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Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 6:02 pm
by intric8
I've long dreamt of finding one of these C64 oddities: the SX-64.

If you've never watched the hilarious commercial made in 1984 supposedly targeting the business executive on the go, you've got to spend a minute. (Warning: the song will forever be a part of you until the end of your days if you do watch...)
In any case, I finally got ahold of one. And not only is it in good condition. Guys, this thing is nearly perfect. It's been sitting in a man's closet for decades (who recently passed). It came in its original shipping box, and box with original styrofoam. Worth noting: it appears the SX-64 never had a box with marketing photos like the C64. It's just Commodore branded cardboard.

The outer shipping box does include the machine's serial number. There is an internal box, too (not shown) which is completely mint. And the styrofoam is stamped "SX-64".

The design of the machine, however, is what makes the SX-64 truly unique. That, and the built-in floppy drive and CRT monitor, of course. But the colors in particular and flip-down keyboard are just spectacular industrial design. The machine is by no means practical to use (like squinting, do ya?). But it is gorgeous to behold.

I've taken some beauty shots of it for your consideration. And yeah - the first game I played on it had to be the new Super Mario Bros 64 with Turbo Chameleon and Retrogamerboyz 2-button gamepad. There seems to be the slightest bit of ghosting on the monitor that I can see, but honestly if I was to use this machine regularly I'd be hooking up my 1702 to its video port. Just being honest.

So cool, though. Check it out.
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Shame about all that duct tape, but the yellow tag on the box has the original serial number.

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Snug as a bug in a rug. I'll be getting the original manual and velcro bag thingy in the next week or two. It was in a different location.

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Pretty impressive product design. And this sucker is not exactly light as a feather.

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She's got her legs under her. As you rotate the handle/legs, it slots into little sockets along the way. It's possible to make the legs perfectly vertical (which I'll probably do in the future).

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The light blue in the logo is found all around the machine. The design of this machine was one of the most carefully considered out of all of the C= 8-bits, no doubt.

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This keyboard quite possibly has never seen the light of day. Well, maybe one or two days, but that's about it.

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The chicken lips logo on the case is a beautiful shiny silver. There's a separate logo on the keyboard, too. The words "storage" and drive 0" seen in the center of the machine are also in silver.

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Keyboard attached. It has a very unusual and unique cable.

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The screen is fully functional. It's really wild to see everything at such a small scale.

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Hard to capture CRTs (especially this one for some reason) but you get the idea.

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The CRT is protected by a flat piece of clear plastic.

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To the right of the floppy drive is where the CRT's fine tuning controls can be found.

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She's pretty heavy. A bit over 20 lbs, I believe. But the construction is really solid and does not feel like some cheap toy. It's legit.

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There we go. There's a good shot of the screen without the color banding.

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And a little Super Mario Bros 64, with the TC and (amazing) 2-button gamepad.

I'm feeling this odd urge to hook this up by the pool and maybe slurp down a cocktail. You know, so I can keep working. <3

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 10:11 pm
by intric8
Worth noting that, for what appears to be such a seldom-used machine, it has a C64 kernal ROM rather than the original SX-64.

I contacted the seller about it. The original owner is deceased, so that bit of history is lost. But an original SX kernal ROM is on its way to bring it back to original.

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 12:31 am
by 3D-vice
OMG! I... remember... that commercial!! Waaaah, the music!!! :lol:

Congratz on geeting one of those rare beauties. Those photos are excellent and, wow, the machine is in an awesome (I'd say mint) condition. A friend of mine had a SX-64 too, so I've been blessed to actually try it out (and carry it, damn that things IS heavy) too.

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 3:51 am
by Bulletdust
Super Mario Bros is literally impossible to play with a joystick, where did you get that gamepad from? I need one!

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 7:03 am
by oggie
Please tell me you paid a fortune for this. Otherwise, I'll be really upset if you got it for a good deal. I've been looking for one of these in this condition for ages....

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 9:11 am
by intric8
Bulletdust:
Super Mario Bros is literally impossible to play with a joystick, where did you get that gamepad from? I need one!
I really wanted the true "NES feeling" on the C64, too. And pressing up to jump on C64/Amiga is sometimes just awful.

There is a guy on Ebay based in Florida who hand-makes these. He's programmed the second button to function like going up on the joystick. So, in this case, you can run around with the D-pad and press the second button and Mario will jump as you'd expect. As such, you can even hold down button-1 to get him to run, and press button-2 for jumping just like an original NES pad. He makes a similar game pad for Amiga, too (and other retro flavors). It's not inexpensive, but it is very well-made and I love it. Going a step further, if you are in a menu system you can tap the button to go up, too.

I won't play SMB64 without it (or the Turbo Chameleon). I wanted to make a short video about this setup but have just been way too maxed out lately. I even asked for a custom length cord (I wanted the exact same length as my TAC-2) and he made it the way I wanted. VERY cool guy, and great products.

Rerogameboyz gamepad for C64

oggie:
Please tell me you paid a fortune for this. Otherwise, I'll be really upset if you got it for a good deal. I've been looking for one of these in this condition for ages....
Fortunes are relative. If you really want to know you can PM me and I'll tell you. I don't like to brag about that kind of thing publicly, as this is a hobby and at the end of the day I could have donated the money to charity but I didn't. If it had been free, I'd certainly say so (but it wasn't). You know what I mean?

But, in my opinion, I got a really good deal.

I did have to pick it up in-person 3 hours away from my house.

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 8:30 am
by Zippy Zapp
That is awesome and has been on my list for some time but I think I have given up on it for now as I am in downsizing mode right now.

That is in exceptional condition!

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 2:39 am
by Bulletdust
I really wanted the true "NES feeling" on the C64, too. And pressing up to jump on C64/Amiga is sometimes just awful.

There is a guy on Ebay based in Florida who hand-makes these. He's programmed the second button to function like going up on the joystick. So, in this case, you can run around with the D-pad and press the second button and Mario will jump as you'd expect. As such, you can even hold down button-1 to get him to run, and press button-2 for jumping just like an original NES pad. He makes a similar game pad for Amiga, too (and other retro flavors). It's not inexpensive, but it is very well-made and I love it. Going a step further, if you are in a menu system you can tap the button to go up, too.

I won't play SMB64 without it (or the Turbo Chameleon). I wanted to make a short video about this setup but have just been way too maxed out lately. I even asked for a custom length cord (I wanted the exact same length as my TAC-2) and he made it the way I wanted. VERY cool guy, and great products.

Rerogameboyz gamepad for C64
That's the greatest thing ever, I'm getting one.

Nice SX-64 BTW! I remember using them in the day. The screen was a little hard to see, but it was very clear due to it's fine shadow mask as a result of it's small dimensions. However, I'm pretty sure the standard kernel used a different colour for the display - Most likely to make it easier on the eyes considering it's small size?

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:14 pm
by Dynamic_Computing
I really love my SX-64 - in fact I have hardly plugged in my real C64 since I received it. I do wish I had a real keyboard cable - mine is a flat parallel cable hack job, but it works fine.
I personally really like the screen, and I have even used it for GEOS! That gets a bit tiny, bit it works great!
I did a video on my little beauty, including all the repair work I had to put into it.

https://youtu.be/1ibZiUbdVzU

Re: Dream Achieved: Uber Minty SX-64, in Photographs

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:36 pm
by intric8
Run, don't walk @Dynamic_Computing. There's a cable on Ebay waiting for you for the low-low price of $200 smackers. :o