THE 64 - Computer and Handheld Console

[vcoleiro1]

Precisely, which in my eyes casts shadows of doubt on the whole FunkySpectrum channel as an impartial source of information... Not that I really watch the channel anyway

You should see how nasty the Vega+ debacle has gotten. It's scary bad at the moment. There is a twitter account that has leaked the complete bank account statements for RCL from just before the IGG crowdfunging to July this year. They claim they are the real accounts , and the accounts show all the money going in and out again in salaries and legal costs - totl was near zero in July. And it gets a lot lot lot worse , we are talking health records, documentation about a reported rape etc etc. It's beyond nasty. Of course RCL have said the accounts don't show a second account and refute things. Then there was a scary video from Anonymous- well thats who they claimed to. It's insanely nasty. I'm not even touching the surface of how nasty it has gotten.

 

[Ian J]

FunkySpectrum channel

Yeah some of his comments and video thumbnails are less than PC.

EDIT:

Just finished watching the video, oh dear.

George does seem VERY pro theC64, exclusive, exclusive, exclusive.

And is it just me or do all of those image look rendered.

 

[pmprog]

George does seem VERY pro theC64, exclusive, exclusive, exclusive

And again... why would "Funky Spectrum" get exclusives on Commodore gear? Go to some Commodore outlet.

And is it just me or do all of those image look rendered.

Well, they are. That Rubix cube has a totally immaculate set of colours, and it's a very odd place to put a TV (right against a wall, and if you tried to watch it straight on, the hifi system/desk would be right in your way). That goes without saying about the desk that the THEC64 is on, which would just kill all the space in a real room if it was placed there.

 

[levi]

You can still buy new rubix cubes - they don't all come from the early 1980s. But yeah, it's either a render, a photoshoot or a drawing - but drawings and photoshoots like that were common back in the 1980s. They always had a whole family hanging off the glowing TV with a primitive computer usually in the hands of the youngest, never mind that nobody actually used them like that. They usually punted them off to the kid's bedroom with the old B&W portable TV they bought in the 1960 brought down from the loft to bring it to life.

 

[Ian J]

Looking at the joystick it would appear that it's a clone of the C64 Direct-to-TV, does this mean the system/games are in it & the mini is just a TV dock similar to the Nintendo Switch dock?

 

[pmprog]

You can still buy new rubix cubes - they don't all come from the early 1980s

I know that, but I challenge you to take a photo of a brand new one that has no blemishments. Ian asked if they were renders, I was merely responding.

Looking at the joystick it would appear that it's a clone of the C64 Direct-to-TV

Well, it's based off the Competition Pro, which the DTV was also based off. But no, the main board AFAIK is within the plastic case, and the joystick is actually a replica joystick (possibly usable on other systems?)

 

[ZXDunny]

It does seem quite biased indeed. He's enthusiastic about The64 Mini (which is being produced the two ex-RCL directors) and derogatory/inflammatory about the Vega (also in line with the ex-Directors' stance).

I do wonder - if the campaign behind The64 goes tits up in a similar manner to the Vega+ will this chap be just as scathing in his videos?

 

[vcoleiro1]

It does seem quite biased indeed. He's enthusiastic about The64 Mini (which is being produced the two ex-RCL directors) and derogatory/inflammatory about the Vega (also in line with the ex-Directors' stance).

I do wonder - if the campaign behind The64 goes tits up in a similar manner to the Vega+ will this chap be just as scathing in his videos?

I think since they have an investor funding the mini and have gone as far as getting a distributer, that it sounds like it will come out. Now that demand seems to be strong from the news reports on it, I can't see the investor stepping away from it.

P.S What do you think about the whole leaked accounts thing for the Vega+. All the transactions for before the IGG campaign ended to July this year were leaked (if you believe they are real that is). They show the money coming in, then out again to salary/lawyers etc, it's hard to say that the money went into a second account if the transactions are real. I guess some cash was seen to go to SMS, but they claim it was to pay off debt rather than vega+ production. I guess there could have also been a second account to start with that they already had money in .

 

[ZXDunny]

The leaked accounts? That shows money going in and going out. As far as I can tell, nothing more than that. There's obviously another account - money is coming in via paypal from somewhere and it would have been more believable had the accounts for that been shown. Teacher Stern LLP is a law firm, and we know they've had ongoing legal issues to deal with so that's not much of a surprise either. So without the whole picture, Occam's razor tells us that this is just an attempt by an interested 3rd party to cause more hassle for RCL and nothing more. Funky Spectrum is either part of that effort of very much having the wool pulled over his eyes. Either way, he's not doing the Spectrum scene any favours and should be ignored.

There was an interesting image of The64 running on an LCD TV (courtesy of their Facebook page):

Where it's not powered (batteries?) or actually connected to the monitor... But there's a suspicious RasPi behind the monitor. Make of that what you will

 

[vcoleiro1]

@ZXDunny


I'm not 100% convinced on the bank statements, that said, I'm heavily leaning to believing them. The paypal money coming in is from Paypal payments to IGG and I think a couple paypal payments are said to be coming in for the original Vega sales. There is absolutely no sign in the accounts of a second account. So if you believe them , then it's hard to argue they point to a second account. Don't get me wrong , a second account with other cash in it might exist - it's just that nothing in the accounts leaked suggest it.


Hmm, interesting about the lack of connection to the monitor in that pic. And yeah, seems to be another device in the back

P.S I'll PM you about something you probably should know (You probably do already)

 

[Ian J]

here was an interesting image of The64 running on an LCD TV (courtesy of their Facebook page):

SNES Controller?

 

[Stainy]

what a balls up that picture is!

 

[pmprog]

Where it's not powered (batteries?) or actually connected to the monitor... But there's a suspicious RasPi behind the monitor. Make of that what you will

Interesting to note that there's the following comments on that picture

A: How does the keyboard send a picture to the monitor?
B: Via the Raspberry Pi behind the monitor and not via the empty keyboard shaped box in front of it... Do these people think we're stupid?

Thing is though, none of the raspberry pis I have have a red PCB. That's not to say it's not just a different "off the shelf" SBC though. It doesn't make sense that if they have the board and have the case, why not put it together properly!?

SNES Controller?

TBH, you find a lot of USB SNES-style controllers around these days (eg. https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-compatible-usb-gamepad-controller-snes-style )

 

[elwing]

Weren't the version for China of the raspi 1 red?

 

[Ian J]

The red circuit board can be seen here:


As per my previous post in this thread:

Turns out the board is an a20-OLinuXIno-LIME2

 

[pmprog]

I wonder if their "prototype" was running VICE too?

 

[vcoleiro1]

The red circuit board can be seen here:


As per my previous post in this thread:

Turns out the board is an a20-OLinuXIno-LIME2

Hmm, yes, good pickup. That is worrying, I thought they had built their own HW by now.


Actually this is strange, because on the 15th of Sept ie 2 weeks ago, they made a IGG update showing their pre-produciton prototype board

From the update on the 15th Sept

"But to tide you over for this week, a few previously unreleased photos of the original prototype PCB boards (pre-production), and some more shots of the first of the molds for the range (all photos taken on a phone in the factory). Check back next week as we finally start revealing all for you!"

 

[pmprog]

Curious that that prototype board is green, when the one they've been demoing everywhere is red.
It's also a bit arse backwards. From the photos of the case, the USB comes out the right hand side. If this board is mounted, the HDMI would come out the bottom (unless they're mounting the board upside down)

 

[levi]

If that's a pre-production board, considerations for the case probably haven't entered consideration yet - they're just trying to get something that works at that stage. Hopefully as they say that's an old photo and they're past pre-production by now.

The red board is an off-the-sheld SBC, and in that photo we've seen it wasn't connected to either the joystick or the case we could see. To be charitable, I could consider that the were testing the software on a standard ARM board, which they had wired up to a SNES pad for people to try out, and at the same time they were showing off the cases. It did look like they were trying to pull a fast one with how that photo was framed, but perhaps I've just got over-sensitive cynicism when it comes to hardware projects from guys like this.

 

[rygD]

You can still buy new rubix cubes - they don't all come from the early 1980s. But yeah, it's either a render, a photoshoot or a drawing - but drawings and photoshoots like that were common back in the 1980s. They always had a whole family hanging off the glowing TV with a primitive computer usually in the hands of the youngest, never mind that nobody actually used them like that. They usually punted them off to the kid's bedroom with the old B&W portable TV they bought in the 1960 brought down from the loft to bring it to life.

That is one of the set ups I have, with the black and white tv. It is even in my bedroom (there was a brief debate about that since it isn't only my bedroom).

Somewhere I have a Rubick's Cube from a few years ago with the stickers. Now it looks like they have plastic pieces, which seems better. I also have a cheesy super cheap knockoff.