First official C64 in 36 years

[JDW]

Even today projects like C64OS struggle to find an audience...

C64OS never found favor with me, in part because I never had a C64 of any kind when C64OS first came on the scene, but even now I'm not so interested because it seems like a super low-rez 40-column character-based "pseudo GUI":

In stark contrast to that, GEOS, despite its flaws, offers a comparatively higher resolution regular GUI (more pixel based than character based). Here are photos I took on my C64U, for example...

Stolen from the B&W Macintosh back in the day, to be sure, but nobody today cares if it was stolen or not. They care about the look, feel, and usefulness to the user who has grown accustomed to modern computing.

Because I was born and bred in the world of Apple, aesthetics are important to me. And while GEOS is black & white and low-rez by 2026 standards, when we think in terms of "retro" only, the look and feel of GEOS trumps the character based C64OS in my book. The above photos show why.

All GEOS needs is a little revamping, and supposedly Wheels fixes a lot of that. But again, copyrighted and still sold or not, I can't seem to lay my hands on a copy to try it out.

With the C64U having sold 22,000 units (holy cow!) over the past year (less than a year, in fact), and now that the new firmware release allows people to use low-DPI mice via USB, and with modern people today who can see usefulness beyond a fastloader cartridge and regular disk drive, it's never been a better time to get on the ball with that revamped GEOS style GUI for the masses. Because if an Apple guy like me wants into the C64 world, I can't imagine I'm alone, seeking basically the same things.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

The answer to your GEOS question is, have the GEOS disk in the drive and tap the RESTORE key.

The answer to your other question is, de gustibus non disputandum.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

With the C64U having sold 22,000 units (holy cow!) over the past year (less than a year, in fact), and now that the new firmware release allows people to use low-DPI mice via USB, and with modern people today who can see usefulness beyond a fastloader cartridge and regular disk drive, it's never been a better time to get on the ball with that revamped GEOS style GUI for the masses. Because if an Apple guy like me wants into the C64 world, I can't imagine I'm alone, seeking basically the same things.​

^^ this last. I have always been a GUI guy once they existed, since 1984. I mean, I did DOS if I HAD to, but…

and even I have an interest in this C64 thing and have ordered one, to mess with and learn a little of what I skipped out back in the day once the Mac launched.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

And also, I have aesthetics mattered to me also, once I saw them. Maybe too much to the extent I never really learned much about diving below the aesthetics and :GUI. But I was not even that much of a gamer back then, and still now mostly, though I want to go back and mess around with the easier ones like Phoenix/Demon Attack and others.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, mine shows up Saturday it looks like so I will start exploring sometime next weekend.

Sorry about the ADHD one more thought multi-posts

 

[joethezombie]

... I’ve not seen any videos about anybody ever having used it, and YouTube existed prior to 2010. So maybe Wheels should be classified as vaporware instead?

AmigaLove has done some awesome videos on GEOS, including Wheels (in this case, for the C128, but Wheels is also available for the 64), and the download is available from select grey-area archives. In fact, development continues with patches done as recently as 2021 (as seen on Facebook).

 

[JDW]

The answer to your GEOS question is, have the GEOS disk in the drive and tap the RESTORE key.

Yes, I found the answer in the GEOS docs back in February when I discussed the matter with others in the C64U FaceBook group...

LINK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1249159557042604/posts/1307070134584879

I have always been a GUI guy once they existed, since 1984.

I was 13 in 1984 and the Macintosh 128K was our first family computer, which I commandeered, naturally.

...Wheels is also available for the 64), and the download is available from...

My arrow pointer is zipping toward the PM icon at lightning speed.

 

[muse]

Abandonware, I guess. But the fact remains I’ve not seen any videos about anybody ever having used it, and YouTube existed prior to 2010. So maybe Wheels should be classified as vaporware instead?

You’d think that with all the millions of C64 units sold back in the day that the retro Commodore community would be just as vibrant or even more so than the Apple II community, and yet the Apple II community has A2 Desktop (actively being developed) and the Commodore community has nothing close in the GUI space.

They are just as active, if not more so, they just don’t prioritise developing a desktop or GUI‑style OS.

The C64 is a far more closed system than the Apple II and, crucially, it doesn’t ship with an 80 column display or extra RAM as standard ( there were carts available that could achieve this but rarely sold ) , the C128 on the other hand did but the C= user userbase favoured games over productivity.

On the c64 you’re working with 40 columns, 64 KB, a VIC‑II that steals cycles, and a machine that was fundamentally designed for games and direct hardware access rather than a bitmap‑heavy, windowed UI.

On the Apple II side, 80‑column cards, auxiliary RAM, and later models with expanded memory were standard by 1984.

 

[JDW]

I love it when people educated me. Thanks, @muse .

And thank you, @ClassicHasClass and @joethezombie and @sunvalleylaw !