TWO HARDWARE IDEAS: AN HDMI DONGLE AND A 64D

Two more for the whiteboard, both hardware, both ideas for now.

An HDMI dongle

Getting a good picture from a Commodore onto a modern TV is still a hassle. But nearly every Commodore computer has the same round video socket, so one small adapter could fix it for all of them.

The idea: a compact dongle with the Commodore video plug on one end and an HDMI socket on the other. One chip inside turns the composite and S-video signals into HDMI. Plug it in, plug in the TV, done. We already make AV and S-video breakouts, so this is the natural next step.

A 64D

The C128D was a 128 in a desktop case with a separate keyboard, and it was lovely. There was never a 64 like it. So: what if there were?

• A new motherboard in a 128D-style case.
• The cartridge and user ports on the front, where you can reach them.
• A separate keyboard, with mechanical keys.
• No internal floppy, but an SD card drive built in, with its slot on the front.
• Sockets that take either family of the 64's chips, and PAL or NTSC by jumper.
• Modern 12 V power, and HDMI out built in (the dongle's chip, inside the case).

The name might change. The plans have just started, and it's a long road from here, but it's the 64 we'd want on our own desks.

Would you want one?