My Dream Computer is Finally on Sale!

Congrats on the launch of your dream computer. A lot shown here is seriously impressive! Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll get plenty of support for Phase 1. Because as we all know PCB stands for Perfect Computer Buyers. Doesn’t it?

I tried to bring back that "magic" for my kids also, but then I came to the conclusion that that ship has sailed my friend. We were mesmerised by computers back in the 80s because they were new and magical. Kids today will never get that feeling that we had back in the 80s.

I'll be honest, as a niche product that caters to retro enthusiasts, I think this has a bright future. In much the same way that the market for vinyl and cassette continues to exist. It's pretty cool, I'd like to buy one. However, as a mass market education tool: no. I don't think it stands a chance. Parents of young children are in their 20s or early 30s; they probably don't actually know how to use it as they grew up with Windows or Macs. Moreover, the Raspberry Pi kind of fills that niche, assuming you can actually get one! Cheap, well-documented, the 400 is pretty close in form factor to something like a Spectrum, and if your kid bricks a Pi Zero, you're not going to lose any sleep. That's just my 2c. As I said, I think this is a cool project, and I would actually like to buy one.

I've been a huge fan of the channel for years, and am super excited to see you get to build and market your dream computer. I hope it does well, but I don't know if a computer like this can succeed in education market today. The fundamental issue is software. Using a modern Mac/PC or even smartphone offers so much more, and with emulation, can even offer X16 Software. As for in-home I think the main thing holding it back right now is the lack of HDMI port. Non-retro consumers likely don't have VGA/Composite monitors anymore, and the inability to just plug it in may be an issue. I do hope you can overcome these challenges, because a device which has great software and that doesn't have the problems you mentioned with modern machines would be great!

You're right about kids not wanting toys. That always drove me nuts too. I didn't want to play pretend computer; I wanted to learn. Kids don't want to be Wesley Crusher; they want to be Riker. Same deal.

I agree it's a good toy for kids, but for kids from the 80s, not 2010s and younger. Just as fathers bought their sons model trains and played with them themselves, now grandparents will buy CommanderX16 for their grandchildren.

Congratulations! This is an amazing accomplishment for you and the team.

congratz releasing a computer must be a unreal feeling for you and your team.

I don't know if you'll see this comment, but I just wanted to let you know how inspiring I find the commander x16 project. I'm not much of a retro computing enthusiast beyond consuming videos about it, but just seeing your dream and all the hard work and creative pivots you've had to make long the way—it's so incredible to see that level of dedication. I'm working on several projects with massively long timelines (years long) and watching this series has given me a lot of energy I need to keep working.

Don't get me wrong I love this project, but I think you might be a little optimistic about the prospects of ever evolving this into an educational tool. You went through the pain of learning basic as a kid because computers were new and exciting, but kids these days have ipads with retina screens and an effective endless stream of content on the internet. A pixelated terminal just doesn't impress anymore, (except for a few especially nerdy ones, but if we're honest a Raspberry Pi running a modern Linux kernel is probably a more fitting learning tool for the next generation of nerds-not to mention already a very popular one that will be hard to compete with).

Super awesome! Congrats. Good luck! Always keeping an eye out on this project. We appreciate it so much

Congratulations to reaching this milestone! I will definitely keep a look out for availability later on! Right now I'm awaiting the Spectrum Next from their 2nd KS, and hope to start introducing my kid to how I grew up with tech! The Commander looks freakin awesome, and if it ends up as a full kit with something like that case and a keyboard I'll most certainly be interested to order from the EU, if possible, even with the added import costs! love it, looks so great - and I'm so happy initiatives like this both keeps poppin up and successfully completes!

Congratulations to the whole team!

Congratulations David! The computer looks great!

This is such an amazing result. Been watching you for YEARS and to see this dream of yours come to market is just so bad ass!! Congratulations! ❤

Congratulations on getting the X16 to market. Incredible. I hope I'll be able to buy one soon. Wishing you all the best.

This is a very cool project and im sure they will sell well to hobbyists but this will have no traction in the education sector. Raspberry pies, microbits and commodity pc`s have that market sewn up. Every child has access to these cheap machines at home, the software is standardised and readily available and skills can be directly transferred to the workplace when the time comes. Schools get thousands of these things very cheaply and parts are off the shelf and available everywhere. there is no way the x16 can scale up to make it worthwhile to educators. Worrying about violent games and porn is pointless at this point as every kid has a smartphone and console or pc where accessing this stuff is trivial. Having said that, I wish the project well, any new hobbyist machine coming to market is a joyous occasion.

The nano editor is nice, but I think it's a long shot to ask kids to write code without the benefits of a mouse for cursor placement, select and move, copy/paste/cut, and even more helpful things like linting and autofill/suggestions. I get that i'm talking to people who grew up without those things in the 80's, but when the alternative exists, and is obviously available to anyone with a modern computer, it just feels unlikely. I hope we get to see a more powerful IDE come to the x16 that can actually be "fun" to write in, rather than "less of a chore." But that's not to say the nano editor isn't a huge step up, it's really awesome and actually encouraging to someone like me. I just don't think it's enough to "cross the gap" that would encourage a 6-12 year old to write programs on it when they could be writing programs on a locked down linux box with an actual IDE or even notepad++ and python.

Great news 8 bit guy and the others that made this come to life. Also stumbling on your youtube channel a few years ago, made me get into the Retro Market. I now have a working C64 and Amiga 500.

Fascinating! I've been watching this since it all started. I learned on the C64 at 13 or so, but it's been soooo long ago, and I'm so busy I'm fully aware I don't have a realistic prospect of learning all this all over again. I sat down at an old C128 and I literally didn't even remember how to get the alternate characters etc. I love the computer. I love the work you've done. I wish I had the time and energy to invest into re-learning it. In my defense, I also write and create music on Linux home studio systems, do astrophotography and somehow work full-time at the same time as living with a wife who works full time, my step-son and his daughter AND my two granddaughters both under three. So...yeah. Amazing work though!