Does anyone remember those replica Commodore 64 computers? I bought one when they came out six years ago, and I had been using it as my main “Internet” computer ever since. It had served me well over the years, and had looked very cool on my desk, I must say. I had also customized the Linux and virtual Windows themes to have an Amiga-like style, complete with custom icons and cursors.
Well, that thing was also the loudest computer I’ve ever owned. It needed two very powerful fans to draw air in and push air out of the cramped case. And those fans had to be replaced often because… well, I guess because they were just shit. I replaced the fans three or four times after they started making buzzsaw grinding noises.
I also had to replace the hard drive once, but that’s kind of expected with any computer. But all the fan replacing, and the sheer loudness of the thing – even when the fans were brand new – got to wearing on my nerves. So I’ve retired my replica Commodore 64 after six years. I’ve replaced it with a tiny little Intel NUC that I mistakenly bought as a gaming PC. What was a terrible purchase as a gaming PC is actually a pretty good PC for internet use and running Windows XP in VirtualBox. And it’s so quiet.
I’m also getting used to typing on a normal keyboard again. Feels weird.
I’m going to repurpose my replica Commodore 64 as a pure Commodore 64 emulation machine, which will boot into a Linux OS and run the emulator on startup. But that’s a project for another day.