Commodore OS

**simpleblue** · November 13th, 2011

There is a new distro called 'Commodore OS' that appeared on Distrowatch:
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=commodore

Here is the website:
http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_OS_Vision.aspx

It's a hefty download though, 3.77 G on torrent (This is not including the 3.3 G torrent file that provides extras). Right now it's downloading at 1.50Mbs on my machine. It's based on Linux Mint and apparently comes with tons of software including a bunch of Commodore Emulators and programming IDE's...

Classic Commodore
Feeling nostalgic? A goal of Commodore OS Vision is to simplify classic Commodore compatibility, with integrated features to launch classic 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit era software via emulation. As Commodore OS Vision continues to develop, we will continue to improve this feature through updates, that further allow PET, VIC-20, CBM-II, C16, C64, C128 and Commodore AMIGA software to be launched effortlessly. The is no need to bother with floppy disks these days, as many games can be legally puchased and downloaded from the internet directly on to your computer. Commodore OS Vision even has an option to boot directly into full screen C64 emulation with the READY prompt. (ROM files and classic games are provided with our machines and purchased media only)

Programming
Commodore OS Vision aims to provide the best programming tools for an array of programming languages, with options for beginners all they way up to IT professionals.
Several integrated development environments are included as Commodore OS Vision Extras allowing you to program in BASIC, Java, C/C++, PHP, Perl, VB.NET, C#, Python and HTML. There are also an array of web technologies and frameworks available.
An extensive list will be provided shortly, and this will grow through subsequent releases.

Commodore uses BASIC:

Here is an example:

10 PRINT "Hello, I'm the Commodore 64 - What is your name ";:INPUT A$

I know this is 'Just another distro' but this one really caught my eye. I'll be trying it out as soon as the download finishes and maybe post a few pics.

Any thoughts?

**sffvba[e0rt** · November 13th, 2011

A company that bought a trademark and has been trying unsuccessfully to cash in on it for ages.

As for the distro, it is a remix of Mint 10...

404

**forrestcupp** · November 13th, 2011

You can easily do all of the same things on any distro or even Windows. Just change your wallpaper and install an emulator and programming tools from the repos.

It's cool somebody threw this together, though.

**Lucradia** · November 13th, 2011

Not like you need it with Amiga OS recently updated.

**jonkiribati** · November 13th, 2011

lol very interesting but I still have a Commodore 64

**BigSilly** · November 13th, 2011

Originally Posted by forrestcupp

You can easily do all of the same things on any distro or even Windows. Just change your wallpaper and install an emulator and programming tools from the repos.

It's cool somebody threw this together, though.

Yeah you can, but I agree that it is pretty cool that someone put this together in this way. It looks seriously lovely in the video, and really does a lot to live up to the old Commodore name, and perhaps even to entice new users. It's a terrific trailer.

I'm really going to have to give this one a go. I'll probably buy a beige box and keyboard if it works well.

**simpleblue** · November 13th, 2011

The the bootup stalled and crashed luckily leaving me with a command line. I plugged in the ethernet cable, did an 'sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade', rebooted it worked!

The startup and shutdown screens put anything I've seen see far to shame. It's a fullscreen animation of a galaxy and planet earth with explosions and has the Commodore logo. Simply amazing.

When you boot into Gnome you are greeted with talking espeak. You'd think you were in a dream. It's that's cool. The computer talks to you and asks you to download the proprietary drivers, ask you to agree to the rules of the OS, and explains some other things. You'll see that the mouse never stops spinning and something always seems to be moving on the screen. The compiz effects are maximized. There is a shortcut screen right there on the desktop to show you. When you maximize and minimize stuff or make an error you'll hear the classic Commodore sounds. When you kill an application you hear the distorted "Ksshhhboomahhh" like when you kill an spaceship in astroids. I was practically jumping up and down with excitement. You'd think I was 5 years old!

The part that get me a little upset is that the BIG thing that you want and love with this OS is the Commodore Emulators. They seem to be there, and I'm by no means an expert, but I gather that you need to buy the games to get it to work. When I tried to download another emulator in the Software Manager I only saw one of them and it was already installed - Vice. Perhaps Commodore has disabled them somehow.

There are tons and tons of games. Good ones. Lots of programming programs. Like Qt-Creator, which I like because I dabble in C++. An old Amiga graphics editor to play with.

Here is the screenshot:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/download/file.php?id=8989