheless a minimalist method, however feels pretty intuitive.
That is additionally the place you can begin enjoying round with a few of the different fashionable touches of the C64U, like easy methods to leverage its far higher energy. Nicely, “higher” compared to 1982. Spec-wise, this isn’t going to threaten any extra fashionable machine, however working on an AMD Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA chip and packing 128-MB DDR2 RAM—in comparison with the 64 KB of the C64—it blows its inspiration out of the water. Whereas at baseline it replicates the efficiency of the 1982 {hardware}, that means it operates as if there’s solely the unique 64 KB have been there, you possibly can menu-dive to activate a virtualized RAM Growth Unit, or activate a “Turbo Enhance” to speed up the clock pace to a lightning-fast (on this explicit context) 64 MHz.
